A HAT-TRICK of tries from Delon Armitage could not prevent Toulouse from snatching victory against the odds over London Irish at Reading. The full-back touched down three times in the final 15 minutes to add to Shane Geraghty's firsthalf score and two conversions from replacement Barry Everitt.

But Irish were guilty of not turning a mountain of second-half pressure into more points - and the three-time champions punished them when Benoit Baby and JeanBaptiste Elissalde scored late in the game. Irish's chance of qualifying had already gone and Toulouse clearly acknowledged their failure to qualify from the Heineken Cup's Pool Five by leaving out half-adozen big names for their trip to the Madejski Stadium.

The French faced a side fielding an experimental backline with an average age of 22, coach Brian Smith welcoming back 20-year-old England Sevens wing Dominic Shabbo with 21-year-old Gonzalo Tiesi restored to the centre. Up front there was more experience, though, with Olivier Magne returning in the back-row along with Juan Leguizamon and loose-head Tonga Lea'eatoa.

But instead of working their way into position and allowing the rookies to settle, the early stages saw Irish sucked into the sort of fast and loose game that could only benefit the visitors. First Jean-Frederic Dubois angled the ball through an overworked defence for Garbajosa to beat teammate Gareth Thomas for the opening try after six minutes.

Then 10 minutes later they were caught out again when Magne tapped and ran only to lose the ball in contact on halfway, lock Gregory Lamboley breaking clear for Toulouse and putting Garbajosa under the posts for his second try with Courrent converting.

Irish finally applied some pressure in the second quarter, Geraghty showing some neat touches to work them into position and then firing out a superb flat pass to Seilala Mapusua only for the centre to hang onto the ball with better options outside.

They battered away at the Toulouse line with a series of short-range drives on the half hour but could not control the ball for long enough to force their way over.

It needed some illegal interventions to stop them though, and Garbajosa was sent to the sin-bin three minutes before after taking out Paul Hodgson as he waited for the ball after Leguizamon was stopped short. Irish opted for a scrum after his dismissal and exacted instant retribution when Leguizamon picked up and Geraghty forced his way through Thomas' tackle to the line.

They went on to dominate the bulk of the second-half, the best of their early chances coming when David Paice failed to put Armitage away when he was in the clear. The full-back finally struck 15 minutes from time at the end of a smart move, Geraghty linking up with prop Tonga Lea'aetoa who gave him a clear run to the line.

Barry Everitt missed that conversion but successfully slotted the extra points when Armitage raced over for his second score, this time after a weaving run from Topsy Ojo with Paice the link-man.

That should have been enough to finish off Toulouse - with Lamboley following Garbajosa into the sin-bin - only for the French side to strike five minutes from time with just about their only meaningful attack of the second-half. Thomas forced his way through some midfield tackles and his floated pass put Baby over on the right to tie up the scores with Elissalde converting to nudge Toulouse in front.

They rubbed salt into the wounds late on with a fourth score, Irish turning over the ball deep in their own territory with Elissalde touching down and adding the extra points. It made the fourth Irish try redundant and muted the celebrations for Armitage's hat-trick after he went under the posts for Everitt to convert with the last kick of the game.

LONDON IRISH D Armitage, Ojo, Pedro Tiesi, Mapusua, Shabbo, Geraghty, Hodgson, Lea'aetoa, Coetzee, Rautembach, Kennedy, Casey, Roche, Magne, Leguizamon TOULOUSE Thomas, Garbajosa, Kunavore, Baby, Medard, Dubois, Courrent, Human, Lacombe, Hasan, Lamboley, Brennan, Bouihlou, Montauriol, F Maka Sin bin Garbajosa, 36-46 mins; Lamboley 60-70 mins Referee Alan Lewis (Ireland)