Irish counting on their pride to avoid the heavy fall

Conor O'Shea has been this way before, contemplating relegation, but never has so much depended on it. "You wouldn't want to feel what we're going through," says London Irish's managing director. It's the craic, with the crack of doom.

In his first season with the Irish, after the 1995 World Cup, O'Shea scored 10 tries to help secure promotion from the old second division. Twice he played his part on the field as the Exiles staved off the return trip by winning play-offs. This time, there is no play-off. Whoever finishes bottom on 10 May goes. And if it happens, O'Shea will be the one dishing out the P45s.

"We've planned for both eventualities," he said. "You can't get to the end of the season and think, 'Oh God what are we going to do now?' The details are for us to know and hopefully no one else ever to find out." Even if they survive, there will be cuts in a "restructuring of the business". The club are free of debt, but losing money week to week.

The Irish had never achieved much in the English leagues until last year, when they finished in a best-ever fourth place, won the Powergen Cup and qualified for the Heineken Cup. With a long-term lease at Reading's Madej-ski Stadium, it was green for go in the Thames Valley.

Then the season began. "We lost to an 88th-minute penalty against Bath in the first game," O'Shea recalled, "and have suffered some terrible patches." Brendan Venter, inspiration of the previous annus mirabilis, became persona non-starter in a curious episode which saw the South African player-coach, initially injured, decide not to pick himself even when fit.

Another Springbok, Pieter Rossouw, had been signed to score tries – and take the pressure off Barry Everitt's goal-kicking – and Venter fell foul of the "two foreigners" rule. In hindsight, he and O'Shea admitted it was a mistake. Rossouw left at Christmas. Meanwhile, the spirit that had served the Irish so well was absent, though O'Shea rejects the suggestion that opponents worked out the Exiles' in-your-face style.

"We had a relatively good period," he said, "beating Leicester, Northampton and Newcastle a couple of times. Then we picked up injuries to Chris Sheasby, Ryan Strudwick, our captain, Naka Drotske and Justin Bishop. You can analyse a team all you like, but when too many young guys take the pitch together, you struggle.

"A good example was losing Ryan. We put Nick Kennedy into the second row, and he is an outstanding prospect. But when we were in a tight spot, he needed Naka, an experienced hooker, to say: 'I will throw the ball, you will get it'. Then Naka got injured, we brought in Adrian Flavin, and Flav is talented, and has played Ireland Under-21s. But when Nick said to him: 'I don't think I can get that ball', Flav would say: 'OK, I'll throw another one'. And that's the difference."

Irish beat Toulouse, no less, in Europe, but slumped to a home defeat by Harlequins in the Premiership. Bath then did the dirty on them again with a winning try in injury time 10 days ago.

Nevertheless, O'Shea regards the bonus point gained at the Rec, following on from an equally close victory at Saracens, as a corner turned. He is facing today's visit of Leeds with renewed optimism. "Finally, we have got our team back on the pitch," he said, "and in the last couple of matches we have seen the tangible hunger and desire that we know they possess. Leeds are where we were last year. They've got game-breakers, they've got Braam van Straaten kicking goals, and they've got a mongrel of a pack.

"I'm more confident going into these games with guys who have been there and done it."