1
British and Irish Lions prop to join London Irish
By Ian Cameron
London Irish's rebuild ahead of their potential re-entry into the Premiership took a step forward this week as they secured the services of yet another international forward.
RugbyPass revealed last weekend that Irish had secured the services of Steve Mafi from Castres. The Tongan forward is set to earn in the region of £500,000 per annum as the Exiles reap the benefits of their share in the CVC investment windfall.
RugbyPass now understands that Scotland prop Allan Dell has agreed to join the club, adding to their firepower ahead of a forecast bounce back into England's top flight.
Capped 13 times by Scotland, the loosehead prop hails from South Africa and represented their U20s four times in 2012. The loosehead is currently ranked 11th in his position in the Six Nations by the RugbyPass Index, and 41st in the world with a score of 73.
Educated at Queens College in Eastern Cape, Dell can play on both sides of the scrum. He has made 13 senior appearances in the Vodacom and Currie Cup competitions alongside his selection for South Africa Schools and every South Africa age-grade en route to lifting the Junior World Championship trophy in 2012.
He qualified for Scotland through his grandmother, Joan Carmichael, who was born in Paisley and brought up in Edinburgh. Since making his club debut in 2014, he has made 51 appearances for Edinburgh, including last night's triumph over Toulon, where he came off the bench.
Dell came through an injury-stricken 2017/18 where he spent much of his time rehabbing but did enough in the latter part of the campaign to ensure a place in Gregor Townsend's Scotland Squad for the 2018 Summer Tour to Canada, USA and Argentina.
The 26-year-old was also called up to the 2017 British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand as cover for the two final games against the provinces. He made one substitute appearance, becoming Lion number #834.
London Irish plan to move back to London next season with a groundshare at Brentford FC.
This week the club announced new deals for Jacob Atkins, Rory Brand, Isaac Curtis-Harris, Ollie Hassell-Collins, Ben Loader, Tom Parton and Matt Williams.
Trending on RugbyPass
2
David Campese names his Springbok world player of the year winner
3
Let's be real about these All Blacks
4
Why World Cup winner doesn’t blame All Black for leaving New Zealand
5
Latest Comments
Does anyone know a way to loook at how many mins each player has played whilst on tour?
Go to commentsIt certainly needs to be cherished. Despite Nick (and you) highlighting their usefulness for teams like Australia (and obviously those in France they find form with) I (mention it general in those articles) say that I fear the game is just not setup in Aus and NZ to appreciate nor maximise their strengths. The French game should continue to be the destination of the biggest and most gifted athletes but it might improve elsewhere too.
I just have an idea it needs a whole team focus to make work. I also have an idea what the opposite applies with players in general. I feel like French backs and halves can be very small and quick, were as here everyone is made to fit in a model physique. Louis was some 10 and 20 kg smaller that his opposition and we just do not have that time of player in our game anymore. I'm dying out for a fast wing to appear on the All Blacks radar.
But I, and my thoughts on body size in particular, could be part of the same indoctrination that goes on with player physiques by the establishment in my parts (country).
Go to comments