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England-bound Ireland star still in World Cup contention
By Online Editors
Ireland flanker Sean O'Brien will still be in Joe Schmidt's World Cup plans, despite signing a three-year deal to sign with RFU Championship club London Irish.
According to a report from the Irish Times, the 31-year-old is set to avoid the fate suffered by former fellow teammate Simon Zebo, who was immediately discarded from Schmidt's selection plans after signing for Racing 92 in the Top 14 at the start of last year.
The report states that, similarly to Paul O'Connell remaining in the national set-up despite signing for Toulon ahead of the World Cup in 2015, O'Brien is too important for Ireland to simply let go, despite leaving Leinster for a €400,000-per-year deal in England.
It is unclear whether O’Brien’s current contract with the IRFU was going to be renewed in November.
“That’s Seánie’s business and it’d be wrong of me to comment on someone’s personal situation,” Ireland captain Rory Best told the Irish Times.
“From a player’s perspective, you know and you trust them to weigh up the situation and do what’s best for them and their families.”
O'Brien has been capped 58 times by Ireland and the British and Irish Lions since making his international debut against Fiji in 2009, and looks set for a campaign in the Premiership next season, with London Irish currently nine points clear at the top of the Championship.
The acquisition of O'Brien is another sign of London Irish's ambition to secure promotion and stay in the Premiership for the long term.
The Reading-based club has already signed Wallabies duo Nick Phipps and Curtis Rona, as well as Scotland and British and Irish Lions international Allan Dell, while other big-money deals for the likes of Steve Mafi, Adam Coleman, and Waisake Naholo are being pursued by director of rugby Declan Kidney.
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I don't listen to Nigel Farage. Really not sure where you'd be getting that from. Maybe you should stick to responding to what I've actually said, rather than speculating about my sources.
I'm not sure what you think Putin is going to do. He'll probably conquer Ukraine, but its taken him a long time, and cost him a lot of soldiers. Hitler overran France in a matter of weeks and then started bombing Britain. At this rate Putin might make it to Paris by 2080? I think he'll give up long before then!
I don't see what Stalinist language policy has to do with any of what we're talking about. De-Ukrainization took place in the 1930s, but the genocide of Palestine is taking place in 2025. If your argument is that the invasion of Ukraine is part of a longer history of Russian suppression of Ukraine then you might have a point, but that really just underlines the key difference between Hitler and Putin; Hitler wanted to dominate as much area as possible and so posed a threat to all of Europe, whereas Putin wants to force the assimilation of those who have historically been within the Russian sphere of influence, so only poses a threat to eastern europe and central asia.
"Read and think for yourself."
What would you recommend I read? On the genocide of Palestine I've found Patrick Wolfe's "Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native" and Sai Englert's "Settlers, Workers, and the Logic of Accumulation by Dispossession" especially useful - they might disabuse you of the notion that what we are witnessing is an "authoritarian criminal syndicate" fighting a nation! - rather Zionist genocide is a largely democratic process, arising from a structure of settler colonialism which has no analogue in Ukraine.
Go to commentsAnd they're really playing good rugby,beating every team because they can squat with heavy weights. Not
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