Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

'It's not a case of that': Irish review wounding Cokanasiga loss

(Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Declan Kidney hasn’t ruled out the possibility of Phil Cokanasiga rejoining London Irish sometime in the future after it was confirmed on Thursday that the 20-year-old had signed for Leicester Tigers for next season. The director of rugby had regularly spoken throughout the 2021/22 campaign about how the Exiles were becoming a place where young players didn’t have to leave in order to gain Test level selection with England.

ADVERTISEMENT

Academy graduates exiting London Irish to become England internationals at rivals Gallagher Premiership clubs had been the established trend before Kidney was installed as the boss in March 2018. The likes of Anthony Watson, Jonathan Joseph and Joe Cokanasiga were among the list of youngsters who had quit Irish as they felt their representative level ambitions would be best served elsewhere. 

That pattern appeared to have ended with the England squad selection this past year of the likes of Ollie Hassell-Collins, Chunya Munga, Tom Pearson and some others by Eddie Jones, who last week visited the London Irish training ground to run the rule over a contingent of prospects that now includes the viral star, Henry Arundell following his recent attention-grabbing try-scoring.   

Video Spacer

Pita Pens & More French Wins | Le French Rugby Podcast | Episode 29

Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
Duration 0:00
Loaded: 0%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time 0:00
 
1x
    • Chapters
    • descriptions off, selected
    • captions off, selected
      Video Spacer

      Pita Pens & More French Wins | Le French Rugby Podcast | Episode 29

      Toulouse centre Pita Ahki joins us to discuss the drama of the penalty shootout at the Aviva Stadium, whether he’d have fancied taking one, returning to Dublin to take on Leinster and much more. Plus, Benji reveals he was next in line to take a penalty when Leicester beat Cardiff in a shootout in 2009, we analyse all the European action, chat about the prospect of Eddie Jones moving to the Top 14 and pick our MEATER Moment of the Week…
      Use the code FRENCHPOD20 at checkout for 20% off any full price item at Meater.com
      Head over to daysbrewing.com and use the code RUGBYPASS15 to get 15% off a case of their 0.0% beers

      However, Phil Cokanasiga, the younger brother of Joe who switched to Bath to realise his England Test team ambitions, dented this progress being made by Irish when he was unveiled as a new Leicester Tigers signing for the 2022/23 season after making 17 appearances and scoring six tries over the course of the last three seasons where he also played a part in winning the Six Nations Grand Slam with the England U20s last summer.      

      “London Irish was my first professional club and it will always hold a place close to my heart,” said Cokanasiga in his brief leaving statement, but Kidney hasn’t ruled out the possibility of the youngster coming back to them at some future point. “You are going to win some and lose some,” he told RugbyPass about the battle to keep all of his squad’s youngsters happy and believing that they can make it with England via London Irish rather than elsewhere.

      Related

      Sometimes players can get frustrated if they are not getting enough time but Phil knew he had a pathway here with us and he will have his own reasons for that [joining Leicester], but it is not like he is running away from the club. You always know a player’s reaction as well then too when they are leaving, you know if they want to go because they really want to go. It’s not a case of that. We wish Phil well for the future and who knows about him coming back here in years to come.” 

      It was a May 2018 thrashing at The Rec when it hit Kidney square in the face about the calibre of talent that London Irish had developed for the benefit of other clubs. With their Premiership relegation already confirmed, the Exiles were thumped 63-19 at Bath, the club that had hoovered up the likes of Watson and numerous other Irish-nurtured stars. They vowed there and then to put a stop to the brain drain.

      ADVERTISEMENT

      There had been a complete drain leading into it when we started off over four years ago, we were wondering what was going on,” continued Kidney about the situation that had contributed to London Irish twice suffering relegation to the second tier in three seasons. “We went down and played Bath and Jonathan Joseph, Joe Cokanasiga was being talked a lot in terms of joining there too, Anthony Watson – you are just thinking that if London Irish over the years had managed to hang onto its younger players where would we sit now?

      “Part of the yo-yo effect was why were players here and why did they leave? Part of the reason we identified was they needed players to look up to and so we had to bring in some senior players to it and even though some mightn’t have played as much as they wanted to, the effects of Sean O’Brien on the other members of the pack, it will be over the coming years that you will see that. 

      “In the back, you can see the effect that Waisake (Naholo) had on the likes of Ollie Hassell-Collins and these guys coming through so the legacy that you leave behind you as a senior player is also very impressive. They have done that and they [the youngsrers] now know more of what is expected of them. 

      “We have had a few fellas called into England camp over the last 18 months so it has shown that they don’t have to leave London Irish to get called into English camp, so we believe that with what we are developing within can be strong going forward in the future. 

      ADVERTISEMENT

      “When you started off four years ago you didn’t want to be talking about three and five and seven-year plans. You’d bore the pants off the fellas who were there but we are four years into it, our squad is becoming younger naturally but being younger is only one part of it, you have to be skilful and competitive and see then can you close the deal on something. That is what we are about.”

      ADVERTISEMENT

      HSBC SVNS Singapore 2025 | Day Two Men's Highlights

      HSBC SVNS Singapore 2025 | Day Two Women's Highlights

      Jet Lag: The biggest challenge facing international sports? | The Report

      Boks Office | Episode 39 | The Investec Champions Cup is back

      Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry? | New Zealand & Australia | Sevens Wonders | Episode 5

      Kobelco Kobe Steelers vs Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo | Japan Rugby League One 2024/25 | Full Match Replay

      The Rise of Kenya | The Report

      The Fixture: How This Rugby Rivalry Has Lasted 59 Years

      Trending on RugbyPass

      Comments

      0 Comments
      Be the first to comment...

      Join free and tell us what you really think!

      Sign up for free
      ADVERTISEMENT

      Latest Features

      Comments on RugbyPass

      A
      Andrea Irvine 2 hours ago
      Ulster go down fighting in Champions Cup defeat to Bordeaux

      I can rewire a human brain, course through the most sensitive neural pathways, and restore life with steady hands and a sharp scalpel. But it would appear none of those prepared me for the horror of a hardware wallet that had decided it wanted to self-destruct. It had been years since my Ledger device had sat comfortably in my drawer, unvexed and pristine, like a relic from my earlier Bitcoin investment days. Then came the fateful evening when I decided to switch it on just to check on my stash. That is when I was greeted by an error message so incomprehensible that it could as well have been written in ancient hieroglyphics. At first, I kept calm. I had been in life-and-death situations before, so surely, I could troubleshoot a problem with my wallet. Rebooting? Nothing. Firmware reset? Even worse. With every attempt, my precious $680,000 worth of Bitcoin seemed to slip further from my grasp. The real panic set in when I realized that I had stored my recovery phrase somewhere "safe"-so safe that even I couldn't remember where it was. Hours of frantic searching, multiple YouTube tutorials, and a last-ditch effort to reach out to Ledger support resulted in one grim conclusion: "Your funds may be irretrievable." As a neurosurgeon, I’m used to bad news—but this? Unacceptable. That is when I discovered TECH CYBER FORCE RECOVERY. A little skeptical I was- if they couldn't help me, a manufacturer of the device, then how would anyone else? I had nothing to lose. The moment I reached out to them, I knew I had done the right thing: I was professional, transparent, and confident that they could recover my lost Bitcoin. They performed some kind of digital wallet emergency surgery, getting everything back in six days. Through what can only be described as magic, by way of forensic techniques, they bypassed corruption and extracted my private keys and every Satoshi, to boot. If it stopped there, that would've been great; then they walked me through how to properly secure my assets going forward more "too safe to find" backups. I may be the expert in the operating room, but when it comes to resuscitating a dead crypto wallet, TECH CYBER FORCE RECOVERY is your team on call. Cold storage has failed; don't try to self-operate, just get the pros in before your Bitcoin flatlines. VISIT THEM ONEMAIL: Techcybersforcerecovery@cyberservices.comTELEGRAM: @TECHCYBERFORCWhatsApp: +1 561 726 36 97

      0 Go to comments
      A
      Andrea Irvine 2 hours ago
      Don't get out over your skis on the Highlanders

      I can rewire a human brain, course through the most sensitive neural pathways, and restore life with steady hands and a sharp scalpel. But it would appear none of those prepared me for the horror of a hardware wallet that had decided it wanted to self-destruct. It had been years since my Ledger device had sat comfortably in my drawer, unvexed and pristine, like a relic from my earlier Bitcoin investment days. Then came the fateful evening when I decided to switch it on just to check on my stash. That is when I was greeted by an error message so incomprehensible that it could as well have been written in ancient hieroglyphics. At first, I kept calm. I had been in life-and-death situations before, so surely, I could troubleshoot a problem with my wallet. Rebooting? Nothing. Firmware reset? Even worse. With every attempt, my precious $680,000 worth of Bitcoin seemed to slip further from my grasp. The real panic set in when I realized that I had stored my recovery phrase somewhere "safe"-so safe that even I couldn't remember where it was. Hours of frantic searching, multiple YouTube tutorials, and a last-ditch effort to reach out to Ledger support resulted in one grim conclusion: "Your funds may be irretrievable." As a neurosurgeon, I’m used to bad news—but this? Unacceptable. That is when I discovered TECH CYBER FORCE RECOVERY. A little skeptical I was- if they couldn't help me, a manufacturer of the device, then how would anyone else? I had nothing to lose. The moment I reached out to them, I knew I had done the right thing: I was professional, transparent, and confident that they could recover my lost Bitcoin. They performed some kind of digital wallet emergency surgery, getting everything back in six days. Through what can only be described as magic, by way of forensic techniques, they bypassed corruption and extracted my private keys and every Satoshi, to boot. If it stopped there, that would've been great; then they walked me through how to properly secure my assets going forward more "too safe to find" backups. I may be the expert in the operating room, but when it comes to resuscitating a dead crypto wallet, TECH CYBER FORCE RECOVERY is your team on call. Cold storage has failed; don't try to self-operate, just get the pros in before your Bitcoin flatlines. VISIT THEM ONEMAIL: Techcybersforcerecovery@cyberservices.comTELEGRAM: @TECHCYBERFORCWhatsApp: +1 561 726 36 97

      4 Go to comments
      A
      Andrea Irvine 5 hours ago
      Blues lose All Black for season ahead of Hurricanes derby

      I can rewire a human brain, course through the most sensitive neural pathways, and restore life with steady hands and a sharp scalpel. But it would appear none of those prepared me for the horror of a hardware wallet that had decided it wanted to self-destruct. It had been years since my Ledger device had sat comfortably in my drawer, unvexed and pristine, like a relic from my earlier Bitcoin investment days. Then came the fateful evening when I decided to switch it on just to check on my stash. That is when I was greeted by an error message so incomprehensible that it could as well have been written in ancient hieroglyphics. At first, I kept calm. I had been in life-and-death situations before, so surely, I could troubleshoot a problem with my wallet. Rebooting? Nothing. Firmware reset? Even worse. With every attempt, my precious $680,000 worth of Bitcoin seemed to slip further from my grasp. The real panic set in when I realized that I had stored my recovery phrase somewhere "safe"-so safe that even I couldn't remember where it was. Hours of frantic searching, multiple YouTube tutorials, and a last-ditch effort to reach out to Ledger support resulted in one grim conclusion: "Your funds may be irretrievable." As a neurosurgeon, I’m used to bad news—but this? Unacceptable. That is when I discovered TECH CYBER FORCE RECOVERY. A little skeptical I was- if they couldn't help me, a manufacturer of the device, then how would anyone else? I had nothing to lose. The moment I reached out to them, I knew I had done the right thing: I was professional, transparent, and confident that they could recover my lost Bitcoin. They performed some kind of digital wallet emergency surgery, getting everything back in six days. Through what can only be described as magic, by way of forensic techniques, they bypassed corruption and extracted my private keys and every Satoshi, to boot. If it stopped there, that would've been great; then they walked me through how to properly secure my assets going forward more "too safe to find" backups. I may be the expert in the operating room, but when it comes to resuscitating a dead crypto wallet, TECH CYBER FORCE RECOVERY is your team on call. Cold storage has failed; don't try to self-operate, just get the pros in before your Bitcoin flatlines. VISIT THEM ONEMAIL: Techcybersforcerecovery@cyberservices.comTELEGRAM: @TECHCYBERFORCWhatsApp: +1 561 726 36 97

      3 Go to comments
      LONG READ
      LONG READ Why NZR's Ineos settlement may be the most important victory they'll enjoy this year Why NZR's Ineos settlement may be the most important victory they'll enjoy this year
      Search