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London Irish fans glad to see current stars stay despite star influx
By Josh Raisey
London Irish have been very busy over the past couple of weeks recruiting ahead of their return to the Premiership next season.
Declan Kidney’s side have secured the services of All Black Waisake Naholo, Australia international Adam Coleman and former Ireland international Paddy Jackson to go alongside the likes of Nick Phipps and Sean O’Brien who signed a few months ago.
However, the fear with signings like these is that it would oust the current crop of players that have earned promotion this season. This happened with London Welsh a few seasons ago where they released a huge host of players after getting promoted. It did not pay off, and it equally did not prove to be a popular decision amongst fans.
Therefore, the Exiles have made a great move in re-signing Conor Gilsenan and Lovejoy Chawatama ahead of next season. The flanker Gilsenan and prop Chawatama have been important members of the Irish squad this season, and many fans on Twitter are glad to see them stay with the club.
It would be unfair to release a huge portion of their squad, and these Irish players deserve to stay at the club.
Not only are the fans glad to see two popular figures remain at the Madejski Stadium, but it will give the squad some depth which will complement the stars that are incoming. This is what the fans have said:
London Irish look to be a team that are not simply happy to survive in the Premiership next season, they want to become a force again. They have rampantly signed a wealth of international stars to do this, but retaining their current squad will also be integral to the cohesion of the team.
Irish may be striking a good balance here between the old and the new, and can look forward to a successful campaign.
WATCH: A blast from the past behind the scenes look at London Irish by RugbyPass when the club was last in the Premiership
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Latest Comments
It sounds like Andrew is trying to convince himself or has just lost all perspective. The team did look jaded for the last couple of games of the six nations but a few things were wrong there. Italy tackled their hearts out and made Ireland work hard for every try. Outsmarted by Scotland? Huh? Ireland got held up over the line about 4 times. Scotland did nothing on attack the whole game other than one breakaway near the end. A recharge and reset is needed which they hopefully will have had before the SA your.
Go to commentsIncluding SA and Argie teams was great for the quality of rugby, but middle of the night games and player travel/ jet lag make that unworkable. I think that SA in Europe and Argie building an American league with USA, Canada etc would be better long term. If Oz can't sustain Rebels then next cab off the rank should be a Japanese team. Keep regional comps to time zones, both club and test rugby. Then existing test windows for test tours plus RWC.
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