The massive salary London Irish are set to pay Paddy Jackson
London Irish have delighted their fans over the last few months with an array of stellar signings that include British and Irish Lions and soon-to-be former All Blacks.
Sean O’Brien, Allan Dell, Nick Phipps and Curtis Rona were the first wave of announcements, whilst that was followed by confirmation that Sekope Kepu, Adam Coleman and Waisake Naholo will all also be wearing green next season. With the recent injection of cash from the CVC investment in the Gallagher Premiership, Irish have not been afraid to dust off their chequebook this season.
One signing that has received less adulation, however, has been the arrival of Paddy Jackson from Perpignan. With plenty of negativity and threats of boycott on social media, Irish will be hoping that that does not translate into the real world and impact on attendances, especially with the club just a year away from moving into the new stadium in Brentford.
Jackson, who was acquitted after being put on trial for rape last year, is set to be one of the biggest earners at the club, with RugbyPass sources indicating that he is set to be on a figure close to £500k a year at the promoted side. If the reported figure of O’Brien being on £450k is also true, Irish will be investing the best part of a million pounds in just two players, neither of whom has the marquee player tag, nor who would provide any sort of credits to the salary cap.
Jackson has 25 caps for Ireland, the first of which came under London Irish director of rugby Declan Kidney back in 2013, whilst he also worked with Les Kiss, Irish’s head coach, at Ulster, and clearly both men believe they can get him back to his best in Reading.
The 27-year-old has spent the last season with Perpignan in the Top 14, following his sacking by Ulster and the IRFU in 2018. Perpignan have won just two of their 24 games so far this season, with Jackson starting less than half of those matches.
The fly-half position always carries a premium in salaries, yet Irish fans will likely still balk at the figure given the player is increasingly far removed from those previous highs with Ulster and Ireland.
That said, if he can help Irish avoid relegation back to the Greene King IPA Championship next season, they will consider it money wisely spent and his previous conduct off the field will become a less talked about subject.
Watch: Gregor Townsend talks to the press after naming his expanded RWC training squad.
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The difference between Fassi and Le Roux?
Almost 100 tests. Fassi is growing from test to test and is already world class. It’s going to be difficult for Damian Willemse to usurp Fassi at 15 and may find himself destined as the utility back on the bomb squad.
South Africans love hating on their fullback. A proud tradition since Percy Montgomery (before he won us a World Cup). So I don’t pay much mind to the noise that follows anyone who puts on the 15 jersey for SA.
15 is a high risk, low reward position. You don’t dare drop a high ball, certainly don’t shank a kick into the stands. In fact if you’re not kicking 60m torpedoes into the opposition corners - stay at home.
And miss tackles? After everyone else on the team has let a break through - best you not miss!
Only Andre Joubert strikes me as a fullback that has been better than Willie. Yet Willie has been widely panned on a regular basis. Irritating.
Fassi is great. And I’m sure he’s learning a lot from Willie.
Go to commentsNo, Penney's win rate as a Super Rugby coach BEFORE he was given a 2 year contract here, was 23%. He came in with a very poor success rate at SR level.
This loser vibe was borne out over the SR season where we won only 4 games while losing 10. Finishing 9th in a 12 team competition & missing a QF spot was next level DOWN.
There's zero evidence that suggests we will win 10 games (70%) as you predict. I understand there may be new assistant coaches coming on board. At this stage, we can only hope for the best.
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