1
Richards: London Irish a 'top two' Premiership team
By Chris Jones
Newcastle boss Dean Richards is not known for his hyperbole which makes his assertion that London Irish are a “top two” Gallagher Premiership team so intriguing.
Richards gave his verdict as his Newcastle side, currently second in the table, are preparing to face Irish at Brentford on Sunday with the Exiles currently inhabiting a lowly 10th place in the table after significant disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. They received two points following the cancellation of each of the matches with Bath and Northampton.
Despite appearing to be well off the Premiership pace – Irish are eight points behind Falcons – Richards points to the Exiles recruitment that has seen them raid Australian rugby for Adam Coleman, Rob Simmons, Curtis Rona, Nick Phipps and Sekope Kepu. They have been joined at the club by former Argentina captain Agustin Creevy, Tonga’s Steve Mafi Fijian Albert Tuidsue and the Irish international pair of Paddy Jackson and Sean O’Brien. Scotland flanker Blair Cowan has been a long term member of the squad.
Richards has been on a more modest spending spree bringing in Pumas centre Matias Orlando to join a squad featuring homegrown talent supplemented by Samoan prop Logo Mulipola, Scotland flanker Gary Graham, England’s Mark Wilson and veteran England back Toby Flood.
Despite lacking the kind of star names Irish have assembled, it is Falcons who have made the better start suffering just one defeat since gaining promotion to the English top flight. As he prepares for the Irish match Richards told RugbyPass: “London Irish have an unbelievable side on paper and they are top two material. If they put their strongest team out it is a hell of a side we will be facing.
“We are not sure what their style of play is because they haven’t played that many matches and they haven’t put their best side out yet. We have to look at ourselves and then prepare for what you know and if that is little (about the opposition) then so be it. They haven’t changed from a defensive point of view and it depends who they bring into the attack. There are all sorts of traits that haven’t changed but we have hardly seen anything of them.
“We have only had the one loss at Bristol and got back into the groove against Gloucester and so we didn’t really want a break. We are delighted with the start
Richards refused to confirm Mike Brown would be joining the team from Harlequins next season and said: “I can’t tell you anything at all because I don’t talk about speculation.”
London Irish
15 Tom Parton, 14 Ben Loader, 13 Curtis Rona, 12 Billy Meakes, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Nick Phipps, 1 Will Goodrick-Clarke, 2 Agustin Creevy, 3 Sekope Kepu, 4 Steve Mafi, 5 Rob Simmons, 6 Matt Rogerson (c), 7 Seàn O’Brien, 8 Albert Tuisue.
Replacements
16 Motu Matu’u, 17 Allan Dell, 18 Lovejoy Chawatama, 19 Adam Coleman, 20 Ben Donnell, 21 Blair Cowan, 22 Ben Meehan, 23 Terrence Hepetema.
Trending on RugbyPass
2
Jake White: Ireland, Australia and Wales have the same problem
3
David Campese names his Springbok world player of the year winner
4
Let's be real about these All Blacks
5
Latest Comments
John, McKenzie was 10 years ago and he only lasted 15 months until the disgustingly unfair affair that brought him down. I thought that if he didn't get another gig over Eddie V2 then he was done. I read that he had been approached but declined to put his name in the ring.
There are no potential Wallaby coaches outside of McKellar unless you have some inside info?
Go to commentsThe way they are defending is sometime pathetic to be honest. Itoje is usually on the inside of the rush and he is paired with a slower tight forward. Unable to keep up with the rush we have seen the line become disconnected on the inside where the big boys are. How many times have we seen Earl rush past the first receiver almost into no mans land covering no attacker. It looks like a system without any guidance. Tome Wright, Ikitau and a number of Wallabies went back to this soft centre as did Williams, Jordan and several others. Also when the line is broken the multiple lines of defence seems to be missing. The rush is predicated on a cover and recovery system with multiple lines of defence but with England you dont see it any more. Fitness and conditioning seems to be off as well as players are struggling to keep up with the intensity of the rush. Felix Jones has left a huge hole. The whole situation was and is a mess. Why they insist on not letting him go and having him work remotely is beyond me. Its leading to massive negative press and is a hot button issue thats distracting from the squad. Also the communication around Jones and his role has been absolute rubbish and is totally disjointed. While some say he is working remotely and playing a role others are saying theres been no contact. His role has not been defined and so people keep asking and keep getting different answers. England need a clean break from him and need to start over. Whatever reason for his leaving its time to cut the rope before the saga drags the whole Borthwick regime down. As for Joe El Abd well good luck to him. He is being made to look like an amateur by the whole saga and he is being asked to coach a system thats not his and which has been perfected and honed since 2017 by Nienaber, Jones, Erasmus and Co and which was first started by White in 2004. He is literally trying to figure out a system pioneered by double world cup winning coaches at the highest level and coach it at the same time. Talk about being on a hiding to nothing.
Go to comments