London Irish Director of Rugby, Brian Smith has announced that his side are close to signing a new fly half, having discussed 15 possible contenders to fill the role.
Of the search to fill the 10 shirt Smith said “We’re making sure we’re not buying someone with a tendency for injuries. We don’t want journeyman players. We have some really talented young players so we want to bring in world-class players around them to help them shine”.
Having earlier being linked with former Wales and Scarlet’s number 10 Stephen Jones the calibre of player is clear. Jones has gone on to join Wasps for next season but Smith is confident he is close to bringing in a man fit to fill the role.
Several high profile players will be leaving the Exiles in the summer, with Delon Armitage likely to be amongst them, leaving for Toulon to join brothers Steffon and guy. Whilst refusing to confirm Delon’s departure Smith refused to rule it out but did seem resigned to losing him, commenting that the Armitage family would “always have a home at London Irish” should they leave.
London Irish’s campaign this season has taken a major blow over recent weeks, having lost 6 consecutive league games they now find themselves with a major uphill struggle to gain Heineken Cup Rugby next season. With Saracens this weekend, none of their final three games are easy and with Sale seemingly back in form with last night’s win over Bath a result against Champions Sarries is a must for the Exiles.
If they do want to sign a big name fly half it is of utmost importance that they show at least a reasonable level of fight in their quest for a Heineken Cup place. The top players will want to be in the Heineken Cup and Irish will have to provide that should they
London Irish will be without any of the Armitage family next season following the news that full back Delon will be joining brothers Steffon and Guy at Toulon from the summer.
Delon, who has won 26 England caps has been at Irish since 2003 and has made 165 appearances for the club. He now follows his two brothers across the channel having signed a two year deal. Armitage described now as “the right time for me to move on at this stage in my rugby career”.
Throughout the speculation that Delon would be leaving the club he has received full backing from everyone at London Irish. He has received backing from the club in his move with them understanding the lure of joining his brothers and the chance to return to the area in Southern France where he and his brothers grew up.
On his leaving Armitage has been complimentary of the club where he has learnt his trade. “I would like to thank everyone involved at London Irish, in particular Toby Booth” said the full back. “My partner, Jemma, our children and I have thoroughly enjoyed the environment at the club and will go away with some fantastic memories.”
The move to France will spell, at least a temporary end to Armitage’s England prospects. He was once the next big thing for England but has had a tough few seasons, losing his England place to Ben Foden and having a number of discipline issues.
With Steffon already at Toulon and Guy announcing some time ago that he would follow it seemed inevitable that Delon would complete the trios move back to France. He becomes the latest of a number of high profile international stars at Toulon, joining Carl Hayman, Matt Giteau, Bakkies Botha and Jonny Wilkinson at the French side.
Dan Bowden, the 26 year old fly half of the London Irish is all set to undergo an ankle surgery, effectively ruling him out for the last four games of the for The Exiles, thereby ending his career for the London based club.
He has already signed on a new contractual agreement to move to the Leicester Tigers at the end of the season, meaning that he is done and dusted with the Irish. This puts the club in some dire straits if rumors of a move for Adrian Jarvis to an unnamed French First Division are to be believed, therefore, leaving the side with only Steven Shingler as the recognized number 10 for the club.
However, according to the Director of Rugby for The Exiles Brian Smith, the search for a replacement fly half is well underway and by the end of the season they will have ample solutions to the problem with the creative part of their play. London Irish also believe that their free scoring player Tom Homer can be molded to play in the role of a fly half, leaving them with plenty of options at the centre of the park.
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London Irish | admin | 
March 14, 2012 9:36 am | 
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London Irish were humbled by Newcastle at the Kingston Park after they lost the match 19 to 10. The match was well fought by the Newcastle Falcons as they recovered after half time to finish the match on a winning note.
The score stood at Newcastle Falcons 6 and London Irish 10 at the half time. On top of that, Adriaan Fondse was sent off in the 60th minute. Fondse was sent off from the match by the referee after he punched Delon Armitage. The full back was very lucky to have gone unpunished after he smashed his forearm on James Fitzpatrick in the later stages of the match.
The game was interrupted due to many ugly tackles and bookings. Amongst which were Jon Golding of Newcastle Falcons and Richard Thorpe of London Irish who were booked in the last few minutes of what turned out to be a very ill tempered and bad spirited match.
On top of all the ugly tackles and the bookings, the game was also interrupted because of a huge number of errors as both the teams struggled to play to their potential because of harsh weather conditions.
Jimmy Gopperth of the Falcons managed to convert three very important penalties, a drop goal and a conversion. Gopperth scored a penalty in the fourth minute of the game itself after London Irish committed three unforced errors.
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