London Irish Rugby

Declan Danaher, the flanker for the Aviva Premiership Rugby Football Union club the London Irish has announced his retirement from playing in professional rugby.

The 34 year old back row player has been the longest serving player for the club since the game turned professional in the 1990s having been capped 275 times by the Exiles since he first pulled on the fabled shirt for the first time in 1999.

Danaher, who has been hailed as a legend for the club by Brian Smith, the club’s Director of Rugby, will continue in his role as the forward’s coach for the club’s academy team.

Speaking after his last match for the club, Danaher stated that it has been a great experience to pull on the fabled London Irish jersey through the good times and the bad. Danaher led the club to victory in the Anglo – Welsh Cup back in 2002 and he said it was privilege to play for the club for so long and mentioned that he has played in some great matches and has been a part of some of the greatest teams in the club’s history.

Danaher went on to add that it was an honor to be a part of a great title winning side back in 2002 as well as having played in so many finals and semi finals throughout his career. He also added that he is looking forward to working with some of the highly talented prospects coming through the youth ranks of the club.

The London Irish appointed him as the club captain back in 2012 and it was in November that he first mentioned that he was contemplating hanging up his boots and was looking for a position on the coaching staff and finally, that journey has come to an end and new one has begun.

Glenn Delaney has stated that the Aviva Premiership Rugby Football Union club the London Irish has not made any mistake by signing Halani Aulika a new three year contract to remain at the club.

The Tonga international prop has not played for the Exiles since sustaining an Achilles injury early in September in just the third game of the season for the club and he is not expected to return to the Exiles fold till at least the start of the new season.

The prop’s previous contract was scheduled to run out at the end of the current season while the new three year deal he has penned will see him remain at the club till the end of the 2016/17 season.

And Delaney, the forwards coach of the London Irish has stated that he doesn’t think the club has taken a huge gamble in giving him a renewed deal at all. He mentioned that injuries to rugby players are quite normal and it happens all the time.

He mentioned that they have had plenty of players to be ruled out for an entire season and stated that it is one of those things that are not in the hands of anyone. Delaney mentioned that when someone plays a sport like rugby, injuries are a part of the game and one just has to accept it as normal.

However, Delaney also mentioned that Aulika was the heartbeat of a lot of the great things the London Irish have done over the past couple of seasons and he was in fine form at the start of this season as well before he got injured.

The coach mentioned that he’s delighted the player is staying at the club adding that he loves having him around and knows for a fact that Aulika himself wants to stay.