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Delaney to Join London Irish
Aviva Premiership side the London Irish are continuing the revamp of their coaching set up and have recruited Nottingham Rugby Football Club Director of Rugby Glenn Delaney as their forwards coach for the upcoming season. Delaney, who spent seven years with Nottingham, will leave the club to join up with Shaun Edwards, who has already been named as the defense coach of The Exiles for the upcoming season. These appointments come in the wake of a reshuffle of the coaching setup at The Exiles under their Director of Rugby Brian Smith, who is looking to completely revamp the side that finished a disappointing seventh in the recently concluded season of the Aviva Premiership.
The 38 year old Delaney, who originally hails from New Zealand, played for the London Irish for four seasons between 2000 and 2003 at second row and was extremely popular with the fans and players alike. According to Smith, who spoke to the media after the announcement of the arrival of Delaney, it is great to have someone of the caliber of Delaney on board who has been a former player and knows the tradition and values of the club.
Mike Catt, the current backs coach of The Exiles, as well as head coach Toby Booth have already announced their intentions to leave the club, along with Neal Hatley, the coach of the academy and Justin Bishop, the defense coach. Delaney played for Nottingham as well before he joined the London Irish and when contacted, he stated that it would be difficult for him to say goodbye to the fans but it is an opportunity that he could not pass on.
All that needs to be seen now is with the appointment with new backroom staff, how far The Exiles manage to salvage their team and status.
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NEW SIGNING
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
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DELON HEADS TO TOULON
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.