Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
London Irish have officially been relegated from the English Premiership. Worcester’s 44-13 win over Harlequins on Saturday sealed their fate, with the 51-14 loss to Saracens on Sunday academic. London Irish will now play in the RFU Championship next season, an immediate return to the second division after they had achieved promotion the year before.
An immediate return to the top flight will not be as predictable this time around. Though talks of ‘ring-fencing’ the Premiership appear to have cooled for now, the Exiles are set to lose not only several top senior players but a significant number of their most promising academy graduates with Joe Cokanasiga set to move to Bath, Johnny Williams to Newcastle, and both Theo Brophy-Clews and Ben Loader rumored to be next on the list.
Also compounding matters is the increasing strength of other Championship contenders Ealing, Bedford, and Cornish Pirates. The Trailfinders in particular have been very busy signing numerous first division veterans and USA internationals Andrew Durutalo and Ben Landry. Their Vallis Way grounds capacity currently does not meet Premiership standards and if they were to win there could be no promotion next season unless they opted to move elsewhere.
Only one Americas player is currently at the club. Canadian midfidler Ciaran Hearn has a year remaining on his contract but after spending nearly the entire season on the disabled list and new team management on board in the form of Declan Kidney and Les Kiss, it remains to be seen if he will indeed stay at the Madejski next season.
