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London Irish opt not to stoke controversy in Ireland with Paddy Jackson

Paddy Jackson poses last week for a portrait ahead of the new London Irish season (Photo by Steve Bardens/Getty Images)

London Irish have steered clear of the potential for controversy by opting not to bring Paddy Jackson with them to Ireland when they open their new season away to Munster next Friday.

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The out-half – sacked by the IRFU in April 2018 despite being found not guilty at a high profile court case in Belfast – hasn’t played a single match in his home country since he was forced to earn his living outside Ireland. 

Perpignan, the French club Jackson joined last season, excluded him from their squad last December when they travelled to Galway to take on Connacht in a Challenge Cup pool fixture. 

Now his latest employer, London Irish, has decided not to bring the opinion-dividing half-back to Cork for their annual Jack Wakefield Memorial Trophy fixture with Munster. 

Jackson’s signing by the newly promoted Gallagher Premiership club has already stoked controversy as long-time club sponsor Guinness pulled their sponsorship last June and it remains to be seen how the player’s presence will be received on the English league circuit once that tournament gets going in mid-October. 

(Continue reading below…)

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It was alleged that an appearance by Jackson in Cork could have been problematic as more than 100 people had already indicated their intention to protest. 

Jackson, who was publicly backed by his coach Declan Kidney last week, has not played a match in Ireland since the curtain came down on his Ulster career with a late April 2017 PRO12 win over Leinster in Belfast, the same game that was the last appearance of Ruan Pienaar in the Ravenhill club’s colours.  

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With Jackson kept on ice, Irish are travelling to Munster with a squad of 29 players which has Stephen Myler and Jacob Atkins pencilled in at their options at out-half.  

The friendly is the English club’s only pre-season fixture ahead of their Premiership Cup campaign, which begins September 21 with a trip to Kingsholm to play Gloucester.

London Irish (v Munster, Friday)

1. Harry Elrington/Will Goodrick-Clarke

2. Dave Porecki/Ross McMillan*

3. Lovejoy Chawatama/Patric Cilliers

4. Chunya Munga/Barney Maddison ©

5. Franco van der Merwe ©/Sam Collingridge

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6. George Nott/Ben Donnell

7. Conor Gilsenan/Blair Cowan

8. Matt Rogerson/Izaiha Moore-Aione

9. Rory Brand/Scott Steele

10. Stephen Myler/Jacob Atkins

11./14. Ollie Hassell-Collins/Ben Loader/Tom Fowlie

12. Terrence Hepetema/Matt Williams

13. Curtis Rona/Brendan Macken

15. Tom Parton/Will Partington

*Ross McMillan has joined London Irish on a short-term contract as World Cup cover.

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fl 2 hours ago
‘Props are awesome…so why don’t they win prizes?’

“The reason most props don’t last the whole game is that they expend proportionally more effort than players outside the front row. Should they be penalised for that?”

No, they don’t last the whole game because they are less fit than players outside the front row. I’d be interested to know if you’d apply this logic to other positions; do PSDT and Itoje regularly last longer than other players in their positions because they put in less effort?

None of this is about “penalising” props, its about being realistic about their impact on a game.


“While scrums are a small part of the game in terms of time spent in them, they have disproportionate impact. Dominant scrums win games; feeble ones lose them.”

Strength at the breakdown wins games. Good kicking wins games. Good handling wins games. Strong defence wins games. Good lineouts win games. Ultimately, I think that of all these things, the scrum is probably the least important, because it demonstrably doesn’t correlate very well with winning games. I don’t think Rugbypass will allow me to link articles, but if you google “HG Rugby Crowning the Best Scrum in Club Rugby” you’ll get a pretty convincing analysis that ranks Toulouse and Bordeaux outside of the 10 best club sides in the scrum - and ranks Leinster outside of the top 30.


“Or there’s Joe Marler’s epic performance in the Bristol v Quins 2021 Premiership Semi-Final, in which he finally left the pitch 15 minutes into extra time having signed off with a try saving tackle.”

Yeah - that’s a good example actually, but it kind of disproves your point. Marler played 95 minutes, which is unheard of for a prop.


“Maybe we need a dedicated Hall of Fame with entry only for props, and voted for only by props.”

Well we have the World Rugby XV of the year. Its only been going for a few years, but in time it’ll be a pretty good record of who are perceived as best props - although the lack of interest most people have in scrums means that perception of who the best props are doesn’t always match reality (e.g. Tadgh Furlong was great in 2018 - but was he really the best tighthead in the world in 2021, 2022, & 2023?).

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