Paddy Jackson set to play in Ireland for first time since May 2017
London Irish out-half Paddy Jackson is poised to play his first match in Ireland this Friday since last featuring for Ulster in a May 2017 PRO12 win over Leinster in Belfast. The now 29-year-old was stood down by the IRFU shortly playing for Ireland in Japan that summer and his contract was eventually terminated in April 2018 despite being found not guilty of raping a young student at a house party in Belfast.
Jackson has since gone on to rebuild his rugby career overseas, initially spending a year in France with Perpignan before switching to London Irish and becoming a vital part of their set-up under Declan Kidney, the coach who gave him his Test debut in 2013.
It was announced earlier this week that Jackson would continue in the leadership role at the English club which he was first given last November, joining Nick Phipps in assisting skipper Matt Rogerson for the coming 2021/22 Gallagher Premiership. That decision ignited a social media storm with #Ibelieveher and ‘Paddy Jackson’ trending on Twitter in Ireland.
It’s a debate now set to continue into the weekend as Jackson will be the starting No10 after getting included in the 37-man travelling squad London Irish brought to Galway for Friday night’s pre-season match versus Connacht – the first outing for Jackson in Ireland in 52 months.
He had previously missed out on trips back to his native country, giving a Challenge Cup match at Connacht with Perpignan and a pre-season game at Munster with London Irish a miss, but he is now finally ready to bridge a long gap as he has been chosen as a starter from the 17 backs that Kidney has with him at the Sportsground.
#Ibelieveher and ‘Paddy Jackson’ have been trending on Twitter in Ireland since the latest London Irish leadership group announcement was made this weekhttps://t.co/rFUK6Hoya4
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 9, 2021
Jackson’s inclusion wasn’t touched on by London Irish in their pre-game squad release, Kidney saying: “The trip to Connacht will be a good chance for the players to get some game time under their belts ahead of the new season. The players and staff have worked hard this pre-season, and this is an opportunity to put it into practice before the trip to Worcester.”
LONDON IRISH (vs Connacht, Friday)
15. Parton; 14. Hassell-Collins, 13, Rona, 12. Hepetema, 11. Rowe; 10. Jackson, 9. Phipps; 1. Goodrick-Clarke, 2. Creevy, 3. van der Merwe, 4. Simmons, 5. Coleman, 6. Rogerson (capt), 7. Donnell, 8. Tuisue.
Jackson hasn't been capped by Ireland since his high profile court case in 2018 #SixNations #PremRugbyhttps://t.co/weVTjyrJoJ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 3, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments