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Six players have committed their immediate futures to London Irish as the club confirmed their first round of contract renewals.
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Ben Atkins, Jack Cooke, James Stokes, Jacob Atkins, Isaac Curtis-Harris and Ireland qualified scrumhalf Caolan Englefield have all penned new deals with the Exiles.
Curtis-Harris, who joined the Club’s senior Academy during the 2016/17 campaign, has also put pen to paper to extend his stay with the Exiles. To date, Curtis-Harris has made 20 appearances in all competitions for Irish.
Cooke came through the London Irish Academy system and has gone on to make 26 appearances for the Exiles so far. The back row, who once ran out at the Madejski Stadium as a mascot holding the then captain Bob Casey’s hand, skippered the Exiles for the first time in the 2019/20 season.
Full-back James Stokes has made 27 appearances for the Exiles in his first two seasons with the Club. Stokes has been in good form this season, scoring a brace of tries against Pau in the European Rugby Challenge Cup, showing his versatility in the backline having played at full-back, wing and in the centres during the 2020/21 campaign.
23-year-old fly-half Jacob Atkins, who joined the London Irish Academy by virtue of coming through the AASE programme at the start of the 2016/17 season, featured in both the Gallagher Premiership and European Challenge Cup during this season’s campaign and has made 40 appearances for the Club in all competitions.
Ben Atkins, who graduated through the AASE programme and has represented England at both U19 and U20 level, has made seven appearances in the front row for the Exiles to date.
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Scrum-half Caolan Englefield, an Irish U19 international, meanwhile, has appeared on six occasions, with two of those arriving in the 2020/21 season.
London Irish finished ninth in this season Gallagher Premiership, their second consecutive season since being promoted at the end of the 2018/19 RFU Championship season.
Comments on RugbyPass
The best outside centre in the world at one point. He will be greatly missed.
2 Go to commentsYip his great for the big moments when needed as a safa really enjoy watching him
4 Go to commentsOne that will start to come up from now on is penalties for back pushes during kick chase scrambles. Very difficult to detect. In Croke Park if you replay the Hendy NH try, you will see Furbank push Porter in the back, who collides with Larmour knocking the ball across into Hendy’s path to dot down. A more significant example was in the RWC QTR final where Arendse pushes Fickou into two other French players for the ball to spill into Arendse’s path for him to gather and run in to score SAs first try. Not cheating if you are not caught and very difficult to spot but with kicking becoming so critical I feel its an area that will referreeed/TMO-ed more.
3 Go to commentsWhat a pathetic little twit Andy Goode is, as if we care what he thinks…..😂
114 Go to commentsFoxy has been a wonderful player for the Scarlets and Wales.
2 Go to commentsNika the Georgian is the best referee in the world at the moment. Luckily we will be spared the shite SH refs and Barnes will hopefully remain retired given how shite and embarrassing he was at the RWC.
3 Go to commentsThis is the most exciting game of the summer imo, as we really won’t know in advance how both teams are going to play. - Will Robertson just reproduce his Crusaders tactics from last year, or will there be a conscious effort to borrow from the Hurricanes and Blues, and from the aspects of the ABs world cup strategy that worked well? - England under Borthwick have put in some good performances playing attacking rugby, and some good performances playing kick-oriented defensive rugby. Will Borthwick try to merge them together into a single all-court game, or will he continue switching between different approaches depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition?
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
9 Go to commentsFinals are always tense affairs for the players so I do not expect this to be a spectacle of running rugby unfortunately.
3 Go to commentsBulls***': Ex-England international calls out Eben Etzebeth… Not to his face but from very far away… after he’d left. Checked to make sure he wasn’t in the building.
114 Go to commentsHopefully this will mean a new Auckland league team to support in the west. Big Warriors fan but it’s very, very stale on that front and I’d like the option of another team if it was to watch league again. League needs to step up BIG time if its to get anywhere, another AK team and something from the capitol or south is a must for the game.
3 Go to commentsGood, deep interview, nice job Frankie!
1 Go to commentsNRL players don’t have anywhere near the number of Tests. Some people would be happy having Rest Homes full if 40 yo ex-players walking, or hobbling more like it, into walls. It’s just a game!
4 Go to commentsNOW Razor is worried about ABs getting injured or overplayed! Didn’t bother him last year. He happily played his AB Crusaders.
4 Go to commentsWhat is the World Rugby U20 players born year.
2 Go to commentsMuch like the Chiefs finally gave up waiting for Atu Moli to ever not be injured, you have to wonder if the Chiefs and Crusaders will let Josh Lord and Ethan Blackadder go next season. They’re being well paid to sit in the injury ward every year. Better off putting those funds towards someone who might actually play.
7 Go to commentsShowed better basic skills than some nz Super sides, who probably would have botched some of those backline moves. This tournament really is too short though. Needs more teams, or have them play two rounds to properly prepare them for the near full-time NH U20 sides.
4 Go to commentsGood grief it’s only six months. Probably just upset it’s not an established kiwi entering their prime they can “project” into green to join the rest.
3 Go to commentsGood player but far from being best in the world. That's an exaggeration. Perhaps Best in world by Northern Hemisphere standards and biasis but certainly not Southern Hemi standards
4 Go to comments