If points were awarded for the supply of academy-reared players to other clubs, London Irish would not be sitting at the bottom of the Premiership on zero. They have never been heavy hitters in English rugby – although they were Premiership finalists only six years ago and Heineken Cup semi-finalists the year before that – but wit and an esprit de corps have kept them ever-present in the top flight.
The irony is that that status looks more under threat than ever, despite their move in 2014 from the endearingly dilapidated base they called home off The Avenue, Sunbury – already a collection of luxury homes – to facilities round the corner at Hazelwood that were good enough for the All Blacks at the World Cup. Either side of that annus mirabilis in 2009, their customary position was mid-table. For the last three seasons they have been drifting in the bottom third.
“It’s as simple as not looking after the academy and the young players,” says David Paice, Irish’s longest-serving current player on 13 seasons and counting, of the slip in their status. “Irish have always bought smart and relied on their academy to keep plugging those gaps. We totally went away from that. We lost a lot of players. It’s no way to run a business, no continuity.”
There is quite a composite team to be put together from products of the Irish academy – from Alex Corbisiero and Paice up front, through Nick Kennedy and Matt Garvey to the dazzling attacking talents of Shane Geraghty, Jonathan Joseph, Delon Armitage, Marland Yarde and Anthony Watson. The majority of them are no longer at the club.
“It does hurt when players leave,” Paice says. “Sometimes I feel a little pissed off with them. I felt I stayed almost out of stubbornness. I didn’t want to leave. I’m London Irish. I want to win something here and keep fighting but at other times I’ve understood their decision. You’ve got to do what’s best for you in a short career. It’s up to us to provide an environment where they want to stay – and we didn’t do that. But at the moment we’ve got a great environment, great facilities and a great bunch of guys, and I don’t think we’re going to go through that again.”
Neal Hatley, a 250-match veteran of the club, was the academy mentor who brought through so many of those talents. His departure for Bath in 2012 left a hole that has only recently been plugged by the appointment of Kennedy, Declan Danaher and Paul Hodgson, London Irish doyens all, to run the academy. With the backing of a consortium of Irish businessmen and their new training complex at Hazelwood, not to mention the arrival of a new head coach in Tom Coventry from the Chiefs of Waikato, London Irish have ambitions beyond the ducking and diving underdoggery that has been their modus operandi for so long.
“Going from The Avenue,” Paice says, “where only two or three showers out of the 15 worked and you had to queue for the ones with high water pressure, it’s almost like we’re spoiled here.”
Could it be that deprivation provided an edge in itself, particularly for a club that could not compete in other departments? “It’s a romantic way to look at things. You might get the odd good season but you’re always going to be struggling and the club has ambitions. We’ve been given the facilities and the best coaching staff. It’s a no-excuses thing.”
Nevertheless, the adjustment to having all you could wish for can be harsh. A glance at the table will attest to that. It has been Irish’s misfortune to be drawn against some of the Premiership’s finest in their first six games but if momentum, or a lack of it, creates its own dynamic their position is a dangerous one. Next up is a Boxing Day match at the Madejski with Northampton and there follows a stretch of games against Gloucester, Newcastle, Sale and Worcester from which the accrual of points is non-negotiable.
“We need to continue to be positive with the way we play,” Coventry says, “but we’re in a competition where you need to have league points. We’re desperate to get those.”
Six games in is a little early to be talking relegation but the truth is, whoever goes down it will be a club with ambition and state-of-the-art facilities. The R-word is a new pressure for a coach from Super Rugby to deal with but Coventry will not be cowed. “We haven’t talked about it. It’s not something you need to focus on. I don’t think it has any bearing on how you play. If Super Rugby had relegation, would you make your team do anything differently? I don’t think so. You need a positive mindset in anything you do in sport. If you start worrying about where you fit in the scheme of things, I can only see that as a negative thought process.”
Paice, career-long stalwart that he is, would see the relegation of his club as a “tragedy” but he remains positive, too. “I honestly don’t see that happening. From the outside it looks very bad but I’m just so confident in the playing group and the coaching staff. We’re getting better and better.”
Now the priority is to convert that into some points.
