WE COUNTED 26 Irish-qualified players who were involved in the English Premiership and Championship over the weekend.
While many of these guys are heading towards the end of their careers, there are a few Irish players with potential plying their trade on the other side of the Irish sea. We’ll be doing our best to keep an eye on them over the season, so here’s the latest update.
Aviva Premiership
Peter Stringer came out on top of the battle of the former Munster scrum-halves against Tomás O’Leary Bath beat London Irish 33-18 at the Rec. The losing side suffered a blow immediately before kick-off when Ian Humphreys was forced to withdraw due to an injury suffered in the warm-up.
Eamonn Sheridan played the full game for the Exiles, continuing his strong start to the season, while Jamie Hagan made his first appearance of the season, coming off the bench at half-time. Unfortunately, the former Leinster prop was yellow-carded for collapsing a scrum. Bath are up to fourth after the win, but London Irish drop to 10th.
Worcester lost 32-16 to Wasps on Saturday, with John Andress playing the second half at tight head prop in what was his fourth appearance of the campaign. The former Ulster man has been rotated with Scotland international Euan Murray in the opening games, but Worcester find themselves bottom of the table after four losses.
Exeter went down 21-9 at home to the Leicester Tigers, despite three penalties from the boot of Gareth Steenson. The out-half was joined in the starting team by Ian Whitten, who earned two caps for Ireland in 2009. Whitten has started all four games for the Chiefs so far this season, but has been starved of try-scoring chances so far.
Opposite Exeter was Niall Morris at fullback for the Tigers. The 25-year-old played the entire game and had a try disallowed by the TMO, who ruled that Morris had knocked on before grounding the ball. It is encouraging to see the former Leinster man selected in his preferred position for the third time this season. Leicester drop to third in the table despite their win.
20-year-old George McGuigan made his second substitute appearance of the season for Newcastle in their 22-16 loss at home to Gloucester. The hooker, who was part of the Ireland squad at this year’s Junior World Championship, played the final 10 minutes of the game. Newcastle are down to 11th after their third defeat of the campaign.
Greene King IPA Championship
Jersey suffered their second loss of the season as they went down 26-17 at home to Bristol. Niall O’Connor kicked a penalty and two conversions as the islanders came up short. Mark McCrea played the full 80 minutes at outside centre for the second week in a row. At fullback for Bristol, former Ulster fullback Adam D’Arcy made his third start of the campaign as his team moved up to third in the table.
The Cornish Pirates had a 31-17 win away to the Ealing Trailfinders, with James Sandford and Kieran Hallet instrumental. Sandford played 50 minutes in the second row, while Hallet kicked three conversions from out-half. TJ Anderson played the majority of the game at No. 8 for the losing team, with Ireland U20 international loose head Conor Carey coming off the bench for the final quarter.
Ali Birch scored his first try for the Rotherham Titans in a 47-21 win over Moseley. The former Ulster flanker was a second-half substitute, but ex-Leinster speedster Michael Keating played the entire game at fullback. Rotherham are top of the Championship with three wins from three games.
London Welsh hammered Plymouth 40-9 on Saturday afternoon, with Irish-qualified 34-year-old Daniel Browne scoring a try from the second row. Peter Browne also started for the victors, and the 25-year-old former Harlequins lock/flanker is also eligible to play for Ireland. For Plymouth, Ruairi Cushion was at scrumhalf until he was replaced by Limerick man Paul Rowley in second half. Davy McGregor started at hooker.
Former Ireland international Neil Best was part of the London Scottish team that beat Nottingham 27-6 at home. The 34-year-old was sin-binned for a late tackle, but completed the rest of the game as the Londoners moved up to fifth. At out-half for Nottingham was ex-Connacht back Matt Jarvis, who kicked two penalties.
Bedford suffered a narrow 29-28 loss to Leeds with Corey Hircock and Brendan Burke both in the starting XV. Former Munster academy and Garryowen wing/centre Hircock sprinted home from the half-way line for his first try of the season, while Burke battled bravely in the centre as usual. However, Bedford are without a win in the opening three rounds and find themselves 11th.
Did we miss any Irish players abroad this weekend? Let us know if we did by leaving an update below.
