Lrish back in the big time after play-off thriller with Yorkshire

LONDON IRISH secured a £2million return to the Premiership last night after sinking Yorkshire Carnegie in a heated Championship play-off. Exiles’ Ben Franks and opposition prop Charlie Beech were both shown red cards as the second leg ended in a mass brawl. However, the Exiles held their nerve to win 84-66 on aggregate and will take Bristol’s place in the top flight. In a loose and frantic encounter each side fed off opposition errors and Ciaran Hearn scored early for Irish before Yorkshire hit back through an interception score from Seb Stegmann. The hosts took time to settle as Joe Ford, brother of England No 10 George, kicked Yorkshire ahead. Brendan McKibbin and Mike Mayhew then exchanged scores and Yorkshire found themselves in the lead for 36 minutes. However, London Irish centre Fergus Mulchrone exploited slow defenders to put his side back in front. Yorkshire’s fate was sealed by tries from Alex Lewington and McKibbin. ENGLAND stars may face the All Blacks at Twickenham this autumn, but not for the national team. The Barbarians want England to release a number of key players for their match against New Zealand on November 4, as the famous side look to compile a World XV to take on the best team on the planet. However, England play Argentina, Australia and Samoa on the following three weekends in their autumn internationals, so Jones may be reluctant to release the likes of Maro Itoje from his clutches. Former All Black fly-half Dan Carter could feature for the Barbarians and Australian David Pocock is also a target.