How Richards rates the Championship contenders

PETER Richards reckons only the pressure of the play-offs can prevent London Irish from making an immediate return to the Premiership.

With the Championship’s four play-off candidates decided, outgoing London Scottish head coach Richards can find no chinks in Irish’s armour, with only divisional shock troops Ealing in with a remote chance of upsetting the odds.

Richards said: “I’ve coached against London Irish twice this season and although my side gave them a hurry-up at their place, when you analyse them it’s very hard to find chinks you can exploit.

“Ealing could potentially pose a threat on their artificial surface, having nearly beaten them there during the regular season, but the only thing that can really beat Irish is the mental pressure of knowing the consequences of failure.

“The implications of not getting promoted are huge and we saw how Bristol crumbled under that pressure time and time again. It’s a horrible situation to be in but if things go to form, you couldn’t possibly bet against Irish going up.”

LONDON IRISH

Experience and class in every position, with international front and back rows, experienced halfbacks – crucial in big games – and firepower in abundance.

Joe Cokanasiga, James Marshall and Aseli Tikoirotuma are devastating runners and with fit again Alex Lewington banging in tries, I just can’t see any weaknesses.

Jersey beat them recently, but that wasn’t the strongest Irish side so I don’t believe that will be a factor as they prepare to tackle this final play-off hurdle.

Irish have been gearing up for the play-offs for weeks and have a clear goal of winning four important games in April and May. I believe they’ll do it. Main man: Prop Ben Franks

YORKSHIRE CARNEGIE

Yorkshire boast a huge pack of forwards and it’s no surprise that sides with the most dominant packs outside of Jersey have ended top of the pile.

Yorkshire have classy half-backs in Alex Davies and Joe Ford to help pull the strings and some strike power on the wings in Seb Stegmann and Jonah Holmes.

However, defensively they are quite vulnerable. They play less of a press defence and more of a passive defence and allow teams to play.

If you’ve got the ambition to play you’ll get big opportunities against them and they have a tendency to concede lots of points quite quickly.

Main man: Back row Ryan Burrows

DONCASTER

Doncaster will always be competitive, but I don’t think they’re as strong as they were last year and will struggle to reach the final.

They’ve a good solid pack and the acquisition of Tongan back rower Jack Ram has added extra to their attacking play, while Michael Heaney is a really smart scrum-half and they have a back three who can score wonderful tries.

Tyson Lewis is in great try-scoring form. However, they have wobbled quite a bit this season and they were heavily tanked by Cornish Pirates recently.

Unless they can win enough ball, I can’t see them upsetting London Irish. Main man: Scrum-half Michael Heaney

EALING TRAILFINDERS

Ealing have been the beneficiaries of some impressive mid-season signings so are a threat with the strength-indepth they boast.

Acquiring Barney Maddison and Kieran Murphy from London Welsh, Glen Townson and Rayn Smid from Bristol and Rory Clegg from Glasgow shows their ambition.

Clegg’s a class act at No.10 and in Mark Bright, Chris York and Smid they’ve got some colossal ball-carriers. Joe Munro punches big holes at No.12 and they have bags of pace out wide with Will Harries and Miles Mantella in form.

They have a solid tight five and score lots of tries, but will it be enough to upset Irish? Probably not, but they could push

them close. Main man: No.8 Mark Bright