Exiles celebrate promotion
Richmond 7 London Irish 46
IRISH eyes really are smiling after the Exiles’ impressive Good Friday victory against Richmond means they’ll once again be playing in the Premiership next season.
The team secured promotion with their bonuspoint victory, ensuring an immediate return to the top tier of rugby union.
And the good news kept coming: the win means that the squad, which has led the table all season, have secured the Greene King IPA Championship title with a game to spare.
This means that their last game, at the Madejski Stadium, on Saturday, will be a victory party.
Once they’ve played Ealing Trailfinders, the team will be presented with the Championship trophy following.
London Irish director of rugby, Declan Kidney said it was ‘job well done’ following Good Friday’s win against Richmond and, consequently, promotion back to the Gallagher Premiership.
London Irish scored eight tries in a dominant display at the Athletic Ground in front of a huge contingent of Exiles’ supporters.
He said: “We played well enough and got the job done; we’ve played better, and we know we are going to have to play at those higher standards in the next two games against Ealing.
“However, the result was all important on Friday and we managed to achieve that.”
Having gained promotion, Kidney was in reflective mood on the pivotal moments in the season.
He said: “10 minutes into the second half of the first game of the season against Ealing we knew how important that was, Ben Meehan tapped and went to score and that was an important moment.
“The match against Coventry, they were ahead of us. That was another one where I thought we did well to come away with four points.
“Because it was a winner takes all league, every team went out there and played well against us.
“Every match for us was like a cup final for the opposition, so we had to try and sustain ourselves at that level and it’s a testament to our squad that we did.”
London Irish chief executive Brian Facer said: “We have achieved our return to the top tier of English rugby, which was the only objective at the start of the season. I would like to congratulate and thank Declan Kidney, his coaching team and the players for working tirelessly over the last year to ensure this was possible.
“I would also like to thank our President, Mick Crossan, and the Board for their support and our on and off-field teams for all of their hard work.
“To all our supporters, thank you for following the team home and away, enjoy the celebrations.”
The game against Ealing Trailfinders kicks off at 3pm on Saturday, April 27.