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Harlequins' Louis Lynagh poised to quit the Premiership for URC

Harlequins' Louis Lynagh (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Louis Lynagh is edging towards the Harlequins exit door when his contract runs out at the end of the season at the Gallagher Premiership club and move to the United Rugby Championship.

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The 23-year-old is set to follow in the footsteps of his father, Wallabies legend Michael, by joining Benetton, the Treviso franchise who have emerged as favourites to win the race for his signature.

The former England ag-grade international was born in Treviso in December 2000, the city where his father spent five seasons at the Stadio Comunale di Monigo after moving to play in Europe in 1991. Lynagh snr later played in London, the Rugby World Cup winner becoming Nigel Wray’s first major signing for Saracens.

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It was in the English capital that Lynagh jnr took his first steps in the game in Richmond’s minis section, but a move to Treviso from Harlequins could now settle the question of where Lynagh – who qualifies for England through residency, Australia through his father, Italy through his birth and his Italian-born mother – will pin his international colours.

The winger was first approached by Kieran Crowley two years ago about playing for the Azzurri. He was included by former England boss Eddie Jones in training squads but was never capped.

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This season, Lynagh has made 14 appearances for Quins, who are second on the table and chasing Premiership leaders Northampton. He has scored five tries, two of which came in the win over Ulster in the Investec Champions Cup at the end of last month.

The scorer of another two tries when Harlequins beat Exeter in the 2021 Premiership Final, Lynagh has managed 27 tries in 58 appearances for the club but hasn’t agreed to a new deal to stay at the Twickenham Stoop beyond July.

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Lynagh would complete an all-star Treviso back line that would include Rhyno Smith, Tommaso Menoncello, Malakai Fekitoa, Paolo Odogwu, Jacob Umaga and Alessandro Garbisi. The much-improved Italians are currently second to Leinster in this season’s URC.

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Comments

20 Comments
W
Wayne 374 days ago

Very good player & another 1 missed by England

M
Mzilikazi 374 days ago

Felt he was very close to being capped by England before he was injured. It seemed then that he was set on an England career in his own mind. This news does surprise me. Good luck to him, where ever he ends up playing. he is a great talent.

f
finn 374 days ago

this is a win for everyone.

he’s not quite up to england standard, but could do very well for italy!

C
Colin 375 days ago

He will play for Italy since England (both Jones and Borthwick) ignore his skills. Another England coaching fail.

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JW 2 hours ago
France player ratings vs England | 2025 Six Nations

Sorry my delivery on that joke was a bit bland. But to reply to the couple of good points you make, to me it just seemed like they had no plan with why Gatland was staying on. I mean the plan seemed to be “just get us a win against Italy and we can continue on as we are”, which is just terrible if that’s what Gatland was trying to achieve for Wales imo.


Did it just happen to be Italy that he saw his team weren’t able to achieve his vision of success? I mean Italy are a very good side so its by no means a lost cause to not look like world beaters. Sure his focus should have been on more transient factors like growth and style for a full rebuild, not trying to avoid the wooden spoon.


Which brings me to you main point, that would be exactly what the benefit of dropping down a tier would be. A chance to really implement something, get good at it, then take it up a level again once you’re ready. Even for Italy it must have been an incredibly brutal environment to have been trying to develop as a side.


Not saying of course that the other EU teams would be any better, but it might be better for everyone if say ‘years of tough losses’ are shared between countries, rather than see Wales go through this journey two, three, possible four years in a row. Of course the main reason they don’t want to miss just one 6N season is because it would probably tank the game in their country missing out on all that revenue. I have always said they should look at widening the revenue share, there are plenty of competitions that have systems to keep bottom teams competitive, and the 6N would only make more money if it was a tierd competition with prom/rel.

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