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Homeless London Irish have finally confirmed where they will play remaining 2019/20 Premiership 'home' games

(Photo by Jacques Feeney/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

London Irish have secured a stadium to host their remaining five home matches of the delayed 2019/20 Gallagher Premiership season. The Exiles were due to see out the campaign at the Madejski Stadium in Reading, their home of the past 20 years.

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However, the season-stopping outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic ruined the club’s hopes of having a proper send-off celebration from that stadium ahead of their impending switch to a new ground share with Brentford FC in London. 

With work on the new ground held up due to the pandemic, the arrival of Irish into their new home was delayed and it left the club scrambling to find temporary digs to finish out the current season.

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There was no official indication as to where that venue might be when the fixtures schedule for the remaining matches in the Premiership was unveiled last Friday, but the riddle has now been solved after confirmation emerged that Irish will play at The Stoop.

A statement released on Tuesday read: “The club assessed a number of options as potential venues for the restart and are pleased to have agreed on a deal with Harlequins to be playing out the restart in Twickenham, just a few miles down the road from the Exiles’ new home in Brentford.

“Work on the Brentford Community Stadium was held up due to the pandemic, but it is in its final stages and the club is looking forward to beginning its 2020/21 campaign there.” London Irish CEO Brian Facer added: “Although we may be fierce competitors with Harlequins on the field, even rivals can support each other during extraordinary circumstances such as these.

“I would like to thank the Quins board, and in particular their chief executive Laurie Dalrymple and his team, for their positivity in accommodating our matches.”

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Harlequins’ Dalrymple said: “We are delighted to support our soon to be returning neighbours to be able to complete the 2019/20 Premiership season. The club is doing everything within its power to help get the sport back on its feet following the substantial impact of the coronavirus pandemic. 

“With that in mind, Harlequins have come to an agreement that London Irish will play their remaining five home games in Twickenham, one of which comes against Harlequins.”

The ground share means Irish’s home match against Saracens will now be played on Monday, August 31, to ensure it doesn’t clash with Quins hosting Northampton the previous day.

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AM 10 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

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