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London Irish half-back becomes the 10th 2023/24 Newcastle signing

(Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

New coach Alex Codling’s recruitment drive at Newcastle has taken another step, the Falcons confirming on Tuesday that they have signed London Irish scrum-half Hugh O’Sullivan. It was May 6, the day when the Exiles wrapped up their 2022/23 campaign with a Gallagher Premiership home win over Exeter, that the half-back was named as one of the 12 end-of-season leavers from the London club.

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Those staying on at Irish are facing a May 30 deadline for the club to show to the RFU that they have sufficient funds to compete in next season’s top flight. In the meantime, O’Sullivan has quickly landed on his feet with a deal to continue on elsewhere in the Premiership.

A statement read: “London Irish scrum-half Hugh O’Sullivan has become Newcastle Falcons’ 10th senior signing as the club continues to build for the 2023/24 season and beyond. The 25-year-old has signed a two-year deal to join the Falcons, who will welcome a new head coach when Alex Codling arrives next month from Oyonnax following France’s Pro D2 promotion final.

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“O’Sullivan made 20 appearances in his two years with the Exiles, starting and scoring a try in March’s impressive home win over Gallagher Premiership finalists Sale Sharks before going on to earn another start a fortnight later when they defeated semi-finalists Northampton Saints.

“Scoring a further two tries for London Irish in cup action, his Leinster exploits included Heineken Champions Cup outings against Exeter, Toulouse and Wasps as well as a further 34 appearances in the URC and Rainbow Cup. A double Leinster Schools Cup winner with Belvedere College, he came through the famed Leinster academy and has earned international recognition with Ireland U20s.”

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Interim Newcastle head coach Mark Laycock said: “We are excited to welcome Hugh into our squad. He has a really strong pass, a good rugby brain and is used to playing high-tempo rugby from his time with Leinster and London Irish, so will be a welcome addition for how we want to play next season.”

O’Sullivan added: “I played at Kingston Park back in March when London Irish won up there, and the chance to stay in the Gallagher Premiership was a big thing for me. I have really fallen in love with the league and compared with the URC, it just feels like there is a lot more jeopardy with anybody being able to beat anybody week to week. Every game feels like it’s a big one, and in terms of Newcastle in particular, it just feels like a good time to join.

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“The club has got a really proud history – I saw their social media post the other day about being the first club to win the Premiership title 25 years ago when they had just been promoted – and there are loads of legendary players you would associate with the Falcons over the years.

“I have watched Newcastle over the past couple of seasons and there’s massive potential there. Everyone understandably goes on about the incredible wingers like (Adam) Radwan and (Mateo) Carreras, but there is talent right throughout the squad if we can start moving the ball around and playing a bit of rugby.

“I know the new head coach Alex Codling from when he coached my Ireland U18s team, and it is an exciting time to be working with a guy like him. There is obviously a lot of change with a number of new signings coming in, and it’s time for the club to turn a page and move forward by trying some new things.

“Having come through the Leinster academy and been coached by Stuart Lancaster there has been a huge emphasis on playing a quick style of rugby, and London Irish have been very much in the same mould. I had been looking to try and bring that kind of tempo to the game, playing at pace, and having had some more regular Premiership game time with London Irish towards the end of the season I believe my control of the game has also been developed quite a bit.”

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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