London Irish signing casts further doubt on Anthony Watson move

London Irish has secured the signing of Tom Collins from Northampton Saints for the upcoming 2023/24 Gallagher Premiership season.

The move casts further doubt on the possibility of the London club signing England star Anthony Watson from Leicester Tigers. Irish – who are set to lose England rookie Ollie Hassell-Collins to Tigers – had been linked with signing the British & Irish Lions star in recent weeks, but Kidney has already implied Watson might come with too big a price tag.

The signing of Collins certainly doesn’t help matters for Watson.

Collins, who has been a regular with Saints’ first team for the past decade, will be leaving his hometown club to join London Irish this offseason. The Englishman has played 144 games for Northampton, scoring 48 tries for a total of 240 points during his time at Franklin’s Gardens.

A product of the Northampton Academy system, Collins was also a former England age-grade representative and part of the 2013 U20 Six Nations winning side. His breakout season came in 2014 and saw him named Premiership Breakthrough Player of the Year.

“I’ll always be grateful to Northampton, it’s the Club I have grown up supporting and was lucky enough to play for, but I felt my time was coming to an end and a new opportunity was on the horizon,” Collins said. “Irish reached out and I was really encouraged by the project the club is working under with Declan [Kidney] and Les [Kiss] , I feel like it will be a great fit for me.

“I’m proud to now call myself an Exile and can’t wait to link up with the boys at Hazelwood.”

London Irish director of rugby Declan Kidney was pleased to have signed the 28-year-old try-scorer. “I’d like to welcome Tom to London Irish, he has shown in his time with Northampton what a capable player he is and having him as our player now is a great privilege.

“We are really excited to be welcoming in a player of Tom’s calibre and we are all confident he will become a valuable member of our squad at Irish.”