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The massive salary London Irish are set to pay Paddy Jackson

London Irish are beginning to feel the heat. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

London Irish have delighted their fans over the last few months with an array of stellar signings that include British and Irish Lions and soon-to-be former All Blacks.

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Sean O’Brien, Allan Dell, Nick Phipps and Curtis Rona were the first wave of announcements, whilst that was followed by confirmation that Sekope Kepu, Adam Coleman and Waisake Naholo will all also be wearing green next season. With the recent injection of cash from the CVC investment in the Gallagher Premiership, Irish have not been afraid to dust off their chequebook this season.

One signing that has received less adulation, however, has been the arrival of Paddy Jackson from Perpignan. With plenty of negativity and threats of boycott on social media, Irish will be hoping that that does not translate into the real world and impact on attendances, especially with the club just a year away from moving into the new stadium in Brentford.

Jackson, who was acquitted after being put on trial for rape last year, is set to be one of the biggest earners at the club, with RugbyPass sources indicating that he is set to be on a figure close to £500k a year at the promoted side. If the reported figure of O’Brien being on £450k is also true, Irish will be investing the best part of a million pounds in just two players, neither of whom has the marquee player tag, nor who would provide any sort of credits to the salary cap.

Jackson has 25 caps for Ireland, the first of which came under London Irish director of rugby Declan Kidney back in 2013, whilst he also worked with Les Kiss, Irish’s head coach, at Ulster, and clearly both men believe they can get him back to his best in Reading.

The 27-year-old has spent the last season with Perpignan in the Top 14, following his sacking by Ulster and the IRFU in 2018. Perpignan have won just two of their 24 games so far this season, with Jackson starting less than half of those matches.

The fly-half position always carries a premium in salaries, yet Irish fans will likely still balk at the figure given the player is increasingly far removed from those previous highs with Ulster and Ireland.

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That said, if he can help Irish avoid relegation back to the Greene King IPA Championship next season, they will consider it money wisely spent and his previous conduct off the field will become a less talked about subject.

Watch: Gregor Townsend talks to the press after naming his expanded RWC training squad.

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O
Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
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