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The 'devastated’ Ollie Hoskins breaks London Irish player silence

(Photo by Steve Bardens/Getty Images)

Public reaction from the playing squad at London Irish to Tuesday evening’s suspension of the financially stricken club by the RFU has been in short supply, players largely keeping their counsel as they try to absorb the enormity of the Exiles no longer having a league to play in next term.

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Wallabies international Ollie Hoskins, though, broke the silence with his passionate tweet, an emotional post that gained a lot of traction. It was 2016 when the Australian first joined London Irish and his love for the club was always evident during his time there, as seen in this insightful interview he did last year with RugbyPass.

Following the confirmation that Irish had been suspended, the front-rower tweeted: “I’m completely devastated. This club meant more to me than just a job.

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“It was a legit home away from home and had people involved that I considered a part of my family. Thank you to all the fans, players and coaches over the last 7 years. It’s been incredible. I love you all.”

Hoskins’ message was warmly received, with numerous London Irish fans replying with sympathy and kind words.

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Steve Jones summed up the mood, writing: “Your pride and passion shone through on and off the pitch. It was a privilege to cheer you on and gutted we might never see you again in green. Seeing you win a Wallabies cap was so gratifying and a testament to all your growth.”

Another London Irish player to tweet was Ben Atkins. He wrote: “Playing professional rugby for London Irish has always been my dream, I feel so blessed to have done it for as long as I have but also immensely gutted to have it taken away in a manner such as this. Thank you for all the support over the years.”

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Club legend Topsy Ojo, another who had spoken passionately in the past to RugbyPass about London Irish, tweeted his feelings on Wednesday morning about the dire announcement that arrived just weeks after a fifth-place finish has been secured in the 2022/23 Gallagher Premiership – their best effort in more than a decade.

“Gutted. Absolutely gutted. Didn’t have the words last night, so just spent a while reading everyone else’s messages about their fond memories. Angry, but just so sad that such a special club is gone. 125 years – should have been a year of celebration. And it didn’t have to end this way.

“I have had 20 brilliant years at this club. Good times and bad, it has been worth it all. I wouldn’t be where I am now without it and hope to continue representing the club with pride. Love to all the staff, players, coaches, wider family and especially the fans, thinking of you all.”

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Comments

2 Comments
R
Roy 532 days ago

Farcical law changes to the tackle height when the financial parameters around club ownership and management are failing.

Clubs have shown they can't manage themselves, even the more successful clubs need to inject cash to stay afloat.

When are the RFU going actually tackle this, how many clubs do we need to go into administration? Why is our professional game run so unprofessionally?

M
MitchO 532 days ago

People do need to get paid though

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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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