Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

'We'd signed him to come here': Brophy-Clews had new club lined up before quitting

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Dean Richards has revealed Newcastle had signed Theo Brophy-Clews before the London Irish back was forced to quit the sport last month due to repeated concussions. The 24-year-old had agreed to join England and Harlequins full-back Mike Brown in moving to the North-East for next season.

ADVERTISEMENT

Richards is currently seeking to qualify the Falcons for next season’s Heineken Champions Cup when they visit his old club Harlequins this Saturday. Newcastle need to leap-frog London Irish and Bath to grab the eighth spot – the final qualification place for Europe’s top competition – and will be hoping Harlequins continue to rest players in preparation for their expected playoff semi-final trip to Premiership leaders Bristol.

Having been badly hit by Covid-19 restrictions and match cancellations, Richards believes making Europe would be a significant moment in the club’s history and was hoping to use the many talents of Brophy-Clews to increase the attacking threat already posed by wing Adam Radwan, who is set to be named in the England squad on Thursday for their summer series. 

Video Spacer

Lions pick Finn Russell guests on the latest RugbyPass All Access

Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
Duration 22:26
Loaded: 0.00%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time 22:26
 
1x
    • Chapters
    • descriptions off, selected
    • captions off, selected
    • en (Main), selected
    Video Spacer

    Lions pick Finn Russell guests on the latest RugbyPass All Access

    Richards said: “We all aspire to be in the Heineken Champions Cup and it would be an absolutely massive achievement. We will have a strong squad next season and sadly Theo Brophy-Clews has had to retire. We had signed him to come up here and he would have been a great addition to the club. Theo is an incredibly talented footballer and will be a loss to the game and so it could be that one of our youngsters stepping in now.”

    Richards, who revealed there are more players than usual looking for contracts, added: “It is astounding how many are looking for contracts and it is worrying for the game that there is just one professional rugby league in England. 

    “There is a need for a second division that is professional and there are a lot of players who won’t have jobs going forward. It’s almost a buyer’s market. Throughout the rugby world, there are fewer players being offered contracts and the only two stable markets are Japan and New Zealand.”

    The many disruptions that have faced Newcastle this season has made this a difficult challenge for Newcastle who have one of the smaller squads in the Premiership. Richards said: “We got off to a flying start but then had four games cancelled due to Covid. 

    ADVERTISEMENT

    “It stopped the momentum at a time when the cold set in and not being able to hold meeting indoors meant every meeting was out in the cold and it was sometimes minus 2 which meant it was pretty difficult at times. 

    “Then we didn’t win a league game for a while but we have finished a frustrating season with three home wins. We now need to leap-frog two teams and Quins will be pretty strong against us and will want a run out before the semi-final playoff.”

    ADVERTISEMENT

    O2 Inside Line: This Rose | Episode 1

    New Zealand v Ireland | Rugby World Cup 1995 | The Vaults

    Behind the scenes with the NEW ZEALAND women's sevens team in Perth | HSBC SVNS Embedded | Episode 5

    Argentina v Australia | HSBC SVNS Perth 2025 | Men's Final Match Highlights

    New Zealand v Australia | HSBC SVNS Perth 2025 | Women's Final Match Highlights

    The Dupont Ploy: How France went from underdogs to Olympic gods | The Report

    Former rugby player is truly an NFL superstar | Walk the Talk | Jordan Mailata

    Boks Office | Episode 33 | Dupont's Toulouse Too Good

    Trending on RugbyPass

    Comments

    0 Comments
    Be the first to comment...

    Join free and tell us what you really think!

    Sign up for free
    ADVERTISEMENT

    Latest Features

    Comments on RugbyPass

    R
    RedWarrior 20 minutes ago
    Many England fans echoing the same gripe following Six Nations loss

    The English defense was excellent in the first half. This is considering Ireland's attack has improved significantly since the Autumn with former Leinster attack coach Goodman. Ireland were beaten by NZ in the Autumn, are behind SA and arguably behind France so de facto 4th in order (rankings take time to catch up) As Eddie Jones said Ireland are still in that elite group so England's domination in the first half is noteworthy.

    I believe they have spent the time since the Autumn largely on defence. On broken play they were relying on Smiths instint along with some jiggery pokery. For Smiths early line break a Twindaloo blocked Baird which left the gap for smith. It looked like he did Aki, but Baird was a little late arriving and clever play by Tom Curry allowed the gap for Smith. Earls line break was Smith spotting Baird coming out and beating him with a beautiful pass to Earl.

    We saw the rehearsed plays for a couple of Ireland's tries. The Aki try was just identifying that England tended to hide Smith on the wing creating a vulnerability which Ireland exploited with one of Akis great finishes.

    Although Ireland were relaxing at the end the two English tries were good enough quality and we may see more of it next week (Scotland will also have taken note).

    Although on the easier side of the draw Borthwick almost took England to a RWC final.

    But in common with the top4 you need to have firepower to get those tries in big games. Can Borthwick manage that? I don't think so.

    Next week even if England have a great first half again, you would be looking at France converting 3 of those Irish chances and pushing on after the break.

    Can Borthwick develop a plan to beat France in the next few years. If the answer is no England need to find someone who can.

    9 Go to comments
    LONG READ
    LONG READ Six Nations: How Bordeaux-Begles' buccaneers are bringing the fire to France Six Nations: How Bordeaux-Begles' buccaneers are bringing the fire to France
    Search