Shane Geraghty return to London Irish

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/17770891

Any London Irish fans care to comment? A pretty big kick in the teeth for Toby Booth/Mike Catt.

Is he the man LI need?

It's only a kick in the teeth if Booth and Catt stay. I feel this is probably a good indicator both are off at the end of the season.

This also pretty much ends the rumour Nick Robinson was going to Irish. So either he genuinely is going to stay and fight it out with Stephen Jones and the cash strapped Wasps have a luxury of FHs, or the Robinson to Dragons rumour could gain pace

Robinson to Sale - closer to his in-laws?

He was heavily linked there before he joined Wasps and it came as a real surprise that he didn't go to Sale. But with Cipriani and Macloed do they need another FH?

This is confirmation that Booth and Catt are leaving. Shame especially in the case of Booth who was a great coach but not sure he's a DoR material.

He left in bad circumstacnes. But he did play at 10 when we got to the Heineken Cup semi's.

In terms of the team, its a good move imo. He won't have the presuure of kicking with Homer at 15 and with him at 10 it means we're likely to actually have a first choice 10 for a whole season. And hopefully we'll move away from the aimless kicking that we've had this season. Apparently when fit he has been very good for Brive.

Its hard to beleive that he was England's best 10 a couple of years ago but played shoite for England because he was shunted to 12 playing with Wilko who was about 20 metres behind the gain line.

If he can get back to his best its a great signing for Irish.

Nice if he could get some form back and get back into the England set-up. Exciting player. What was the acrimony when he left Irish? Nice 10/12 option to have, but if he's been getting into Cips style personality problems I'm not so keen

Chequered he never had any off field issues I've heard about the issues are generally surrounding a rather iffy points kicking record and him generally not being that great in the tackle (a shoulder injury at Brive won't have helped that). However, when he played against Scarlets the other week he was very good (other than a foolish and slightly unfortunate YC), plenty of running with clever kicking from hand. He should fit in very nicely into the LI backline. A backline which will be formidable by the looks of things.

9.TOL
10.Geraghty
11.Selosi
12.Hape/Shingler
13.JJ Joseph
14.Yarde
15.Homer

Isn't ther some thought that Hape may have to retire in the summer?

HKC,
I had forgotten Cipriani has signed for Sale.

I really hope that Lancaster can get the best out of our talented young backs. I remember the quality we suddenly had available when Strettle then Cips and Geraghty showed up and I'm still not sure what happened to it all

Strettle injured himself in an international pretty soon after making an excellent break and never really showed the same attacking inclinations after that (a move to Sarries didn't help). Cips wanted to play footsie in nightclubs with celebrities more than play rugby and so never really developed as he should have done and Geraghty struggled with the aforementioned points kicking and game management.

Flood came through at the same time as those guys and has gone on to do well, so have the backrowers like Croft and Haskell that made their name at the same time. We only lost half a generation that time rather than the whole one with the likes of Smith, Abbott, Ellis etc.

True

Add to that Barkley's injury and poor form and players like JSD and Rees forever being injured

Losing Rees is a real shame. Except he is coming to my medical school, so Wasps' and England's loss is our gain. Course, it will be embarrassing if we don't get promoted again now...

He might not be in a fit state to play rugby for your medical school, plus a flanker (even one of his ability) won't help if your pack's weaknesses are scrum or lineout based. Having said that even having a former pro there to just coach you would be a real bonus.

We'd take the coaching happily

Geraghty should work fine with Homer kicking the points. Takes that pressure off him and allows him to play his game without the worry.

HammerofThunor wrote:Geraghty should work fine with Homer kicking the points. Takes that pressure off him and allows him to play his game without the worry.

+1 kind of what I hope Botica can do with Clegg

Is Botica's kicking that good?

'got to be better than Clegg's

formerly known as Sam wrote:He might not be in a fit state to play rugby for your medical school, plus a flanker (even one of his ability) won't help if your pack's weaknesses are scrum or lineout based. Having said that even having a former pro there to just coach you would be a real bonus.

True but at the same time in the lower leagues a flanker who's a cut above the opposition is gold dust, when one of our first teamers plays for the seconds (my team) they usually stand out from a long way off. I can only imagine even an injured Rees will have an even bigger impact.

ChequeredJersey wrote:'got to be better than Clegg's

Harsh but fair. I think he sadly has the worst percentage in the league.

Google reveals that Botica is apparently deemed a rather good kicker-something about a record 32 kicks in a row whilst he was in New Zealand

today is the "official" opening day of the transfer season in France and much to my shock I read that Montpellier signed Hape from LI !!! (and some bath player called Matthew Carraro as well) on top John Beattie and a couple of french players.

today is the "official" opening day of the transfer season in France and much to my shock I read that Montpellier signed Hape from LI !!! (and some bath player called Matthew Carraro as well) on top John Beattie and a couple of french players.

That's odd for a couple of reasons, a) I thought Hape was adapting pretty well to life with LI before his injury (he relished the role formerly occupied by Mapasua) and b) I thought Montpellier were focussing on younger French talent these days with the occasional experienced foreigner to add weight (e.g. Gorgodze). Bit suprised they went for both Carraro and Hape.

Now confirmed:

http://www.london-irish.com/news/Irish84553.ink

https://twitter.com/#!/Shane_Geraghty/status/194816977632641024

He isn't looking that beefed up in that picture. Perhaps a big conditioning and strength course for this summer may well be needed, particularly if he is still having problems with his shoulder.

Adrian Jarvis has just signed for Bristol, so it looks like we're still in the market for a 10.

Jeremy Staunton will be available.

We've fallen for that one before.

mawhis wrote:Adrian Jarvis has just signed for Bristol, so it looks like we're still in the market for a 10.

Wow, a kick in the plums for the fly half who has played all season and will most likely get them promoted! Jarvis is so average!

Wow, a kick in the plums for the fly half who has played all season and will most likely get them promoted! Jarvis is so average!

Unless Jarvis is being signed as experienced back up. Bristol have also signed James Grindal for next season as well.

We've fallen for that one before.

Depends what you want, an inexpensive but experienced 10 who will provide cover from the bench all season or do you need a realistic challenger for Geraghty and the 10 shirt? If it's the second you'll face more competition and need a bigger budget.

Why is it that at a young age every one wants to be the fly half? But come senior rugby it's difficult to find any at all?

yappysnap wrote:Why is it that at a young age every one wants to be the fly half? But come senior rugby it's difficult to find any at all?

Because people's skills aren't good enough?

Because it's a harder position to play than most realise?

Jarvis won't dazzle but he is a steady and reasonably skilled 10. He would be a useful squad member for most of the teams in the lower half of the Jeff. In his short time at Carnegie he performed well overall, having more good games than bad and had Back been able to sign him before Christmas rather after he could easily have made the difference between promotion and relegation just with his boot. He might surprise a few people if he has the right environment. It took Back a season and a half to realise you you can't win games without a specialist 10 and a place kicker. About as dumb as you can get really.