London Irish cannot afford a drain of talent

Aviva Premiership Rugby Football Union club the London Irish must never allow a lack of ambition on part of the club to spark a mass exodus of their star players, according to Brian Smith, the Director of Rugby of the club.

Mick Crossan, the boss of Powerday, helped secure the long term future of the club recently with the chief of the waste management company leading a takeover of the board that will see fresh investment come into the club.

And the team Smith believes that the new direction that the club is now on has been quickly underpinned by their success in securing the services of mainstays of the team to long term deals, including Shane Geraghty and George Skivington.

Last summer, the case was quite the opposite with four home grown London Irish opting against renewing their contracts at the club to secure moves to Bath Rugby and join up with former coaches Neal Hatley and Toby Booth.

And Smith, a former attacks coach for the England national team has vehemently stated that the team cannot afford any more drain of talent like the one seen last season. Marland Yarde, the England international winger is out of contract in the summer and the Exiles already have had several meetings with his agents to try and tie him up to a new deal at the club.

Smith stated that he would like to think that there would be no repetition of what happened last season. He added that they have learned their lesson from last season and he believes that the London Irish is a club that is a lot stable both financially as well as in terms of infrastructure.

He is confident that Yarde will sign a new deal and remain at the club for the long term.