Smith Has Confidence in Youth
London Irish Director of Rugby Brian Smith expects his young side to produce the goods this season and he is banking on them to upset the Unibet betting odds by re-launching the exiles as real contenders in the Aviva Premiership.
Irish finished runners up in the Premiership back in 2008-09, narrowly missing out in the final to Leicester Tigers, but since then they have gone off the boil and have failed to finish above 6th place in the table in the last four seasons. Brian Smith recognises that Irish fortunes have been on the slide for some time and, after finishing in ninth place last season, he has called on his players to end the disappointing run. “We’re on a journey and setting out to re-establish ourselves as contenders,” the former England attack coach said. “We’re a club looking to grow,” he added.
In the close season Irish have lost a number of big names including England centre Jonathan Joseph and Lions prop Alex Corbisiero who have joined Bath and Northanpton respectively but Smith is doing his best to remain positive and has promised to give youth a chance at the club. “We’ve always been a club that’s given the youngsters a chance and that’s one of our points of difference,” the Australian said. “We produce a lot of good academy players because they get exposed to top line rugby earlier,” he added defiantly.
Given the size and strength of some of the squads in the Aviva Premiership, Irish could struggle to compete if their young guns don’t hit the ground running. But, having said that, fielding a squad lacking in seasoned internationals is not always a bad thing and although they may start slowly, Irish could reap the rewards of having a settled team when the Autumn internationals and Six Nations Championship deprive the big boys of their star names.