London Irish confirm they will groundshare with Premiership rival

The club assessed a number of options as potential venues for the restart and are pleased to have agreed a deal with Harlequins to be playing out the restart in Twickenham, just a few miles down the road from the Exiles’ new home in Brentford.

Work on the Brentford Community Stadium was held up due to the pandemic, but it is in its final stages and the club is looking forward to beginning its 2020/21 campaign there.

London Irish CEO Brian Facer said: “Although we may be fierce competitors with Harlequins on the field, even rivals can support each other during extraordinary circumstances such as these, and I would like to thank the Quins Board, and in particular their Chief Executive Laurie Dalrymple and his team, for their positivity in accommodating our matches.”

Fans were relatively excited when the Scotland international signed in 2015. But the speedster, who scored three tries in 17 games, looked genuinely disinterested at best and gave supporters the impression he couldn’t wait to leave. He'd join Saracens following London Irish relegation in 2016.

London Irish again wasting money. They parted with £450,000 per season to land the experienced Ireland international. Due to a hip injury, the back-rower made just one appearance in a 39-0 defeat against Sale Sharks before the league was suspended. Sometimes signing even the best players doesn't work out.

The Fijian wide-man joined the newly promoted Exiles in 2017, fresh off scoring 22 tries in 32 games during a productive two year spell with Lyon. With the club spending big money, fans were hopeful that his deadly finishing would give them a chance of avoiding the drop. Instead, he looked unthreatening and slow, scoring just one try.

Trained with the Exiles for a few weeks before deciding it wasn’t for him and retired. The one-time Premiership record points-scorer then resurfaced at Newcastle in December 2015 where his experience and prolific boot saved them from relegation. Made it onto the Rugby Players’ Association Player of the Year shortlist.