01-07-2025
Meet the former London Irish coach trying to take down the Lions
T here are times after a couple of cans of Castlemaine XXXX when Jonathan Fisher and Les Kiss look back on their last days of London Irish and wonder, 'What if?' Could the team they were growing in west London would have challenged Northampton Saints and Bath for the Gallagher Premiership title over the past two seasons?
The collapse of the club in June 2023 left senior players and staff scattered far and wide. Benhard Janse van Rensburg was snapped up by Bristol Bears, Saracens pounced to sign Juan Martín González and Lucio Cinti, Northampton Saints bagged Tom Pearson and Henry Arundell moved to Racing 92 in Paris.
There was also a generation of players still on academy contracts who were lost to London Irish, including Chandler Cunningham-South and two of the best young props in England, Afolabi Fasogbon and Tarek Haffar.
