Irish Exiles 2014/15 season (not the Not Nots!)

Not to be confused with a London Irish thread. I put together a list of Irish players I know of who will be playing in one of the other professional leagues in Europe next season. Not for any grand purpose other than to consider who might be worth keeping an eye an as the season progresses and who could potentially turn the heads of the international setup that hasn't been on the radar to date.
Robin Copeland was the guy for me last season who came out of nowhere and looks a really impressive athlete. I expect he'll become a regular in Irish squads going forward being with Munster now. So I'm curious to see who will emerge this season outside of the provinces?
One of the things that struck me as I was putting names down was the lack of backrows playing abroad, unless I'm missing a few obvious ones. It's an area I always feel like we have good depth so I'm not sure why we aren't exporting more players in thoses positions?

Which exile you think is going to make an impact?

Revised list from feedback (just kept it to top 2 divisions) -

Premeiership and Top14 :
Looseheads : Tom Court (London Irish), Shane Cahill (London Welsh), Denis Coulson (Grenoble)
Hookers : George McGuigan(Newcastle)
Tightheads : Jamie Hagan (London Irish), John Andress (Edinburgh)
2nd rows : Ryan Caldwell (Exeter), James Sandford (London Welsh)
Flankers : Conor Gilsenan (London Irish)
No. 8s : ?

Scrum halves :Tomas O'Leary (London Irish), James Hart (Grenoble), Paul Rowley (London Welsh), Peter Stringer (Bath)
Out halves : Johnny Sexton (Racing Metro), Gareth Steenson (Exeter)
Inside centres : James Downey (Glasgow), Eamonn Sheridan (London Irish), Chris Farrell (Grenoble)
Outside Centres: Eoin Griffin (London Irish), Ian Whitten (Exeter), Fergus Mulchrone (London Irish)
Back 3 : Shane Monohan (Gloucester), Niall Morris (Leicester)

Championship and ProD2:
Looseheads : Paddy McAllister(Aurillac), Jack O'Connell  (Bristol)
Hookers : Niall Annett (Worcester), Denis Fogarty (Agen)
Tightheads : Adam Macklin (Rotherham)
2nd rows : Eoin Sherrif (Bradford)Mark Flanagan (Mont-de-Marsan), Darren O'Shea (Worscester)
Flankers : Ali Birch (Rotheram), Eoghan Grace (Plymouth)
No. 8s : Michael Noone(Jersey)

Scrum halves : Charlie Mulchrone (Worcester)
Out halves : James McKinney (Rotheram)
Centres : ?
Back 3 : Darren Hudson (Bristol), David McIlwaine (Rotherham), Michael Keating (Rotheram)

Hopefully Chris Farrell makes an impact in Grenoble.
Griffin could be a good signing for LI.


Overall I don't think the quality of the Irish abroad is that great. It shows that we are still able to keep most of the best at home.

Fergus Mulchrone - LI
Charlie Mulchrone - Worcester

Both English born but of Irish parentage

Fergus has actually stated that he would love to play for Ireland and Charlie played underage rugby with Ireland.

I'm surprised one of the provinces didn't go after Charlie, he's in very good form. Would have been a good backup to Murray at Munster.

Think Sheriffs contract was up with Saracens this year, could be wrong though.

Would be great to see Griffin and Sheridan develop a good partnership.

Is McGuigan Irish? or qualifies through parentage? Heard good things about him.

McGuigan played for the u20s. He was born in England but has made it clear he considers himself Irish.

He really should have been involved with the Emerging squad along with Hart.

Most of us London Irish fans have high hopes for Eoin Griffin. When I've seen him for Connacht he's looked to have a good skill set, and has the size to punch holes in midfield. I know he can play 12 or 13, but would be interested to see where those who've seen a bit more of him than I have, think he is more suited to playing.

Also, as you are listing players in the Championship, there's Ali Birch and Michael Keating at Rotherham.

Darren O'Shea has signed for Worcester this season coming. He was a lock in the Munster academy but left because he thought consistent game time would be better for his development.

The players there of interest to me are:
McGuigan, though he didn't play much last year, he is still very young as a hooker and is highly thought of.
O'Shea is 6'9 and it is a position where at the moment, there aren't abundant riches, though that might change over the next few years. I think time in the Championship this year will benefit him.
Gilsenan left I presume because of the plethora of talent (and young at that) in the back row stocks at Leinster, but there is a chance to start adding some experience and maturity to that talent at Irish in a tough arena in the Premiership.
Hart is someone people have spoken about highly after his season at Grenoble. I haven't seen him play personally, but scrum half is a position where we could do with a little more strength behind the fantastic Conor Murray.
Sheridan turned down an opportunity to join Munster I believe, which also makes it a little harder to make a dent in the international squad and whilst I would have liked to have seen him at Munster, I appreciate his loyalty to Irish who have him a chance and also it is a place where he is growing as a player, so why disturb that right now? His size and his offloading ability give Ireland options we haven't really ever had at centre in the pro era.
Farrell is another with large dimensions in the centre who has left this Isle because he was stuck in a queue and not getting much gametime (understandably). Bernard Jackman is pretty excited about the signing and thinks Farrell could be a special player. Worth keeping an eye on then.
McAllister I list at the bottom because he has had serious injury problem for the last few seasons now. But my hope is the French air might do him good, because he certainly has the potential to become a cracking prop, even in a position where Ireland actually has some decent depth for the first time in a long time.

Thanks for the input gents, updated OP above.
I'm liking O'Shea's height and weight. Is this boy any good? Another Toner in the making?

Dean Moore - Old Belvedere second row signed for French 3rd division club Cognac. Played on the amateur international team this year. I don't expect him to be knocking on Joes door but it is still good to see young Irish lads able to make a living from the game.

That is interesting that guys are being picked out of the AIL by division 3 French clubs.

It could work out for them too as Eoghan Hickey and ex Connacht player Niall O'Brien both led Massey to promotion to the Pro D2 in June. Good to see players grinding out careers for themselves.

I would echo Ozzy's request for information on Griffin. I like the look of him at 12 but that's probably because I have high hopes for either Fowlie or Armitage to emerge as a quality 13.

Sheridan did a great job for us last season. However, to be in this discussion he needs to work on his explosive power. A guy of his size should be absolutely smashing through the opposition's defence rather than just about getting over the gain line. Having said that, he was arguably the best defensive 12 in the league last season. If he can add a bit to his attacking game then he should be in the hunt for caps.

Griffin is a good all rounder and team player. He has had injury issues which has stalled his career a bit but IMO he was unlucky not to get an Ireland cap so far. With Henshaw playing 13 for Connacht next season and the injuries he was right to leave Connacht.,

Eoghan Grace at Plymouth, injury ravaged flanker - wish him well.

Steeno at Exeter will do well to see off the challenge of Henry Slade, but he's been doing well every step up he's taken. Mystery to me why he was never looked at, even at A level, by Ireland.

Ian Whitten also at Exe - rock solid squad player at centre or wing. Deceptively good, ought to be in the mix.

2 more players have moved to the English championship for next season.

Michael Noone has joined Jersey from Leicester and Saracens have sent Eoin Sheriff to Bedford on loan.

I'm a big fan of Eamonn Sheridan from what I've seen of him - a proper specimen at 12. He and Griffin make a decent partnership, and should get plenty gametime in the Aviva next season if they stay fit.

Surprised to hear that Munster were after Sheridan and he chose not to go. It's a decent time to be a young Irish centre on the hunt for international rugby, as those 12 and 13 slots for Ireland are a long way from being nailed down.

Shows a startling lack of ambition by Sheridan to turn Munster down - reminds me of Kieran Lewis who left it too late and missed the boat.

Sheridan still had a year left on his contract so maybe we wouldn't entertain the possibility of him going. I have also heard rumours that the talk of Munster being interested are actually a bit wide of the mark.

SirBurger wrote:Sheridan still had a year left on his contract so maybe we wouldn't entertain the possibility of him going. I have also heard rumours that the talk of Munster being interested are actually a bit wide of the mark.

I have quite often attended meetings which were organised to discuss the content of the previous meeting. However this is the first genuine example of a rumour about a rumour that I have come accross.

Well I have no insight on the rumours (or the rumours on the rumours), but the move would have made perfect sense for both parties.

Munster could have used a ready replacement for James Downey (and I think Sheridan is already a better player), Sheridan would immediately be on the radar for Schmidt playing at Munster and would have the opportunity to play with Keatley, Hanrahan et al and potentially form a decent partnership around other Ireland hopefuls.

Still, getting regular rugby in the Aviva is not to be sniffed at and in his contract runs for one more year then he could make the move at the end of the season with another bunch of games for LI under his belt.

funnyExiledScot wrote:Well I have no insight on the rumours (or the rumours on the rumours), but the move would have made perfect sense for both parties.

Munster could have used a ready replacement for James Downey (and I think Sheridan is already a better player), Sheridan would immediately be on the radar for Schmidt playing at Munster and would have the opportunity to play with Keatley, Hanrahan et al and potentially form a decent partnership around other Ireland hopefuls.

Still, getting regular rugby in the Aviva is not to be sniffed at and in his contract runs for one more year then he could make the move at the end of the season with another bunch of games for LI under his belt.

Munster (Foley has said) are moving towards having a playmaker at 12 (and probably the reason why Downey isn't still at Munster for the coming season) rather than a big bloke bashing his way through.

To be honest given the limited success of the Downey/Lualua combinatin I'm not entirely surprised, but I'd have thought having both options in the squad wouldn't be a bad idea. Whilst you may want a playmaker for the big matches, having someone who can get you on the front foot in grim winter conditions is not a bad plan B, plus there's no reason why Sheridan couldn't also be used at 13 outside a playmaker.

That said, I know next to nothing about the options coming through the Munster ranks, so it may well be that they have a similar sort of option within the squad.

Who is going to be at 12 for Munster next season? Bleyendaal? Hanrahan?

Yea - I do realise that a rumour about a rumour does sound ridiculous, but I couldn't find a better way of expressing it!

Johnny Sexton's brother, Jerry has been given a trial with Exeter until November.

He must be highly rated as he was about to join Mont De Marson to link up with Flanagan but that fell through.