The build-up to the start of what is sure to be an exciting new season for London Irish supporters got off to a good start today (20th June) with the confirmation that the Exiles will play a pre-season friendly against Leinster Lions in Dublin on Friday 25th August.
The match will be played at Donnybrook and will kick-off at 7.30pm. Tickets for the game will be available in due course from the Leinster branch of the IRFU in Dublin.
'The annual pre-season match in Ireland is an important part of our preparations for the start of the new Guinness Premiership campaign,' said Brian Smith, Director of Rugby at London Irish. 'We appreciate the opportunity to travel and meet the many fans we have on that side of the Irish Sea. Leinster who are coached by my fellow countryman, Michael Cheika, will provide a stern test even though some of their star players will be missing.'
The squad for the game will be announced in August. The London Irish Supporters Club has arranged a special accommodation package in Dublin details are on the club website.
I thought they were waiting till after the HEC pools were drawn to confirm
The build-up to the start of what is sure to be an exciting new season for London Irish supporters got off to a good start today (20th June) with the confirmation that the Exiles will play a pre-season friendly against Leinster Lions in Dublin on Friday 25th August.
The match will be played at Donnybrook and will kick-off at 7.30pm. Tickets for the game will be available in due course from the Leinster branch of the IRFU in Dublin.
'The annual pre-season match in Ireland is an important part of our preparations for the start of the new Guinness Premiership campaign,' said Brian Smith, Director of Rugby at London Irish. 'We appreciate the opportunity to travel and meet the many fans we have on that side of the Irish Sea. Leinster who are coached by my fellow countryman, Michael Cheika, will provide a stern test even though some of their star players will be missing.'
The squad for the game will be announced in August. The London Irish Supporters Club has arranged a special accommodation package in Dublin details are on the club website.
I thought they were waiting till after the HEC pools were drawn to confirm
A good pre-season match to look forward to and hopefully we'll get a good crowd in early to start as we mean to go on.
I think the branch has only themselves to blame if other clubs call them the Leinster Lions. I mean, they adopted it as a name and then dropped it without really telling anyone. Then to confuse things they still use the Lions symbol in certain promotions such as the "Beware! Lions crossing" poster at the RDS this year and of course the ligend that is Leo the Lion.
I'm having a dilemma about this. I don't want to book my flights at the moment, as it's not actually been confirmed yet. I just had a look on the 'deadsite', and Breener said (albeit at the end of last week) that the game's not yet 100% confirmed, and that he hoped he'd be in a position to announce something in the next week or 2.
Now, I'm not one to grumble, but it is a bank holiday weekend, and flights etc are likely to get booked, and prices will go up, but it would be nice to know for sure...
Claire - with you 100% there as I imagine are all exiled fans. Having checked a couple of times since the rumour surfaced, prices for flights have risen though probably not because of the likely pre-season friendly given my location!
"The whole point of rugby is that it is, first and foremost, a state of mind, a spirit" (J-P Rives)
The build-up to the start of what is sure to be an exciting new season for London Irish supporters got off to a good start today (20th June) with the confirmation that the Exiles will play a pre-season friendly against Leinster Lions in Dublin on Friday 25th August.
The match will be played at Donnybrook and will kick-off at 7.30pm. Tickets for the game will be available in due course from the Leinster branch of the IRFU in Dublin.
'The annual pre-season match in Ireland is an important part of our preparations for the start of the new Guinness Premiership campaign,' said Brian Smith, Director of Rugby at London Irish. 'We appreciate the opportunity to travel and meet the many fans we have on that side of the Irish Sea. Leinster who are coached by my fellow countryman, Michael Cheika, will provide a stern test even though some of their star players will be missing.'
The squad for the game will be announced in August. The London Irish Supporters Club has arranged a special accommodation package in Dublin details are on the club website.
I thought they were waiting till after the HEC pools were drawn to confirm
And here was me thinking that Brain Smith once played for Ireland before going back to the 'welcoming arms (and hands) of Alan Jones in Balmain
The league started last year on Friday 2nd September. I would assume therefore, that the league would start the same weekend this year.
I wouldn't discount a friendly the week before 26th August, but quite frankly, I haven't got a clue. I'm always the last to know, hence my comment about the LI game in the 1st place!
claire_m wrote:The league started last year on Friday 2nd September. I would assume therefore, that the league would start the same weekend this year.
I wouldn't discount a friendly the week before 26th August, but quite frankly, I haven't got a clue. I'm always the last to know, hence my comment about the LI game in the 1st place!
Correct, we started against the Ospreys on Sunday the 4th if memory serves me correctly. The previous Friday (26th August) we played Northampton at home and the Saturday before that we played Parma in Naas....
