Wolfhounds in Sheep’s Clothing?

The England Counties squad that will play the Ireland Club side at Donnybrook on Friday evening coming, 23 February, contains two Exiles.

One will be very familiar to Leinster followers particularly – out-half Matt Leek, who played over 20 times for the Province during his stay in Ireland.

The other is the former Ireland Youth No.8 (now hooking) Tom Doran, who played in the Four Nations tournament in 2002. Tom has also previously represented English Universities before graduation from St. Mary’s College, Twickenham, but his Irish roots remain strong.

Both are 1st XV players at the highly successful Esher club, on the outskirts of SW London, who are currently running away with National League 2 in England and contribute more players to the England Counties XV than any other club.

Some counter-balance is provided by the fact that Buccaneers scrum-half Mark Bruce will be on the bench for Ireland. Mark is the former Reading Oratory, Loughborough Students, and Exiles representative, and became the first Exile to play international Sevens for Ireland.

Filed by John S Hunter: Development Manager