The Exiles Are Coming Home
The Exiles Under-18 squad make their annual pilgrimage to Ireland this month to play matches against Ulster and Leinster.
The Exiles will play Ulster next Friday at Malone RFC (kick-off 5pm), and Leinster next Sunday at Barnhall RFC (kick-off 12.15pm). The squad will again be staying in Armagh, using both the Royal School and City of Armagh RFC facilities as their training base.
A playing squad of 27 will be making the trip as the demands of two representative games in less than 48 hours are well-known to the Exiles management.
The party includes several players who are linked with Premiership clubs’ academies, e.g. Dean Connor (London Irish), Declan Farrell (Leeds Carnegie) and Nathaniel McDonald (Worcester Warriors) – Nathaniel is the brother of the recent Ulster Academy signing Sam.
The best known player to Irish viewers will be number 8 Charlie Armstrong (Penzance) who played – a year young – for the successful Ireland Under-18 Club XV last season. Charlie is pictured above (back row last on right) with some of his team-mates at the official presentation of their jerseys.
The squad will be coached by Kevan ‘Dinger’ Bell and Danny Lyons, backed up by Exiles Head Coach Peter Halsall, and will be managed by Ces Shaw.