6. Premiership Finalists
The 2008/09 Premiership Rugby season is London Irish’s best performance in the English top division. After a memorable season, Irish finished third as they racked up an impressive 12 wins in 22 matches. The Avenue faithful watched on with baited breath, as the Exiles pressed on to the play-offs, with ambitions of bringing the Premiership title home to Sunbury.
Once again, a memorable semi-final victory was recorded against the Harlequins, which gave an added bounce into the final verse of MacManus’ anti-Quin song. Irish flooded the Twickenham Stoop, and shut out their rivals with a 17-0 victory. James Hudson and Mike Catt contributed tries for the Exiles, with former England international Delon Armitage adding the two conversions and an additional penalty.
A resolved Irish defence put the sword to Quins, as Head Coach Toby Booth had ingrained a ruthless mentality into his band of Exiles. Harlequins were unable to break through the defence, with Irish returning to Twickenham the following week, yet this time they went to the 82,000 capacity stadium which lay across the road from the Stoop.
London Irish met Leicester Tigers in the final of the 2008/09 Premiership season, in what was a match for the purists. A 10-9 battle of attrition saw two teams of unbreakable mindsets trade blows for an exhausting 80 minutes. In the end, it was Richard Cockerill’s Tigers who prevailed, with back-rower Jordan Crane providing the only try of a kick-heavy contest.
London Irish would not reach the Premiership Final again, in their remaining years in the top flight. Despite only coming away with silver medals, the Exiles were proud of their efforts, which were made even sweeter for the semi-final success over Harlequins.