Luke Narraway upbeat despite London Irish relegation

Luke Narraway is convinced relegated London Irish can follow the examples of Harlequins and Northampton by bouncing back to the top-flight stronger – if they can hold on to top academy talent like Johnny Williams and Theo Brophy Clews.
A seven-year period of decline culminated in Irish’s fall into the Championship following defeat to Quins last Sunday, with a new coaching team led by Kiwi Tom Coventry unable to gel a much-changed squad during a season of intense struggle.
Andy Goode’s controversial departure on the eve of the season created problems at fly-half, while injuries to George Skivington, Chris Noakes, Aseli Tikoirotuma, Topsy Ojo and Alex Lewington meant vital experience wenmissing at a key times.
A major ray of comfort, however, has been the emergence of academy products Williams and Brophy Clews, who, along with young front rowers Tom Smallbone, Richard Palframan and Gerard Ellis, will form the backbone of next season’s side.
Exiles captain Narraway told The Rugby Paper: “This club’s got a massive history of bringing through youngsters from the academy and since our current academy coaches Nick Kennedy, Declan Danaher and Paul Hodgson came through themselves in the Noughties, there’s been a plethora of players who’ve gone on to big things.
“Obviously a lot of those players left, but we’ve got to make sure we keep our youngsters from now on and I’m pretty sure they’re all contracted.
“Hopefully, we’ll keep hold of people like Johnny and Theo and we can give them another year’s experience in less pressurised situations so we can really see them flower, as was the case with Harlequins and Northampton years ago.”
Harlequins’ relegation in 2005 presented opportunities for Chris Robshaw and Mike Brown to stamp their mark on the club, while Northampton’s demotion two years later offered similar chances to Dylan Hartley, Stephen Myler and Chris Ashton.
All went on to represent England after formative years in the second tier, while their clubs rebuilt impressively to become Premiership and European winners.
Narraway said: “Dean Richards and Jim Mallinder will tell you that’s exactly what happened at Quins and Northampton and I’m sure a lot of our lads are going to stay.
“They’re all very passionate about London Irish and when we look back at this in five years’ time, it’ll be nothing but a big blip and a turning point in this club’s history.
“The future of this club is going to be built around young guys like Johnny, Theo, Richard and Tom and there’s another batch underneath them that we need to bring through from the team that recently won the Premiership U18s league.”
Narraway insists he is fully committed to the Championship fight after extending his contract, and the 32-year-old No.8 wants continuity.
On whether boss Coventry should stay, he said: “Of course, we need consistency. With the season we’ve had we probably got it wrong at the start, but in the second six months we’ve had, in most of the losses we’ve been the better side.
“There’ll be a review and decisions around the coaches are out of my hands, but we need to stick together as a squad and as coaches.”
On his own decision to stay, Narraway added: “I’m happy here and am 100 per cent committed to getting this club back in the Premiership.
“I’m pretty loyal and we’ve got to share responsibility for what’s happened this season from the top right down to the academy.
“It feels raw now but we’ll go through the review and iron out what we need to in order to get things right next season.
“If we do that and come back stronger, we’ll be a very dangerous side in the Premiership.”
NEALE HARVEY