EXCLUSIVE: Tom Coventry quits to leave London Irish in turmoil

By Neale Harvey
London Irish‘s plans have been plunged into turmoil following director of rugby Tom Coventry‘s decision to quit ahead of their return to pre-season training.
The Rugby Paper understands Coventry tendered his resignation last week after a review into their disastrous campaign which ended in relegation.
The review, conducted by former England and Bath lock Nigel Redman, initially found in favour of Coventry and his coaching team and the Kiwi looked set to stay.
However, a cabal of senior players are believed to have taken issue with heavy criticism aimed their way in the report and voiced concerns to the club’s hierarchy.
A source close to London Irish told TRP: “Coventry laid most of the blame on the players, claiming they were not capable of following game plans and that he hadn’t been properly briefed about the difficulties of the Premiership.
“Some senior players took strong exception to that and the report was subsequently binned.”
Coventry’s resignation followed and he will now return to New Zealand. Assistant coach Richard Whiffin has already been laid off and defence coach Grant Doorey looks set to follow him out of the door.
The future of backs coach Clark Laidlaw remains unclear, but TRP understands the roles of academy coaches Declan Danaher (forwards), Paul Hodgson (backs) and Nick Kennedy (scrum and lineout) have been upgraded to encompass the first team.
Another club legend, long-serving winger Topsy Ojo, is to coach within the academy.
Exiles, meanwhile, have pulled off a coup by securing the signature of former Harlequins lock George Robson, who returns to England after a year at Oyonnax.