Mulchrone keen to play his part as London Irish prepare for life back at the top level

Ahead of the 2017/18 Aviva Premiership fixture announcement on Friday, London Irish's Fergus Mulchrone believes his side can compete on their return to the top level.

The London Irish centre was part of the side that played in the first ever Aviva Premiership game on American soil in 2016.

Two months later, Fergus Mulchrone knew he would be plying his trade away from the top division as the Exiles suffered relegation to the Championship.

But, Irish have been able to bounce back immediately from that disappointment as Mulchrone’s try in the play-off final helped them return to the Premiership at the first attempt.

Mulchrone previously stated that two tries for Sale Sharks in the LV=Cup against his current employers ranked as one of the highlights in his career, but promotion back to the highest level of English rugby is certainly right up there.

Mulchrone said: “Winning promotion was a great day but it was relief more than anything. We got into a bad situation the year before.

“As a group as players and as a club we just weren’t performing. We let ourselves down and everyone associated with the club down.

“To get London Irish back up to top flight rugby was pretty much our only goal and we gave it our all to make a return. We are now excited by the challenge.”

Mulchrone is just one of the players who has a wealth of experience at a high level amongst the Irish ranks, but the huge amount of new faces which Nick Kennedy has recruited since they clinched promotion against Yorkshire Carnegie in May has certainly turned a few heads.

Irish have signed no less than 10 new players for the new season with the likes of Petrus Du Plessis and Luke McLean favouring a move to the Madejski Stadium and despite the influx of fresh signings, Mulchrone can only see the positives.

The former Sale player added: “It is always good to have new boys coming into the squad and at the same time it is sad to see some of your best mates and some of the other players leave.

“What you want to try and do is build continuity within the squad, but when you get such good signings coming in like Du Plessis, it is fantastic and it is good to build on.

“The quality of him and the others will only help the club. You always want to create a stronger squad and if these boys coming in are able to do that, then it is a great thing.

Another great thing for Mulchrone to look forward to will be the prospect of facing his younger brother Charlie.

The pair have only met once on the rugby field in recent times. It came in February 2016 when Irish beat Charlie’s old side Worcester Warriors 20-13, but the 28 year-old will be in the colours of Harlequins for this coming season.

Irish and Quins meet in pre-season as well as twice in the regular campaign and having played together at Rotherham back in 2012; senior Mulchorne is relishing the chance to face his sibling in the Premiership.

“I really hope so!” added Mulchrone, who appeared 21 times for Irish last season. “We will obviously meet twice during the Premiership season and it could be in the ‘Double-Header’, but we will just have to wait until the fixtures come out.

“I can’t wait really. I played against him at the Madjeski when he was at Worcester and he got on for about 10-15 minutes which was good for the parents to watch!”

The ‘Double Header’ which Mulchrone eluded to will kick off the new Aviva Premiership season for Irish on September 2^nd at Twickenham and the 30 year-old cannot wait to taste the top flight once again.

Ahead of the fixture announcement on Friday, Mulchrone said: “You come up against some of the best teams in Europe and you can test yourself against them. The difference between this and the Championship is the speed. The skill level is also a tad higher which is something we have to get used to.

“It is a really exciting time for the club and it is a great opportunity for this group of players and it is something we have to grab hold of and really have a good go at it.”

“We obviously got a little bit of silverware last year with winning the league and that spurs you on to succeed at the next level. I think the league is the strongest it has ever been and we want to keep competing at this level so we want to cement our place to show that we belong back in the Premiership.”