Pete Richards: I"m proud of my London Irish boys

Of the three

groups the one at Allianz Park was certainly the toughest with all the London

sides – us, London Wasps, Harlequins and Saracens – looking to get one over

each other.

Harlequins

had the likes of England Under-20s captain Jack Clifford playing for them,

Saracens had Chris Ashton and Tom Varndell was playing for Wasps.

The first

team had a tough pre-season week just before the J.P. Morgan Premiership Rugby

7s Series so we went with our young crop but they are still all good players.

Perhaps if we

had been one of the other draws we might have found ourselves in the Series

Finals but I am really proud of our guys.

We got

together with not a lot of preparation and we did ourselves proud by beating

Wasps at the end, even if we lost to Harlequins and Sarries who both went

through.

We had two disappointing losses but we were in both games at times and it was a

great evening. 

It was my

first time at Allianz Park and playing here was really enjoyable for me as a

coach and the guys.

It is a great

stadium which was almost fully packed, the weather was great and we saw some

great rugby.

There were a couple of outstanding performances from 18-year-old Tom Fowlie and

Gerard Ellis, who was our skipper,

Both are in

our academy and it was about bringing them through and giving them the

experience of playing against some top internationals.

We had the likes of Tom Varndell and Chris Ashton on the pitch so it was a

really high level and if they come down to this next year they will be better

and wiser for it.

The standard here was so high and even Wasps who didn’t win a game all night

were a decent team and everyone put on a spectacle for the crowd and 7s is

meant to be an entertaining game and we certainly got that.

For these guys from eight weeks training to actually get a competitive game

live on TV was fantastic and it is a huge venue for them and to see how they

can step up to those challenges.

We are coming into August now with pre-season games and that will shape where

we go from here and with Saracens at Twickenham in September to start our

Premiership campaign we can’t wait to start the season with a bang now.

For tickets to the J.P. Morgan Premiership Rugby Series Final at

7pm on Friday, 9 August at The Rec, Bath visit: bathrugby.com/tickets

Pete Richards: I"m proud of my London Irish boys