PLAYER NEWS
Horak and Sackey in England Team

Sir Clive Woodward has selected Michael Horak and Paul Sackey for the England team to play the Barbarians at Twickenham on Sunday. Michael and Paul will play in their customary club positions at full back and on the right wing.

The full team is as follows:

ENGLAND

15 Michael Horak, London Irish
14 Paul Sackey, London Irish
13 Jamie Noon, Newcastle Falcons (vice captain)
12 Kevin Sorrell, Saracens
11 Marcel Garvey, Gloucester
10 Dave Walder, Newcastle Falcons
9 Nick Walshe, Sale Sharks
1 Mike Worsley, NEC Harlequins
2 Mark Regan, Leeds Tykes
3 Robbie Morris, Northampton Saints
4 Mark Cornwell, Gloucester
5 Alex Brown, Gloucester
6 Dan Hyde, Leeds Tykes
7 Andy Hazell, Gloucester
8 Hugh Vyvyan, Newcastle Falcons (captain)

Replacements

16 Chris Fortey, Gloucester
17 Jon Dawson, NEC Harlequins
18 Peter Buxton, Gloucester
19 Darren Fox, Northampton Saints
20 Hall Charlton, Newcastle Falcons
21 Tom May, Newcastle Falcons
22 Dan Scarbrough, Leeds Tykes

Congratulating both players on their selection, Conor O'Shea, the club's Managing Director, said, "We are delighted for Michael and Paul. This is a great opportunity for them to impress and position themselves for selection for the senior England squad."

BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND TREAT!

To alleviate those end of season blues, how about some retail therapy?  Starting this Friday (28th May) we are holding a Bank Holiday Weekend Sale.

With reductions across the range, including replica shirts, make sure you visit the online store from Friday onwards to pick up some great bargains. 

All orders placed will be despatched on Tuesday 1st June.

Megastore opening hours

Please note that the Megastore will be closed on Bank Holiday Monday (31st May) and also every Sunday during June.  We will re-open on Sundays from 4th July.

WEBSITE FEEDBACK

As we've come to the end of the first season of our new website, we'd like your thoughts on how it's gone this year.

Is there anything you particularly like/dislike?  Is there anything you would like to see that is currently not available?

Click here for further information.

SUPPORTERS START SWITCHING OVER TO LONDON IRISH TELECOM

Loads of you have already switched over to our great new home phone service London Irish Telecom. This service can save you at least 30% on your home telephone calls and in addition to this a further 15% of your bill goes straight to us to help develop this club at many levels.

Switching over is really easy and only takes a minute. Your current Internet service or connection is unaffected and you can keep all your 141 and 1471 facilities. Also you don't need any extra kit and your number won't change, nor will the way you operate your phone.

So what are you waiting for? Click here and sign up today!

LONDON IRISH COACHING WEEKS

The arrangements have been finalised for the program of London Irish Coaching Weeks in the school summer holidays, with a mixture of activities and venues to suit all London Irish fans.

Redingensians RFC and Basingstoke RFC are both hosting coaching weeks. The former will run between 26th and 30th of July and the latter between 2nd and 6th August, with both weeks having similar formats.

For further information and contact details, visit the website.

PRE-SEASON TOUR TO IRELAND CONFIRMED
Fixtures arranged with Munster and Connacht

London Irish yesterday (25th May) confirmed plans for its annual pre-season tour to Ireland in August.

Having visited Connacht and Ulster last year, the club is returning to the south-west and west this year to play games against Munster on Tuesday, 17th August at Thomond Park in Limerick and against Connacht at the Sportsground in Galway on Friday, 20th August. The match with Munster kicks-off at 7.00pm and the Connacht game at 6.30pm. Tickets for both matches will be available in due course from the offices of the Munster and Connacht branches of the IRFU in Limerick and Galway respectively.

The London Irish touring party will consist of a 35 man playing squad, including all the recent signings, and rugby management. Full details of the squad will be announced in early August.

Confirming the arrangements for the tour Conor O'Shea, the club's managing director said, "The pre-season tour is an important part of our preparations for the start of the new Premiership campaign. The players enjoy travelling to Ireland and meeting the many fans we have on that side of the Irish Sea. We are delighted to be visiting Limerick, Thomond Park in particular, for the first time. We received a warm welcome in Galway last August and are pleased to return."

The Supporters Club, in conjunction with St Clare's Travel, has access to some special travel arrangements for the two matches - click here for details.

HEADLINES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED THIS WEEK
(click on the headline to see the story)

- Strong Academy Squad for Next Season
- Edwards lights up Awards Ceremony
- Digger Doodles Competition Winner

THE BLARNEY

Over 10,000 people have currently subscribed to the Blarney; do you forward this to your mates? Or do you print it out and pass it around? Well, why not provide us with their e-mail address so that they can receive their own personal copy.

E-mail Jon Salinger (jon.salinger@london-irish.com) with e-mail addresses. Let us try and spread the word of London Irish to a much greater audience.