Exiles set to sign Richards

Sunday, February 18, 2007 - 02:30 PM

London Irish look poised to make a major swoop in the transfer market by signing England scrum-half Peter Richards.

Richards, currently with Gloucester, appears on the verge of agreeing a deal with Irish that would see him rejoin his first professional club.

The 28-year-old has won six England caps, including four appearances during this season's autumn Test series, but he is now third in the Test pecking order behind Harry Ellis and Shaun Perry.

Richards played for Irish in 1996 before moving on to Harlequins, Bristol, Wasps and latterly Gloucester, where his career has flourished under the coaching expertise of former Scotland scrum-half Bryan Redpath.

Gloucester though, also have Scotland number nine Rory Lawson on their books, and if Richards departs Kingsholm, it is thought they could move for Newport Gwent Dragons' ex-Wales scrum-half Gareth Cooper as a replacement.

Cooper, a member of the 2005 British and Irish Lions squad that toured New Zealand, boasts 32 caps but has only recently returned to action after suffering a dislocated shoulder during last season's RBS 6 Nations Championship clash against England.

On the field, England head coach Brian Ashton breathed a sigh of relief after Bath's international lock Danny Grewcock emerged unscathed from Bath's 15-7 Guinness Premiership defeat at Irish.

Ashton had hoped the entire starting line-up selected for next Saturday's Six Nations clash against Ireland in Dublin would be rested from this weekend's league programme.

But Grewcock and six of his colleagues - Olly Morgan, Josh Lewsey, Andy Farrell, Jason Robinson, Joe Worsley and Magnus Lund - were due to come under starter's orders before England assemble at their Bath University training base.

Grewcock scored a late try for Bath, yet Irish had already done enough through touchdowns from Sailosi Tagicakibau and Topsy Ojo to record a win that took them into eighth place.

London Irish rugby director Brian Smith said: "This time last year against Bath we were brilliant in the first half, scored a lot of good tries and went on a run of wins from there, so let's hope this is the catalyst for something similar."

Bath head coach Steve Meehan admitted his side paid the price for their lacklustre first-half display - which meant he was forced to keep Grewcock on the pitch for the full 80 minutes.

Meehan said: "In a perfect world we would have been able to replace him, but the situation meant we felt he needed to stay on the field."