Northampton Saints snap up Tom Pearson after London Irish demise
om Pearson has secured his future just a week after London Irish went bust by signing for Northampton Saints.
The 23-year-old flanker was left out of work along with the rest of Irish's 100-plus employees when the Exiles were placed into administration last week.
Now Northampton have moved to snap up the highly-rated back-rower, who had also received strong interest from Bath.
Pearson has joined England’s initial World Cup training camp this week, and has now received another boost in the shape of locking down a new home for next season.
“Northampton is a massive rugby town and Saints are blessed with a huge fanbase,” said Pearson. “Phil Dowson really made me feel I would fit in well with the style of rugby the team plays.
“I’ll always be incredibly grateful to London Irish and treasure my time there. They gave me a shot two years ago coming out of university, when I was an unknown and probably a bit of a risk. It’s tragic not to know the true potential of that team we had.”
Irish’s unemployed players are still scrambling to secure deals for the fast-approaching new season, with Chunya Munga joining Pearson at Northampton.
Racing 92 have tabled an enticing offer for England wing Henry Arundell, while Harlequins are eyeing a move for Will Joseph and Ben Loader weighing interest from South Africa’s URC finalists the Stormers.