Gloucester land five former Exiles

Gloucester Rugby have announced the signings of five new players from London Irish.

Scrum-half, Caolan Englefield, lock/backrow, Ben Donnell and wing, Michael Dykes all join the Senior squad with exciting fly half, Rory Taylor and powerful tight-head prop, Afolabi Fasogbon joining our Academy squad.

English-qualified Englefield, 23, who won caps at junior level for Ireland, has worked closely with new attack coach James Lightfoot-Brown over the years, signs on to enhance the half-backs following the departure of Ben Meehan.

Despite his young age, Donnell, 22, already has bags of senior experience.

Donnell joined the Irish Academy at 16 and went on to captain the Club's under-18s side. His first senior appearance came aged just 18 during the 2017/18 season, coming off the bench against the Cherry & Whites in the Anglo-Welsh Cup.  

At 6’6’’ and 115kg, Donnell is a physical unit, operating at lock and back-row, he’s sure to add size and versatility to an already powerful forward pack.

Dykes, like many of the Irish Academy graduates, is a lethal attacker. He scored seven tries in his first ten games of professional rugby, including a memorable Gallagher Premiership hat-trick against Harlequins in January this year.

In addition to the senior trio, two of Irish’s brightest young talents will also join the Cherry & Whites, linking up with the Academy.

Prop, Afolabi Fasogban, who impressed again in the England U20s first game of the world U20 Championship against Ireland on the weekend, and fly-half, Rory Taylor, make the move to Kingsholm, where they will be developed by transition coaches T. Rhys Thomas and Tim Taylor into first-team players.

Gloucester Rugby Head Coach, George Skivington, is pleased to be able to bolster his squad.

“With James coming in to run our attack next season, it made sense for us to take a look at some of the Irish boys when they became available as these are players he’s worked with for a few years.

“He knows the ability and potential they have, and they understand the way in which he wants to play, so it was a no-brainer.

“With Ben, Caolan and Michael, we have three young guys that have already been impressing at senior level.

“We’re also really excited to bring in Afolabi and Rory to our Academy too. Irish have an excellent track record of bringing academy players through, and these are two of the brightest future prospects so we are delighted to have secured their future with us.

“With the additional coaches we have brought in for this season, we think we’ve got the perfect set-up in place to get the best out of these players and to mould them into first-team regulars.”