Just five miles from Heathrow airport, the interior of the London Irish clubhouse at Hazelwood looks a lot like home. Green paint adorns some of the walls. Irish jerseys feature prominently among the memorabilia. Céad Míle Fáilte is printed above the bar.
On one February morning, only kit brandished by the group of assembled teenagers reminds you that we’re not in Kansas any more. One player of course has a London Irish hoodie. Another sports Harlequins clobber. Rugby clubs in Bury, Henley, Epsom and Hertford are represented. There is still room for the mandatory O’Neills GAA tracksuit. A parent with a now retro Connacht shirt preserves the link to home.
Last year, David Humphreys said there are more Irish-qualified rugby players within the M25 than there are in Ireland. He was pointing to such an attitude being slightly antiquated, but that doesn’t mean the IRFU isn’t still looking. Ireland is too small a rugby nation not to tap into mass migration across the Irish Sea.
None of this is new. Kevin Maggs, the Bristol native with 70 Irish caps now working for the IRFU in Britain, is a case in point. In 1996, he sent a shoebox of videotapes to Lansdowne Road. No one responded. Then Ireland boss Brian Ashton came to Bristol scouting David Corkery and Paul Burke. Ralph Knibbs, then Bristol manager, sat next to Ashton at a game and alerted him of Maggs’s Irish roots. Seventy-two hours later, he was asked to prove his ancestry so he could go on a development trip to New Zealand.
If Jack Charlton made granny hunting cool, in rugby circles, it formalised with the Exiles programme. In 2017, things professionalised further into IQ Rugby, the IRFU programme tasked with finding Irish-qualified players based abroad, with Maggs becoming a full-time IRFU employee. Kieran Treadwell and Sammy Arnold were among the last crop to play for Ireland having come through the Exiles. Since them, no male players from IQ Rugby have earned senior Ireland caps.
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The day out in Hazelwood is the latest attempt to fix this. Youngsters with Irish roots are welcomed to a number of talent days in different parts of Britain. London Irish plays host to around 100 kids from the southeast. There is no barrier based on what level you play.
Witnessing the coaching in action offers a window into Irish rugby culture. “Feet, fight, finish” is shouted during a breakdown drill. The footwork close to contact, drive through the tackle and emphasis on “finishing” with excellent ball presentation are hallmarks of the Joe Schmidt days, his famed ruck detail filtering down to all levels.
After the session, parents are keen to discuss next steps. What position should their child play? Is he the right size for a prop, or should he move to the backrow?
The handful of IRFU staff then sit down with a group of volunteers, local expats keen to keep a connection to home. Hopefuls are colour coded with green, amber and red indicating their prospects of progressing. An IQ Rugby side will tour the provinces this summer. Those who impress will get a chance with Ireland Under-18s in the autumn. Then the Under-19s and Under-20s, the latter bringing more eyeballs through televised Six Nations games.
IQ Rugby offers no professional contracts, just a chance to be picked up by one of the provinces. For those currently operating in English academies, choices have to be made. “We offer a pathway rather than that counter-offer,” explains Steve McGinnis, another UK-based IRFU employee. “That’s where that system helps us. It’s an opportunity.”
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Ireland Under-20 squads have regularly been topped up by foreign-born talent. Dan Green, Will Wooton and Henry Walker featured this year. Patreece Bell was involved in 2024. La Rochelle’s South African-born wing Ike Anagu played in 2023. Chay Mullins featured in both 2022 and 2021.
On the women’s side, Grace Moore is currently playing for Ireland in the Six Nations. That English-born players can play in the Premiership while representing Ireland in theory makes it easier to bring prospects through to the top level, though Moore is the only IQ player in the current squad.
In recent years, male players have stopped at Under-20 level for various reasons. Some simply don’t attract provincial interest. They play for the Under-20s and return to their English academy. “The challenge for us is finding the guys better than what’s in Ireland,” says Maggs.
The best players, those most likely to intrigue the provinces, are inevitably subject to a tug-of-war with the nation of their birth. Dan Kelly was capped by Eddie Jones one year on from playing for Ireland Under-20s. Current England tighthead Joe Heyes was once on Leinster’s radar, only to ultimately opt for Leicester.
If they don’t want to play for Ireland, there’s no point. They won’t have the drive and ambition to play anyway. We look for lots of those things around the players
— Kevin Maggs
Those involved in IQ are often forced to play a waiting game. Four years after his solitary England cap, Kelly is now Irish-qualified again and will move to Munster this summer. Dan Green, Ireland’s fullback during the recent Under-20 Six Nations campaign, was previously selected for England Under-18s. That English call-up came only after Irish interest materialised.
The IQ staff encouraged him to go, confident that the option of studying at Queen’s University Belfast and making a stab of it at Ulster would prove more attractive than a place in Sale’s academy where university wasn’t on the cards. It did and Green played for Ireland Under-20s a year young.
“It’s not easy, we’re in England’s backyard, their academy backyard,” says McGinnis. “Most of them are pretty good at having the outlook we have. It’s about the player, can we get them an opportunity and is it right for the player to stay?”
“They all know!” jokes Maggs of Premiership clubs being mindful of Irish connections. “At the end of the day, we say if you don’t want to play for us, that’s fine. Go and play for England.
“If they don’t want to play for Ireland, there’s no point. They won’t have the drive and ambition to play anyway. I know how driven I was to want to make it. We look for lots of those things around the players, trying to get to know them, see what they’re like on and off the field. It’s really important.”
Mullins, the current Connacht wing who has been on two Emerging Ireland tours, appears the most likely to break IQ’s duck. He used to work as a Deliveroo rider while in the Bristol Bears academy. Jokes are made about the fitness developed cycling up and down the hills of Bristol serving him well with Ireland’s Olympic Sevens squad.
“He’s not a million miles away,” says Maggs. “Hopefully one of them does [play for Ireland], it would be great for us.”
“It’s quality not quantity,” says McGinnis. “If we find one, great. If we find five ... it’s not a reflection of our programme. We’re here to add to the Irish programme – which works.”
Gone are the days of the fortuitous seating arrangements which saw Maggs recruited. Talent identification has become as professional as the sport itself. Perhaps the more structured Irish operation now attracts greater Premiership attention, leading to stronger local guards being put up. Developing England internationals is good for business.
Senior caps are important, but given the personal connection made with the countless players coming through the door, the IQ staff can’t use them as the sole barometer of success.
“Yes it’s great to have that guy in an Irish jersey but if there’s a family connection, an opportunity back home, maybe with an AIL club, well that’s the opportunity to progress the rugby scene back home,” says McGinnis.
“Some of the others we’ve given chances to, it’s been such a good opportunity for them,” says Maggs. “Even for Lorcan McLoughlin and Chay Mullins, for them to win a Grand Slam [with Ireland Under-20s in 2022], they would never have dreamt that in a million years if they didn’t come through the IQ system.
“We’re only looking one or two guys to supplement the age-grade programme, then to fill out positionally where we’re short in the provinces.”
For now, Mullins flies the IQ flag. Alongside Ulster’s Walker and McLoughlin, his face is beamed on to a PowerPoint presentation shown to parents gathered in Hazelwood. In years to come, we’ll see how many, if any, follow in their IQ footsteps. Or even earn an elusive senior cap.
