London Irish

London Irish to share cost of Thorpe's wages at Leicester

By Alan Manicom
August 08, 2012

London Irish agreed to subsidise Richard Thorpe's wages next season to ensure the 27-year-old back-row forward's move to Leicester Tigers went through.

Thorpe, who is due to make his debut for Leicester in a friendly at Jersey on Saturday, had one year left on his contract at Exiles.

Leicester director of rugby Richard Cockerill said: "Richard Thorpe has signed with us until the end of this season.

"We came to agreement with London Irish who have paid some of his salary for this year.

"That gives us a quality player who has played a lot of Premiership rugby and will slot straight into the squad.

"It is a move that is very cost effective for us."

Thorpe, who made 135 appearances for Irish in a seven-year spell, is part of a 17-man clearout this summer.

And he is one of five players released by Exiles' director of rugby Brian Smith after originally being given deals for next season by the club's former head coach Toby Booth.

Thorpe upset his new Leicester boss 12 days ago when he announced on Twitter that he had signed for Tigers.

Cockerill told the Leicester Mercury: "He will not be using Twitter to be discussing any of those things any more.

"If he didn't know beforehand, he certainly knows about it now."

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