Confirmed: Greig Tonks to London Irish

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It has now been confirmed by London Irish that Tonks has joined them with immediate effect.

Interestingly he is being listed by them as a fly half, despite playing most of his Edinburgh games at fullback. Apparently he’s joining to provide ‘injury cover for Chris Noakes, which doesn’t sound too inspiring for the 26 year old.

[blockquote author=”Head of Rugby Operations Glenn Delaney” pull=”normal”]“I am delighted that we have secured the services of a player of Greig’s calibre. He brings a lot of experience to the team and we look forward to welcoming him to the Club.”[/blockquote]

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It looks like Edinburgh are set to lose another influential player this week with Greig Tonks rumoured to have signed for Reading based London Irish.

His big boot has been a significant asset to Edinburgh

There’s been no official confirmation from either club, but we’ve heard from separate sources that he’s due to leave.

If true, he’ll follow quickly in the footsteps of Edinburgh captain Mike Coman who confirmed his departure to the Aviva Premiership strugglers earlies this month. There is also a significant Scottish player base at the club with Sean Maitland, Blair Cowan, promising young Scottish qualified scrum half Scott Steele and Geoff Cross (although he has spent a lot of the season on loan to London Scottish) in residence.

With Matt Scott off to Gloucester, Sam Beard to the Dragons, David Denton already at Bath, Grant Gilchrist linked to Toulon and Alex Toolis rumoured to have signed for the Melbourne Rebels, this must be a giving Alan Solomons quite the headache.

At this rate he may not have a backline left

What’s more concerning is the lack of replacement players announced by Edinburgh. Most British clubs are putting out statements thick and fast, but so far Edinburgh have been very quiet and have far more going out than coming in.

Thankfully there seems to a more than able replacement in the wings with young Scotland U20 star Blair Kinghorn impressing so far this season.

It looks like being a fight to death between Irish and Worcester

Whether, if confirmed, this will be a good move for Tonks seems unsure. London Irish are currently bottom of the English Premiership and are favourites to face relegation. Hopefully all the Scots player have release clauses in their contracts, otherwise we may see some of our top players dropping off the international radar.

How big a loss would this be for Edinburgh? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

We’ll update you if and when we receive confirmation.