Danagher's dilemma

When is a potential Ireland international not an Irish prospect? When the England under-21 squad has snapped him up. Declan Danagher, one of London Irish's brightest prospects, had already played for the Ireland under-19 squad in the FIRA World Championship and was a former member of the IRFU Academy, yet now finds himself in the England under21 squad.

Following his year with the Irish under-19s, the 21-year-old back row - whose parents hail from Sligo and Limerick - hoped to make the under-21 squad but claims that he heard nothing for two years until England invited him to join them.

Only then did he receive a call from the Ireland under-21 coach Ciaran Fitzgerald. Danagher explained in a recent interview: "They completely ignored me until last month when Ciaran Fitzgerald rang me out of the blue. All of a sudden they rang a couple of days before training and demanded that London Irish release me.

"England didn't put any pressure on me and were really encouraging from the start and I agreed to join their 40-man squad." Danagher played Gaelic football for Kingdom Kerry Gaels in London as a teenager and concedes that linking up with England is not ideally what he wants. "It's disheartening because I know where my heart is. My heart's with Ireland."

In Irish circles, the blame for this dreadful gaffe has been attributed to the Irish Exiles, but Danagher pours scorn on the assertion. "They (the Ireland selectors) don't really want to know about players over here. I don't see the Irish Exiles as being involved. The Exiles discovered me and told the IRFU about me, which was what they were supposed to do.

"The same thing happened to Mark Meenan, a flyhalf at Leicester. He played for Ireland under-19s but was then forgotten about and ended up playing for England under-21s. They have the academy over there and all the lads get into that and are regularly watched but we are forgotten about."