Tom Pearson exclusive interview: ‘It’s tragic we’ll never know how good London Irish could have been’

om Pearson has moved to thank London Irish’s bespoke coaching for crafting his back-row play to the level where he can state his World Cup selection case.

Pearson signed with Northampton on Thursday, securing his future for next season in the wake of London Irish entering administration and falling out of the RFU league structure.

The dogged 23-year-old flanker admitted he has had to shelve all thoughts on his own future in a bid to focus fully on his World Cup dream.

Pearson has joined England’s initial World Cup training camp at Pennyhill Park this week, along with 27 other hopefuls in boss Steve Borthwick’s ranks.

This time two years ago Pearson was trading Cardiff Metropolitan University for Irish as a Premiership rookie – now the uncapped back-row forward has a World Cup shot.

And Pearson revealed one-on-one coaching and review sessions with Irish’s assistant coach Jonathan Fisher have helped propel him up the ranks.

“I worked quite closely with Jonathan Fisher in the last two seasons,” Pearson told Standard Sport.

“We worked very closely, on game reviews, skills sessions, top-ups, and even after training, we’d go through footage from training, which was really helpful.

“We would start building those patterns, the imagery to go into the next game, really laying those patterns and topping up on skills.

“We worked quite a lot on my defence as well, which has improved this season quite a lot from last year.

“So I’d put a lot down to him, and guys like (Irish head coach) Les Kiss as well; he’s an absolute mastermind, he’s really innovative and really knows how to unlock defences with our attack.

“When you’ve got coaches like that around you it gives you the best opportunity to excel.

“I’m extremely grateful to those two guys, and to everyone at Irish.

“They had put a massive focus in the last few seasons seeing how many individuals they could help push to the next level with England.

“It’s tragic that we’ll never get to see just how good that team and that squad could have been.”

While Pearson has been able to resolve his club future quickly, the uncertainty of the last few months given Irish’s now failed takeover took its toll on all involved with the Exiles.

Pearson admitted he had to shut out all worries in order to put himself in the frame for a World Cup training camp opportunity.

Premiership semi-finalists and finalists will become available across June as their mandatory rest periods come to an end, leaving the initial 28-strong group in an immediate fight to prove their worth.

Pearson has made an immediate impression on Borthwick through his physical output and his mental grit, but the new Northampton star is under no illusions to the size of the task ahead.

“I wanted to turn up to the camp in peak condition to give myself the absolute best chance to put my best foot forward and try to stay in this group in these weeks now,” said Pearson.

“These camps are the place where I can improve and learn the most as an individual, given the calibre of players and coaches.”

Tom Pearson was speaking as Spabreaks.com, the UK’s leading spa booking and experience agency, launch their Men’s Health Week campaign Real Men Relax, to highlight the benefits of spa to men of all trades and backgrounds. For more information visit www.spabreaks.com