Exiles lose Mapusua; gain Welsh star

London Irish centre Seilala Mapusua will leave the club at the end of the current season, but highly-rated Welsh flyhalf Steven Shingler has signed a two-year contract with the Premiership outfit.

The Exiles revealed in Wednesday that Mapusua will be joining the Japanese Top League side, Kubota Spears.

The 30-year-old Samoan will depart after five seasons at the Exiles, after he joined the club in 2006 from Otago and the Highlanders in New Zealand.

London Irish head coach Toby Booth said they would like to thank Mapusua for all of the hard work and effort he has put in during his time in London.

“We would like to wish him and his family all the best for the future,” Booth said.

“He has been a tremendous, committed servant to our club, an outstanding professional and an inspiration for any player on the field. Seilala is at a stage in his career where he needs to be thinking about his next steps and the future and we completely respect that.”

Booth added: “Whilst we are obviously disappointed that Seilala will not be with us next season, his departure does however bring opportunities to other London Irish players and to the club in terms of recruiting new talent.”

Mapusua has been involved in some memorable games at London Irish, including a Premiership Final against Leicester and a European Cup semifinal against Toulouse.

He made 111 appearances for London Irish in all competitions, scoring 17 tries.

At the end of the 2006/07 season he was awarded Best Newcomer at the club’s annual awards and received both the London Irish Players’ Player of the Season and the RPA Players’ Player of the Season awards in 2008/09.

Mapusua said he was “sad” to leave London Irish.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here and have made a lot of friends on and off the field. I would like to thank everyone for the fantastic way they have treated me and my family during my time at here. I would particularly like to thank the coaches for the opportunities they have given me and the supporters for always being behind me and the squad. We will truly miss London Irish.”

He added: “All this said, there is still a little while before I go and there is still a job for me to do here between now and the end of the season. My priority right now is to do everything I can to help the team to finish in a top four position in the Premiership and end the season on a high”.

* The departure of Mapusua comes at the same time that the club announced that Shingler signed a two-year contract and will join them for the start of the 2011-12 season.

The 19-year-old joins the Exiles from the Scarlets and Llanelli RFC, where he has been a constant and consistent performer in the Welsh Premiership.

An accurate goal-kicker, who has amassed 317 points so far during his time at Llanelli RFC, made his competitive debut back in 2009 against Cross Keys and has since gone onto play 44 games.

Shingler has played for the Scarlets in four games, two of which were pre-season fixtures against Gloucester and Worcester. He also played for the Scarlets in their LV=Cup games, against Leeds and London Irish, scoring 20 points against the Exiles.

The London Irish coach, Booth, is delighted that Shingler signed for the club.

“Steven is a player with a huge amount of potential and he will be a great attribute for our squad,” Booth said.

“He has impressive vision and is a superb goal kicker. We feel working with the coaching team here at London Irish will help to propel Steven to the next level of his game.”

Shingler, who will join the Exiles for pre-season preparations, spoke of the opportunities of playing in the Premiership.

“The opportunity to join one of the leading Premiership clubs is an exciting prospect. I am very impressed with Toby Booth’s vision for the club and the opportunity to work with him, in addition to learning from Mike Catt is too good to turn down,” Shingler said.

“I am very much looking forward to a new future at Irish and the challenge that lies ahead. I leave the Scarlets with a heavy heart and would like to thank the coaches at Llanelli RFC and the Scarlets for giving me the opportunity to play rugby and develop at an elite level.”