London Irish tonight became the third English Premiership club to fold after English rugby chiefs ran out of patience and pulled the plug.
Eight months on from Worcester and Wasps going bust a final, extended deadline came and went with owner Mick Crossan unable to sell the Exiles and unwilling to bankroll them any longer.
It means one of rugby’s most famous names being wiped off the map and another wave of redundancies flooding the sport’s already saturated job market.
