If one is misfortune and two is carelessness how on earth to describe the loss of a third Premiership club in the space of eight months? London Irish have finally followed Worcester and Wasps in being kicked out of the league, the financial mess that engulfs club rugby growing deeper. Again it is a tale of broken promises, of misplaced hope that salvation was round the corner.
The figures alone are haunting. Upwards of £30m of debt, approximately 70 players unemployed. But the numbers do not speak of the devastation that accompanies the demise of a professional club. Nor the depressing inevitability of something that has been on the cards for months, writ large in recent weeks, or the powerlessness to stop it.
