Delon Armitage has warned his London Irish team-mates they face the prospect of another trophyless season if they fail to cope with their new status as Guinness Premiership targets'.

The Exiles lost to Leicester in last season's Premiership grand final but after a summer of relative stability and strengthening in key areas, many pundits are tipping them to go one better this term.

They were outfought by Saracens on the opening weekend of the new campaign, however, going down to an 18-14 defeat in the London double-header at Twickenham.

It remains to be seen whether it was early-season rustiness or a case of the weight of expectation proving too much for Toby Booth's men.

But England full-back Armitage, one of the many Irish players not at their usual level on Saturday, acknowledges things are not going to get any easier as the season progresses.
“We are a target for other teams now,” the 25-year-old said.

“People see us as a threat whereas before, people saw us as the underdogs. So it's going to be tough.

“We know teams are going to come and try to knock us off the top and it's up to us to prove it was not just a fluke that we got up there last year. It didn't just all happen in a year; we have worked hard for four years to get to where we are now.

“We got to the final last season but we came away with nothing, no silverware. Our big aim this season is to get silverware.”

Armitage is hoping to build on his breakthrough 2008/09 season, when he cemented a place in the England team and was one of the inspirations behind Irish's march to the Premiership final, where they were defeated 10-9 by the Tigers.

The full-back experienced a rare off day against Saracens and will hoping to be back at the races on Sunday when Gloucester, comfortable 24-5 winners over Bath at the weekend, visit the Madejski Stadium.

Armitage was probably one of the players Booth was referring to when the head coach said some members of his squad were “a little bit behind” in terms of preparation. They were late back in training because last season was prolonged due to the club's appearance in the Premiership final and some were called up for international duty over the summer.

Booth added: “I can't comment for the individuals concerned but as a coaching team we've done nothing different to what we've done before.
“We stressed what we needed to stress and we haven't even spoken about last year.

“But it's something that if the players didn't know, they do know now — if they want to get themselves in a position where they can challenge for some silverware again, they are certainly going to have to produce better than they did against Saracens.”

It is certainly too early to be pressing the panic button and that they at least emerged with a bonus point from a poor opening-day performance is some consolation for the Exiles.

Their squad is overflowing with talent and once fly-half Ryan Lamb, their high-profile summer signing from Gloucester, settles in that position, the fans should see another side to the team, especially going forward.

Armitage said: “Last year was about getting to know our game plan. Everyone has bought into that and it's all about executing that every week of this season now.

“We are a lot stronger — we have brought in players in positions that we struggled in last year. We've brought in Ryan Lamb and Chris Malone at No10, players who have been outstanding in over the last few years.

“George Stowers, the captain of Samoa, is also playing really well so the squad are looking good.”

Malone, plucked from Harlequins in the close season, did not feature against Saracens, but Booth admitted the 31-year-old Australian may well be involved against Gloucester.

Stowers, a try-scorer at Twickenham and a player who gave Irish some decent go-forward and grunt when he appeared off the replacements' bench in the second half of the clash, will also hope to be promoted into the starting XV for Sunday's clash with the Cherry and Whites.