Paddy Jackson

Paddy Jackson finished the 2023 Premiership season as its leading scorer with 205 points. London Irish were expelled from the competition for financial reasons weeks afterwards and he was out of a club.

Fly-half at Lyon, 1.80m and 89kg, born David Patrick Lindsay James Jackson in Lisburn on 5 January 1992.

Ulster gave him a senior debut in May 2011, starting at 10 against the Dragons at nineteen. He started the 2012 European Cup final, lost 42-14 to Leinster, and the 2013 Pro12 final, lost to Leinster again.

Ireland capped him on 24 February 2013 against Scotland. He has 25 caps, fourteen of them starts, and 195 points, and won the Six Nations in 2014. He played once at the 2015 World Cup, against Romania.

In April 2018 the IRFU and Ulster terminated his contract following a trial in which he and his teammate Stuart Olding were tried for rape and acquitted. Both left Irish rugby; Jackson has not been selected by Ireland since.

Perpignan signed him in June 2018 on two years. When they went down he moved to London Irish, newly promoted, in 2019, and was a losing Premiership Cup finalist in 2022.

The two Perpignan seasons were the low point of his club career and the London Irish ones the high: he kicked more points than anyone in England in his final year there.

Lyon took him in June 2023 and he came off the bench against Toulon that August. A good first half-season earned an extension to 2026.

A goal-kicker and a game manager rather than a runner, and at 34 the boot is what he is paid for.