Agustin Creevy: London Irish sign Argentina hooker

London Irish have announced the signing of Argentina international hooker Agustin Creevy.

The 35-year-old will join the Gallagher Premiership club with immediate effect from Super Rugby side Jaguares.

Creevy has made 89 appearances for Argentina - making him their most-capped player of all time - and captained his country in more than half of those games.

He spent two seasons with Worcester Warriors before joining the Jaguares in 2016, helping them reach last season's Super Rugby final.

The Jaguares face an uncertain future following the cancellation of the 2020 Super Rugby season due to Covid-19, and Creevy becomes the latest player to leave after the squad were told they were free to find new clubs.

London Irish director of rugby Declan Kidney told Sky Sports News: "Unfortunately Argentinian rugby has taken a hit and we've benefited from that in the fact that Agustin was available and willing to come to us. It'll help to bolster our reserves and it's another leader in our group."

Creevy added: "I am looking forward to joining London Irish and playing in England once again. Declan spoke very highly of the club, the people and the direction they want to go.

"I can't wait to join up with my team-mates and to get stuck in."

Irish resume their Premiership season on Saturday when they play Bath at the Rec.

The Exiles sit eighth in the table, seven points off the top four, and Kidney is confident they can compete for a semi-final spot.

"It has been an extraordinary couple of months for everybody in the world," he said. "We have a duty to get out there and give it our best shot, not alone for our supporters but for the public in general, just to get ourselves back up and going. We're professional sports people, that's our role in life.

"Everybody has had the same amount of time to get ready. The question is have we used it smartly enough and I believe we have.

"I'm surrounded by excellent people here and I think we've given ourselves a good shot at being in the right place at the right time."

Kidney says his squad is fit and firing ahead of the Premiership's resumption, including Ireland and Lions flanker Sean O'Brien, who is available for selection after overcoming a string of injury setbacks.

"He has hibernated well," Kidney said, who previously worked with O'Brien during his time as Ireland coach.

"He went back home to the farm. There's nothing like a bit of real work to help you get a bit of real strength.

"He has been training on a full-time basis, better than he has for the last couple of years. It'll be great if he gets a run of games for himself.

"It has been a long time out for everybody, they're going to have to get used to playing over 80 minutes. No matter what you do at training, you can't mirror that.

"We're going to have to see how that goes on Saturday. There's going to be a need for a lot of mental fortitude."

Kidney says Irish are "on tour" for the rest of this season. With their tenancy at the Madeski Stadium now expired, they will play their remaining home matches at the Twickenham Stoop before then moving to Brentford's new stadium at Kew Bridge.

"It's the perfect size for a rugby stadium, 17,500," Kidney said. "It's up to us to give supporters something worthwhile to come and watch.

"That'll be our job on the pitch but there could be great craic to be had in Brentford. We look forward to the day when we get in there.

"This club has massive potential. I've been in a few and I see as much potential here as any other club I've been in. it's up to us on the pitch to get that right. A lot of things can then mushroom from that."