Topsy Ojo still breaking records but won't get carried away with London Irish's fairy tale Premiership return

The English wing is faster than he has even been and is ready to continue the rebuilding process at Irish after a try-scoring return to the top flight

Topsy Ojo scored the opening try as London Irish beat Harlequins 39-29 on their return to the Premiership (Getty)

There is quite a difference between sprinting over the try line in front of 55,000 people at Twickenham and doing so against the likes of Doncaster Knights, Jersey Reds and Richmond, but for Topsy Ojo the feeling is just as sweet after helping secure a winning return to the Premiership for London Irish.

The 32-year-old opened the floodgates as Irish ran four tries past Harlequins in a stunning 39-29 victory at Twickenham on Saturday, a result that proves the returning Exiles are not back to make up the numbers.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that after a year away from the limelight of the Premiership, Irish's record try-scorer Ojo would be ‘past it’, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. The wing this week not only scored a blistering try at Twickenham, his 46th in the top flight, but also set a new club-record in their 10m and 20m sprint test, along with one of the club’s young whippersnappers.

“One of the young guys, Matt Williams, I have called him out this week,” Ojo said after the Double Header victory on Saturday. “I want to chase him down.”

With figures of 1.56 seconds over 10m and 2.72 seconds over 20m, Ojo has evidence to back-up his belief that he is in the shape of his life.

“I feel as good as I have ever done,” Ojo adds. “We have put the work in – in pre-season the way those guys ran it was great so we all feel fit and healthy, myself included. I think we saw a bit of that today.”

Ojo set a new sprint record last week to prove he is still in the shape of his life (Getty)

That same work that has gone into getting Ojo into the shape of his life is reflected in the club. They may not yet be where they were some 10 years ago, but following their relegation in 2016, decisions were made to rebuild the club from the bottom up. Similar resurrections have taken place at Harlequins and Northampton following recent relegations, and while both sides went on to gain immediate promotion and an eventual Premiership title, Ojo stopped short of claiming that is Irish’s target.

“18 months ago we said we wanted to build something that would not only get us through the Premiership, but help us compete in the Premiership and something we could build on for the next five or ten years,” he explained.

“Saints and Quins came back and ended up winning the whole thing...where we are at the moment we want to build a competitive squad that can go anywhere in this league and put in a performance. It is a young squad but the work you saw today started 18 months ago. It was nice to see that. We now need to make sure that is durable across the whole season.”

Ojo hopes Irish's win will be a building block rather than a one-off (Getty) (Getty Images)

That’s the bigger picture at Irish this season, and under director of rugby Nick Kennedy, a man who has been at the heart of the club since he joined them in 2001 barring a two-year spell away at the end of his playing career, they are trying to lay the foundations in order to maintain this early success and transform it into a period of consistency. Having lost the first six matches in their relegation season, getting points on the board early is part of Kennedy’s plan, and that was very much one of their discussion points before their fairy tale Premiership return.

“You can't get left behind,” added Ojo. “That was something we definitely suffered from. You were investing so much in getting a win so you were mentally and physically exhausted. It took us so long to get a win we were burnt out and had left it too long.

“This is a nice confidence booster but we don't want to be a yo-yo side that wins one week, loses the next and doesn't have any sort of consistency.”