Former All Black prop, Clarke Dermody joined London Irish in October 2007 and is captaining the side for a second successive season.

Regarded as an outstanding loose head prop with great technique and experience, Dermody was a natural to follow the great Neal Hatley in a key front row position for the Exiles.

Dermody's rugby career began playing mini-rugby in Tokanui, near Invercargill on the south coast of New Zealand's south island. He progressed from there to Southland Boys High School which provided a platform for involvement in the New Zealand age group teams.

With All Black front row heroes like Olo Brown, Craig Dowd and Sean Fitzpatrick providing the inspiration, Dermody joined the local Woodlands Club when he finished high school. Before long Southland NPC came calling and he went on to make 79 appearances for the province, captaining the team in 2004.

The quality and consistency of his performances at provincial level led to his selection in 2003 for the Otago Highlanders for whom he made 31 appearances in the Super 12/14 tournament.

Dermody was capped by New Zealand in 2006 against Ireland (twice) and England - the latter game was the All Blacks record defeat of their hosts at Twickenham on the 5th November 2006.

Now in his second full season at London Irish, Dermody has proved his ability against the best packs in Europe with 102 appearances and two tries to his name.