Now, Bob Casey and James Hudson's misfortune has given Gary his chance and, if Saturday is anything to go by, he's keen to make a more permanent impression on the first XV. Johnson was part of this weekend forward-led destruction of Wasps.
The Craic have agreed to sponsor Gary for this season and this is your opportunity to join-in. As with Paicey, the sponsorship fee is £300 which we split into 60 shares of £5 each. You can buy as many as you like and each share gives you a chance of being drawn at the end of the season to represent the share-holders at the Player Sponsors' Evening at Sunbury at the end of the season.
At the Evening you will be escorted by Gary and get to meet most of the playing and backroom staff in a very cordial, informal event. During the night you'll be presented with one of Gary's playing shirts signed, which you get to keep, and have your photo taken with the plucky lock.
All you need to do to join the fun is email Griff (griff@londonirish.org) with the following details:
i) Name
ii) email address - can you make sure this is likely to stay active for 12 months
iii) contact phone number(s) (in case email fails us or I need to get in touch urgently)
iv) How many shares you want to get (and if they are for you singly or for you and a partner/family member).
Don't send any form of payment yet - we'll let you know how many shares you got and how to pay once they're all in.
We allocate the shares in as fair a way as we can - everyone will get one share before anyone gets two (and so on until all the shares are gone). People who respond to this story first are further up the queue for multiple shares.
If you already emailed Griff in response to the email he sent round, you don't need to respond again, you're already in.