Values.

Diageo, parent company of Drinks giant Guinness, are set to hold talks with London Irish over their signing of Paddy Jackson in a fresh sponsorship plot relating to the former Ulster outhalf.

Jackson has signed for the newly promoted side ahead of next season, with news surfacing this week that former sponsor Cash Converters allegedly pulled their sponsorship just one-year in a three-year deal as a direct reaction to London Irish signing the Irishman.

Irish however, refuted that their signing of Jackson was the reason why Cash Converters opted out.

“The club would like to clarify that the decision to part ways at the end of 2018/19 season was made before the announcement of player signings in May 2019, and for reasons unrelated to player signings,” they insisted in a statement.

But now the Irish Daily Mail are reporting that Diageo, the parent company of Guinness who have sponsored London Irish for almost 30 years, are to meet with the club as they feel the decision to sign a player who has his contract terminated by the IRFU, is no consistent with their “values.”

“We are meeting the club this week to discuss our serious concerns regarding their decision, which is not consistent with our values.” a Diageo statement written to The Daily Mail said

The review undertaken by Ulster and the IRFU focused on a series of sexually explicit WhatsApp conversations involving Jackson and his then team-mate Stuart Olding and their friends about the sexual encounter at the centre of their infamous Belfast rape trial.