Blues aim to pile the pain on Exiles
Cardiff Blues travel to face London Irish knowing they need a victory to keep their Heineken Cup quarterfinals place when the two sides clash at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday.
The Welsh side are level on points with Edinburgh as the race for a place in the last eight of the tournament hots up but they cannot stumble when they return from Reading on Saturday.
The side from the Welsh capital managed a losing bonus point in their 19-12 defeat to Edinburghin the Scottish capital in their last outing in the competition but will face a London Irish side with a point to prove.
The Exiles have endured a miserable home record in this season’s tournament, losing to Edinburgh and Racing Metro in their own backyard and will want to put that right against the Blues.
The Cardiff Blues will be determined to make sure the add to Irish’s misery and will be more than aware that the English Premiership outfit has lost 60 percent of their European games against Welsh sides.
The teams:
London Irish: 15 Delon Armitage, 14 Topsy Ojo, 13 Jonathan Spratt, 12 Shontayne Hape, 11 Adam Thompstone, 10 Adrian Jarvis, 9 Darren Allinson, 8 Alex Gray, 7 David Sisi, 6 Bryn Evans, 5 Matt Garvey, 4 Nick Kennedy, 3 Faan Rautenbach, 2 David Paice, 1 Clarke Dermody (captain).
Replacements: 16 James Buckland, 17 Alex Corbisiero, 18 Paulica Ion, 19 Bob Casey, 20 James Sandford, 21 Tom Homer, 22 Steven Shingler, 23 Paul Hodgson.
Cardiff Blues: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Casey Laulala, 12 Gavin Henson, 11 Chris Czekaj, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Lloyd Williams, 8 Xavier Rush, 7 Sam Warburton, 6 Michael Paterson, 5 Paul Tito (captain), 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Taufa’ao Filise, 2 T Rhys Thomas, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements: 16 Ryan Tyrell, 17 John Yapp, 18 Scott Andrews, 19 Maama Molitika, 20 Josh Navidi, 21 Richie Rees, 22 Ceri Sweeney, 23 Richard Mustoe.
Date: Saturday, January 14
Venue: Madejski Stadium
Kick-off: 15.40 GMT
Referee: Neil Paterson
