Determined London Irish power up
London Irish head coach Toby Booth has made six changes – one of which is positional – to his side’s starting line-up for Saturday’s Guinness Premiership clash against the Worcester Warriors at Sixways (kick-off 2pm).
In the front row, former Springbok Faan Rautenbach comes in at tighthead prop for London Irish, whilst Richard Thorpe returns at blindside flanker and Jonathon Fisher replaces Steffon Armitage in the No.7 shirt as the England international is rested due to EPS requirements.
In the Irish backline, Elvis Seveali’i and Ryan Lamb start at outside centre and flyhalf, respectively, with Tom Homer moving to the left-wing.
Peter Richards, meanwhile, has been named among the replacements following his recovery from injury – his return, and utility value, a huge shot in the arm for the third-placed ‘Exiles’ who lost 22-24 to Northampton Saints last week.
“Despite the adverse weather conditions this week, we’ve been able to adapt our schedules and have trained well for tomorrow’s important visit to Worcester,” Booth told london-irish.com.
“Whatever the competition, matches between the two clubs are usually very competitive and this one will be no different, especially as the Warriors always provide stiff opposition in front of their home supporters.
“Starting tomorrow, we face a series of matches that will impact on the outcome of our season. It will be important to establish winning momentum and we will be going all out to do so,” the London Irish boss concluded.
With plenty to play for, especially at home, Worcester Director of Rugby Mike Ruddock has made two changes to his team’s starting XV; with hooker Aleki Lutui and inside centre Sam Tuitupou both returning.
Lutui replaces Chris Fortey in the No.2 shirt, whilst hard-hitting No.12 Tuitupou will add plenty of steel to the Worcester midfield after missing last weekend’s 13-13 draw with Gloucester because of a virus.
In another boost for the Warriors, who are in 11th place on the Guinness Premiership log, England Sevens star Chris Cracknell – who recently joined Worcester – could debut for his new club, after being named on the bench.
“It’s not too long ago that we played London Irish at the Madejski Stadium and we did pretty well on that occasion,” said a confident Worcester boss.
“We really asked questions of London Irish in most areas of the field and we will have to do that again at Sixways if we are to succeed in toppling one of the best teams in Europe at the moment.”
The teams:
Worcester Warriors: 15 Chris Latham, 14 Rico Gear, 13 Dale Rasmussen, 12 Sam Tuitupou, 11 Miles Benjamin, 10 Willie Walker, 9 Jonny Arr, 8 Kai Horstmann, 7 Pat Sanderson (captain), 6 Tom Wood, 5 Craig Gillies, 4 Greg Rawlinson, 3 Olivier Sourgens, 2 Aleki Lutui, 1 Adam Black.
Replacements: 16 Matt Mullan, 17 Chris Fortey, 18 Tevita Taumoepeau, 19 Graham Kitchener, 20 Chris Cracknell, 21 Ryan Powell, 22 Matthew Jones, 23 Alex Grove.
London Irish: 15 Delon Armitage, 14 Peter Hewat, 13 Elvis Seveali’i, 12 Seilala Mapusua, 11 Tom Homer, 10 Ryan Lamb, 9 Paul Hodgson, 8 Chris Hala’Ufia, 7 Jonathon Fisher, 6 Richard Thorpe, 5 Bob Casey (captain), 4 Nick Kennedy, 3 Faan Rautenbach, 2 David Paice, 1 Clarke Dermody.
Replacements: 16 Danie Coetzee, 17 Dan Murphy, 18 Paulica Ion, 19 Kieran Roche, 20 Gary Johnson, 21 John Rudd, 22 Peter Richards, 23 Chris Malone.
Date: Saturday, January 9
Venue: Sixways Stadium
Time: 14:00 (14:00 GMT)
Referee: Chris White
Touch judges: Bruce Robertson, Andrew Watson
Television match official: Matt Peters
