Morgan and Molenaar in the mix
England fullback Olly Morgan will make his first appearance of the season for Gloucester Rugby at the Madejski Stadium against London Irish on Sunday whilst centre Tim Molenaar is also set to make his full debut.
Morgan, a member of the England squad that took on Argentina this summer, has been sidelined with a dead leg since Gloucester’s preseason training camp in Scotland.
He is now fit to return and Tom Voyce moves from full back to the wing to accommodate him with James Simpson-Daniel dropping to the bench.
In the other significant change from the back line that defeated Bath last weekend, recent signing Tim Molenaar will make his full debut in the centre in place of Mike Tindall.
Number eight Gareth Delve will skipper the side which features just one change in the pack with Alasdair Dickinson and Nick Wood swapping roles – Dickinson starting and Wood amongst the replacements.
Head Coach Bryan Redpath, when talking to the media this week, said that he was happy with the performance against Bath weekend but there are still areas to improve upon and that the Exiles will pose a tough challenge.
“The performance in the contact areas and in defence showed how much it meant to the players. We probably missed two or three opportunities and it could have been a more polished performance.”
“However, on the whole last weekend, I was delighted with the outcome. We won the game and didn’t pick up any serious injuries. I couldn’t have asked any more from the players in the 80 minutes.”
London Irish boss Toby Booth meanwhile has named a team containing 10 full internationals for the big clash.
Among them is Ireland international and club captain, Bob Casey who makes a welcome return to the starting line-up having recovered from surgery to his arm in early summer. Casey swaps places with Andy Perry in the only change to the squad that represented the club at Twickenham last Saturday.
“While it was encouraging to see us create chances against Saracens last week, we failed to take them,” said London Irish Head Coach, Toby Booth. “We’ve worked hard on our finishing in training this week and I expect us to be more clinical on Sunday.
“Gloucester has a good, skilful squad that has been strengthened by some astute signings. From what we’ve seen of them they are playing with a new freedom and flexibility and showed their intent in defeating Bath at home last weekend,” Booth said.
“Matches between the two teams at Madejski Stadium are always competitive and entertaining so supporters can expect an exciting contest.”
The last five encounters between the two teams have all been won by the home side on the day, whilst Gloucester’s last win in Reading was was 22-11 on 10 November 2006.
London Irish have now suffered back to back defeats in the Guinness Premiership, but at Madejski Stadium in the competition the Exiles have won their last three games.
Gloucester, who top the Guinness Premiership table, have over the past six seasons slipped to just one defeat in the opening two rounds of Premiership play: 8-20 to Leicester in round one last year.
The teams:
London Irish: 15 Delon Armitage, 14 Adam Thompstone, 13 Elvis Seveali’i, 12 Seilala Mapusua, 11 Sailosi Tagickibau, 10 Ryan Lamb, 9 Paul Hodgson, 8 Chris Hala’Ufia, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Declan Danaher, 5 Bob Casey (captain), 4 Nick Kennedy, 3 Paulica Ion, 2 Danie Coetzee, 1 Clarke Dermody.
Replacements: 16 Dan Murphy, 17 James Buckland, 18 Faan Rautenbach, 19 Andy Perry, 20 George Stowers, 21 Peter Hewat, 22 Peter Richards, 23 Alfredo Lalanne.
Gloucester: 15 Olly Morgan, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Tim Molenaar, 12 Eliota-Fuimaono-Sapolu, 11 Tom Voyce, 10 Nicky Robinson, 9 Rory Lawson, 8 Gareth Delve (captain), 7 Andrew Hazell, 6 Alasdair Strokosch, 5 Alex Brown, 4 Dave Attwood, 3 Greg Somerville, 2 Scott Lawson, 1 Alasdair Dickinson.
Replacements: 16 Darren Dawiduik, 17 Nick Wood, 18 Pierre Capdevielle, 19 Marco Bortolami, 20 Akapusi Qera, 21 Dave Lewis, 22 Freddie Burns, 23 James Simpson-Daniel.
Date: Sunday 13 September
Venue: Madejski Stadium
Time: 15:00 (14:00 GMT)
Referee: Dean Richards (23rd Premiership game)
