Preview: Harlequins v London Irish
It may be Halloween, but Harlequins will be hoping that there will be no spooky surprises when they take on London Irish on Saturday.
It may be Halloween, but Harlequins will be hoping that there will be no spooky surprises when they take on London Irish on Saturday at the Stoop.
With a handful of injuries and players on England duty, Quins fans will see a number of new faces in the starting 23-man team and a new captain in the form of flanker, Chris Robshaw.
Danny Care and Ugo Monye are locked away with England so Steve So'oialo takes over the starting scrum-half role and Josh Drauniniu prepares to make his debut on the wing, after impressing in Monday's A league game against Bath.
The absence of the injured Nick Easter sees Tom Guest put on the number eight shirt.
An injury picked by Nick Evans at Worcester means Rory Clegg also makes first start in the Quins shirt after his impressive form at Sixways.
First XV starts for the half-back duo and Neil McMillan mean Karl Dickson, Seb Jewell and Chris York could all make their Premiership bows from the bench.
Meanwhile, London Irish have made two changes to the starting XV that defeated current champions' Leicester Tigers last Saturday.
Both changes are in the backs where the Argentine international, Alfredo Lalanne starts at scrum-half in place of Paul Hodgson, who is with the England squad. The other change is on the right wing where John Rudd makes his first team debut having played and scored a try in an 'A' League match on Monday.
“Our visit to the Stoop provides us with a chance to keep up with the early league leaders,” said London Irish Head Coach Toby Booth.
“We know and respect the Harlequins players and coaching staff They had an important away win last weekend and were unlucky to lose to Toulouse a fortnight ago, we are going to have to be at our best to come away with any points.”
Form:Harlequins are unbeaten in their last three fixtures in the Guinness Premiership since their 9-22 home defeat by table topping Saracens on 19 September 'Quins have won just one of their last five matches at the Stoop: 13-11 over Bath on 3 October London Irish's only defeat in their last seven encounters in all competitions was 25-27 at home to Scarlets in the European Cup on 17 October The Exiles have won their last five games on opposition soil London Irish have won on their last three visits to the Twickenham Stoop, one of their old home grounds.
The teams:
Harlequins: 15 Mike Brown, 14 David Strettle, 13 Gonzalo Tiesi, 12 Nils Mordt, 11 Josh Drauniniu, 10 Rory Clegg, 9 Steve So'oialo, 8 Tom Guest, 7 Neil McMillan, 6 Chris Robshaw (c), 5 George Robson, 4 James Percival, 3 John Andress, 2 Tani Fuga, 1 Ceri Jones.
Replacements: 16 Chris Brooker, 17 Aston Croall, 18 Mark Lambert, 19 Lewis Stevenson, 20 Chris York, 21 Karl Dickson, 22 Seb Jewell, 23 George Lowe.
London Irish: 15 Peter Hewat, 14 John Rudd, 13 Elvis Seveali'i, 12 Seilala Mapusua, 11 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 10 Ryan Lamb, 9 Alfredo Lalanne, 8 Chris Hala'Ufia, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 George Stowers, 5 Bob Casey(captain), 4 Nick Kennedy, 3 Paulica Ion, 2 Danie Coetzee, 1 Clarke Dermody.
Replacements: 16 David Paice, 17 Dan Murphy, 18 Faan Rautenbach, 19 Kieran Roche, 20 Richard Thorpe, 21 Chris Malone, 22 Jamie Lennard, 23 Peter Richards.
Date: Saturday, October 31
Venue: Twickenham Stoop
Kick-off: 1500 (1300)
Referee:George Clancy