Preview: London Irish v Bath
Bath retain the services of Butch James for their trip to the Madejski to face London Irish on Sunday in the Guinness Premiership.
Bath retain the services of Butch James for their trip to the Madejski to face London Irish on Sunday in the Guinness Premiership.
James invigorated the team last week in the LV= Cup win over Sale and the Bath faithful and coaching staff are hoping he can now kick-start the stuttering season.
“Having Butch back last weekend brought a considerable boost to the team,” admitted Head Coach Steve Meehan.
“His communication is very direct and everyone knows what he wants. He spent a lot of time with the ball in hand in that period and that is exactly what we wanted to see.”
Now in Round 14 and in 10th position, Bath have a challenge ahead of them, but the first step is to beat London Irish and with a successful history for Bath when facing them in Reading, it is far from an impossible feat.
“It is vital that everybody now delivers each and every week,” said Meehan.
“That is the challenge all of us are faced with at the moment. If we respond to the challenges and the players want to hold onto their jerseys, we will get better performances out of them and, as a result, are more likely to win.
“London Irish are a good squad and a complete team. They will be very difficult to beat. But, they are each and every year and we have a good record at the Madejski, so hopefully that trend will continue.”
Meanwhile, club captain Bob Casey returns to lead London Irish in the clash.
Casey is one of five experienced players that return to the Exiles' starting line-up, with Clarke Dermody and David Paice in the front row and George Stowers starting at number eight. Kieran Roche partners Casey in the second row.
Among the backs Chris Malone starts at fly-half. Tom Homer is recalled from England U20 duty and comes in at full-back as Peter Hewat moves to the left wing.
Academy players Jamie Gibson and Matt Garvey, who impressed in the LV= Cup matches over the past fortnight, continue to feature in the squad. Gibson starts at openside flanker while Garvey is named among the replacements.
“We're pleased to be returning to Guinness Premiership action on Sunday afternoon after what seems like a long break,” said London Irish Head Coach Toby Booth.
“The Premiership is the primary focus of our season.
“As all clubs know, the four rounds of matches played during the Six Nations Championship can make or break play-off aspirations and on Sunday we will be looking for London Irish's true fighting spirit to shine through,” continued Booth.
“Over the past fortnight a combination of international call-ups and injury has provided our squad and Academy players in particular with the chance to showcase their talents.
“The matches against Harlequins and Worcester provided ample evidence of the quality we have coming through our player development system. We're looking forward to seeing them in action again on Sunday,” Booth concluded.
Form: London Irish are winless in their last five encounters in all competitions, since their 23-19 home win over Saracens in the Guinness Premiership on 27 December. Bath's three-game losing run came to a halt with a 40-7 victory over Sale at The Rec in the LV= Cup on Saturday. Bath have won back to back games in the Guinness Premiership and are going for a third successive victory in the competition for the first time since November 2008. Bath's only away win since September was 20-15 at struggling Leeds in the Premiership on 2 January. The Exiles beat Bath 16-0 when the two met in the Guinness Premiership on 28 November but have not completed a Premiership season's double over the south-westerners since 2006/07.
London Irish: 15 Tom Homer, 14 Topsy Ojo, 13 Elvis Seveali'i, 12 Seilala Mapusua, 11 Peter Hewat, 10 Chris Malone, 9 Alfredo Lalanne, 8 George Stowers, 7 Jamie Gibson, 6 Richard Thorpe, 5 Bob Casey (c), 4 Kieran Roche, 3 Faan Rautenbach, 2 David Paice, 1 Clarke Dermody.
Replacements: 16 James Buckland, 17 Dan Murphy, 18 James Tideswell, 19 Matt Garvey, 20 Gary Johnson, 21 John Rudd, 22 Ryan Lamb, 23 Mike Catt.
Bath: 15 Nick Abendanon, 14 Joe Maddock, 13 Shontayne Hape, 12 Ryan Davis, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 Butch James, 9 Michael Claassens (c), 8 Luke Watson, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Ben Skirving, 5 Peter Short, 4 Stuart Hooper, 3 Duncan Bell, 2 Lee Mears, 1 David Barnes.
Replacements: 16 Pieter Dixon, 17 David Flatman, 18 Aaron Jarvis, 19 Andy Beattie, 20 Jonny Faamatuainu, 21 Scott Bemand, 22 Nicky Little, 23 Jack Cuthbert.
Venue: Madejski Stadium
Kick-off: 16.30 GMT
Referee: Sean Davey