Preview: London Irish v Leicester
London Irish welcome back five players from the England and Saxons squads respectively for Sunday's Guinness Premiership match with Leicester Tigers at Madejski Stadium.
London Irish welcome back five players from the England and Saxons squads respectively for Sunday's Guinness Premiership match with Leicester Tigers at Madejski Stadium.
Delon Armitage, Nick Kennedy, David Paice and Topsy Ojo return to league action in the Exiles' starting fifteen after a successful stint with the Saxons last week.
Shane Geraghty, who was involved in England's Six Nations squad against Italy, also takes his place in London Irish's line-up.
Ojo's return on the right wing is one of three changes to the team that secured London Irish's first away win in the Premiership at Leeds on January 27.
The other changes are at hooker where David Paice takes over from South African Danie Coetzee and in the back row where Steffon Armitage replaces the suspended Declan Danaher.
Bob Casey captains the team which has been boosted by the return of Mike Catt to the bench following a seven week lay-off with a leg injury.
“This fixture last season was a very hard fought encounter,” said London Irish coach Brian Smith.
“It resulted in a very significant victory for us; the win was based on outstanding defence and clinical attack.
“We will have to replicate that performance if we are to get a result against one of the most powerful squads in Europe.”
Having crashed out of the Heineken Cup, the Tigers have a very clear focus on the Guinness Premiership and they will take some stopping.
They come to Reading on the back of a good away win over Gloucester and with all of their Six Nations stars available.
Meanwhile, Leceister head coach Marcelo Loffreda has also welcomed back his Six Nations stars.
Martin Castrogiovanni, James Hamilton, Ben Kay and Geordan Murphy all start for the Tigers having represented their countries in last weekend's second round of the Six Nations, although England squad members Lewis Moody and Louis Deacon miss out through injury.
Having started five of the club's first six fixtures in 2007/08, Boris Stankovich returns from injury to make only his second appearance in the past 14 matches at tighthead prop.
Ben Kayser takes over from George Chuter at hooker, with Tom Croft moving from the second row to the blindside flank.
Form: London Irish have won their last four matches in all competitions since Leicester beat them 25-17 at Welford Road on 29 December. The Exiles have won their last six games at Madejski Stadium since losing there 8-10 to Harlequins in the Guinness Premiership on 28 October. Leicester Tigers have been victorious in six of their last seven encounters in the Guinness Premiership, and are going for a third successive away win in the Premiership for the first time for two years. The Tigers are the best away side in the Premiership with 23 league points on their travels this campaign. London Irish won this equivalent fixture last season, the Exiles' only win over the Tigers since May 2003.
London Irish: 15 Peter Hewat, 14 Topsy Ojo, 13 Delon Armitage, 12 Shane Geraghty, 11 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 10 Eoghan Hickey, 9 Paul Hodgson, 8 Richard Thorpe, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Kieran Roche, 5 Bob Casey (c), 4 Nick Kennedy, 3 Faan Rautenbach, 2 David Paice, 1 Tonga Lea'aetoa
Replacements: 16 Dan Murphy, 17 Danie Coetzee, 18 Richard Skuse, 19 James Hudson, 20 Phil Murphy, 21 Warren Fury, 22 Mike Catt
Leicester: 15 Geordan Murphy, 14 Johne Murphy, 13 Ayoola Erinle, 12 Ollie Smith, 11 Tom Varndell, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Christophe Laussucq, 8 Martin Corry (c), 7 Ben Herring, 6 Tom Croft, 5 Ben Kay, 4 James Hamilton, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Boris Stankovich
Replacements: 16 George Chuter, 17 Alex Moreno, 18 Brett Deacon, 19 Jordan Crane, 20 Frank Murphy, 21 Ian Humphreys, 22 Dan Hipkiss
Date: Sunday, February 17
Venue: Madejski Stadium.
Kick-off: 13:15 GMT
Referee: Andrew Small
Touch judges: Paul Dix, Andrew Pearce
Television match official: John Burtenshaw, Graeme /Hughes