Preview: Saracens v London Irish
Saracens welcome London Irish to Vicarage Road on Sunday and welcome back David Strettle for the Aviva Premiership clash.
Saracens welcome London Irish to Vicarage Road on Sunday and welcome back David Strettle to the XV for the Aviva Premiership clash.
In other team news, Carlos Nieto, Mouritz Botha and Kelly Brown all come into the starting XV for the London derby. The return of Strettle, who was rested last week under the EPS agreement, sees Michael Tagicakibau revert to outside centre and Gavin Henson named on the bench.
Speaking ahead of what will be his final game as Saracens Director of Rugby before moving to the role of Technical Director, Brendan Venter said: “We were very disappointed with the result last week against Sale and despite expecting a frantic and physical match, we just didn't deal with it. But we have talked about that this week and I am sure those lessons have been learned.
“We're looking ahead to what should be an excellent game between two very good teams. London Irish haven't had the results they would have liked in recent weeks, but they have a squad full of quality players and a very good coaching staff so we are expecting a tough battle.”
Meanwhile, London Irish have made one change and two positional changes to the starting XV that played against Bath on New Year's Day.
The changes appear in the back line with Dan Bowden moving from centre to fly-half replacing Chris Malone who moves to full-back as Delon Armitage this week takes his compulsory EPS rest. Seilala Mapusua comes into midfield to join fellow Samoan, Elvis Seveali'i. Adam Thompstone returns to the squad for the first time in over a year after recovering from a long term ankle injury.
London Irish Head Coach, Toby Booth said: “Last week we made massive strides scoring three great tries in a very committed performance. The squad remains extremely focused and are determined to get back to winning ways.”
Form: The Exiles won 33-16 when the two clubs met at Twickenham in the London Double Header in September, but have not achieved a league double over Saracens since 2005/06. Saracens' patchy recent form continued with their 22-28 reversal at the hands of Sale Sharks on Sunday – a run which has seen them claim a won 3, lost 3 record from their last six Aviva Premiership Rugby matches. London Irish have slipped from the top of the table in round seven to now sit in fifth place, picking up just one league point from their last five matches, representing their poorest run in the Premiership since season 1997/98.
The teams:
Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 David Strettle, 13 Michael Tagicakibau, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 James Short, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 Kelly Brown, 7 Andy Saull, 6 Jacques Burger, 5 Mouritz Botha, 4 Steve Borthwick (capt), 3 Carlos Nieto, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Deon Carstens.
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Rhys Gill, 18 Petrus du Plessis, 19 Hugh Vyvyan, 20 Ernst Joubert, 21 Kevin Barrett, 22 Gavin Henson, 23 Ben Ransom.
London Irish: 15 Chris Malone, 14 Topsy Ojo, 13 Elvis Seveali'i, 12 Seilala Mapusua, 11 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 10 Dan Bowden, 9 Paul Hodgson (capt), 8 George Stowers, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Richard Thorpe, 5 Matt Garvey, 4 Nick Kennedy, 3 Faan Rautenbach, 2 James Buckland, 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements: 16 Brian Blaney, 17 Clarke Dermody, 18 Paulica Ion, 19 Bob Casey, 20 Chris Hala'ufia, 21 Adam Thompstone, 22 Ryan Lamb, 23 Darren Allinson.
Date: Sunday, January 9
Kick-off: 15:00
Venue: Vicarage Road
Referee: David Rose