London Welsh v London Wasps - Aviva Premiership match preview
London Welsh prepare to take London Wasps at a packed Kassam Stadium.
Last Updated: 29/12/12 2:11pm
The Exiles, who picked up a useful losing bonus point from a 13-6 defeat at the hands of Worcester Warriors last week, will be looking to edge even further clear of their relegation rivals and could potentially leapfrog Worcester into ninth place.
Meanwhile, Wasps, who laboured to victory against Sale Sharks at Adams Park, will be aiming to finally snap their losing streak away from home.
Welsh head coach Lyn Jones makes three changes for the game.
Seb Jewell replaces James Lewis in the outside centre berth, while James Tideswell and Alfie To'oala also move off the bench into the starting pack with Adam Balding moving to the bench and Arthur Joly misses out altogether.
Dai Young makes four changes to his Wasps side with two in the backline and two in the pack.
Winger Tom Varndell returns to the starting line-up after a minor foot injury, replacing Christian Wade.
The other change is at fly half, with Nick Robinson starting in the 10 shirt, and Stephen Jones dropping down to the bench.
There are also two changes amongst the forwards, with James Cannon earning a start in the second row, and Jonathan Poff given the nod at 7, in the place of James Haskell, who also picked up a knock last weekend.
London Welsh: 15 Tom Arscott, 14 Dan Caprice, 13 Seb Jewell, 12 Sonny Parker, 11 Nick Scott, 10 Gordon Ross, 9. Rob Lewis, 1 Frank Montanella, 2 Neil Briggs, 3 James Tideswell, 4 Jonathon Mills (c), 5 Kirill Kulemin, 6 Ed Jackson, 7 Mike Denbee, 8 Alfie To'oala.
Replacements: 16 Greg Evans, 17 Tom Bristow, 18 Greg Bateman, 19 Matt Corker, 20 Adam Balding, 21 Nick Runciman, 22 Alex Davies, 23 J Lewis.
London Wasps: 15 Hugo Southwell (c), 14 Elliot Daly, 13 Andrea Masi, 12 Chris Bell, 11 Tom Varndell, 10 Nick Robinson, 9 Joe Simpson, 1 Zak Taulafo, 2 T Rhys Thomas, 3 Phil Swainston, 4 Joe Launchbury, 5 James Cannon, 6 Ashley Johnson, 7 Jonathan Poff, 8 Billy Vunipola.
Replacements: 16 Tom Lindsay, 17 Tim Payne, 18 Will Taylor, 19 Marco Wentzel, 20 Sam Jones, 21 Charlie Davies, 22 Stephen Jones, 23 Chris Mayor.
What they said...
London Welsh head coach Lyn Jones
"We are really looking forward to the fixture. We were hugely disappointed to have lost to Worcester and the players are really keen to get back on the pitch.
"Wasps have an excellent back three and back row who are making the difference for them at the moment. We will have a lot to contend with to gain parity."
London Wasps director of rugby Dai Young
"London Welsh have impressed everyone this season and this weekend is obviously going to be a very tough game for us.
"We know that they will provide us with a very stern challenge up front and coming away from the Kassam Stadium with a win is going to require us to be better than we have been in recent weeks.
"We have made no secret of the fact that, after stringing together a number of wins at Adams Park, what we now want is a win on the road, so we will be doing our utmost this weekend to make that happen."