L Irish v Leicester: Teams

At Madejski Stadium, Saturday October 24, live on Sky Sports 2 from 3pm

Last updated: 24th October 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

L Irish v Leicester: Teams

Armitage: England hopes

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Steffon Armitage will make a last attempt to catch the eye of the England selectors when he returns to the London Irish line-up for the clash with Leicester.

The flanker, who will be looking to start the autumn internationals, has completed his EPS rest requirement - and is one of five changes made by the Exiles.

George Stowers switches to the blindside in place of the injured Declan Danahar, while it is all change in the front row, with Clarke Dermody, Danie Coetzee and Paulica Ion all starting.

London Irish head coach Toby Booth said: "We enjoy measuring ourselves against the big clubs at Madejski Stadium and are excited about the chance of playing the current Guinness Premiership champions at home at this stage of the season.

"This will be our first match with them since we met in the Grand Final of the Premiership at Twickenham in May. There was only one point in the difference that day, so we're looking forward to another competitive encounter tomorrow."

Recalled

Leicester's Dan Hipkiss will be another hoping to play a key role in the November Tests, with the centre returning for the Tigers after illness.

Head coach Richard Cockerill has also recalled Marcos Ayerza, Julian White and Richard Blaze to the pack for the intriguing clash.

"We have been a bit stretched, especially in the backs, so it is certainly good news to get Danny back," said Cockerill.

"Irish have had a good start to the season and both teams have lost just one game in the Guinness Premiership so I'm sure it will be a keen contest.

"We don't want to sit back against them. The more we took the game to the Ospreys two weeks ago, the better it was for us. You cannot go there and sit back or they will kill you."

London Irish: 15 Peter Hewat, 14 Tom Homer, 13 Seilala Mapusua, 12 Elvis Seveali'i, 11 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 10 Ryan Lamb, 9 Paul Hodgson, 8 Chris Hala'Ufia, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 George Stowers, 5 Bob Casey (capt), 4 Nick Kennedy, 3 Paulica Ion, 2 Danie Coetzee, 1 Clarke Dermody.
Replacements: 16 David Paice, 17 Dan Murphy, 18 Faan Rautenbach, 19 Andy Perry, 20 Kieran Roche, 21 Chris Malone, 22 Peter Richards, 23 Alfredo Lalanne.

Leicester: 15 Scott Hamilton, 14 Johne Murphy, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Lucas Amorosino, 10 Jeremy Staunton, 9 James Grindal, 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Lewis Moody, 6 Tom Croft, 5 Richard Blaze, 4 Louis Deacon (c), 3 Julian White, 2 George Chuter, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 Tom Youngs, 17 Boris Stankovich, 18 Martin Castrogiovanni, 19 Geoff Parling, 20 Brett Deacon, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Billy Twelvetrees, 23 Andy Forsyth.

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