London Irish v Wasps: Teams

Catt: On the bench

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London Irish player-coach Mike Catt is poised to make his first appearance of the season after being named on the bench to face Wasps in the LV= Cup.

With nine players either injured or unavailable through international commitments, the Exiles have had to utilise their strength-in-depth.

That sees former England international Catt included on the bench.

"Given that the opening rounds of the LV= Cup coincide with the autumn internationals and the resulting demands they make on playing squads, clubs have the opportunity to call on their full playing resources," said London Irish head coach Toby Booth.

"We have a high quality group of players so every one of them that is fit will get a chance to play over coming weeks. Knowing our players, they will relish the opportunity to show what they are capable of."

Wasps have been able to include England pair Simon Shaw and Joe Worsley for the match.

Exciting

Director of rugby Tony Hanks has also handed first starts to 20-year-old academy prop Bob Baker and back row Hugo Elli, while Mark Odejobi will make his first appearance of the season off the bench.

"For us this is an exciting opportunity to mark out our intent at the beginning of another campaign. Wasps have enjoyed mixed success in the Anglo-Welsh competition in the past and we are taking this season's LV= Cup competition very seriously," said Hanks.

"For those players named in Sunday's team this fixture is hugely important and means just as much as any league or European outing.

"Facing London Irish in the opening round certainly gives this game another edge - I know that the whole squad want to produce a better performance than our last outing at the Madejski.

"Irish have made an impressive start to the season so we know that Sunday's game will be hugely competitive, but the players are eager to set out their own marker in this competition and are focused on a strong performance."

London Irish: 15 Jamie Lennard, 14 Peter Hewat, 13 Tom Homer, 12 Charlie Gower, 11 John Rudd, 10 Chris Malone, 9 Peter Richards (c), 8 Richard Thorpe, 7 Jonathon Fisher, 6 Kieran Roche, 5 Gary Johnson, 4 Andy Perry, 3 Faan Rautenbach, 2 David Paice, 1 Dan Murphy.
Replacements: 16 James Buckland 17 Alex Corbisiero; 18 Max Lahiff; 19 Matt Garvey; 20 Steffon Armitage 21 Marcus Watson 22 Mike Catt 23 Alfredo Lalanne.

London Wasps: 15 Mark Van Gisbergen, 14 Tom Varndell, 13 Lachlan Mitchell, 12 Ben Jacobs, 11 David Lemi, 10 Dave Walder, 9 Warren Fury, 8 Hugo Ellis, 7 Joe Worsley, 6 John Hart, 5 Simon Shaw, 4 George Skivington (c), 3 Bob Baker, 2 Joe Ward, 1 Charlie Beech.
Replacements: 16 Chris Whitehead, 17 Gabriel Bocca, 18 Ben Broster, 19 Marty Veale, 20 Will Matthews, 21Joe Simpson, 22 Eoghan Hickey, 23 Mark Odejobi.