Bristol v L Irish: Teams

At Memorial Stadium, Sunday November 30, kick-off 3pm

Last updated: 28th November 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Bristol v L Irish: Teams

Perry: Will start against London Irish

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Bristol scrum-half Shaun Perry is set to make his first start of the season for the visit of London Irish.

Perry has come off the bench against Gloucester and Northampton, but he replaces Graeme Beveridge in the No.9 shirt to tackle the Exiles - with Ed Barnes also starting at fly-half in place of Adrian Jarvis.

Luke Eves also comes into the centres, while Lee Robinson will start on the right wing.

And having crashed to defeat against Gloucester, Hill is looking for an immediate response from his side.

He said: "We had one of those evenings at Kingsholm. They happen from time to time, you lose the odd game heavily and we've learned not to beat ourselves up about it.

"We've taken on board some things from that game and drawn a line under it. The attitude amongst the players this week has been superb. It can take a few days to get over a heavy defeat but they've been flying in training this week.

"We've kept by and large the same pack and will just make one or two changes in the backs. Shaun Perry starts and Ed Barnes will be at 10 so we have new half backs.

"It's never easy for the nine and 10 when things aren't going well and Graeme Beveridge and Adrian Jarvis have done a good job but Shaun and Ed will give us some more attacking options and create space for the outside backs."

Tough

The Exiles have named a strong line-up for their trip to the Memorial Stadium - with the club's Pacific Islanders returning to action.

Tonga Lea'aetoa will bolster the front-row, while Seilala Mapusua and Sailosi Tagicakibau will come into the backs.

Bob Casey replaces Nick Kennedy, who is on England duty, in the second row, while Declan Danaher starts at blindside flanker.

Despite facing the Premiership's bottom club, London Irish are expecting a tough afternoon.

"The Memorial Stadium is always a tough place to go," said London Irish coach Toby Booth.

"I've no doubt that Bristol will have targeted their home games as 'must wins' and given their past home record against us, they will fancy their chances of turning us over.

"Richard Hill and Paul Hull are a very good coaching team and with John Brain involved with the forwards, you know they will always compete and will do so for 85 minutes."

Bristol: 15 Luke Arscott, 14 Lee Robinson, 13 Neil Brew,12 Luke Eves, 11 David Lemi, 10 Ed Barnes, 9 Shaun Perry, 1 Alex Clarke, 2 Mark Regan, 3 Darren Crompton, 4 Roy Winters, 5 Robert Sidoli, 6 Alfie To'oala, 7 Joe El Abd (capt), 8 Dan Ward-Smith.
Replacements: 16 Scott Linklater, 17 Peter Bracken, 18 Mariano Sambucetti, 19 Redford Pennycook, 20 Graeme Beveridge, 21 Adrian Jarvis, 22 Tom Arscott

London Irish: 15 Peter Hewat, 14 Topsy Ojo, 13 Elvis Seveali'I, 12 Seilala Mapusua, 11 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 10 Shane Geraghty, 9 Paul Hodgson, 1 Clarke Dermody, 2 David Paice, 3 Tonga Lea'aetoa, 4 Bob Casey (capt), 5 Kieran Roche, 6 Declan Danaher, 7 Steffon Armitage, 8 Chris Hala'Ufia.
Replacements: 16 Dan Murphy, 17 James Buckland, 18 Alex Corbisiero, 19 Gary Johnson, 20 Richard Thorpe, 21 Alfredo Lalanne, 22 Charlie Gower.