Stuart Hooper and Kyle Eastmond return for Bath against London Irish

Kyle Eastmond: Makes a return in the Bath midfield

Bath have been given a boost ahead of their Aviva Premiership clash with London Irish at the Rec on Friday thanks to the return of two key players.

Second row and captain Stuart Hooper has recovered from his injury and makes a return to the starting line-up, as does England centre Kyle Eastmond, who partners Jonathan Joseph in the midfield of a strong Bath side.

Bath's entire back-line consists of internationals as Anthony Watson pulls on the No 15 jersey while wingers Semesa Rokoduguni and Matt Banahan will pose a threat out wide, as all three scored in Bath's last Premiership outing.

Ireland veteran Peter Stringer partners England fly-half George Ford in the halves, in a partnership that vastly outweighs the opposition in terms of experience.

Hooper is joined by Dominic Day in the second row while they pack down behind Paul James, Rob Webber and Kane Palma-Newport. Sam Burgess is given another run in the No 6 jersey while Leroy Houston and Springbok Francois Louw make up the loose trio.

Sam Burgess is to make his second start at blindside flanker for Bath after filling the position in the 29-19 victory over Newcastle two weeks ago.

Bath assistant coach Toby Booth insists the back row is where the former rugby league superstar's club future lies, even if England are adamant his skills are better suited to the No 12 jersey.

"We've made no secret of the plan for Sam. He would be involved in the game 50 or 60 times a match in rugby league. Compare that to a rugby union centre and that would be about a third," Booth said.

"Sam wants to be in the game and be influential in games. He really enjoyed that element of being in the back row against Newcastle."

Meanwhile London Irish coach Glenn Delaney has made two changes - one positional - to the side that beat Sale in the last round of the Premiership earlier in the month.

Jebb Sinclair moves from the No 6 jersey into the second row where he joins captain George Skivington, taking over from Nic Rouse. The switch has fascilitated a promotion from the bench for Luke Narraway.

Narraway is joined in the loose forwards by Scotland international Blair Cowan and Tom Guest while Tom Court, David Paice and Richard Palframan all make a return in the front row.

The back-line is unchanged from the 25-23 win in Reading earlier in the month as Topsy Ojo, Alex Lewington and full-back Andrew Fenby make up the back three with Fergus Mulchrone and Eoin Griffin partnering in the midfield.

Darren Allinson and Chris Noakes are the half-backs.

Glenn Delaney said: “The team performed well and showed great spirit against Sale and deserve another run out. Bath are in outstanding form and have threats all over the park so we will have to be at our very best to have a chance at getting a result.”

Bath: 15 Anthony Watson, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Kyle Eastmond, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 George Ford, 9 Peter Stringer, 1 Paul James, 2 Rob Webber, 3 Kane Palma-Newport, 4 Stuart Hooper (c), 5 Dominic Day, 6 Sam Burgess, 7 Francois Louw, 8 Leroy Houston

Replacements: 16 Ross Batty, 17 Nick Auterac, 18 Max Lahiff, 19 Dave Attwood, 20 Matt Garvey, 21 Carl Fearns, 22 Chris Cook, 23 Ollie Devoto

London Irish: 15 Andrew Fenby, 14 Topsy Ojo, 13 Eoin Griffin, 12 Fergus Mulchrone, 11 Alex Lewington, 10 Chris Noakes, 9 Darren Allinson, 1 Tom Court, 2 David Paice, 3 Richard Palframan, 4 George Skivington (c), 5 Jebb Sinclair, 6 Luke Narraway, 7 Blair Cowan, 8 Tom Guest.

Replacements: 16 Gerard Ellis, 17 Jamie Hagan, 18 Halani Aulika, 19 Dan Leo, 20 Sean Cox, 21 Tomás O’Leary, 22 Shane Geraghty, 23 Eamonn Sheridan.