Bristol v Exiles: Teams

Bristol head coach Richard Hill makes just one change to the side beaten at Sale last week, with scrum-half Brian O'Riordan back in the starting XV.

O'Riordan, who played in a United match against his former team Leinster on Monday, will make his first Premiership appearance of the season in place of Graeme Beveridge.

O'Riordan injured a shoulder against London Irish in this fixture last season in March.

Other changes see Josh Taumalolo return at full-back having missed out at Sale with a finger injury. Luke Arscott moves to the right wing in place of the injured Lee Robinson.

First start

In the centres, Rob Higgitt gets his first start of the season in place of Neil Brew, who takes Higgitt's place on the bench.

The pack is unchanged.

Academy hooker Ryan Prosser is named amongst the replacements and could make his Premiership debut, while Argentinian international Mariano Sambucetti also returns on the bench.

"We've done a lot of work this week on lineouts, kick receipts and restarts," Hill said. "It will come. We've introduced a lot of new systems and it will take a little time until the players are used to it in a game situation."

"I've total confidence in the forwards. The scrummaging was 100% and our defence has been pretty good as well. But we've worked and worked this week. John Brain is an excellent forwards coach, the players are behind it and the effort has been put in."

"Irish are a good team. If you kick off the pitch, they have a good lineout. If you keep it in play, they have good counter attackers. They also have a good press defence like ours. So, you have to adapt your tactics and we've done so."

Samoan winger Sailosi Tagicakibau is back in the London Irish team after returning from his country's ill-fated World Cup campaign.

The Flier comes in as the only change to the starting line-up of the team that beat Newcastle Falcons last Sunday, taking over from Tomas De Vedia.

Sharp

"Sailosi looked sharp in our pre-season fixtures so we were disappointed when he was called into the Samoan squad the week before the London Double Header," said London Irish Director of Rugby Brian Smith. "It will be good to have him back in action on Sunday.

"Our forwards turned in an outstanding performance against Newcastle last Sunday, especially in the first half when we were at full strength. We want to take that good form into this Sunday's match where we will face an even more difficult challenge from one of the most experienced and effective sets of forwards in the Premiership."

Bristol Rugby: Josh Taumalolo; Luke Arscott, Rob Higgitt, Sam Cox, Tom Arscott; David Hill, Brian O'Riordan; David Hilton, Scott Linklater, Darren Crompton; Roy Winters, Nathan Budgett; Matt Salter (capt), Joe El Abd, Dan Ward-Smith.

Replacements: Ryan Prosser, Jason Hobson, Mariano Sambucetti, James Phillips, Graeme Beveridge, Jason Strange, Neil Brew.

London Irish: Delon Armitage, Topsy Ojo, Mark Ireland, Jeremy Staunton, Sailosi Tagicakibau, Shane Geraghty, Paul Hodgson (c); Dan Murphy; David Paice, Faan Rautenbach Nick Kennedy, Bob Casey (capt), Declan Danaher, Richard Thorpe, Phil Murphy.

Replacements: Tom Warren, Stuart Mackie, Tonga Lea'aetoa, Kieran Roche, Steffon Armitage, Warren Fury, Nils Mordt.