Brive v London Irish: Teams

London Irish have named ten full internationals in a strong starting XV for Saturday's European trip to Brive.

An impressive tight five sees the return of former All Black Clarke Dermody at loosehead prop while among the backs the experienced Chris Malone takes over at fly-half where he is partnered by England scrum-half Paul Hodgson.

Tom Homer starts on the right wing with last week's try-scorer John Rudd on the left and Bob Casey will lead from his usual position of lock.

"The outcome of the back-to-back matches with Brive over the next eight days will have a major impact on our chances of progressing beyond the pool stages of this season's Heineken Cup," said London Irish head coach Toby Booth.

"We are taking a strong 23-man squad to France that we believe can compete against a talented home team in what we know will be a testing environment."

Meanwhile, it is a case of win-or-bust for Brive at home this weekend as they look to pick themselves up off the bottom of Pool Six.

The French have named a strong line-up for the clash with promising youngster Alexis Palisson on the wing and Pumas full-back Horacio Agulla in behind.

England international fly-half Andy Goode and centre Jamie Noon do not feature in the starting XV but there is a place for Shaun Perry at scrum-half and former Wasps forward Pat Barnard who will pack down at loosehead.

Brive: 15 Horacio Agulla, 14 Alexis Palisson, 13 Ronnie Cooke, 12 Lachlan Mackay, 11 Guillaume Namy, 10 Fabrice Estebanez, 9 Shaun Perry, 8 Antoine Claassen, 7 Fabien Domingo, 6 Gerhard Vosloo, 5 Arnaud Mela, 4 Christian Short, 3 Scott Zimmermann, 2 Jean-Philippe Bonrepaux, 1 Pat Barnard.
Replacements: 16 Guillaume Ribes, 17 Davit Kinchagishvili, 18 Retief Uys, 19 Thibault Dubarry, 20 Jean-Baptiste Pejoine, 21 Luciano Orquera, 22 Scott Spedding, 23 Pascal Idieder.

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