Aviva Premiership preview: London Irish v London Welsh
Last Updated: 26/12/14 2:11pm
London Irish will be looking to avoid a seventh straight loss in the Aviva Premiership against London Welsh on Friday.
Last time out, Brian Smith’s men were drubbed 48-16 by Wasps who started life in their new home in Coventry in the best possible way.
London Irish have now lost their last six Premiership matches and their Boxing Day clash at home to bottom club London Welsh has taken on massive significance.
It has been a sobering return to the Premiership for London Welsh, who have yet to record a win in any competition this year. A tough year got even tougher last weekend when Saracens inflicted their biggest defeat on them by running in 11 tries for the 78-7 win.
Irish may be one place above the Welsh Exiles in the Premiership table but in terms of points, they are miles apart with the margin being 11 points. A win for Welsh would certainly drag London Irish down into more of a relegation battle.
London Irish: 15 Tom Homer, 14 Topsy Ojo, 13 Fergus Mulchrone, 12 Shane Geraghty, 11 Alex Lewington, 10 Chris Noakes, 9 Scott Steele, 1 Tom Court 2 David Paice, 3 Geoff Cross, 4 George Skivington (c), 5 Nic Rouse, 6 Kieran Low, 7 Blair Cowan, 8 Jebb Sinclair.
Replacements: 16 Harry Allen, 17 Leo Halavatau, 18 Halani Aulika, 19 Daniel Leo, 20 Ofisa Treviranus, 21 Tomas O'Leary, 22 Eamonn Sheridan, 23 Andrew Fenby
London Welsh: 15 Will Robinson, 14 Elliot Kear, 13 Tom May (c), 12 Seb Jewell, 11 Nick Scott, 10 Piri Weepu, 9 Rob Lewis, 1 Nathan Trevett, 2 Nathan Vella, 3 Taione Vea, 4 James Down, 5 Dean Schofield, 6 Lachlan McCaffrey, 7 Carl Kirwan, 8 Opeti Fonua.
Replacements: 16 Nathan Morris, 17 Ricky Reeves, 18 Ben Cooper, 19 Peter Browne, 20 Ben Pienaar, 21 Paul Rowley, 22 James Tincknell, 23 Seb Stegmann.