L Irish v Northampton: Teams

London Irish head coach Toby Booth insists his side have a good chance of toppling defending champions Northampton in the LV= Cup.

The Exiles have made a number of changes to their line-up following the Heineken Cup clash with Munster.

And Booth believes his charges can upset the odds, saying: "We showed great commitment last week and the defensive effort was outstanding.

"This week presents a new challenge which as a squad we will rise to. If we play the rugby we have done in the last few weeks, we will have every chance of coming out on top."

Dan Murphy, Brian Blaney and Paulica Ion will team up in the front row, while Kieran Roche and Steffon Armitage are also added to the pack.

In the backs, Ryan Lamb is named at fly-half with Dan Bowden moving to the centres.

Northampton boss Jim Mallinder insists he wants his side to continue their run in the LV= Cup, despite also chasing honours in the Premiership and the Heineken Cup.

"We're proud of our LV= Cup record over the past 18 months and we don't want to give it up," said Mallinder.

"We are still unbeaten in this year's competition and can still qualify for the knockout stages. All we can do is keep trying to achieve positive results and everyone at the club has been working very hard towards that this week."

Mallinder has handed debuts to Adam Eustace and Scott Armstrong, while Joe Ford and Alex Waller also make their first starts of the campaigns.

London Irish: 15 Topsy Ojo, 14 Adam Thompstone, 13 Seilala Mapusua; 12. Dan Bowden, 11 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 10 Ryan Lamb, 9 Darren Allinson, 8 Chris Hala'ufia, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Jamie Gibson, 5 Kieran Roche, 4 Nick Kennedy, 3 Paulica Ion, 2 Brian Blaney,1 Dan Murphy.
Replacements: 16 Rob Herring; 17 Will Johnson, 18 Max Lahiff, 19 Kieran Low, 20 George Stowers, 21Richard Thorpe, 22 Elvis Seveali'i, 23 Alfredo Lalanne.

Northampton: 15 Greig Tonks, 14 Scott Armstrong, 13 Jamie Elliott, 12 Shane Geraghty, 11 Bruce Reihana, 10 Joe Ford, 9 Stuart Commins, 8 Mark Easter, 7 Ben Nutley, 6 Calum Clark (c), 5 Mark Sorenson, 4 Adam Eustace, 3 Tom Mercey, 2 Brett Sharman, 1 Alex Waller.
Replacements: 16 Andy Long, 17 Regardt Dreyer, 18 Ben Prescott, 19 Tom Hicks, 20 James Ingle, 21 Ryan Glynn, 22 Glyn Hughes, 23 Matt Cornwell.