Saints v London Irish: Teams
London Irish are boosted by the return of Delon Armitage for Friday's top-of-the-table clash at Northampton.
Last Updated: 27/11/10 8:38pm
London Irish are boosted by the return of full-back Delon Armitage for Friday's Aviva Premiership trip to Northampton Saints.
Other changes to the Exiles' starting XV see Romanian international Paulica Ion in at tighthead prop and James Buckland at hooker.
"Despite the short turnaround we've prepared well and have strong belief in our ability to challenge whenever and wherever we play," said London Irish head coach Toby Booth.
"The players are looking forward to the game.
"Delon's return is our gain and England's loss this weekend - he's a fantastic player."
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Meanwhile, the Saints have announced Franklin's Gardens is sold out for the meeting of the league's top two teams.
"Top-of-the-table clashes are always big games, but these are the games that we want to be involved in as they show we are heading in the right direction," said Northampton director of rugby Jim Mallinder.
"It will be a challenging evening for us. London Irish have been playing some good rugby this season and deserve their position at the top end of the league table.
"Their forwards and midfielders have been carrying the ball powerfully and their strike runners out wide have been scoring plenty of tries.
"We will certainly have to be focused right from the first whistle if we want a positive result."
Leaders Northampton have reshuffled their back-row with Roger Wilson coming back into the side at number eight.
Captain Phil Dowson move across to blindside flanker and Calum Clark drops to the bench.
Northampton: 15 G Tonks, 14 J Elliott, 13 J Clarke, 12 J Downey, 11 P Diggin, 10 S Myler, 9 R Powell; 1 S Tonga'uiha, 2 B Sharman, 3 B Mujati, 4 M Sorenson, 5 C Day, 6 P Dowson (capt), 7 T Wood, 8 R Wilson
Replacements: 16 A Long, 17 R Dreyer, 18 T Mercey, 19 C Clark, 20 M Easter, 21 S Commins, 22 S Geraghty, 23 B Reihana
London Irish: 15 D Armitage, 14 T Ojo, 13 E Seveali'i, 12 D Bowden, 11 J Joseph, 10 R Lamb, 9 P Hodgson; 1 C Dermody (capt), 2 J Buckland, 3 P Ion, 4 N Kennedy, 5 B Casey, 6 K Roche, 7 S Armitage, 8 C Hala'ufia
Replacements: 16 D Paice, 17 A Corbisiero, 18 F Rautenbach, 19 M Garvey, 20 R Thorpe, 21 M Watson, 22 C Malone, 23 D Allinson