Irish side named as Injury curse stirkes again

Tigers' injury curse has struck again with Logo Mulipola, Geoff Parling, Tom Youngs and Niall Morris all falling victim.  Tom Youngs is out until Christmas with a shoulder injury, Niall Morris will miss 6 weeks with a knee injury whilst Geoff Parling is out for an indeterminate amount of time following repeated concussions.  Mulipola was seen limping off after 50 minutes last week but his injury and its extent have been kept under wraps by the club.

But there is some positive news at last.

After serving an 8 week stand down period from August 1st to allow for an injury dispensation signing Miles Benjamin is available again.  The electric winger scored 5 times in 10 outings last season to give him the second best strike rate in the current squad behind only Vereniki Goneva.

Also returning is Californian winger Blaine Scully after an unknown injury ruled him out for the trips to Exeter and Bath.

The two wingers availability sees Goneva shift into the centres to cover for the withdrawn Manu Tuilagi.  Rumours surfaced last Friday that Tuilagi would not be fit to face Bath but now it seems the "niggle" has dragged on for a second week at least.  Goneva's last outings in the centre was the trip to the Madejski in February last year.

The injury crisis has left the pack decimated.  Missing are Marcos Ayerza, Michele Rizzo, Tom Youngs, Dan Cole, Logo Mulipola, Louis Deacon, Geoff Parling, Brad Thorn, Ed Slater, Tom Croft and Pablo Matera.  That's not just a decent pack but a world class bench spare as well.

That leaves Tigers relying on young props Tom Bristow and Fraser Balmain.  Bristow starts his first Premiership game for the club, though he did start 6 games for London Welsh in their previous Premiership season; Balmain is slightly more experienced with 8 Premiership starts including last season's home win against London Irish.

Parling's concussion problems give young South African Sebastian De Chaves another chance in the second row alongside Graham Kitchener.  De Chaves was impressive against Newcastle and deserved a start ahead of Parling regardless.  

The back row is still strong with Crane and Salvi first choice players.  Jamie Gibson provides decent cover as Croft returns from his major knee injury.

The injury crisis severely hampers Richard Cockerill's choice of bench players forcing him into a 6-2 forwards to backs split.  As well as the compulsory whole replacement front row Tigers have also named a lock, Harry Wells, and two number 8s, former rugby league man Laurence Pearce and Canadian-Italian Bob Barbieri.  The only backs on the bench are local duo Matt Smith and Sam Harrison.  

This means that both games at Welford Road this season have seen unusual bench selections with the Newcastle game seeing a 4-4 split between forwards and backs.

London Irish have a terrible record at Welford Road avoiding defeat just twice in 22 years, including the thrilling 24 all draw 3 years ago when Dan Bowden inspired Irish to two late tries to seal the draw.

The Exiles have won one lost two so far this season; an atrocious day with the boot from Juan Pablo Socino, who missed 6 of 7 kicks, helped them to overcome Newcastle at Kingston Park; Harlequins quick first half proved too much at the London Double header and Saracens snatched victory from the jaws of defeat with a last play driving maul try from Billy Vunipola.

Irish make one change from that side as anatomically named Ofisa Treviranus drops out to be replaced by Scots international Kieran Low.  That see former Newcastle and Llanelli wing Andy Fenby retain the full backs jersey, with 2011 Premiership Final try scorer James Short on one wing and former Tigers and Nottingham wing Alex Lewington on the other.  

The centres see a classic bludgeon and rapier combo as the mercurial Shane Geraghty combines with former Macclesfield and Rotherham man Fergus Mulchrone.  Mulchrone is a ball of muscle with good instincts hones in the lower leagues.

Another ex-Tiger is scrum half Scott Steele, a summer signing who found his path blocked at Leicester by Ben Youngs and Sam Harrison.  He partners Chris Noakes a New Zealander with experience of Super Rugby.

The Exiles pack is a star studded 7 international affair, accidental Lion Tom Court joins Australian-English test cap David Paice and Halani Aulika in an all international front row.  The only uncapped man in the pack is yet another former Tiger George Skivington an uncompromising experienced warrior.  His second row partner is Jebb Sinclair, the Canadian's red card cost his nation a win over Scotland this summer, even worse for the big man was that the decision was atrocious given for little more than a hand off.

The back row sees the aforementioned Low join fellow Scots cap Blair Cowan and former Gloucester captain Luke Narraway in a speedy breakaway trio.

Tigers squad is down to its bear bones and faces a side growing in confidence.  The record defeat to Bath has hurt the side and supporters but they need to bounce back to limit the damage.  With a packed Welford Road and vociferous home support to please Tigers will hope to do just that.


Leicester
15 Mat Tait
14 Blaine Scully
13 Vereniki Goneva
12 Owen Williams
11 Miles Benjamin
10 Freddie Burns
9 Ben Youngs (c)
1 Tom Bristow
2 Leonardo Ghiraldini
3 Fraser Balmain
4 Sebastian De Chaves
5 Graham Kitchener
6 Jamie Gibson
7 Julian Salvi
8 Jordan Crane
Replacements
16 Neil Briggs
17 Riccardo Brugnara
18 Tiziano Pasquali
19 Laurence Pearce
20 Robert Barbieri
21 Harry Wells
22 Sam Harrison
23 Matt Smith
 
London Irish: 
15 Andrew Fenby
14 Alex Lewington
13 Fergus Mulchrone
12 Shane Geraghty
11 James Short
10 Chris Noakes
9 Scott Steele
1 Tom Court
2 David Paice
3 Halani Aulika
4 George Skivington (c)
5 Jebb Sinclair
6 Kieran Low
7 Blair Cowan
8 Luke Narraway
 
Replacements: 
16 Gerard Ellis
17 Matt Parr
18 Leo Halavatau
19 Dan Leo
20 Tom Guest
21 Tomás O'Leary
22 Eamonn Sheridan
23 Topsy Ojo

Referee: Greg Garner
Touch Judges: Simon McConnell & Paul Burton
TMO: David Sainsbury.

2014/15 Season Preview: London Irish

London Irish

Nickname: The Exiles

Founded: 1898

Years in Top Tier: 21

Last Year: 10^th in Prem (36 Points), Group Stage in Amlin Challenge Cup & Anglo-Welsh Cup

Europe: Challenge Cup

Director of Rugby: Brian Smith

Transfers:

In: Tom Court (Ulster), Luke Narraway (Perpignan), Tom Guest (Harlequins), Eoin Griffin (Connacht), James Short (Saracens(Wasps Loan)), Geoff Cross (Edinburgh), Sean Cox (Edinburgh), Dan Leo (Perpignan), Scott Steele (Leicester), Conor Gilsenan (Leinster), Chris Noakes (Auckland Blues)

Out: Marland Yarde (Harlequins), James O’Connor (Toulon), Declan Danaher (Retirement), Ian Gough (Newport), Ian Humphreys (Ulster), Chris Halaufia (Llanelli), John Yapp (Wasps), Setaimata Sa (Hull FC RL), Bryn Evans (Biarritz), Sailosi Tagicakibau (Wasps), Jon Fisher (Northampton-Trial), Pat Phibbs (Unknown)

Ins: 11

Outs: 10

Irish supremeo Brian Smith came out at the Premiership’s launch last week with the vow that Irish “want to challenge for silverware”.  Well you can’t fault the man for ambition.

To be fair he did qualify that we was looking to compete for the LV Cup and for the Challenge Cup, rather than some heady claim to be a top four force just yet.  For a long time last season Irish were embroiled in the relegation dog fight and were tipped for the drop by this very blog but a strong second half of the season extinguished any danger. The Rugby Paper has them for the drop season.

The Exiles have suffered some serious losses this summer with their two best players moving on; Marlon Yarde has decamped across London for Harlequins while James O’Conner is having a brief sojourn with Toulon before rejoining the Queensland Reds. 

Also moving on our players like Danaher, Halaufia and Tagicakibau who have been mainstays of the side for a number of years.

Some serious beef has been imported up front with accidental Lion Tom Court, Geoff Cross and Tom Guest singing plus Perpignan pair Luke Narraway and Dan Leo.  In the backs the most important signing will be Chris Noakes the kiwi fly half, if he can establish himself then Shane Geraghty will be free to be a secondary play maker in the centres, his most effective role.

Without a dominant home fortress Irish will always be vulnerable to a slide in fortunes but last season they seemed to have turned a corner.  With a reliable goal kicker in Homer, a decent looking pack and an ambitious mindset Irish look set to continue in lower mid table with the ability to surprise the bigger sides as Saracens found to their cost last season.

Prediction: 10^th

Tigers Serve up Plate

Tigers took home the inaugural Premiership 7s Plate on Friday night following victories over Northampton and London Irish.  

Tigers made two changes to the squad that earned qualification; George Catchpole rested a minor knock and Tomi Jones was dropped.  In their place Tigers called up Stourbridge's Gary Dipple & Tynedale's Ben Frankland.

Tigers looked set take their place in the night's blue ribbon Cup competition as tries from Andy Bulumakau and a scything break from Oli Bryant gave them a 14-5 lead over Cardiff with just 2 minutes remaining.  But a break away score by Welsh 7s international Dan Fish gave the Blues hope before Tom Williams shattered Tigers' hopes.

Tigers started with Farnworth, Frankland, Tresidder, Fowles, Bulumakau, Woodhead and David Williams and conceded early as Cardiff broke down a large blindside from a midfield scrum.  Cardiff dominated the first half, two try saving tackles from David Williams kept the score to one before a crucial intervention from Fowles on the goal line not only prevented a certain try but created one; Bulumakau racing the length of the field for a half time lead.

Cardiff started the second half well but the first clear cut chance came to Tresidder; spotting a hole in the Welsh defence the field opened up before him, but the Derbyshire native did not have the pace or the support to finish the break.  Sub Dan Rundle also had a great chance following his chip and go but muffed his fly hack; under pressure Cardiff knocked on and from the scrum Tigers' Oli Bryant cut back through the breaking up pack to race under the posts.

9 points up with 2 minutes remaining Tigers will be frustrated with how they threw the game away.  A simple missed tackle inside the Cardiff 22 gave the Welsh side an inch, they took a mile simply drawing the full back for Dan Fish to race away for a 90 metre score.  Tigers earned a penalty with the TV clock showing 14 minutes but the referee's time had 14 seconds left.  A poor ruck let Cardiff turn Will Owen over at the base and Dan Rundle's turnstile defence let Tom Williams in for the heartbreaking score.

With the Cup spilled Tigers were left to the Plate and an intriguing derby match with Northampton, who had been over run by eventual champions Gloucester.  In torrential rain Tigers started with Owen, Farnworth, Tresidder, Fowles, Bulumakau, David Williams and Bryant.  Much like the Cardiff game Tigers were down early; Sam Olver's delicate chip was gathered by Hutchinson and despite Fowles attentions was ruled to have scored.  Saints made it 12-0 after first team flanker Teimana Harrison picked off Will Owen's sloppy off load.

Tigers were facing an early and chastening exit but another top draw intervention from Bryant gave hope.  Receiving the ball on half way he broke through a Saints tackle before possessing the pace to round the full back and score under the posts.  Tigers then scored straight from the second half's kick off to take the lead 14-12.  First Tresidder went up the right before it was spread wide left to Fowles whose pace stretched the defence, he off loaded to Bulumakau; the Fijian's footwork beat the last man and he was clear to the line.

Bulumakau created the last score for Rundle; he swept up the loose ball and beat his man to crack the middle of the defence.  Rundle's support play earned him the easy finish as Northampton chased Bulumakau back hard.  Tigers had a 21-12 lead and managed to see out the remaining 3 minutes to secure a place in the Plate final against London Irish.

Tigers started the final with Owen, Frankland, Tresidder, Fowles, Bulumakau, Woodhead and David Williams.  Tigers took the lead as Fowles pounced on Woodhead's chip through, smashing the ball onto the line to ground it.  Tigers defence and poor discipline from both sides made the game fairly slow, Irish earning a yellow card for killing the one clean break in the first 6 minutes. 

Tigers took the full 2 minutes to take advantage of their superior numbers, Will Owen's pass cut out half the Irish team, allowing Frankland to draw the final man and give Woodhead a run to the line.  Tigers defence suffocated the Irish attack and created turnover ball that Tigers exploited for the final try.  George Tresidder's excellent catch and pass under pressure created the space for Dan Rundle to score.  Fatigue effected Irish badly as Tigers managed to keep them out and secure a rare clean sheet. 

Oli Bryant was the stand out attacking player on the night with his two tries excellent, David Williams will be pleased with his defensive contribution but disappointed with a high profile knock on as he took a quick penalty.  Of the specialists Andy Bulumakau has already secured a deal with Doncaster and surely Josh Fowles talents will see him move on from Longton in the 6th tier of English rugby.

Forward Power

Tigers moved into the Premiership Play Off spots after a hard fought victory away to inform London Irish.  The nerve shredding 20-15 win came courtesy of first half tries from Ben Youngs and Logovi’i Mulipola plus a fantasy second half score from magic Fijian Vereniki Goneva.  All Irish’s points were from penalties, four from James O’Conner and a singular effort from Ian Humphreys.

Tigers were far from perfect, especially in an error strewn and panicky final quarter, but showed glimpses of the play that could secure an 11^th title.  Ben Youngs was back to near his best, keeping good tempo in the game and accurate with all bar one kick.  Dan Bowden, a late change for Anthony Allen, was superb knowing when to straighten and when to go wide.  Owen Williams grew into the game and finished with a glorious side step to beat Geraghty near the end.

But this was not a backs victory.  It was forged by the behemoths in the pack.

Irish opened the scoring with the softest of penalties.  A bad day was in the offing when no one claimed the opening kickoff with Deacon pinged at the first ruck.  

But Tigers were straight into the game at the other end.  An inch perfect kick from Ben Youngs gave Tigers territory in the Irish 22.  Jamie Gibson blocked the clearance kick and Tigers were through, only for Deacon’s pass to be kicked dead by Skivington.

Now Tigers had a 5m scrum.  Would it take the 16 re-sets to gain the try, like it did at Welford Road in November?   On the first it went down, on the second Irish went early, on the third Crane should have scored but muffed it as Tigers heaved forward.  On the fourth it went down, and on the fifth Tigers again shuddered forwards.  Crane controlled this one but was just shy of the line giving Ben Youngs the chance to take the glory and dive in at the corner.

Doyle, an Irishman living in London, gave London Irish a series of inexplicable penalties; James O’Connor screwed the first one wide right but was on target with his next two attempts taking back the lead 9-5.  Tigers showed good fluency at times but couldn’t consistently hold onto the ball.  Knock ons were aplenty and one good move was pulled back for the game’s solitary attacking in from the side.

Tigers second try came from a lineout drive.  The position had been gained when James O’Connor used Keiran Low to evade Rob Hawkins tackle following a Ben Youngs kick through.  Deacon claimed the line out ball and Mulipola clamped on at the back to be driven over.  George Skivington almost disrupted it but as he was already given as offside a penalty try would have been awarded if he had successfully held it up. 

 

The conversions were difficult, touchline wide right, but Williams will be disappointed to miss both.  Tigers led 10-9 at half time.

Then we have Goneva’s fantasy.  His magic.  His mistake. 

Tigers had made a mess of the Irish scrum and Youngs hassled Allinson into a turnover.  Once round the corner to Crane and then out, Williams passed poorly and Goneva fumbled over his head.  First to clean up his own mistake he shook off the attentions of O’Connor then the merest hint of a dummy had Fenby grasping at thin air.  A hand off saw off Humphreys before Treviranus was out paced to the corner.

 

No other centre in the world would score that try.  Probably because most would catch it in the first place.

Irish came back strongly in the final quarter; gaining a series of penalties from Doyle.  But O’Connor skewed 2 wide and was replaced with Humphreys for the final kick.  These misses let Tigers off but also kept us camped in our own territory for long periods.

Waldrom entered the fray and was dispatched to the sin bin straightaway for a dull headed penalty, there can be no complaints he made no attempt to roll away at all.  There was little danger which made it all the poorer decision from the Exeter bound backrow.

The thoughts of the 4^th try and bonus slipped from Tigers minds as holding on for the win gained importance.  Mele replaced Youngs and kicked any turnover possession away, whilst Marland Yarde came on and looked a handful.  Blaine Scully enhanced his reputation again with his careful containment of the confident winger. 

Irish had one final chance of seizing victory; Tigers had turned the ball over and Waldrom was due back on, but Mele panicking kicked poorly.  The Exiles countered.  From their own half they stormed into the 22 and with 79 minutes on the clock were on our line.  Yarde was in acres of space with only an injured Rob Hawkins guarding him.  Thankfully Treviranus made a right arse of himself; deciding to pick and go instead, knocking on in the process.

A 4^th straight win at the Madejski and 6 wins in the last 8 Premiership games show some signs of optimism for the future.  Mainly we need to just keep winning and worry about finding our form later.

Flood Washed Away

Leicester have reacted to a disappointing win against Gloucester by making drastic changes.  Toby Flood pays the biggest price for an off day with the boot, and an on field spat, by losing the captaincy and dropping to the bench to be replaced by Owen Williams.

The metaphorical arm band instead goes to Ed Slater.  Slater is Leicester born but raised in Milton Keynes; he was picked up by Leicester's scouting system playing in Australia on a working gap year.  After a trial period and a short spell at Nottingham Slater returned to Tigers during the second row injury crisis of 2010.  He made his debut from the bench against Northampton on the opening day of the 2010-11 season and has gone on to make 85 appearances for the First XV.

Flood is not the only one to carry the can.  Matt Smith drops to the bench to be replaced by Blaine Scully.  Goneva switches from wing to centre to accommodate the Californian flyer.  In the pack international duty deprives us of Tom Youngs whilst Graham Kitchener misses out after limping off last week injured.  Hawkins and Deacon start in their place.

The decision to drop Flood is undoubtedly the most controversial.  Since his decision to become the first man to shun the Tigers captaincy the club has won only 4 out of 9 matches; before the announcement we were on a 6 game undefeated run.  

But it is still a big call, the season is not yet over and his partnership with Ben Youngs has remarkable statistics.  In 45 Premiership games the paid have only ever lost 4 times.  They have only tasted defeat once since the 2011 Premiership Final; a single point loss away to Bath, where we had a try incorrectly ruled out that would have won the game.  These guys know each other and know how to win.  Throwing away that partnership is a big risk.

London Irish name 5 former Tigers in their 23; George Skivington captains against his old side and Ian Humphreys wears 10.  Former Academy players Alex Lewington, Matt Parr and Jimmy Stevens are also involved.  

Tigers will beware Australian full back James O'Conner.  The sprightly full back is a class act and a sad reminder of what the pre-dumbed down salary capped Premiership looked like.  Tigers will have to guard him closely as he is a true world class talent.  Eammon Sheridan has been linked with a move to Munster and the gargantuan centre nullified Tigers at Welford Road earlier in the year.  

The strength of their wings is best emphasied by Topsy Ojo making do with a place on the bench.  Ojo has been one of the best wingers in the league for nigh on a decade and deserved more than his 2 England caps.  Marland Yarde returns from a hip injury, ironically suffered against the Tigers, on the bench. 

Sunday's referee is London based Irishman J.P. Doyle.   

Leicester
15 Mathew Tait
14 Blaine Scully
13 Vereniki Goneva
12 Anthony Allen
11 Adam Thompstone
10 Owen Williams
9 Ben Youngs
1 Marcos Ayerza
2 Rob Hawkins
3 Logovi'i Mulipola
4 Ed Slater (c)
5 Louis Deacon
6 Jamie Gibson
7 Julian Salvi
8 Jordan Crane
Replacements
16 Neil Briggs
17 Boris Stankovich
18 Fraser Balmain
19 Steve Mafi
20 Thomas Waldrom
21 David Mele
22 Matt Smith
23 Toby Flood

London Irish: 
15 James O'Connor
14 Alex Lewington
13 Eamonn Sheridan
12 Shane Geraghty
11 Andrew Fenby
10 Ian Humphreys
9 Darren Allinson
1 Matt Parr
2 David Paice
3 Jamie Hagan
4. George Skivington (c)
5 Nic Rouse
6 Kieran Low
7 Blair Cowan
8 Ofisa Treviranus Replacements: 
16 Jimmy Stevens
17 John Yapp
18 Leo Halavatau
19 Jebb Sinclair
20 Gerard Ellis
21 Topsy Ojo
22 Marland Yarde
23 Sean Kennedy

Job Done

A win is a win they say.  4 points in the bag; they don’t paint pictures on the scoreboard.   Which is true enough, come May the performance today will be a distant memory but the 4 points last forever.  Or at least until the end of the season.

If you haven’t heard it was a win.  20 points to 11, 4 for us and none for them.  And that is pretty much that.

It was a match that thoroughly failed to spark at any point.  Tigers were ahead for the whole match and didn’t have to get out of 2^nd gear.  So they didn’t.  Content to chug along in low gear grinding it out up the hill.  Irish looked lively at points but there was never any final product, so their watchable approach play was in the end meaningless.

The tries were both from the referee’s whistle rather than any moment of magic.  One in each half.  The first half effort was the primary score in the match after Toby Flood pulled his first penalty wide.  Given an immediate second chance after Irish tackled our man in the air he instead went to touch.  After a series of drives, and a series of penalties for pulling the maul down, Tigers went wide and were “choked” into a turnover. 

But a scrum turnover set the scene and Martin Fox wasted no time in racing under the posts.

In contrast the second half’s penalty try took an age.  Depending on your point of view it came from great Irish defence or fairly substandard Tigers finishing.  Niall Morris had charged down a James O'Connor clearance.  It had fallen perfectly into his hands and he charged for the posts.  But he couldn’t get it down; Marland Yarde had chased him back hard and got underneath him. 

It took almost 13 minutes.  13 minutes of pure scrummaging.  At times Tigers had them seriously rocking backwards.  The try could have been conceded on the second scrum when the Irish challenged disintegrated.  But after going under the posts on the first collapse in the first half he hesitated and went for a vanilla penalty.

It didn’t all go Tigers way.  After god knows how many penalties and resets we mucked it up.  Just like against Saints we were going forward too fast.  The tight five were practically sprinting forward; at the back Crane failed to keep it under control.  Thankfully Blair Cowen knocked on the loose ball and Tigers could ramp the pressure up again.

After umpteen warnings and talkings to Welshman John Yapp was sin binned.  Irish sacrificed Topsy Ojo, on his 200^th appearance for the Exiles, so as not to lose a man in the pack.  Did Tigers accept the gambit of the overlap and unguarded wing? 

Of course they bloody didn’t.  

They thundered and they gouged and they smashed their way in the scrums until Fox put the Irish out of their misery.  13 minutes of literally nothing but scrums.  I wonder what visiting Wallaby James O’Conner thought about that?

Irish scored a late consolation through centre Fergus Mulchrone, a summer singing from Rotherham.  It was a length of the field break away with Mulchrone evading several tacklers as he ran diagonally to score in the corner. 

So that was the tries but it was a funny old game.  Tigers scrum scored both tries and one of the penalties.  Clearly we were dominant there.  But we were completely out muscled in the ruck.  It seemed every contact situation resulted in Irish going forward.  Eamon Sheridan, another unheralded arrival from Rotherham, completely dominated Dan Bowden.  The modern fad of “choke” tackling was everywhere as the massive Sheridan (something in the name?) stepped round and smothered any attack we had. 

Chris Hala’ufia is always good for some impetus and Canadian Jebb Sinclair, who by all rights should have been in Portugal with the Cannuck national team, was again physically impressive.  In contrast Crane was plodding and often went backwards in contact.  With Tom Croft he seems so much better, ying to Croft’s yang, but without Croft he seems lost and the backrow fails to function.  Salvi could, generously, be said to be doing the “unseen work” in the ruck.  Gibson however has been a busted flush at blindside.  The idea was that he would provide the savvy break down work of a 7 and the industry of a 6.  But instead he provided the incontinent stream of ruck penalties of a so-so seven and the power of a powder puff 6. 

Time to see if Waldrom and Crane can be the wrecking balls to get our game going, or if Michael Noone’s LV Cup form will carry through to the Premiership? 

Irish’s cynical defence gave away a penalty every time Tigers got a hint of decent ball; combined with Matt Smith’s injury and yet another centre partnership it is perhaps none too surprising that our attack was neutered but it was painful to watch.

We simply don’t run straight or draw the man.  Instead we crab across the pitch, taking our wingers space and running it into touch away from the forwards.  Dan Bowden and his wide passes are completely counterproductive as they eat up all the space, rather than creating it.  Come back Anthony Allen, all is forgiven!   

With Allen’s rotting leg still healing I think I will repeat my call for Javiah Pohe or Pasqualle Dunn to feature.  Gloucester away might not be the ideal place to blood a young centre but we need the target they would provide. 

Then again a win is a win.  They don’t paint pictures on the scoreboard and the result was never in doubt.  Can that really be deemed a bad match?

Tigers head coach Richard Cockerill has made wholesale changes to his Leicester side as the club's England contingent return from international action.  4 are returned to the matchday 23.  Tom & Ben Youngs plus Toby Flood start whilst Dan Cole is on the bench.  That means a second ever Premiership start for Fraser Balmain at tighthead.

Niall Morris, Dan Bowden, Graham Kitchener and Julian Salvi all return after taking a break in the LV Cup whilst Scott Hamilton and Miles Benjamin have used said break to cement their return to the side ahead of Adam Thompstone who benches against his former employers.

London Irish include 10 internationals in their starting XV including the likes of James O'Connor at full back and new England winger Marland Yarde on the wing.  Former Tiger Jimmy Stevens is the on the bench covering hooker.

Tigers have won their last two matches in the LV Cup but go into the game on stinking league form.  2 defeats and a draw in the last three matches makes this our second longest winless streak in the history of league rugby.  The longest?  During the 2003 Rugby World Cup when we lost 5 games straight.

Irish have only ever won one match at Welford Road, a one point victory in 2003 when Tigers were collapsing to their lowest ever league finish of 6th.

In the last month London Irish fans can be forgiven for a strong feeling of deja vu.  Their last four fixtures have been Newcastle away then Northampton at home in the Premiership, then Newcastle away and Northampton at home in the LV Cup!

Saturday's referee will be local man Martin Fox.  Born in Leicester and resident in Ashby Magna the 51 year old company director won't have far to travel for his first Premiership game at Welford Road.  Presumably fears of a media storm over his clear links to Leicester have prevented Fox refereeing the club more often, despite almost a 100 premiership games he only refereed Leicester for the first time last year against Saracens at Wembley.

LEICESTER
15 Scott Hamilton
14 Niall Morris
13 Matt Smith
12 Dan Bowden
11 Miles Benjamin
10 Toby Flood (c)
9 Ben Youngs
1 Boris Stankovich
2 Tom Youngs
3 Fraser Balmain
4 Louis Deacon
5 Graham Kitchener
6 Jamie Gibson
7 Julian Salvi
8 Jordan Crane
Replacements
16 Neil Briggs
17 Tom Bristow
18 Dan Cole
19 Sebastian De Chaves
20 Thomas Waldrom
21 David Mélé
22 Owen Williams
23 Adam Thompstone

London Irish:
15 James O'Connor
14Topsy Ojo
13 Fergus Mulchrone
12 Eamonn Sheridan
11 Marland Yarde
10 Shane Geraghty
9 Tomás O'Leary
1 John Yapp
2David Paice
3 Leo Halavatau
4 Ian Gough
5 George Skivington (c)
6 Jebb Sinclair
7 Blair Cowan
8 Chris Hala'ufia
Replacements:
16 Jimmy Stevens
17 Matt Parr
18 Jamie Hagan
19 Nic Rouse
20 Danny Kenny
21 Guy Armitage
22 Myles Dorrian
23 Darren Allinson

London Irish Kit:

Leicester Kit:

Referee: Martin Fox
Touch Judges: Peter Huckle & Nigel Carrick
Video Ref: Trevor Fisher
TV: None Live; Highlights on BT Sport 1HD 1P.M. Sunday & Highlights on ITV4 Sunday 8P.M.

Season's Preview: London Irish

London Irish

Founded: 1898

Years in Top Tier: 20

Last Year: 9^th in Prem (35 Points), Group Stage in Amlin Challenge Cup & Anglo-Welsh Cup

Europe: Amlin Challenge Cup

Director of Rugby: Brian Smith

Transfers:

In: Blair Cowen (Worcester), Andrew Fenby (Llanelli Scarlets), Jamie Hagan (Leinster), Eamonn Sheridan (Rotherham), Fergus Mulchrone (Rotherham), Mike Mayhew (Newcastle), Myles Dorrian (Exeter), Matt Parr (Nottingham), Nic Rouse (Nottingham), Jonny Harris (Leicester), Jimmy Stevens (Leicester), Alex Lewington (Leicester), Sean O’Connell (Ulster), John Quill (Dolphin-Ireland)

Out: Alex Corbiseiro (Northampton), Jonathan Joseph (Bath), Matt Garvey (Bath), Jamie Gibson (Leicester),  Steve Shingler (Llanelli), Max Lahiff (Melbourne Rebels), Anthony Watson (Bath), Scott Lawson (Newcastle), Dave Sisi (Bath), Jack Moates (Wasps), Alex Gray (England 7s), Conor Gaston (Aurillac), Jerry Yanuyanutawa (Glasgow), James Sandford (Cornish Pirates), Joe Ansbro (Retiring), Cai Griffiths (London Welsh)

Ins: 14

Outs: 16

London Irish have been in the top tier for the past 18 seasons but that stay looks to be under threat with Irish in free fall for much of last season, players leaving in their droves and nasty rumours surrounding player’s medical care doing the rounds.

All of the big names are in the departures lounge as British Lion Alex Corbiseiro leads the list, though with his injury record perhaps losing his understudy Max Lahiff to Melbourne Rebels will be a bigger blow.  England centre Jonathan Joseph is moving onto Bath with Matt Garvey, David Sisi and England Under 20s winger Anthony Watson joining him in the West Country. 

Scotland hooker Scott Lawson is moving to Newcastle and Steve Shingler is going home to Llanelli.  Tigers have of course signed utility back row Jamie Gibson.

Replacing them?  Well not much really.  Former Nottingham pair Matt Parr and Nic Rouse, Tigers academy trio Jonny Harris, Jimmy Stevens and Alex Lewington, Worcester number 8 Blair Cowen, Newcastle hooker Mike Mayhew, former Falcon Andy Fenby on the wing. 

They still have some cracking players like Sailosi Tagicakibau, Halani Aulika and Ian Humphreys but their squad is probably the thinnest in the league, especially in the tight forwards.  From what I can tell they only have 3 dedicated locks in Skivington, Evans and Rouse.

They always struggle to win games in winter, even when they were a Play Off team about 5 years ago, and I can’t see that record getting any better.

They might stay up, but somebody has to finish bottom and I can’t see a stronger contender.

Prediction: 12^th