Planet Rugby

Preview: London Irish v Wasps

22nd February 2013 10:46

SKY_MOBILE Ofisa Treviranus

Ofisa Treviranus: Starts for Exiles

London Irish have included Chris Hala'ufia and Ofisa Treviranus in their side to face London Wasps in the Aviva Premiership at Madejski Stadium on Sunday.

Treviranus comes in at openside flanker for Jebb Sinclair who is rested. Hala'ufia has recovered from the flu, which kept him out of last weekend's match, to be named at number eight. Sailosi Tagicakibau has recovered from a knee injury and is named as a replacement. Bryn Evans will captain the side.

"Wasps are a formidable team riding high in the Aviva Premiership so they'll give us a very tough test on Sunday," said London Irish director of rugby Brian Smith.

"In saying that we do pretty well against the top four teams at home and our boys are itching to put in a big performance for our supporters on Sunday."

Meanwhile, there are three changes for the men in black and gold from the Wasps side that beat Gloucester at Adams Park last weekend.

Two of those changes are in the pack. Will Taylor makes his first Aviva Premiership start, coming into the front row in the place of Phil Swainston who hasn't trained this week due to illness.

The other change sees Jonathan Poff return to the back-row following time out with injury, replacing Billy Vunipola, who is ruled out after picking up an injury whilst training with England.

That change sees Sam Jones move to eight, with Poff coming in at seven.

The one change in the backs sees Elliot Daly, who has spent the majority of this week with England, return to the side, starting at outside centre, alongside Chris Bell.

Form: London Irish's two game winning run in Aviva Premiership Rugby ended with their 16-40 defeat at Bath on Saturday. The Exiles have won their last three contests at Madejski Stadium in all competitions. London Wasps have won their last five Premiership encounters since their 23-30 reversal at Exeter on 1 December. Wasps have lost only one of their last five away games in all competitions: 8-34 at Leicester in the Anglo-Welsh Cup on 26 January. Wasps have won their last two games against London Irish, whilst the last nine fixtures in the Premiership between the two clubs have all been won by the home side on the day.

The teams:

London Irish: 15 Tom Homer, 14 Topsy Ojo, 13 Guy Armitage, 12 Shane Geraghty, 11 Marland Yarde, 10 Ian Humphreys, 9 Pat Phibbs, 8 Chris Hala'ufia, 7 Ofisa Treviranus, 6 Matt Garvey,5 Bryn Evans (c), 4 George Skivington, 3 Halani Aulika, 2 Scott Lawson, 1 Max Lahiff.
Replacements: 16 Davy McGregor, 17 Jerry Yanuyanutawa, 18 Leo Halavatau, 19 Kieran Low, 20 Jamie Gibson, 21 Jon Fisher, 22 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 23 Jack Moates.

Wasps: 15 Hugo Southwell, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Chris Bell, 11 Tom Varndell, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Joe Simpson, 8 Sam Jones, 7 Jonathan Poff, 6 Ashley Johnson, 5 Marco Wentzel, 4 James Cannon, 3 Will Taylor, 2 T Rhys Thomas, 1 Zak Taulafo.
Replacements: 16 Tom Lindsay, 17 Simon McIntyre, 18 Lorenzo Romano, 19 Alex Rae, 20 Matt Everard, 21 Charlie Davies, 22 Nick Robinson, 23 Charlie Hayter.

Date: Sunday, February 24
Kick-off: 12:05
Venue: Madejski Stadium
Referee: Tim Wigglesworth
Assistant referees: Ian Tempest, Andrew Watson
Timekeeper: Roy Marfleet
Television match official: David Grashoff
Assessor: Ashley Reay

Comments

Be the first to comment on this story..


Character Count : 0/1900

  • Aviva Prem Fixtures
Forthcoming Fixtures
FixtureDetails
All times are local
Aviva Premiership
Saturday , May 25
Leicester vs Northampton15:00
More Aviva Premiership fixtures
  • Aviva Prem Results
Recent Results
FixtureDetails
All times are local
Aviva Premiership
Sunday , May 12
Saracens 13 - 27 NorthamptonSaracens vs Northampton Report
Saturday , May 11
Leicester 33 - 16 HarlequinsLeicester vs Harlequins Report
Saturday , May 4
Saracens 23 - 14 BathSaracens vs Bath Report
Exeter 40 - 39 GloucesterExeter vs Gloucester Report
Leicester 32 - 20 London IrishLeicester vs London Irish Report
London Welsh 33 - 22 WorcesterLondon Welsh vs Worcester Report
Harlequins 22 - 19 NorthamptonHarlequins vs Northampton Report
Sale 21 - 20 WaspsSale vs Wasps Report
Sunday , April 21
Wasps 24 - 37 Exeter
Saturday , April 20
Bath 27 - 26 Leicester
More Aviva Premiership results
  • Aviva Prem Table
Aviva Premiership Table
PosTeamPPts
1Saracens2277
2Leicester Tigers2274
3Harlequins2269
4Northampton2265
5Gloucester2260