London Irish v Wasps - Aviva Premiership preview
London Irish have included Chris Hala'ufia and Ofisa Treviranus in their side to face London Wasps on Sunday.
Last Updated: 24/02/13 11:51am
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 No 8.
Sailosi Tagicakibau has recovered from a knee injury and is named as a replacement. Bryn Evans will captain the side.
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, replacing Billy Vunipola, who is ruled out after picking up an injury whilst training with England.
That change sees Sam Jones move to No 8, 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.
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.
What they said...
London Irish coach Brian Smith
"Wasps are a formidable team riding high in the Aviva Premiership so they'll give us a very tough test on Sunday.
"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."
