London Irish is hoping to take the momentum of a strong finish to last season and the hard work of a tough pre-season into tomorrow’s London Double Header match with London Wasps at Twickenham Stadium (kick-off 2.30pm)

The 22-man squad announced by the Exiles contains 10 full internationals, eight in the starting XV and two among the replacements.  Among the capped players are Topsy Ojo and David Paice who made their debuts for England on the tour to New Zealand in June.

Two players make their Guinness Premiership debuts for the club in tomorrow’s match, Academy and England Under 20 prop, Alex Corbisiero and new signing, Chris Hala’Ufia, the Tongan international.  Irish have to start without a number of players that picked up injuries in pre-season action; they include Bob Casey (arm), Shane Geraghty (ankle) and James Hudson (ankle) and Declan Danaher who is ill.

“We’ve gone for a tough pre-season to ensure that we’re as battle hardened as we can be, although we’ve paid the price for that in some areas,” said Toby Booth, London Irish’s Head Coach.  “Last weekend we played the champions of Europe in Cork, tomorrow we face the best in England and that’s who you aspire to beat.

“Wasps are laced with talent and international experience that always comes to the fore on big occasions. That experience covers both coaches and players, between them they have created one of the best defences in the Guinness Premiership so we know we’re going to have to be at our attacking best if we are to get a result,” Booth continued.

“Over the next five weeks we face five of the six teams that finished above us in the league last season.  That’s as tough a start as we’ve ever had so we’ll need a little luck.

“This season’s squad is the best we’ve had in my time at London Irish in terms of quality, however we’d like some more quality within the squad in order to increase our depth in some positions and we’re addressing that,” Booth continued. “Judging by the messages we’ve been receiving over recent weeks our supporters are excited about the new season. We’re looking forward to giving them a performance to be proud of tomorrow.”

Team:
15. Peter Hewat; 14. Topsy Ojo*; 13. Delon Armitage; 12. Seilala Mapusua*; 11. Sailosi Tagicakibau*; 10. Mike Catt* (captain); 9. Paul Hodgson*; 1. Alex Corbisiero; 2. Danie Coetzee*, 3. Faan Rautenbach*; 4.Gary Johnson; 5. Nick Kennedy; 6. Richard Thorpe; 7. Steffon Armitage; 8. Chris Hala’Ufia*.

Replacements:
16. Dan Murphy; 17. David Paice*; 18. James Buckland; 19. Jon Fisher; 20. Adam Thompstone; 21. Peter Richards*; 22. Eoghan Hickey.

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