Preview: London Irish v Scarlets
October 16 2009
London Irish have promoted match-winning kicker Ryan Lamb to starting fly-half as they prepare to take on the Scarlets on Saturday.
The former Gloucester player comes into the XV above Chris Malone, who drops to the bench alongside loosehead Clarke Dermody.
George Stowers returns at openside in place of Steffon Armitage who is rested because of his involvement in England's Elite Player Squad.
Scrum-half Peter Richards is named among the replacements in place of Jamie Lennard.
"History in the Heineken Cup suggests that you've got to win your home games if you're going to progress in the tournament," said Toby Booth.
"Tomorrow's match is important for everyone involved not least our fantastic supporters who made such a difference in Dublin last Friday night.
"We hope they will turn up in their thousands to encourage their team.
"Scarlets played well against Brive last weekend; they took their chances and recorded a great win. We're expecting another testing 80 minutes from them tomorrow afternoon."
Meanwhile, the Scarlets will of course be looking to kick on from their impressive victory over Brive with a good performance at the Madejski Stadium.
Young duo Dominic Day and Lee Williams keep their places following last week's win and despite being underdogs for Saturday's meeting with the Exiles, Day is keen to make a mark against some of the strongest lock opposition the competition has to offer.
"Yes, they are very experienced guys, but we've got to back ourselves and I'm positive we can get a return in the line-out," he said, speaking to the region's website.
"The [last week's] win has really lifted us and we are going into London Irish with our heads held high.
"Brive had a strong scrum but we managed to get the ball away and we held our own. I think as a pack, we are going really well this year - the scrum's has been as good as the line-out and the backs are playing well off it.
"The pressure is all on London Irish and we're going to give it our best. We feel we've got a team that can go up there and hopefully get a result."
The teams:
London Irish: 15 Peter Hewat, 14 Tom Homer, 13 Elvis Seveali'i, 12 Seilala Mapusua, 11 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 10 Ryan Lamb, 9 Paul Hodgson, 8 Chris Hala'Ufia, 7 George Stowers, 6 Declan Danaher, 5 Bob Casey, 4 Nick Kennedy, 3 Faan Rautenbach, 2 David Paice, 1 Dan Murphy.
Replacements: 16 Danie Coetzee, 17 Clarke Dermody, 18 Paulica Ion, 19 Andy Perry, 20 Richard Thorpe, 21 Peter Richards, 22 Chris Malone, 23 Alfredo Lalanne.
Scarlets: 15 Daniel Evans, 14 Lee Williams, 13 Sean Lamont, 12 Jon Davies, 11 Mark Jones (capt), 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Martin Roberts, 8 David Lyons, 7 Dafydd Jones, 6 Simon Easterby, 5 Dominic Day, 4 Lou Reed, 3 Deacon Manu, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Iestyn Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Ken Owens, 17 Phil John, 18 Jamie Corsi, 19 Vernon Cooper, 20 Richard Pugh, 21 Tavis Knoyle, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 Rob Higgitt.
Date: Saturday, October 17
Kick-off: 15:00 BST
Venue: Madejski Stadium
Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Paul Haycock (Ireland), Dermot Moloney (Ireland)
Television match official: Laurie Bryant (England)
Assessor: Patrick Thomas (France)
