London Irish v Bath: Teams
Faan Rautenbach will lead London Irish out for their New Year's Day clash against Bath to celebrate his 100th appearance for the club.
Last Updated: 01/01/11 9:52am
South African prop Faan Rautenbach will lead London Irish out for their New Year's Day clash against Bath to celebrate his 100th appearance for the club.
Irish have made four changes to their starting line up for Saturday's showdown at the Madejski Stadium.
Alex Corbisiero comes in at prop, while number eight Chris Hala'ufia, lock Matt Garvey and centre Elvis Seveali'i have also been given the nod.
Irish will be looking to arrest a deepening crisis at the club that has seen them suffer eight successive defeats in all competitions.
But, despite their dramatic slump in form, Exiles head coach Toby Booth remains upbeat and insists that morale is high at the club.
"The squad is feeing positive, enthusiastic and energetic," he said "And we're looking forward to a good game on Saturday.
"We're only at the halfway point in the Premiership, we're fourth in the table and over the coming weeks we'll be going all out to ensure we maintain that top-four position."
Desperate
Bath are also aiming for a big improvement after managing just one win from their last eight games and slipping to ninth place in the Premiership.
And skills and defence coach Brad Davis believes composure will be a key ingredient for two teams who are both desperate for a win.
"Both sides are scratching around for a win," he said "I don't know who has got the worst form.
"I imagine it is going to be two teams that are going to be desperate Composure is going to have a lot to do with how the result pans out.
"We are well aware of what we need to do to climb the ladder, and we are also aware of what a threat London Irish pose as a team.
"They've been there or thereabouts in most of their games You look at their team on paper, and it's a quality outfit."
Bath welcome back captain Luke Watson for the clash, with the South African having been sidelined since November.
London Irish: 15 Delon Armitage, 14 Topsy Ojo, 13 Elvis Seveali'i, 12 Dan Bowden, 11 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 10 Chris Malone, 9 Paul Hodgson, 1 Alex Corbisiero, 2 James Buckland, 3 Faan Rautenbach, 4 Nick Kennedy, 5 Matt Garvey, 6 Richard Thorpe, 7 Steffon Armitage, 8 Chris Hala'ufia.
Replacements: 16 Brian Blaney, 17 Clarke Dermody, 18 Dan Murphy, 19 Bob Casey, 20 George Stowers, 21 Seilala Mapusua, 22 Ryan Lamb, 23 Darren Allinson
Bath: 15 Jack Cuthbert, 14 Matt Carraro, 13 Olly Barkley, 12 Shontayne Hape, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 Butch James, 9 Michael Claassens, 1 David Barnes, 2 Lee Mears, 3 David Wilson, 4 Stuart Hooper, 5 Danny Grewcock, 6 Luke Watson (capt), 7 Lewis Moody, 8 Simon Taylor.
Replacements: 16 Pieter Dixon, 17 Duncan Bell, 18 Aaron Jarvis, 19 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 20 Ben Skirving, 21 Mark McMillan, 22 Sam Vesty, 23 Nick Abendanon.