London Irish v Saracens: Teams
Guinness Premiership leaders Saracens travel to face second-placed London Irish on Sunday in the clash of the Christmas weekend.
Last Updated: 27/12/09 8:53am
Guinness Premiership leaders Saracens travel to face second-placed London Irish on Sunday in the clash of the Christmas weekend.
The top two in the country do battle at the Madejski Stadium with both teams making changes from their European adventures last week.
England Saxons centre Brad Barritt returns to the starting line-up for Sarries after a spell on rotation, while captain Steve Borthwick also returns to face the Exiles.
Italian internationals Matias Aguero and Fabio Ongaro both start as does former Exiles prop Richard Skuse. Ernst Joubert also returns at number eight.
On the bench, Schalk Brits, Carlos Nieto and Derick Hougaard also come back into the reckoning after being rested.
Sarries are the only unbeaten team left in the Premiership but they have won just once at Madejski in five years and the last five meetings between the two sides have all resulted in home wins.
Armitage back
For the visitors, Delon Armitage returns to the London Irish starting line-up having returned to action for the Exiles with a try-scoring appearance off the bench in last weekend's win over Brive in the Heineken Cup, and the England international will start at full-back on Sunday.
In the only change in personnel in last week's starting XV, Peter Hewat switches to the left wing to accommodate Armitage's return with John Rudd moving to the replacements.
"We rediscovered our early season try-scoring form over the past fortnight in the back-to-back matches with Brive in the Heineken Cup," said Exiles coach Toby Booth.
"Not only did that bring a timely confidence boost for all concerned, it was also encouraging to see that seven different players from both backs and forwards touched down for important scores."
London Irish have lost just one of their last six matches in all competitions, but they have not won at home in the Premiership since October 24 against Leicester.
London Irish: 15 Delon Armitage, 14 Tom Homer, 13 Elvis Seveali'i, 12 Seilala Mapusua, 11 Peter Hewat, 10 Chris Malone, 9 Alfredo Lalanne, 8 Chris Hala'Ufia, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Richard Thorpe, 5 Bob Casey (c), 4 Nick Kennedy, 3 Paulica Ion, 2 David Paice, 1 Clarke Dermody.
Replacements: 16 Danie Coetzee, 17 Dan Murphy, 18 Faan Rautenbach, 19 Kieran Roche, 20 George Stowers, 21 John Rudd, 22 Peter Richards, 23 Ryan Lamb.
Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Rodd Penney, 13 Kameli Ratuvou, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Chris Wyles, 10 Glen Jackson, 9 Justin Marshall, 8 Ernst Joubert, 7 Justin Melck, 6 Wikus van Heerden, 5 Hugh Vyvyan, 4 Steve Borthwick (c), 3 Richard Skuse, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 1 Matias Aguero.
Replacements: 16 Schalk Brits, 17 Rhys Gill, 18 Carlos Nieto, 19 Mouritz Botha, 20 Andy Saull, 21 Moses Rauluni, 22 Derick Hougaard, 23 Richard Haughton.