Wasps v London Irish: Teams
Wasps hand debut to Rob Webber while London Irish club captain Bob Casey celebrates 100 Premiership appearances for the Exiles.
Last Updated: 12/10/07 2:40pm
London Wasps director of rugby Ian McGeechan remains confident his side can rediscover their form despite their 16-0 defeat to Sale in round four.
The reigning Heineken Cup champions have yet to taste victory this season - even throwing away a 24-10 lead against Worcester in the dying moments to draw 24-24 - and have struggled to cope with their international absentees.
However, McGeechan is refusing to be too downbeat. He told the club's official site: "We are disappointed in a number of features of our performance against Sale last Friday, and although we didn't win against Worcester or Leicester, we played much better in those games.
"The players are keen to get back to that sort of form, and if we remain competitive and perform well as a team the win will come.
Challenge
"London Irish are a good footballing side though. They are well organised and being on the right side on Sunday's result represents a significant challenge to us."
The Wasps have made a number of changes to their line-up with Mark van Gisbergen, Michael Holford and Rob Webber called into the starting XV.
Danny Ciprini moves to fly-half to accommodate van Gisbergen, with Dave Walder missing out, while injury to Tim Payne means Holford comes into the front row.
Former England youth hooker Webber has been rewarded for a number of impressive displays on loan at Blackheath with a place in the Wasps back row, replacing captain John Hart.
Hart drops to the bench with Irish international scrum half Eoin Reddan taking over the captaincy.
London Irish club captain Bob Casey will celebrate a landmark moment on Sunday when he makes his 100th Premiership appearance for the club.
Casey has made 129 appearances in all competitions for the Exiles, scoring five tries, following his move from Leinster in 2002.
Terrific
Casey will lead out a side which has just two changes from the XV that faced Bath, with Dominic Shabbo returning in the centres and Dan Murphy replacing the injured Faan Rautenbach.
Irish's director of rugby Brian Smith said: "The guys know what they have to do this weekend.
"Wasps are European champions and they have a terrific squad, but in saying that we're quietly confident of a big performance and hopefully a good result.
Wasps: 15 Mark Van Gisbergen, 14 David Doherty, 13 Fraser Waters, 12 Riki Flutey, 11 Tom Voyce, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Eoin Reddan (c), 1 Michael Holford, 2 Joe Ward, 3 Pat Barnard, 4 Richard Birkett, 5 George Skivington, 6 Dan Leo, 7 Rob Webber, 8 James Haskell.
Replacements: 16 Charlie Beech, 17 Nick Adams, 18 Hugo Ellis, 19 John Hart, 20 Simon Amor, 21 Dave Walder, 22 Rob Hoadley.
London Irish: 15 Delon Armitage, 14 Topsy Ojo, 13 Dominic Shabbo, 12 Seilala Mapusua, 11 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 10 Eoghan Hickey, 9 Paul Hodgson, 1 Dan Murphy, 2 David Paice, 3 Tonga Lea'aetoa, 4 Nick Kennedy, 5 Bob Casey (c), 6 Declan Danaher, 7 Steffon Armitage, 8 Richard Thorpe.
Replacements: 16 Casey Dunning, 17 Stuart Mackie, 18 Tom Warren, 19 Kieran Roche, 20 Phil Murphy, 21 Warren Fury, 22 Jeremy Staunton.