23 September 2005
Issued on behalf of London Irish
This Saturday's GUINNESS PREMIERSHIP match between London Irish and Bristol Rugby at Madejski Stadium, kick-off 3.00pm, promises to be a highly entertaining and competitive fixture. Paul Hodgson gets to start ahead of Ben Willis against his former club for the first time as Bristol return to the top flight.

Bristol, league leaders until their defeat last week, play a similar style of rugby to London Irish who combine a disciplined "rush defence" with positive and attacking rugby. There will be a number of individual international battles that will contribute to an intense afternoon. At the front of these will be the mighty Bob Casey of Ireland who confronts Wales' Gareth Llewellyn and who would miss top try scorer (five under his belt already) Scott Staniforth weave around "bonecrusher" Brian Lima

"The squad feels that it has a point to prove in our second home game on Saturday," said Brian Smith, Director of Rugby at London Irish, "The commitment from the players extends not just to playing positive rugby but also to being more streetwise.  Have no doubt we will be playing to win in every department around the park."

There are two changes to the starting line-up of the team that played Sale Sharks. Rob Hardwick starts at tight head prop in place of the injured Richard Skuse and Bob Casey returns in the second row having recovered from the illness that forced his late withdrawl from last week's team. 

Team:
15. Delon Armitage; 14. Scott Staniforth*; 13. Rodd Penney; 12. Mike Catt* (captain); 11. Justin Bishop*; 10. Barry Everitt; 9. Paul Hodgson; 1. Neal Hatley; 2. Adrian Flavin; 3. Rob Hardwick*; 4. Bob Casey*; 5. Kieran Roche; 6. Olivier Magne*; 7. Kieron Dawson*; 8. Phil Murphy*.
Replacements:
16. Michael Collins; 17. David Paice; 18. Ryan Strudwick; 19. Paul Gustard; 20. James Storey; 21. Ben Willis; 22. Topsy Ojo.
* Denotes international
Director of Rugby: Brian Smith  
Forwards Coach: Toby Booth

Tickets are available for this match by visiting the London Irish website at www.london-irish.com or by calling the Sales Centre on 0870 999 1871.

Issued on behalf of Bristol Rugby

Bristol Rugby Head Coach Richard Hill makes several changes to his starting line up for London Irish this weekend with perhaps the most significant being a Bristol debut for Jacob Rauluni at scrum half.

The backs are relatively unchanged but Brian Lima moves into the centre in place of Rob Higgitt with Lee Robinson returning on the right wing.

Shaun Perry's hamstring injury means that Jacob Rauluni makes his Premiership debut for Bristol only days after making his first Bristol appearance in the GUINNESS A league at Harlequins.

Up front sees the return of Gareth Llewellyn in the second row and Craig Short at openside flanker following their absences for vastly differing reasons against Gloucester last weekend!

Richard explained his thinking as he announced his team:

"Moving Brian Lima into the midfield will create penetration. It's hard in this league and defences are very good. He's probably our strongest player physically to get us across the gain line."

"He worked very had in his first game last week and looked very good when he came infield off his wing through the midfield and made some good yards. I'm hoping he will punch a few holes in that midfield and then offload to the runners outside him. I think that's where he'll be most effective."

"It's tough on Higgy (Rob Higgitt) who has done nothing wrong and his time will come again. But I had in mind that Brian was brought here as a centre first and foremost."

"Jacob's come straight in. He talks well. He bosses things well, very confident, knows the game, a good organiser. He's settled right into the squad very quickly. 80 minutes might be tough as he hasn't had the preseason that the others have but he'll be ok."

"Irish are trying to play some rugby which should be good for us, to have a wide open game. We'll have to work on our defence to stop these big wide passes that Mike Catt can throw out which can cause problems in the wide channels. We've prepared in much the same way as Newcastle."

"They've not had the best of starts. It's a massive game for them. They'll want 4 or 5 points from us."

"But we're all looking forward to it after last weekend. We've been brought down to earth but the attitude this week has been spot on."

London Irish last won at the Madejski on November 21st 2004 while Bristol have only won one of the ten previous occasions in the Premiership - back in May 2000 when Henry Honiball was pulling the strings at fly half..

Amazingly, three of the past five encounters have finished in draws.

Bristol Rugby:

Bernardo Stortoni, Lee Robinson, Brian Lima, Manu Contepomi, Vaughan Going, Jason Strange, Jacob Rauluni, Dave Hilton, Saul Nelson, Darren Crompton, Mariano Sambucetti, Gareth Llewellyn, Matt Salter (capt), Craig Short, Geraint Lewis

Replacements:

Mark Irish, Neil Clark, Roy Winters, Dan Ward-Smith, Greg Nicholls, Danny Gray, Rob Higgitt