Guinness Premiership Preview - London Irish v Worcester Warriors

London Irish v Worcester Warriors Sunday 23^rd December 3pm

Current form

�        London Irish went down 23-5 to Perpignan in France last weekend but still hold top spot in Heineken Cup Pool 1 and have a very good chance of progressing to the quarter-finals.

�        They have been struggling in the Guinness Premiership this season though and are presently 10^th in the table having won only 2 of 7 played.

�        Both their wins have come at the Majedski, against Newcastle and Gloucester.

�        London Irish have won only 1 of their last 5 league matches and that was against table toppers Gloucester.

�        Worcester will take some confidence from their European Challenge Cup wins. After thrashing Italians Rugby Parma home and away they remain top of Pool 2 unbeaten and will be progressing to the next stage of the tournament.

�        They are finding things much more difficult in the Guinness Premiership and have only got a home draw against London Wasps to show for their efforts this season.

�        They are bottom of the league with just 4 points, 1 point behind Leeds and 7 behind Sunday's opponents London Irish.

�        Worcester have lost all 4 matches away from home and lost the last 5 matches in succession.

History

�        Since Worcester reached the Premiership in 2004, these two sides have met 6 times.

�        London Irish have won 4 and Worcester 2.

�        London Irish completed a league double over Worcester last season winning 26-16 at the Majedski and 16-14 at Sixways.

�        Worcester have won once previously at the Majedski, 20-15 in September 2005.

Trends and Trivia

�        London Irish, along with Leeds, have scored the least number of tries,11, in the Premiership this season.

�        London Irish have only conceded 32 of 133 points scored against them this season, at home

�        If Worcester concede 9 points or more on Sunday they will be the second team after Leeds to concede 200 points this season..

�        Delon Armitage is top points scorer for Irish this season with 25.

�        Shane Drahm leads the way for Worcester with 51.

�        Neither side has a player who has scored more than 2 tries in the league this season.

�        Not surprisingly, neither side has collected a 4 try bonus point this season.