Declan Kidney has confirmed the squad that will travel to Kingston Park to take on Newcastle Falcons in Round 19 of the Gallagher Premiership on Sunday (3pm kick-off).
Danilo Fischetti, Agustin Creevy and Oliver Hoskins combine in the front row, with Api Ratuniyarawa and Rob Simmons in the second row. Simmons captains the side from the five jersey.
Josh Basham, Tom Pearson, and Chandler Cunningham-South are named as the back row trio.
Ben White returns from international duty with Scotland to partner Paddy Jackson in the halfbacks and Benhard van Rensburg link up with Will Joseph in the centres.
Ollie Hassell-Collins, Lucio Cinti and Ben Loader complete the line-up as the back three.
“Newcastle is a tough place to go and play rugby as we found out two years ago, and Sunday will be no different,” said Declan Kidney, Director of Rugby.
“Last time out, they pushed league leaders Saracens for the full 80 minutes despite playing most of the match with 14 men. That shows the fight that they have, and something that we will have to be mindful of this weekend.
“We have had a good week of preparation and we are excited to put our best foot forward as we enter the latter stages of the season.”
🚨 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠 𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗦 🚨
Here's our side for Sunday's @premrugby trip to Newcastle 👊
🇮🇹 Danilo and Luca return
🏴 @BenWhite_98 returns
🏴 @OHassellcollins returns
⚫️⚪️ #NEWvLIR ☘️ pic.twitter.com/NBz3KLBhyt— London Irish (@londonirish) March 3, 2023
Fullback: 15 Ben Loader
Winger: 14 Lucio Cinti
Centres: 13 Will Joseph, 12 Benhard van Rensburg,
Winger: 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins.
Out half: 10 Paddy Jackson, Scrum half 9 9 Ben White
Front Row: 1 Danilo Fischetti, 2 Agustin Creevy, 3 Oliver Hoskins
Second Row: 4 Api Ratuniyarawa, 5 Rob Simmons (c),
Back Row: 6 Josh Basham, 7 Tom Pearson, 8 Chandler Cunningham-South.
Replacements 16 Matt Cornish, 17 Facundo Gigena, 18 Lovejoy Chawatama, 19 Josh Caulfield, 20 Matt Rogerson, 21 Hugh O’Sullivan, 22 Luca Morisi, 23 James Stokes.
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