London Irish v Worcester Warriors, Aviva Premiership, October 8
Exiles primed for battle against Warriors
ESPNscrum Staff
October 5, 2011
Worcester fly-half Andy Goode attempts a drop goal, Worcester Warriors v Northampton Saints, Aviva Premiership, Sixways Stadium, Worcester, England, September 30, 2011
Andy Goode landed four penalties against Northampton © Getty Images
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Worcester Warriors travel to the Madejski Stadium to face London Irish boosted by their recent victory over Northampton Saints.

Fly-half Andy Goode kicked four penalties and the Warriors' defence held firm as Worcester beat last year's Heineken Cup finalists 12-3 at Sixways. However, Worcester have yet to win on their travels having lost away at Saracens and Gloucester so far this season.

London Irish have also had a mixed start to the season, with a number of young players bedding down into the team. In attack only Harlequins have scored more points than Irish but in defence Toby Booth's team have conceded the third highest amount in the league. In each of Irish's three defeats they have been within seven points to pick up the losing bonus point.

London Irish- Player to Watch: Darren Allinson is performing admirably at scrum-half to keep England international Paul Hodgson out of the starting line-up. Expect more of the same come Sunday in front of the vocal home support.

London Irish - Team News: The Exiles have made two changes and a positional change to the side which lost to Gloucester last weekend. Declan Danaher starts at blindside while Bryn Evans moves into the second-row. Faan Rautenbach begins the game at tight-head.

Worcester Warriors- Player to Watch: Jake Abbott will have to be at his scavenging best against the Exiles on Sunday if the Warriors are to prevail. Alongside Chris Jones at No.8 and Neil Best at blindside, the openside will hope to put in a commanding performance.

Worcester Warriors- Team News: Ollie Frost starts at scrum-half for the Warriors amid rumours that former England international Shaun Perry is out for six months with a knee injury. He is just one of two changes to the squad with Danny Gray named on the bench.

Key Battle: In what promises to be a titanic clash at the back of the scrum, both No.8s - Chris Hala'ufia and Chris Jones - will be going all out to get the upper hand.

Trivia: The Warriors have not won on the road in the Premiership since their visit to Gloucester on April 21 2009

Stats: Worcester have not beaten London Irish in the Premiership since a trip to Madejski Stadium on September 11 2005 finished in a 20-15 victory

Quote Unquote:

"The players are looking forward to playing in front of our home supporters again this Sunday at the Madejski Stadium. The noise in the stadium really spurs the boys on so we hope to see as many people turn out as possible this weekend. Worcester comes into the encounter on the back of a win so we will have to be at our best to come away with the victory."
- London Irish coach Toby Booth hopes home support will prove to be the difference come Sunday.

"The game with London Irish is going to be difficult and one of the major threats is Topsy Ojo, he is the one that really creates the scoring chances for them. He is the main lethal weapon. They have been very good at lineout too with Nick Kennedy and they do their homework to stop yours. It will be a big day for our lineout and our forwards."
- Richard Hill identifies the areas of concern ahead of Sunday's clash

Prediction: Despite the Warriors recording an impressive victory over the Saints last Friday, expect the Exiles to bounce back after their respective defeat and come out victors come the final whistle.

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