London Irish centre Johnny Williams returns to the starting XV for Sunday’s Greene King IPA Championship clash against Nottingham at the Madejski Stadium (kick-off 3pm).

Williams, 20, a World Cup winner with England Under-20’s last summer, is one of six changes as the Exiles look to make it 14 league wins on the spin.

Scottish duo Greig Tonks and Scott Steele slot in at full-back and scrum-half respectively, while there are three new additions up front. Harry Elrington packs down at loose-head alongside skipper David Paice and double World Cup-winning All Black Ben Franks.

Will Lloyd gets the nod in the engine room with Luke Narraway rounding off the changes at openside flanker. Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi makes a welcome return to the bench following a lengthy stint on the side line, while Darren Allinson is also amongst the replacements having been recalled from his loan spell at Bath.

The previous meeting between the two sides came at Lady Bay back in September, Irish securing a 29-7 bonus-point victory thanks to tries from Steele, Aseli Tikoirotuma, Max Northcote-Green and Fergus Mulchrone.

Edging past Ealing Trailfinders 23-22 last weekend, Exiles Director of Rugby Nick Kennedy is looking for a performance from his charges.

“We’ve worked on a few things in training throughout the week and I’m looking forward to the game this weekend,” said Kennedy.

“Nottingham will be keen to bounce back from last week’s defeat and will undoubtedly be a stern test for us – Nottingham are only one win away from breaking into the top four.

“We are well aware of the dangers posed by them having experienced a tough game at their place earlier in the season. They play a very good brand of attacking rugby and we will have to be right on top of our game in order to get the result that we want,” he added.

Tickets are available for the game by calling 0118 968 1016 or click here to book online.  

London Irish: 15 Greig Tonks, 14 Topsy Ojo, 13 Fergus Mulchrone, 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Aseli Tikoirotuma, 10 James Marshall, 9 Scott Steele, 1 Harry Elrington, 2 David Paice (c), 3 Ben Franks, 4 Will Lloyd, 5 Sebastian De Chaves, 6 Mike Coman, 7 Luke Narraway, 8 Ofisa Treviranus

Replacements: 16 Dave Porecki, 17 Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi, 18 Ollie Hoskins, 19 Jerry Sexton, 20 Joe Trayfoot, 21 Darren Allinson, 22 Ben Ransom

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