Aulika Returns from Rugby World Cup to face Tigers

Sunday afternoon sees the return of Aviva Premiership Rugby to the Madejski Stadium with London Irish hosting Leicester Tigers (kick-off 3.15pm).

Halani Aulika will start at tighthead for the Exiles after finishing his Rugby World Cup campaign with Tonga. The tighthead will start in the front row alongside Tom Court and David Paice with George Skivington captaining the side in the second row alongside new signing Matt Symons. Jebb Sinclair, Luke Narraway and Rob McCusker make up the back row.

Brendan McKibbin and Chris Noakes will start at scrum half and fly half respectively with Eoin Griffin and Tom Fowlie in the centre. Topsy Ojo, Alex Lewington and Andrew Fenby are named in the back three.

Gerard Ellis, Tom Smallbone and Leo Halavatau are the front row replacements with Eoin Sheriff and David Sisi covering the second and back row. Scott Steele, Shane Geraghty and Fergus Mulchrone are the back replacements.

London Irish Head Coach, Tom Coventry said: “Selection for the first match of the season is always tough and this is no exception. The players have trained and prepared well for this match and, after a long pre-season, cannot wait to get out and play in front of our home supporters.  Leicester provide us with a significant challenge and we look forward to representing the Club and our supporters with pride.”

London Irish team to play Leicester Tigers:

15. Andrew Fenby; 14. Alex Lewington; 13. Tom Fowlie; 12. Eoin Griffin; 11. Topsy Ojo*; 10. Chris Noakes; 9. Brendan McKibbin; 1. Tom Court*; 2. David Paice*; 3. Halani Aulika*; 4. George Skivington (Captain); 5. Matt Symons; 6. Jebb Sinclair*; 7. Luke Narraway*; 8. Rob McCusker*

Replacements: 16. Gerard Ellis; 17. Tom Smallbone; 18. Leo Halavatau; 19. Eoin Sheriff; 20. David Sisi; 21. Scott Steele; 22. Shane Geraghty*; 23. Fergus Mulchrone

*Denotes International 

Leicester Tigers Team 

15 Mathew Tait (Captain); 14 Adam Thompstone; 13 Peter Betham; 12 Seremaia Bai; 11 Matt Smith; 10 Tommy Bell; 9 Sam Harrison; 1 Logovi'i Mulipola; 2 Greg Bateman; 3 Fraser Balmain; 4 Mike Williams; 5 Mike Fitzgerald; 6 Tom Croft; 7 Lachlan McCaffrey; 8 Laurence Pearce 

Replacements: 16 Harry Thacker;17 Riccardo Brugnara; 18 Tiziano Pasquali; 19 Sebastian de Chaves; 20 Opeti Fonua; 21 Ben White; 22 Owen Williams; 23 George Catchpole