London Irish Assistant Coach Clark Laidlaw believes the presence of Brendan Venter at the club’s training ground this week has brought a fresh impetus to the squad ahead of Friday’s trip to Nottingham Rugby in the Greene King IPA Championship (kick-off 7.45pm).

Technical Director Venter, 46, who jets into London once a month to oversee operations at the club’s Sunbury complex, has rejuvenated the squad according to Laidlaw.

“Brendan adds a different dimension to coaching and is a very astute tactician, especially around defence and kicking,” Laidlaw, said of the former Exiles and Springbok icon.

“He certainly keeps us all on our toes and when he comes in each month, he looks at our game and challenges the coaches where necessary,” added Laidlaw.

Nottingham host Irish on the back of a narrow 22-21 victory at Jersey, a result that has reverberated throughout the Championship.

“We’re expecting a very tough game – they beat Jersey over at their place last weekend so it’s certainly going to be a difficult game for us,” said Laidlaw.

“It’s been 20 years since we played Nottingham in a competitive game so they will be naturally excited to welcome us up there.

“It’s been a short turnaround for us, having just played on the Sunday, but we’ve freshened things up with eight changes. I think the freshness will help us given the short week we’ve had and those that didn’t play the full 80 minutes last week have got their chance this weekend.

“There’s also guys on the bench that didn’t play last week so that will give us energy. We have two internationals on the bench in Blair Cowan and Ciaran Hearn so that underlines our strength in depth so we are expecting a good performance from the guys this week,” he added.

Tickets are available for the London Welsh home game on Saturday 8th October £20 for adults with discounts available for those under 25. Kids go for £3 in the unreserved areas.

Call 0118 968 1016 or click here to buy online.

Hospitality packages are still available for this fixture, starting at just £36 +vat per person. For more information or to buy a package please email [email protected] or call 01932 750 113.

Members are also able to upgrade to Hospitality from as little as £25 +VAT. 

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