London Irish have made three changes for tomorrow’s Aviva Premiership game away to Gloucester Rugby at Kingsholm (kick-off 3pm).

Harry Elrington makes his first Aviva Premiership start and Petrus du Plessis returns to the starting line-up joining captain David Paice in the front row.

Scott Steele who impressed from the bench last weekend starts at scrum-half alongside Tommy Bell at fly-half.

Franco van der Merwe and Teofilo Paulo continue their second row partnership, and Mike Coman, Max Northcote-Green and Blair Cowan remain in the back row.

Luke McLean, Fergus Mulchrone, Alex Lewington, James Marshall and Joe Cokanasiga retain their places in the London Irish back line.

The bench sees the return of Scottish international Gordon Reid from injury and Ofisa Treviranus is back with the Exiles fresh from international duty with Samoa.

“The boys were superb last week attacking and defending well against a quality Wasps’ side,” said London Irish director of rugby Nick Kennedy.

“After earning losing bonus points from our last three games against teams who are in the Aviva Premiership top six, we’re dealing with very fine margins before everything we are working on in training comes together in a win.

“It’s good to see a number of players coming back from injury to strengthen the squad.

“Kingsholm is always a great ground to visit and Gloucester are in a rich vein of form so we’re looking forward to a good contest on Saturday.”

London Irish: 15 James Marshall, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Fergus Mulchrone, 12 Luke McLean, 11 Alex Lewington, 10 Tommy Bell, 9 Scott Steele, 1 Harry Elrington, 2 David Paice (c), 3 Petrus du Plessis, 4 Franco van der Merwe, 5 Teofilo Paulo, 6 Mike Coman, 7 Max Northcote-Green, 8 Blair Cowan  

Replacements: 16 Tom Woolstencroft, 17 Gordon Reid, 18 Ollie Hoskins, 19 Sebastian De Chaves, 20 Ofisa Treviranus, 21 Ben Meehan, 22 Greig Tonks, 23 Tom Fowlie  

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