Preparations are in full flow for London Irish ahead of this Sunday’s crunch Aviva Premiership clash at Newcastle Falcons according to Assistant Coach Richard Whiffin.

The Exiles travel to Tyneside just four points behind Newcastle at the foot of the table, and Whiffin, who was buoyed by his side’s display at Harlequins last weekend, is in positive mood.

“We managed to get a head start at the back end of last week, and we had a good look at Newcastle,” said Whiffin.

“We had our walkthrough yesterday and put our attacking game plan into place so we’ve ticked that off – the team know how we want to play and what we are trying to achieve.

“Now it’s about building onto the bigger sessions today and Friday to make sure our clarity and accuracy is right,” he added.

Irish are set to welcome back wingers Alex Lewington and Aseli Tikoirotuma for the trip north, with Whiffin delighted with the progress the duo have been making over the last few weeks.

Whiffin said: “We’ve obviously missed Tiks and Lewi, and it’s been great to see them both getting back to fitness and putting themselves out there, so it’s certainly been a tougher week than most in terms of selection on the back of a good performance at Harlequins last weekend.

“There’s some guys that have put their hand up for selection so it will be a tough meeting when picking the team later in the week.

“We’ll keep training as normal as we can – everyone knows the gravitas of the game, and we feel we’ve prepared well for our last few games.

“We feel we’ve found the formula that gives us a good chance going up there. A few things will change because of the nature of the game, but ultimately we’ve got to focus on our processes in order to put on a good performance.”  

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