Armitage and Hipkiss return
Having completed his England EPS rest requirement Steffon Armitage returns to London Irish's 23-man squad for Saturday's eagerly anticipated clash between the Exiles and the Leicester Tigers at the Madejski Stadium.
Armitage is one of five changes to the starting line-up of the team that played Scarlets last weekend.
The 24-year-old back row forward returns at openside flanker as George Stowers switches to the blindside in place of Declan Danaher who suffered a knee ligament injury in last Saturday’s match.
The remaining three changes are in the front row where Clarke Dermody, Danie Coetzee and Paulica Ion complete an all-internationals pack.
"We enjoy measuring ourselves against the big clubs at Madejski Stadium and are excited about the chance of playing the current Guinness Premiership champions at home at this stage of the season," said Toby Booth, London Irish Head Coach.
"This will be our first match with them since we met in the Grand Final of the Premiership at Twickenham in May. There was only one point in the difference that day, so we're looking forward to another competitive encounter tomorrow.
"From what our commercial colleagues tell us the match has caught the imagination of our fantastic supporters and we’re anticipating an attendance of over 15,000 tomorrow. With all four stands open, there should be a 'craicing' atmosphere in the stadium." Booth added.
England international Dan Hipkiss meanwhile returns to the Leicester Tigers line-up. Hipkiss missed both of the opening rounds of the Heineken Cup due to illness but returns to the Tigers backline to partner Anthony Allen at centre.
Marcos Ayerza, Julian White and Richard Blaze return to the forward pack after starting last week's Heineken Cup win in Viadana among the replacements.
"We have been a bit stretched, especially in the backs, so it is certainly good news to get Danny back this weekend," said Tigers head coach Richard Cockerill.
"Irish have had a good start to the season and both teams have lost just one game in the Guinness Premiership so I'm sure it will be a keen contest.
"We don’t want to sit back against them. The more we took the game to the Ospreys two weeks ago, the better it was for us. You cannot go there and sit back or they will kill you."
Joe Duffey and Matt Smith have been added to the Tigers injured list this week and Cockerill is still also without Mefin Davies, Harry Ellis, Toby Flood, Aaron Mauger, Geordan Murphy, Craig Newby, Sam Vesty, Ben Woods and Alesana Tuilagi.
England Under-18 centre Andy Forsyth is included in the matchday 23 for the first time.
The teams:
London Irish: 15 Peter Hewat, 14 Tom Homer, 13 Seilala Mapusua, 12 Elvis Seveali'i, 11 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 10 Ryan Lamb, 9 Paul Hodgson, 8 Chris Hala'Ufia, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 George Stowers, 5 Bob Casey (captain), 4 Nick Kennedy, 3 Paulica Ion, 2 Danie Coetzee, 1 Clarke Dermody.
Replacements: 16 David Paice, 17 Dan Murphy, 18 Faan Rautenbach, 19 Andy Perry, 20 Kieran Roche, 21 Chris Malone, 22 Peter Richards, 23 Alfredo Lalanne.
Leicester: 15 Scott Hamilton, 14 Johne Murphy, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Lucas Amorosino, 10 Jeremy Staunton, 9 James Grindal, 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Lewis Moody, 6 Tom Croft, 5 Richard Blaze, 4 Louis Deacon (captain), 3 Julian White, 2 George Chuter, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 Tom Youngs, 17 Boris Stankovich, 18 Martin Castrogiovanni, 19 Geoff Parling, 20 Brett Deacon, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Billy Twelvetrees, 23 Andy Forsyth.
Date: Saturday, October 24
Venue: Madejski Stadium
Time: 15.15 (14.15 GMT)
Referee: Wayne Barnes