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Harlequins host London Irish on Saturday as they look to continue their bright start to the Aviva Premiership season: 15:00 kick-off
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Quins make four changes following their narrow defeat against Exeter
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The Exiles are bottom of the table after losing all five games so far
Harlequins will not be fooled by London Irish’s slow start to the season and will need to be on their toes when the two meet at Twickenham Stoop on Saturday.
The Exiles have lost all five Aviva Premiership Rugby games so far this season and as yet have not managed to tally a single league point, however, have managed to record a win in the Challenge Cup.
Harlequins, on the other hand, have lost just one of their last six matches on home soil – by a single point to Bath in Aviva Premiership Rugby towards the end of last season.
The hosts have made four changes to the starting team that played Exeter Chiefs last week with young star Ollie Lindsay-Hague named on the wing, partnering Tim Visser and Mike Brown in an exciting back-three combination.
Elsewhere in the forwards Dave Ward starts at hooker and is joined in the front row by Adam Jones. Luke Wallace returns to the back row at openside flanker.
Among the replacements, Ross Chisholm will look to make his first senior appearance of the season.
Meanwhile, London Irish have rung the changes to try and turn their poor start to the season around.
Canadian International Ciaran Hearn comes in to make his Premiership debut and is one of seven changes as Gerard Ellis, Jebb Sinclair, David Sisi, Luke Narraway, Darren Allinson and Eoin Griffin all come into the run-on side.
Check out RUCK’s Aviva Premiership predictions here.
BETTING ODDS
Harlequins 1/14 Draw 40/1 London Irish 8/1
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Harlequins: Mike Brown
London Irish: Alex Lewington
Harlequins: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Ollie Lindsay-Hague, 13 George Lowe, 12 Harry Sloan, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Nick Evans, 9 Danny Care (c), 8 Nick Easter, 7 Luke Wallace, 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 Sam Twomey, 4 James Horwill, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Dave Ward, 1 Joe Marler
Replacements: 16 Rob Buchanan, 17 Mark Lambert, 18 Will Collier, 19 Charlie Matthews. 20 Jack Clifford, 21 Karl Dickson, 22 Ben Botica, 23 Ross Chisholm
London Irish: 15 Topsy Ojo, 14 Alex Lewington, 13 Ciaran Hearn, 12 Eoin Griffin, 11 Ashli Tikoirotuma, 10 Chris Noakes, 9 Darren Allison, 8 Luke Narraway, 7 Blair Cowan, 6 David Sisi, 5 Jebb Sinclair, 4 Matt Symons (c), 3 Ben Franks, 2 Gerard Ellis, 1 Tom Court
Replacements: 16 Tom Cruse, 17 Tom Smallbone, 18 Halani Aulika, 19 Eoin Sheriff, 20 Ofisa Treviranus, 21 Brendan McKibbin, 22 Theo Trophy Clews, 23 Sean Maitland
Date: Saturday, December 5
Venue: Twickenham Stoop
Kick-off: 15:00 GMT
Referee: Luke Pearce
Assistant Referees: Ashley Rowden & Simon McConnell
TMO: David Sainsbury