Exiles aim to write a winning first chapter in Brentford
LONDON Irish make three changes from the side that narrowly lost at Worcester for their first-ever game at the Brentford Community Stadium.
Former Scotland prop Allan Dell and exArgentina hooker Agustin Creevy come in while Blair Cowan gets the nod at flanker over Ben Donnell.
The Exiles, who have returned to London after 20 seasons playing at Reading’s Madejski Stadium, share the newly-built 17,250-seater ground with Championship football club Brentford, and could have as many as 2,000 fans at their next home game against Sale on Sunday December 6.
London Irish head coach Les Kiss, right, said: “When I saw on the fixture list that Leicester would be the first match at Brentford, it had a nice feel about it.
“They’re one of the great clubs of the Premiership but also when you think of them, you think of how famous their stadium is and what it means to them as a club and in their history. “That’s the sort of thing we want to aspire to with this move, but we’ve certainly got a lot to live up to there.
“If we can get a win against a club like Leicester in our first match there, it will certainly have a nice feel to it when you look back through history in years to come.”
Leicester’s Scotland centre Matt Scott gets his first game this season. Loosehead Ryan Bower and flanker Cyle Brink step up from the bench to start after last week’s win over Gloucester.
Leicester head coach Steve Borthwick said: “Irish have a very good, smart and experienced coaching team in Declan Kidney and Les Kiss.
“They’ve got a lot of Test caps in the squad as well, so it’s a good team.
“I’m sure that they will want to start life at their new stadium with a win, they’ll be desperate for that.
“The expectation around them will be very high and I’m sure they will want to, and need to, win.”