Lloyd looks for chance to impress

EDINBURGH v LONDON IRISH MYRESIDE SATURDAY, 7.35PM

WILL LLOYD admits one eye is already on the crunch clash with Worcester Warriors later this month.

London Irish are at the foot of the Aviva Premiership table, six points behind Worcester with the pair due to clash at Sixways on December 22.

Before then the Exiles face European clashes with Edinburgh and Stade Francais with the team expected to be heavily rotated.

And Lloyd, who has been mainly restricted to appearances in the cups this year, says everyone is hoping to grab their chance when they travel to Scotland on Saturday evening.

“Every time you go out there you’ve got an opportunity to impress,” Lloyd told The Wokingham Paper.

“That’s what I’m looking forward to this weekend.

“Hopefully I can get some good minutes on the field and put a good performance together and something that the boys can be proud of and hopefully I can push the other second rows in the squad.”

He added: “We’re putting a good team out that we think can do the job this weekend.

“Everyone wants to be playing in big games and we know that Worcester coming up is a very big game, so everyone wants to play in that as well.”

While the struggles are clear to see in the Premiership, Irish are well-placed in their European group.

An opening day defeat to Edinburgh was followed by arguably the performance of the season when they thumped Stade Francis 44-7 in Paris to climb up to second in the standings.

And Lloyd says everyone is targeting a repeat display on Saturday.

“The boys are extremely excited to get back to Europe and try to pick up where we left off when we played in Paris,” he said.

“It was a massive win for the boys and great to be involved in.

“Everyone is pumped about going up to Edinburgh. They came down to the Madejski in round one, but everyone is looking forward to going up there and hopefully doing a job.”

He added: “There’s huge confidence we can take from the game in Paris.

“There’s a few boys that played in that game that are involved again this weekend so we just know we’ve got to start fast and hard and don’t let up.

“We know it’s going to be a full 80-minute game. If we let off at all, they’ll be right in there.

“We’re under no illusions how difficult it’s going to be, that’s for sure.”

Edinburgh come into the game on the back of a good first half to the season.

Not only did they follow up their opening 37-14 European win at the Mad Stad with a 73-14 success at Krasny Yar, but they sit fourth in their Pro14 table.

“We know it’s not going to be easy,” said Lloyd.

“They’ve been going pretty well. They’re a tough side and set piece driven so the boys know that we’re going to have to be absolutely on our money to be up there with them.

“But everyone is just looking forward to getting an opportunity.

“When you look at the scoreboard (from the reverse fixture), it sort of flatters them a bit from what I remember.

“They ran in a few late tries so the boys are obviously still hurting from that game.

“Hopefully we can go up there and put it right and get us right in the mix for the Europe table.”