NICK KENNEDY has made four changes for tomorrow’s trip to Sale Sharks (8pm).
London Irish had made just one alteration between their first and second fixtures, but Ben Franks, Dave Porecki, Aseli Tikoirotuma and Brendan McKibbin all come into the side this week.
Petrus Du Plessis, Scott Steele, Ciaran Hearn and captain David Paice drop out from the team that lost 37-7 to Exeter Chiefs, while new signing Napolioni Nalaga is among the substitutes.
Team in full: Bell, Lewington, Tikoirotuma, McLean, Ojo, Marshall, McKibbin, Hobbs-Awoyemi, Porecki, Franks (c), van der Merwe, De Chaves, Coman, Cowan, Treviranus.
Reps: Paice, Elrington, Du Plessis, McNally, Gilsenan, Steele, Tonks, Nalaga.
And winger Alex Lewington, who scored Irish’s only try at Exeter, says Sale have been better than their two defeats so far suggest.
“We watched their game against Newcastle (13-12 defeat) in the hotel the night before our game,” he told The Wokingham Paper.
“I think they’ll be pretty disappointed.
“They created lots of opportunities and on another day they would’ve taken them.
“I think it’s another scenario where maybe the score-line doesn’t reflect the run of the game.
“They’ll take confidence that they’re creating opportunities in the game, but at the end of the day they still lost.
“We’re above them in the league and that gives us confidence going into the game.”
He added: “A few of their boys were here before – Halani Aulika, Bryn Evans and James O’Connor – and I’ve played with a few of the boys on the Saxons tour.
“They’re all good guys.
“They’re definitely a young, exciting team.”
The strong message out of the London Irish camp following the pulsating opening day win over Harlequins was to not get too excited by one victory.
And after defeat at Exeter, the message follows a similar trend.
“Anyone who was at the game would say we coped with a lot of what Exeter threw at us really well,” said Lewington.
“It was just our own mistakes that led to them scoring.
“We’re not going to get carried away.
“We know we weren’t at the races on the day but it doesn’t mean on Friday night we won’t be.
“I’m sure we’ll bring a lot of energy and a lot of desire on Friday.”
One positive from the loss at Exeter was Lewington’s 72nd minute try, his first of the season.
And while the winger admits it meant little in the grand scheme of things, it is a personal boost ahead of the upcoming fixtures.
“In hindsight it’s nice in the moment, but it’s still quite disappointing because of the result,” said Lewington.
“But I suppose it will give myself a bit of confidence going into the next block of games.
“If the team is winning then I wouldn’t particularly set a target of how many I want to score.
“But I know that our backs scoring tries is important for us doing well.
“So if scoring tries helps our results, then I’m desperate to do it.”
With Sale also playing at home last Friday night, they will have an extra day to prepare for the visit of Irish, who make the trip north on Thursday before an overnight stay.
However, Lewington insists that will have no bearing on the outcome.
“The games come thick and fast,” he said.
“We’re well prepared. We had a good recovery day on Monday and lots of meetings and we got our gameplan sorted for Friday whilst also reviewing where we could get better from the Exeter game.
“We’ll travel up on Thursday and make sure we’re in the best place physically before the game.
“There will be no excuses from our end.”
