PREVIEW: Franco van der Merwe insists London Irish remain positive despite growing relegation fears

Lewington Marshall — Alex Lewington and James Marshall look to drive Irish forwards

Alex Lewington is also leaving at the end of the season to join this weekend’s opponents Saracens

Paulo Botha van der Merwe — Van der Merwe (right) has spent the last few months captaining the side

FRANCO VAN DER MERWE insists London Irish are remaining positive despite falling 12 points adrift at the foot of the Premiership table.

The Exiles’ 13-9 defeat against Sale Sharks at Madejski Stadium coupled with a surprise win for second-bottom Worcester Warriors at champions Exeter Chiefs leaves Nick Kennedy’s men in real peril of an immediate return to the Championship.

“We’ve had a couple of losing bonus points now during the season and somewhere down the line we need to change that into wins,” said van der Merwe.

“But we are still a positive side.

“The energy is still good in the camp. The guys played really well against Sale and you can see there is a little bit of disappointment in the result, but I know the guys by now and it’s a positive group so we’re going to fight again next week.”

Alex Lewington and James Marshall look to drive Irish forwards

He added: “The Premiership is tough. Every weekend is a tough game.

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“I think what’s working for us at the moment is that from the management down to the players, everyone is really positive in where we want to go and the way we want to play, especially from coaches and management.

“I think they are playing a big role in keeping us positive – Kendo (Nick Kennedy), Dodge (Paul Hodgson), Dec (Danaher), Skivs (George Skivington) and Brendan (Venter), they’re all keeping us positive and we hope that win is around the corner.”

Since victory on the opening day of the season, Irish have lost all 13 league games since ahead of Saturday’s trip to Northampton, another side struggling for form.

That game precedes a huge home clash with Worcester the following weekend, but van der Merwe, who captained the side against Sale, says the focus is not on other teams.

“We really can’t control anything else except the way we want to play,” he said.

“It’s going to be two tough games against Northampton and Worcester but we don’t see it as ‘must-wins’.

“We don’t want to put that pressure on us, we want to focus and control the things we can control and the way we want to play, stick to the plan and hopefully it goes our way.”

He added: “I know Northampton got a beating the other night (32-9 at Bath) but we lost as well so we are also hungry for a win.

“That’s the beauty of this game, we get another opportunity every weekend so next weekend we will be coming out fighting again.”

David Paice will make a club record 283rd appearance for Irish at Northampton tomorrow, edging ahead of injured team-mate Topsy Ojo.

Van der Merwe again captains the side, which sees one change from last weekend with Greig Tonks replacing Theo Brophy Clews, who went off against Sale with concussion.

LONDON IRISH XV: Marshall, Cokanasiga, Fowlie, McLean, Lewington, Tonks, van Zyl, Franks, Paice, Hoskins, van der Merwe (c), Paulo, Botha, Northcote-Green, Treviranus.

Reps: Porecki, Elrington, Du Plessis, De Chaves, Gilsenan, Steele, Bell, Tikoirotuma.