London Scottish have made a host of changes to their starting line up for the British and Irish Cup fourth round against Yorkshire Carnegie on Saturday afternoon.
This is the second match against Yorkshire in the space of six days, and the Scots will be looking to improve on the defeat last weekend which took them off top spot in pool three.
James Gibbons and Adam Kwasnicki have international company in the front-row, Scottish tight-head Geoff Cross who has 40 caps for his country will make his first start for the club on a loan deal from London Irish.
Neale Patrick returns to the second-row alongside Will Carrick Smith, whilst Rory Bartle moves to the back-row with Freddie Clarke and Mark Bright.
George Horne starts at scrum-half after missing last week’s match, and will be partnered by Dan Newton at fly-half who makes his second consecutive start after an 11 week injury lay-off. Oli Grove and Robbie Fergusson start in a new-look centre pairing after both missing last Sunday’s match.
The back-three also have international experience, Rory Hughes on the left wing has one cap for Scotland, Nathan Earle on the right wing was part of the England Under 20’s who won the Junior World Cup in 2014. Peter Lydon also starts at full-back after being rested last Sunday.
Jack Cosgrove, David Cherry and Jimmy Litchfield will provide front-row cover from the bench, with Charlie Hewitt covering the second-row, and Chris Walker looking to make an impact in the back-row.
Scrum-half Russell Weir is back in the match day squad for the first time since October after recovering from a knee injury, and the versatile Jason Harries offers back-line cover.
London Scottish team to play Yorkshire Carnegie at the Athletic Ground on Saturday, 19th December at 15:00.
15 Peter Lydon 14 Nathan Earle 13 Robbie Fergusson 12 Oli Grove 11 Rory Hughes 10 Dan Newton 9 George Horne 1 James Gibbons 2 Adam Kwasnicki 3 Geoff Cross 4 Neale Patrick 5 Will Carrick Smith 6 Rory Bartle 7 Freddie Clarke 8 Mark Bright (c)
Replacements:
16 Jack Cosgrove 17 David Cherry 18 Jimmy Litchfield 19 Charlie Hewitt 20 Chris Walker 21 Russell Weir 22 Jason Harries
