London Scottish have named their side to face Yorkshire Carnegie under the Friday night lights at the Athletic Ground, kick off 7:45pm.
Following a 22-17 victory against Nottingham last weekend, London Scottish will be looking to go three from three to finish the first round of cup matches at the top of their group table.
Head coach Graham Steadman has had the benefit of a fully fit squad, with players who were out with long term injury coming into the line up to make their first appearance this season.
Luke Hibberd moves to full back, with Elliott Creed remaining in his preferred position at outside centre.
Birthday boy Rob Stevenson returns to feature on the wing after recovering from food poisoning. Harry Sheppard slots in at fly-half with Dan Barnes moving to inside centre. Josh Barton keeps his spot at scrum-half.
James Malcolm returns to start at hooker and will pack down alongside Jonny Harris and Kyle Whyte in the front row. Matas Jurevicius comes in to join Alex Toolis in the second row, whilst James Tyas returns at blindside flanker, having missed out last week through concussion.
Mark Bright is given a week’s rest, so Matt Eliet takes his place at number 8.
Xavier Valentine will be looking to make his first appearance in a Scottish shirt off the bench. Try scorer from the Pirates’ game two weeks ago, Jack Ingall, returns and is joined on the bench by Hugh Tizard, Ollie Adams and Harry Barlow.
Ed Hoadley (out for 5 months with shoulder injury) and Joe Luca Smith (out for 9 months with shoulder injury) both return and will be raring to go when they come off the replacements’ bench.
President Paul Burnell said: “To see both Ed and Joe returning to the field of play is fantastic! They both suffered similar injuries, so have been able to go through rehab together and I’m sure that has given them the chance to push each other. We all look forward to seeing them play this season.”
On Friday’s opponents head coach Steadman said: “We need to pay them the utmost respect. What we can’t afford to do is be complacent. They’re a team that was assembled a little later than most teams in the competition, so that’s certainly been working against them.
“We need to make sure than we’re focused on the job in hand and that we go out and perform to our max. If we do that, I’m sure we will come out with a good result.”
Please check out the match day programme by clicking HERE.
London Scottish Line Up
15. Luke Hibberd
14. Rob Stevenson
13. Elliott Creed
12. Dan Barnes
11. Jonas Mikalcius
10. Harry Sheppard
9. Josh Barton
1. Jonny Harris
2. James Malcolm
3. Kyle Whyte
4. Alex Toolis
5. Matas Jurevicius
6. James Tyas
7. Lewis Wynne ©
8. Matt Eliet
Replacements
16. Ollie Adams
17. Jordan Brodley
18. Xavier Valentine
19. Hugh Tizard
20. Jack Ingall
21. Ed Hoadley
22. Harry Barlow
23. Joe Luca Smith
