Date: Fri 12 Oct 2012

Guy Armitage and Chris Hala’ufia will both start their first match for London Irish this season when they take the field against Bordeaux-Begles in the Amlin Challenge Cup tomorrow evening at Stade Andre Moga (kick-off 2100 CET).

Hala’ufia will join Ofisa Treviranus and Jamie Gibson in the back row with Armitage forming a centre combination with England International, Jonathan Joseph. Bryn Evans will captain the side.

London Irish Director of Rugby Brian Smith said: “Playing away to a Top 14 side is always a challenge. Bordeaux lost narrowly to Toulouse last weekend and will be a tough opponent at home. We were delighted with the way we performed last weekend against Northampton and it is important we build on that performance tomorrow evening.”

London Irish team to face Bordeaux-Begles

15. Steven Shingler; 14. Topsy Ojo*; 13. Jonathan Joseph*; 12. Guy Armitage; 11. Sailosi Tagicakibau*; 10. Ian Humphreys; 9. Tomás O’Leary*; 1. Max Lahiff; 2. David Paice*; 3. Halani Aulika*; 4. Bryn Evans (Captain); 5. Matt Garvey; 6. Ofisa Treviranus*; 7. Jamie Gibson; 8. Chris Hala’ufia*

Replacements: 16. Brian Blaney; 17. Richard Palframan; 18. Cai Griffiths; 19. Kieran Low; 20. Declan Danaher; 21. Alex Gray; 22. Anthony Watson; 23. Jack Moates

*Denotes Internationals