Saints travel to battle the Exiles

The Exiles will welcome the familiar surroundings of their home turf when they host the Saints on Saturday afternoon. 

Irish stumbled against the log-leading Leicester Tigers in the previous round, the final whistle sounding with the score at 47-28: 

Saints will enter the match with winning momentum after taking the scalp of Wasps in Round 20: 

Irish currently find themselves in 6th position on the log while Saints have a longer way to climb as they hold 8th place at present.  

The rivalry will be intense this time around as Exiles seek revenge for their 2-point loss to Saints when they first met in the current competition in Round 3:

From the coaches:

Chris Boyd (Saints):

 "Statistically, they’re [London Irish] probably one of the best teams in the competition. If you look at their set-piece, their defence, their attack, their breakdown and where they sit in the statistics that the league keeps, they’re a very good side. They have some very good individuals, so they’re a tough team and we’re down there on what is a St Patrick’s Day fixture for them – they’re expecting a reasonably big crowd – so it’s going to be a seriously good contest, I’d imagine.

Declan Kidney (Exiles):

“We have been talking about taking it a match at a time for a year or two, but there’s talking about it then actually doing it.

“The lessons from last year are that we are taking it one game at a time and what will be, will be at the end of the season. 

“You have to go through that sometimes, and you can get away with yourself when people start talking about this, that and the other but the only thing that matters now is this match. 

“Northampton beat us over at Franklin’s Gardens earlier on in the season so we know we will be up against it, they also have returning internationals and they had a few good wins in the league and cup so will be full of confidence.”