Paul Hodgson will have the honour of leading London Irish onto the pitch at Headingley Carnegie Stadium on Sunday when he makes his 100th senior appearance for the Exiles who face Leeds Carnegie in the Guinness Premiership.

The scrum half 's 100th appearance caps an exciting week for the 26-year-old who trained with the England squad last Monday following the withdrawl of his team-mate Peter Richards through injury.

Hodgson's return to the London Irish starting line-up is one of six changes to the team that secured an historic Heineken Cup quarter-final place for the club in Treviso last weekend. Hodgson combines with Eoghan Hickey in a new half-back partnership as Shane Geraghty moves to inside centre.

Among the forwards Danie Coetzee rotates with David Paice at hooker. Kieran Roche makes a welcome return to action at blindside flanker having recovered from the eye injury he suffered against Perpignan in mid-December. Richard Thorpe moves to No 8. Bob Casey captains the team.

"After the excitement of the past fortnight's Heineken Cup action it will be good to return to our Guinness Premiership campaign this Sunday," said Brian Smith, London Irish Director of Rugby. "That said we face a very difficult task in Leeds where we haven't won since 2004.

"Leeds Carnegie's league position belies a strong and talented team. Stuart Lancaster is moulding them into an attacking unit that can punish any opposition that is not at its best, especially at Headingly. We'll be travelling north under no illusions about the difficulty of the task that awaits us in south Yorkshire," Smith concluded.

Team:
15. Peter Hewat; 14. Tomas De Vedia*; 13. Delon Armitage; 12. Shane Geraghty*; 11. Sailosi Tagicakibau*; 10. Eoghan Hickey; 9. Paul Hodgson; 1. Tonga Lea'aetoa*; 2. Danie Coetzee*, 3. Faan Rautenbach*; 4. Nick Kennedy; 5. Bob Casey* (captain); 6. Kieran Roche; 7. Declan Danaher; 8. Richard Thorpe.

Replacements:
16. Dan Murphy; 17. David Paice; 18. James Hudson; 19. Phil Murphy*; 20. Steffon Armitage; 21. Warren Fury; 22. Gonzalo Tiesi*.

* Denotes international
Director of Rugby: Brian Smith; Forwards Coach: Toby Booth; Backs Coach: Mike Catt.