Steff and Dodge back for Irish

Sportsdesk • Published 17 Feb 2010 16:00 0 Comments

LONDON Irish will be boosted by the return of England Elite squad members Paul Hodgson and Steffon Armitage for Saturday's trip to Newcastle.

The pair have been released by England manager Martin Johnson to get some game time under their belts, having spent much of the Six Nations sat on the bench.

Their availability comes as a big boost to Toby Booth's squad, which has been stretched to the limit over recent weeks, culminating in Sunday's disappointing display against Bath.

Booth said: "We've currently only got 60 per cent of our squad available which works out as 26 players and you need 23 for a match day squad.

"This is a stiff challenge for us but we will bounce back and continue to work hard.

"The lessons we'll learn from the first 15-20 minutes is that we have to go about controlling the game from the outset. We have to be a bit smarter.

"When you don't have everyone available to you there are certain partnerships and idiosyncrasies that aren't there, so you have to play a slightly different way and be smarter."

Delon Armitage, who has started both England games in the Six Nations has not been made available.

And the Exiles are still sweating on the fitness of Samoan winger Sailosi Tagicakibau and lock Nick Kennedy, who are unlikely to feature.

Newcastle won a dour match 15-11 when the two sides met at the Madejski Stadium back in late November.

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