It is a well reported fact that we will travel to the Madejski Stadium on Sunday having not won a Premiership match away from home since 17th March 2001. However, during that period we have drawn a number of games; at Newcastle and London Irish to name but two. Also during that time, we have won fixtures away from home in both European competitions and the Powergen Cup.

Despite London Irish's disappointing defeat to Northampton Saints in the Powergen Cup semi-final's a fortnight ago, we know that we will face a very difficult game on Sunday. With over 15,000 tickets already sold, the atmosphere will be electric and Irish have a fine squad of players, who will cause us problems.

Up front, Mike Worsley, Kieran Dawson and Chris Sheasby are all excellent players, while in the backs, Barry Everitt, Brendan Venter, Paul Sackey, Justin Bishop and Michael Horak will also pose us a serious threat. The Irish have a very individual style of play and if we are to have any success on Sunday, then we must stop them getting any rhythm going in their game.

In our squad, we can expect to see Roy Winters return to 1st XV action this weekend, while Ceri Jones is likely to make his first start, having joined us on-loan from Newport just days before the Bristol game at the beginning of the month (2nd March 2003).

On the injury front, Jason Leonard is continuing to progress well and should return to action in early April. Laurent Gomez has returned to light training but we will have to see how he progresses after breaking his leg on New Years Eve, while Bruce Starr should return to full training in the next couple of weeks.

Pat Sanderson is progressing well following his shoulder operation, but he will not be back in action before next season. We will also be missing Alex Codling this weekend, who has aggravated the hamstring injury he first suffered back in the summer playing for England against Argentina.

Our training this week has been slightly disrupted with Paul Burke joining the Irish squad for two days as part of their Six Nations preparations. I am at a loss to understand why there is a need for any country to call a get together this week, when they will have the players together for the next two weeks during the Six Nations. The IRB regulations do allow the international countries to call a training session at any time, but you do wonder!

I am pleased to confirm that Tani Fuga has signed a new contract with NEC Harlequins, which will keep him at the club until June 2006. Tani has played very well for us this season and we are delighted to have retained his services for the next few years.

As announced yesterday, London Wasps pulled out of our 2nd XV fixture arranged for Monday evening (17th March 2003). However, we are delighted to confirm that we will now be playing London Irish on Wednesday evening (19th March 2003) at the Stoop, kick-off 7.30pm. In addition to this, the Under 21's are playing Irish this Friday evening at the Stoop, kick-off 7.30pm

Sunday is a big game for both teams - we will be looking to put in a big performance, and we will be looking to hear a big performance from our supporters.

Look forward to seeing you on Sunday.