Bowden previously played for Highlanders and Crusaders

New signings Dan Bowden and Darren Allinson both start for London Irish against London Welsh on Friday night.

Clarke Dermody captains the team and Declan Danaher returns to action for the first time since October, for the Exiles' opening pre-season fixture.

Head coach Toby Booth told BBC Berkshire: "The first game of the year is always competitive.

"We want to get going, we want to play games and this the first opportunity to do that."

Bowden starts the match at inside-centre, although can also play at fly-half but Booth says the former seems to be his better position.

"He had a very very good season with the Crusaders at 12," he said. "We'll start him at 12 but it's all about competition for places.

"We recruited him because of his versatility but also because he can play both 10 and 12 to a very high standard.

"He has ruffled a few feathers and got some energy out of the people around so he should prove to be a very good signing.

"With the tackle laws in place, it means there is more running so playing two distributors seems to be the in thing at the moment."

In addition to playing against London Welsh, Irish defend their Middlesex Sevens title at Twickenham on Saturday.

Sailosi Tagicakibau, Topsy Ojo and Delon Armitage are amongst the names expected to feature for the Exiles.

"The sevens will be a good run out for the back three boys," he added. "It's like long distance sprint training. The Sevens will get them better prepared for what's to come.

"We took it seriously last year, we're taking it seriously this year. It fits in quite nicely to what we want our back three players to be doing.

"It gives them the opportunity to get some running under their belts and to beat defenders in wide spaces. That's an attribute we clearly want to see from them in the 15-a-side game."

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