FINLAY Barnham has joined Premiership side London Irish on a short-term loan.

The 22-year-old scrum-half (pictured) joined the Exiles mid-week and will take his place on the bench in Sunday's LV= Cup trip away to Leicester Tigers.

Barnham will provide back-up for Irish's starting No. 9 Darren Allinson while both scrum-halves Tomas O'Leary and Jack Moates recover from injury.

Nottingham's British and Irish Cup captain is excited to return to Welford Road, a venue he considered hallowed turf as he rose through the ranks of the Tigers Academy.

"It's a great opportunity to step up for a game at this level and to be part of a Premiership set-up like this at Irish," Barnham said.

"My first training session was absolute class and I'm excited about the challenge on Sunday in a competition that is new to me."

Barnham's move to Sunbury-on-Thames this week sees him link-up with Glenn Delaney following the former Nottingham director of rugby's summer move to Irish as forward coach.

"It's great to be working with Glenn again and I'm grateful for the chance I've been given to join him here," Barnham said.

"We have the week off with Nottingham so this is perfectly timed and something I jumped at."