Courtney Lawes returns in boost for Saints and Lions

Colin Newboult

The Premiership continues on Saturday and Sunday as four matches take place, including the clash involving Harlequins as they look to confirm a play-off place.

Saturday

Harlequins v Bath

Harlequins’ coaching team have named an unchanged starting XV to host Bath at the Stoop this weekend as supporters return.

There are just two changes to the club’s matchday squad that travelled to Leicester Tigers earlier this month, with back-row Archie White replacing the injured James Chisholm on the bench in the 20 jersey.

Also, amongst the replacements, outside back Aaron Morris returns to the matchday squad for the first time since March since, replacing Will Edwards in the 23 jersey.

Meanwhile, Jamie Bhatti and Max Ojomoh will both earn their first Premiership starts in this Saturday’s encounter.

Scotland international Bhatti has featured nine times in Blue, Black and White since arriving from Edinburgh in December and joins the fully recovered duo Jacques du Toit and Will Stuart in the front-row.

Homegrown Academy centre Ojomoh came off the bench in Bath’s league outing at London Irish earlier in the season and started the European win over Zebre at the beginning of April.

He will run out for his fifth cap alongside Max Clark – a partnership that blossomed in the win over in Italy.

Joe Cokanasiga returns to the back three with Tom de Glanville and Will Muir while Ben Spencer and Rhys Priestland complete the backline.

Captain Charlie Ewels is joined in the second-row by Josh McNally and two changes in the back-row see Miles Reid come in at blindside flanker and Taulupe Faletau at number eight.

After making his Premiership debut last time out, hooker Tom Doughty is once again among the replacements as is Jonathan Joseph who missed the last two games due to injury.

Form: Harlequins’ 29-35 defeat at Leicester in Round 19 of Premiership Rugby ended a three-game winning run in the competition. Harlequins are unbeaten in their last seven Premiership matches at the Twickenham Stoop, a sequence that includes six straight wins, their best winning sequence at the venue since 2014. Bath have lost their last three league matches since beating Leicester by a solitary point at the Recreation Ground on 18 April. Bath have lost their last two away games in the competition and have not been defeated in three successive Premiership away trips since April 2019. Quins beat Bath 28-15 at the Rec in Round 8 and have not achieved a Premiership Rugby double over them since 2015/16. Bath have won on their last two visits to the Stoop in the Premiership and have not won three successive league fixtures at the venue since the days of the old Courage League division one between 1993-1995.

The teams:

Harlequins: 15 Tyrone Green, 14 Nathan Earle, 13 Luke Northmore, 12 James Lang, 11 Joe Marchant, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Danny Care, 8 Alex Dombrandt, 7 Jack Kenningham, 6 Tom Lawday, 5 Stephan Lewies (c), 4 Matt Symons, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Scott Baldwin, 1 Joe Marler
Replacements:
16 Joe Gray, 17 Santiago Garcia Botta, 18 Will Collier, 19 Dino Lamb, 20 Archie White, 21 Martin Landajo, 22 Ben Tapuai, 23 Aaron Morris

Bath: 15 Tom de Glanville, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Max Clark, 12 Max Ojomoh, 11 Will Muir, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Ben Spencer, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Miles Reid, 5 Charlie Ewels (c), 4 Josh McNally, 3 Will Stuart, 2 Jacques du Toit, 1 Jamie Bhatti
Replacements:
16 Tom Doughty, 17 Juan Schoeman 18 Henry Thomas, 19 Will Spencer, 20 Josh Bayliss, 21 Will Chudley, 22 Orlando Bailey, 23 Jonathan Joseph

Venue: Twickenham Stoop
Kick-off: 14:00 BST (13:00 GMT)
Referee: Tom Foley
Assistant referees: Paul Dix, Jamie Leahy
TMO: Claire Hodnett

Worcester Warriors v Leicester Tigers

New recruit Jay Tyack will go straight into Warriors’ starting XV in Saturday’s Premiership match against Leicester Tigers at Sixways.

Tyack was due to join from Cornish Pirates during the summer but arrived early because Warriors have three tighthead props – Nick Schonert (ankle), Richard Palframan (dislocated thumb) and Conor Carey (bicep) – on the injured list.

After a full week of training Tyack will make his debut in a re-jigged front-row with Marc Thomas starting at loosehead in place of Ethan Waller who suffered a ‘stinger’ at Wasps two weeks ago.

England centre Ollie Lawrence also starts with Ashley Beck ruled out by a shoulder injury which he sustained at Wasps.

The other change is at fly-half where Fin Smith returns having recovered from a shoulder injury.

Full-back/wing Noah Heward is set to make his first appearance of the season off the bench after recovering from a torn hamstring.

Scotland international fly-half Duncan Weir, who dislocated a shoulder against Leicester at Welford Road in February, is also on the bench along with experienced loosehead prop Callum Black who returns to the matchday squad for the first time since December.

Former Jersey Reds number eight Kyle Hatherell, who made his debut as a replacement against Exeter Chiefs three weeks ago, also returns to the bench.

Following an easing of Covid-19 restrictions, Warriors will be permitted a crowd of 3,100 for the match which will be only the third not played behind closed doors at Sixways since March 2020.

Meanwhile, Leicester Tigers head coach Steve Borthwick has named his matchday squad to take on Worcester Warriors in this Round 20Premiership clash.

Ben Youngs will captain the team from scrum-half in a half-back pairing with Johnny McPhillips and, in the Leicester midfield, Dan Kelly is named at inside-centre and Matt Scott at outside-centre.

Nemani Nadolo and Kobus van Wyk are included as the Leicester wings, with Zack Henry completing the Tigers back-three at full-back.

Up front, Charlie Clare starts at hooker and is joined by props Ellis Genge and Joe Heyes in the Leicester front-row, with Harry Wells and Cameron Henderson in the second-row.

Tommy Reffell and Hanro Liebenberg are the flankers and Jasper Wiese is the Tigers number eight.

Tom Youngs, James Whitcombe, Dan Cole, Tomás Lavanini and George Martin are the replacement forwards, with Jack Van Poortvliet, Kini Murimurivalu and Harry Potter included as the backs on the Leicester bench.

Form: Worcester Warriors have lost their last nine Premiership Rugby matches since their “declared” victory at home to Newcastle on 20 February. Worcester’s only victory so far this season in the Premiership was by a single point at home to London Irish in Round 1. Leicester Tigers’ 35-29 home victory over Harlequins in Round 19 ended a three-game losing run in the competition. The Tigers’ most recent victory away from home in Premiership Rugby came on a trip to Gloucester in Round 13. Leicester have won their last two league matches against the Warriors but both games were played at Mattioli Woods Welford Road. The Tigers have not been victorious at Sixways since a 34-5 victory in March 2018.

The teams:

Worcester: 15 Jamie Shillcock, 14 Perry Humphreys, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Francois Venter, 11 Harri Doel, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Matt Kvesic, 7 Sam Lewis, 6 Ted Hill (c), 5 Justin Clegg, 4 Andrew Kitchener, 3 Jay Tyack, 2 Niall Annett, 1 Marc Thomas
Replacements: 16 Isaac Miller, 17 Callum Black, 18 Scott Andrews, 19 Joe Batley, 20 Kyle Hatherell, 21 Gareth Simpson, 22 Duncan Weir, 23 Noah Heward

Leicester: 15 Zack Henry, 14 Kobus van Wyk, 13 Matt Scott, 12 Dan Kelly, 11 Nemani Nadolo, 10 Johnny McPhillips, 9 Ben Youngs (c), 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Tommy Reffell, 6 Hanro Liebenberg, 5 Cameron Henderson, 4 Harry Wells, 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Charlie Clare, 1 Ellis Genge
Replacements: 16 Tom Youngs, 17 James Whitcombe, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Tomás Lavanini, 20 George Martin, 21 Jack Van Poortvliet, 22 Kini Murimurivalu, 23 Harry Potter

Venue: Sixways
Kick-off: 15:00 BST (14:00 GMT)
Referee: Karl Dickson
Assistant referees: Jack Makepeace, Wayne Falla
TMO: Ian Tempest

Northampton Saints v Wasps

Alex Waller will become only the 24th player in the club’s history to hit a triple century of Northampton Saints appearances when he leads the side out against Wasps this Saturday.

Since records began in 1895, only 23 Saints have reached the impressive milestone, and now the 31-year-old’s name will be added to the illustrious list when the Kettering-born prop runs out at Franklin’s Gardens in front of almost 4,000 Saints supporters tomorrow.

Api Ratuniyarawa also celebrates a Northampton milestone and will follow his captain out of the tunnel as he celebrates a century of appearances in Black, Green and Gold, while Courtney Lawes will run out in Saints colours for the first time in 2021 after overcoming a pectoral injury that has kept him out of Chris Boyd’s side since Boxing Day.

Sam Matavesi and Paul Hill continue alongside Waller in the front-row for the fourth week running, while Dave Ribbans mans an unchanged engine room alongside centurion Ratuniyarawa.

Lawes’ return to the side sees him line-up at flanker, while Tom Wood shifts into the number eight jersey to round off the pack with co-captain Lewis Ludlam.

Tom James partners the returning Dan Biggar in the half-back berths and Fraser Dingwall starts for the first time since mid-April, joining Matt Proctor in the centres.

Ollie Sleightholme retains his place on the wing while Tommy Freeman moves to start Saturday’s clash at full-back, with Taqele Naiyaravoro returning to the other wing to complete the back three.

Emmanuel Iyogun and Connor Tupai are set to make their first appearances of the season from the bench, while Piers Francis returns from injury to take his place amongst Saints’ replacements.

For Wasps, there are two changes to the starting line-up that won against Worcester Warriors last time out.

Brad Shields captains the side and moves back to blindside flanker, so that Tom Willis can start at number eight. Thomas Young completes the back-row at openside flanker.

The second-row pairing of James Gaskell and Will Rowlands and the front-row trio of Tom West, Gabriel Oghre and Biyi Alo remain unchanged.

The only new addition to the backline sees Michael Le Bourgeois come in for the injured Malakai Fekitoa at inside centre. Paolo Odogwu is outside him at 13.

Charlie Atkinson starts at full-back, fresh from extending his contract with the club this week. Atkinson is joined in the back three once more by Josh Bassett and Zach Kibirige.

Dan Robson and Jacob Umaga form an unchanged half-back partnership.

There is one change among the replacements; Tommy Taylor is out with back spasms, so Tom Cruse returns from injury to join Simon McIntyre, Jeff Toomaga-Allen, Tim Cardall, Sione Vailanu, Ben Vellacott, Jimmy Gopperth and Rob Miller in being named in reserve.

Form: Northampton Saints have lost their last two Premiership Rugby matches and have not lost three in succession in the competition since Rounds 1-3. Northampton’s last eight matches at Franklin’s Gardens in the Premiership have finished in four wins and four defeats. Wasps’ last four matches in the league have all gone with home field advantage. Wasps’ only away win since February was 20-18 at Newcastle on 19 March. The last three Premiership Rugby fixtures between the two clubs have all been won by the away side on the day. The Saints beat Wasps 22-17 in Coventry in Round 8 and have not achieved a Premiership Rugby season’s double over their Midlands rivals since 2013/14.

The teams:

Northampton: 15 Tommy Freeman, 14 Ollie Sleightholme, 13 Matt Proctor, 12 Fraser Dingwall, 11 Taqele Naiyaravoro, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Tom James, 8 Tom Wood, 7 Lewis Ludlam (cc), 6 Courtney Lawes, 5 Api Ratuniyarawa, 4 Dave Ribbans, 3 Paul Hill, 2 Sam Matavesi, 1 Alex Waller (cc)
Replacements: 16 Mikey Haywood, 17 Emmanuel Iyogun, 18 Ehren Painter, 19 Alex Moon, 20 Alex Coles, 21 Connor Tupai, 22 Piers Francis, 23 Rory Hutchinson

Wasps: 15 Charlie Atkinson, 14 Zach Kibirige, 13 Paolo Odogwu, 12 Michael Le Bourgeois, 11 Josh Bassett, 10 Jacob Umaga, 9 Dan Robson, 8 Tom Willis, 7 Thomas Young, 6 Brad Shields (c), 5 James Gaskell, 4 Will Rowlands, 3 Biyi Alo, 2 Gabriel Oghre, 1 Tom West
Replacements: 16 Tom Cruse, 17 Simon McIntyre, 18 Jeff Toomaga-Allen, 19 Tim Cardall, 20 Sione Vailanu, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Jimmy Gopperth, 23 Rob Miller

Venue: Franklin’s Gardens
Kick-off: 16:30 BST (15:30 GMT)
Referee: Adam Leal
Assistant referees: Roy Maybank, John Meredith
TMO: Graham Hughes

Sunday

Exeter Chiefs v Newcastle Falcons

Exeter boss Rob Baxter has brought in Alec Hepburn and Sam Skinner to the pack in place of Ben Moon and Sean Lonsdale respectively.

Behind the scrum, there is just one alteration as Facundo Cordero starts at full-back.

Stuart Hogg is named among the replacements alongside fellow British & Irish Lion, Jonny Hill, who has missed the past two games.

Meanwhile, Carl Fearns makes his first start for Newcastle on Sunday when they travel to Premiership champions Exeter Chiefs.

The experienced forward has made a telling impact from the bench during the Falcons’ recent victories over Northampton Saints and London Irish, and forms a combative back-row alongside Scotland caps Gary Graham and John Hardie.

Toby Flood captains the side from fly-half, with Joel Hodgson starting at full-back after impressing from the bench during the Falcons’ 18-10 home win over Northampton last time out.

Former Ireland international Rodney Ah You helped anchor the game’s decisive scrum as ball against the head enabled Chidera Obonna to score his first Falcons try, and Obonna, too, is given a chance to impress from the start as the Falcons make the 740-mile round trip – the longest journey in the league.

Director of rugby Dean Richards hands a first team debut to former Scotland U20s captain Robbie Smith, with Kyle Cooper and Toby Salmon packing down against one of their former clubs.

England U20s fly-half Will Haydon-Wood is in line for his Premiership debut should he be called upon from the bench, the former Sedbergh pupil having helped the Falcons to a European Challenge Cup victory away to Castres earlier in the season.

Former Scotland U20s flanker Tom Marshall and Northern Irish wing Zach Kerr are also in line for their Premiership bows, with Richards happy to utilise his resources.

Form: Exeter Chiefs have lost just once in the last eight rounds of Premiership Rugby: 18-34 at Gloucester on 26 March. The Chiefs have lost just twice at Sandy Park in the Premiership this season, to Bristol in Round 6 and to Northampton in Round 10. Newcastle Falcons have won their last two league matches and have not won three in succession in the competition since the opening three rounds of this campaign. The Falcons’ most recent away win in Premiership Rugby was on a trip to Wasps on 5 December. Exeter have lost just once to Newcastle in any competition since 2014: 20-28 in Premiership Rugby in January 2018 whilst the Falcons have been defeated on all 12 previous occasions they have visited Sandy Park.

The teams:

Exeter: 15 Facundo Cordero, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Ollie Devoto, 11 Tom O’Flaherty, 10 Joe Simmonds (c), 9 Jack Maunder, 8 Sam Simmonds, 7 Jacques Vermeulen, 6 Dave Ewers, 5 Sam Skinner, 4 Jannes Kirsten, 3 Harry Williams, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Alec Hepburn
Replacements: 16 Jack Yeandle, 17 Ben Moon, 18 Tomas Francis, 19 Jonny Hill, 20 Sean Lonsdale, 21 Stu Townsend, 22 Harvey Skinner, 23 Stuart Hogg

Newcastle: 15 Joel Hodgson, 14 Alex Tait, 13 George Wacokecoke, 12 Pete Lucock, 11 Chidera Obonna, 10 Toby Flood (c), 9 Sam Stuart, 8 Carl Fearns, 7 John Hardie, 6 Gary Graham, 5 Rob Farrar, 4 Toby Salmon, 3 Rodney Ah You, 2 Robbie Smith, 1 Kyle Cooper
Replacements: 16 Charlie Maddison, 17 Sam Lockwood, 18 Mark Tampin, 19 Will Montgomery, 20 Tom Marshall, 21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Will Haydon-Wood, 23 Zach Kerr

Venue: Sandy Park
Kick-off: 13:30 GMT (12:30 BST)
Referee: Andrew Jackson
Assistant referees: Gareth Holsgrove, Phil Watters
TMO: Geoff Warren