Lloyd Evans to start at 10 for Gloucester

David Skippers

Four Champions Cup pool games take place on Sunday and the action kicks off with Saracens and Munster hosting Racing 92 and Ospreys respectively.

Saracens v Racing 92

Elliot Daly will make his 50th European appearance on Sunday as Saracens play host to Racing 92 at Allianz Park in a crucial fixture.

The full-back’s milestone is made up of matches from the Challenge Cup and the Champions Cup and will be his third in the latter competition for the Men in Black.

Rotimi Segun returns to the back three alongside Daly and Sean Maitland. The wing scored two tries on his last Allianz Park outing against Worcester Warriors.

England duo Ben Spencer and Owen Farrell are back in at half-back while Brad Barritt and Duncan Taylor make up the centres.

Mako Vunipola, Jamie George and Vincent Koch come into the front-row and Maro Itoje slots in at lock.

The back-row comprises of Ben Earl, Billy Vunipola and Jackson Wray – the latter led the team expertly in Wales last time out.

Meanwhile, Racing 92 are without wing Teddy Thomas for their trip to England as they look for a win that could secure them a home quarter-final.

The absence of Thomas results in the only change to the backline as Louis Dupichot comes in on the right wing, with Teddy Iribaren and Finn Russell continuing in the half-backs.

Camille Chat and Ben Tameifuna are absent up front so Teddy Baubigny and Cedate Gomes Sa start at hooker and tighthead prop respectively.

There is also a start for Donnacha Ryan at lock while Yoan Tanga comes in at number eight for Antonie Claassen.

The teams:

Saracens: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Duncan Taylor, 12 Brad Barritt (c) 11 Rotimi Segun, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Ben Spencer, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Ben Earl, 6 Jackson Wray, 5 George Kruis, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Jamie George, 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements: 16 Jack Singleton, 17 Richard Barrington, 18 Titi Lamositele, 19 Will Skelton, 20 Calum Clark, 21 Richard Wigglesworth, 22 Alex Lozowski, 23 Alex Lewington

Racing 92: 15 Brice Dulin, 14 Louis Dupichot, 13 Virimi Vakatawa, 12 Henry Chavancy (c), 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Teddy Iribaren, 8 Yoan Tanga, 7 Bernard Le Roux, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 5 Boris Palu, 4 Donnacha Ryan, 3 Cedate Gomes Sa, 2 Teddy Baubigny, 1 Eddy Ben Arous
Replacements: 16 Kevin Le Guen, 17 Hassane Kolingar, 18 Ali Oz, 19 Fabien Sanconnie, 20 Baptiste Chouzenoux, 21 Maxime Machenaud, 22 Francois Trinh-Duc, 23 Olivier Klemenczak

Venue: Allianz Park
Kick off: 13:00 GMT
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees: Ben Whitehouse (Wales), Wayne Davies (Wales)
TMO: Ian Davies (Wales)

Munster v Ospreys

Munster veteran Peter O’Mahony captains a side that sees two changes to the team that took on Racing 92 for this week’s clash with Ospreys.

Calvin Nash makes his Champions Cup debut on the wing and Fineen Wycherley makes his first Champions Cup start as he returns from injury to make his 14th appearance of the season.

Dave Kilcoyne starts on his landmark 50th Champions Cup appearance. Billy Holland will play his 225th Munster game and moves up to fourth on the all-time list of appearances for the province ahead of Marcus Horan.

Academy duo Jack O’Sullivan and Ben Healy are included among the replacements and are in line to make their Champions Cup debuts. Craig Casey, who made his European debut last week, is also among the replacements.

Mike Haley starts at full-back with Andrew Conway and Nash on either flank.

Conor Murray and JJ Hanrahan are in the half-backs with a centre partnership of Rory Scannell and Chris Farrell.

Kilcoyne, Niall Scannell and Stephen Archer pack down in the front-row with Wycherley and Holland in the engine room.

O’Mahony, Jack O’Donoghue and CJ Stander complete the side in the back-row.

Keith Earls and Shane Daly were unavailable for selection, with Earls picking up a minor knee injury and Daly sustaining a thumb injury this week.

Meanwhile, Ospreys have recalled Dan Evans in the full-back position with Hanno Dirksen and Luke Morgan named on the right and left wing respectively.

George North once again pulls on the number 13 jersey, showing his versatility in the backline alongside Scott Williams to form a powerful midfield pairing.

Shaun Venter and Luke Price maintain their half-back partnership from last weekend and will be looking to get the backline firing against a dangerous Munster team.

Nicky Smith reclaims the loosehead position this weekend, while Ma’afu Fia packs down at tighthead once more alongside hooker Scott Otten in the front-row.

Bradley Davies and Alun Wyn Jones are paired up in the second-row, offering plenty of power and experience in the engine room, while Dan Lydiate takes up his position at blindside with captain Justin Tipuric returning and named on the other side of the scrum. Number eight Dan Baker shifts from the bench into the starting XV this week.

The teams:

Munster: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Andrew Conway, 13 Chris Farrell, 12 Rory Scannell, 11 Calvin Nash, 10 JJ Hanrahan, 9 Conor Murray, 8 CJ Stander, 7 Jack O’Donoghue, 6 Peter O’Mahony (c), 5 Billy Holland, 4 Fineen Wycherley, 3 Stephen Archer, 2 Niall Scannell, 1 Dave Kilcoyne
Replacements: 16 Kevin O’Byrne, 17 Jeremy Loughman, 18 John Ryan, 19 Arno Botha, 20 Jack O’Sullivan, 21 Craig Casey, 22 Ben Healy, 23 Dan Goggin

Ospreys: 15 Dan Evans, 14 Hanno Dirksen, 13 George North, 12 Scott Williams, 11 Luke Morgan, 10 Luke Price, 9 Shaun Venter, 8 Dan Baker, 7 Justin Tipuric (c), 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Ma’afu Fia, 2 Scott Otten, 1 Nicky Smith
Replacements: 16 Sam Parry, 17 Darryl Marfo, 18 Gheorghe Gajion, 19 Lloyd Ashley, 20 Olly Cracknell, 21 Sam Cross, 22 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 23 Cai Evans

Venue: Thomond Park
Kick off: 13:00 GMT
Referee: Mathieu Raynal (France)
Assistant referees: Pierre Brousset (France), Sébastien Minery (France)
TMO: Philippe Bonhoure (France)

Montpellier v Connacht

Montpellier head coach Xavier Garbajosa has made several alterations to his starting line-up for their final pool match, against Connacht at the GGL Stadium.

There are 11 changes in all including a positional switch with six tweaks made to the backline. Johan Goosen shifts from outside centre to full-back where he replaces Francois Steyn with Arthur Vincent coming in to wear the number 13 jersey. Gabriel N’gandebe and Yvan Reilhac start on the wings in place of Calum Randle and Henry Immelman.

There is also a new half-back pairing with Handré Pollard and Benoit Paillaugue taking over from Thomas Darmon and Kahn Fotuali’i, who started in last weekend’s loss against Gloucester.

In the forwards, Yacouba Camara replaces Julien Bardy on the openside flank while Paul Willemse and Nico Janse van Rensburg are preferred to Konstantine Mikautadze and Julien Ledevede as the starting locks.

The final changes see Levan Chilachava and Bismarck du Plessis coming in for Antoine Guillamon and Vincent Giudicelli at tighthead prop and hooker respectively.

Meanwhile, Ireland international Kieran Marmion has recovered from a back injury to take his place on Connacht’s starting team.

The scrum-half hasn’t played for Connacht since the win over Ospreys at the Sportsground at the beginning of November. Marmion’s inclusion sees him renew his half-back partnership with fellow international Jack Carty.

Elsewhere in the backline, Kyle Godwin comes into the Connacht midfield to partner Bundee Aki while in the back three Tiernan O’Halloran is named at full-back with John Porch and Connacht’s record try scorer Matt Healy on the wings.

In the forwards, hooker Dave Heffernan who was named in Andy Farrell’s first Six Nations squad during the week, starts alongside props Paddy McAllister and Dominic Robertson-McCoy. In the second-row Joe Maksymiw and Gavin Thornbury are both selected in the second-row, with 20-year-old Niall Murray among the replacements.

In the back-row, Eoghan Masterson comes in at blindside with Colby Fainga’a at openside and captain Jarrad Butler at number eight.

The teams:

Montpellier: 15 Johan Goosen, 14 Gabriel N’gandebe, 13 Arthur Vincent, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Yvan Reilhac, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Benoit Paillaugue, 8 Jacques Du Plessis, 7 Yacouba Camara, 6 Kelian Galletier (c), 5 Paul Willemse, 4 Nico Janse van Rensburg, 3 Levan Chilachava, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Usha Tcheisvhili
Replacements: 16 Vincent Giudicelli, 17 Mikheil Nariashvili, 18 Mohamed Haouas, 19 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 20 Kahn Fotuali’i, 21 Anthony Bouthier, 22 Thomas Darmon, 23 Konstantine Mikautadze

Connacht: 15 Tiernan O’Halloran, 14 John Porch, 13 Kyle Godwin, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Matt Healy, 10 Jack Carty, 9 Kieran Marmion, 8 Jarrad Butler (c), 7 Colby Fainga’a, 6 Eoghan Masterson, 5 Gavin Thornbury, 4 Joe Maksymiw, 3 Dominic Robertson-McCoy, 2 Dave Heffernan, 1 Paddy McAllister
Replacements: 16 Jonny Murphy, 17 Denis Buckley, 18 Conor Kenny, 19 Niall Murray, 20 Eoin McKeon, 21 Caolin Blade, 22 Conor Fitzgerald, 23 Tom Daly

Venue: GGL Stadium
Kick off: 16:15 local (15:15 GMT)
Referee: Matthew Carley (England)
Assistant referees: Tom Foley (England), Hamish Smales (England)
TMO: David Grashoff (England)

Toulouse v Gloucester

Toulouse head coach Ugo Mola has made three changes, including a positional switch, to his run-on side to take on Gloucester at Stade Ernest Wallon.

There is just one alteration from the backline which beat Connacht in Galway last week with Romain Ntamack replacing Zack Holmes at fly-half.

In the forwards, captain Jerome Kaino moves from the openside flank to number eight while Francois Cros comes into the starting line-up on the side of the scrum. The final change is in the second-row where Rory Arnold comes in for Florian Verhaeghe.

Meanwhile, Gloucester head coach Johan Ackermann has made four changes to his side which started in the win over Montpellier last weekend.

Mark Atkinson returns to the midfield where he will partner Billy Twelvetrees at centre, while Lloyd Evans takes over from the injured Danny Cipriani at fly-half.

Meanwhile in the pack, Alex Craig, named in the senior Scotland squad for the first time this week, partners Franco Mostert in the second-row and Jake Polledri returns in the back-row having missed the Montpellier game.

The teams:

Toulouse: 15 Thomas Ramos, 14 Arthur Bonneval, 13 Sofiane Guitoune, 12 Pita Ahki, 11 Cheslin Kolbe, 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Antoine Dupont, 8 Jerome Kaino (c), 7 Francois Cros, 6 Rynhardt Elstadt, 5 Joe Tekori, 4 Rory Arnold, 3 Charlie Faumuina, 2 Julien Marchand, 1 Clément Castets
Replacements: 16 Peato Mauvaka, 17 Cyril Baille, 18 Dorian Aldegheri, 19 Florian Verhaeghe, 20 Selevasio Tolofua, 21 Sébastien Bézy, 22 Pierre Fouyssac, 23 Maxime Médard

Gloucester: 15 Jason Woodward, 14 Louis Rees-Zammit, 13 Billy Twelvetrees, 12 Mark Atkinson, 11 Ollie Thorley, 10 Lloyd Evans, 9 Willi Heinz (c), 8 Ruan Ackermann, 7 Lewis Ludlow, 6 Jake Polledri, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Alex Craig, 3 Ciaran Knight, 2 Todd Gleave, 1 Val Rapava Ruskin
Replacements: 16 Henry Walker, 17 Alex Seville, 18 Josh Hohneck, 19 Gerbrandt Grobler, 20 Freddie Clarke, 21 Joe Simpson, 22 Owen Williams, 23 Tom Marshall

Venue: Stade Ernest Wallon
Kick off: 16:15 local (15:15 GMT)
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Stuart Gaffkin (Ireland), Paul Haycock (Ireland)
TMO: Brian MacNeice (Ireland)