England hopeful back for Harlequins at Northampton while Luke Cowan-Dickie makes first Sale Sharks start

Adam Kyriacou
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Luke Cowan-Dickie in action for Sale Sharks.

Luke Cowan-Dickie in action for Sale Sharks.

There’s two matches taking place on Friday in Round Seven of the Premiership as Northampton Saints host Harlequins while Sale Sharks take on Bath.

Northampton Saints v Harlequins

Northampton Saints boss Phil Dowson has made four changes to his side as the men in Black, Green and Gold clash with Harlequins under the lights on Friday.

Ethan Waller, Sam Matavesi, Courtney Lawes and Ollie Sleightholme all return to the starting line-up this week, with the latter set to make his first start in a Saints shirt since February as Quins come to town for the Round Seven clash.

Saints have won their last two matches on home soil – defeating Bath and Exeter Chiefs in Rounds Four and Five – but come into Friday’s clash off the back of a 26-17 loss to East Midlands rivals Leicester Tigers, and look to get back to winning ways in Northampton as they go in search of their fourth league win of the season.

George Furbank is named at fly-half for the 12th time in his Saints career, and he partners Alex Mitchell in Northampton’s half-back berths – with Fin Smith still recovering from a back spasm which forced him off early in Leicester last weekend.

Sleightholme (who made his return from injury in Saints’ last home match against Exeter) starts in the back three alongside wing James Ramm and full-back George Hendy, while Fraser Dingwall and Tommy Freeman retain their spots in the hosts’ centres.

Waller and Matavesi come into the front-row for Saints to pack down with tighthead prop Trevor Davison, with Alex Coles – who has made the joint-most offloads in the Premiership so far (alongside teammate Tom James) – shifting back into the second-row to pair up with Chunya Munga this week.

Tom Pearson and club captain Lewis Ludlam – who made more post-contact metres (34) than any other player in the last round of the Premiership – remain in the back-row this week, with Lawes returning from injury to start alongside the pair and complete the starting line-up.

The likes of Tom Cruse, Alex Waller, Angus Scott-Young and scrum-half James are all primed to make an impact from amongst Saints’ replacements – while loanee Charlie Savala is set to make his debut in Black, Green and Gold should he enter the action.

Meanwhile, Harlequins have been boosted by the return to fitness of Cadan Murley, who has overcome injury and will make his first Premiership appearance of the season.

The Harlequins Academy product will start on the right wing alongside Louis Lynagh, with Tyrone Green shifting to full-back.

The forward pack features three changes as Fin Baxter returns to the starting XV at loosehead with Dillon Lewis making his first start for Quins at tighthead.

South African Irne Herbst returns to the starting side to partner George Hammond at second-row.

The back-row combination of Dino Lamb, Will Evans and captain Alex Dombrandt continues for the fourth consecutive match.

In the backs, Danny Care starts at scrum-half alongside Marcus Smith while Andre Esterhuizen resumes at inside centre following his impressive try last week. The Springbok partners outside centre Will Joseph who makes his second Premiership start of the season.

Amongst the replacements, Academy hooker Nathan Jibulu, props Santiago Garcia Botta and Lovejoy Chawatama make their return to the Quins 23. Elsewhere, Chandler Cunningham-South and James Chisholm provide plenty of depth, alongside replacement backs Will Porter, Jarrod Evans and Oscar Beard.

The teams

Northampton Saints: 15 George Hendy, 14 Ollie Sleightholme, 13 Tommy Freeman, 12 Fraser Dingwall, 11 James Ramm, 10 George Furbank, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Lewis Ludlam (c), 7 Tom Pearson, 6 Courtney Lawes, 5 Alex Coles, 4 Chunya Munga, 3 Trevor Davison, 2 Sam Matavesi, 1 Ethan Waller
Replacements: 16 Tom Cruse, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Elliot Millar Mills, 19 Tom Lockett, 20 Angus Scott-Young, 21 Tom James, 22 Charlie Savala, 23 Tom Litchfield

Harlequins: 15 Tyrone Green, 14 Cadan Murley, 13 Will Joseph, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Louis Lynagh, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Danny Care, 8 Alex Dombrandt (c), 7 Will Evans, 6 Dino Lamb, 5 George Hammond, 4 Irne Herbst, 3 Dillon Lewis, 2 Jack Walker, 1 Fin Baxter
Replacements: 16 Nathan Jibulu, 17 Santiago Garcia Botta, 18 Lovejoy Chawatama, 19 Chandler Cunningham-South, 20 James Chisholm, 21 Will Porter, 22 Jarrod Evans, 23 Oscar Beard

Venue: cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens
Kick-off: 19:45 GMT
Referee: Sara Cox
Assistant Referees: Andrew Jackson, Anthony Woodthorpe
TMO: Ian Tempest

Sale Sharks v Bath

Luke Cowan-Dickie makes his first Sale start while England fly-half George Ford returns to the number 10 shirt for their Premiership clash with Bath on Friday.

Wing Tom O’Flaherty is also back on the replacements bench after injury as the Sharks gear up for a top of the table clash.

Director of rugby Alex Sanderson makes just three changes to his side following the 40-22 win against Newcastle as Sale go in search of an 11th consecutive home win.

In total, the matchday squad features 13 players who have been involved with the club’s academy.

Two of the three team changes comes in the front-row where England hooker Cowan-Dickie starts for the first-time following cameos off the bench in wins against Bristol and Newcastle.

The 30-year-old, who joined in the summer from Exeter, starts alongside fellow fellow England man Bevan Rodd and Nick Schonert, who replaces James Harper.

Cobus Wiese and Jonny Hill link up again in the second-row and the Premiership’s top tackler Ernst van Rhyn, captain Ben Curry, who made more dominant tackles than any other player in Round Six, and Dan du Preez make up a powerful back-row.

Gus Warr has Ford for company in the half-backs and the England fly-half’s return sees Rob du Preez switch back to the centres where he’ll team up with Sam Bedlow.

Sanderson has named an unchanged back-three with the league’s top-scorer Arron Reed (five tries) and Tom Roebuck either side of full-back Joe Carpenter, who made more metres than anyone in the league in Round Six (131).

Agustin Creevy, Si McIntyre and Harper are picked as the front-row replacements while Josh Beaumont and Sam Dugdale will cover the rest of the forwards.

Nye Thomas, Sam James and O’Flaherty are the backs replacements.

In their third Friday night fixture in as many weeks, GJ van Velze will lead Bath from the second-row in their visit to the north-west.

After scoring four tries in four games, Thomas du Toit demonstrates his front-row versatility and takes the loosehead spot, accompanied by Niall Annett at hooker and Johannes Jonker at tighthead.

Josh McNally partners captain van Velze at lock, making his third appearance of the season.

In the back-row, Ewan Richards comes into the fold at blindside, with Chris Cloete returning to openside.

After a stellar Player of the Match performance last week against Bristol Bears, Jaco Coetzee retains his number eight jersey.

At scrum-half, Louis Schreuder gets the starting spot, with Finn Russell at 10.

Rotation across the backline sees Will Butt and Max Ojomoh pair up in the centre, whilst Matt Gallagher takes the number 11 shirt and Ruaridh McConnochie taking 14.

Completing the set-up, Tom de Glanville is named at full-back.

Ready to provide fresh power to the pack, Tom Dunn and Archie Griffin take their spots on the bench.

Juan Schoeman will get his 50th appearance for the Blue, Black and White as he comes on as replacement loosehead.

Soon departing for the Waratahs, Fergus Lee-Warner is also named on the bench.

Completing the replacement forwards, Nahum Merigan gets his first 2023/24 Premiership appearance in the Bath shirt.

Familiar half-back pairing in Ben Spencer and Orlando Bailey will look to add a fresh injection of pace, with Cameron Redpath back in action to complete the squad.

The teams

Sale Sharks: 15 Joe Carpenter, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Rob du Preez, 12 Sam Bedlow, 11 Arron Reed, 10 George Ford, 9 Gus Warr, 8 Dan du Preez, 7 Ben Curry (c), 6 Ernst van Rhyn, 5 Jonny Hill, 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Nick Schonert, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Bevan Rodd
Replacements: 16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Si McIntyre, 18 James Harper, 19 Josh Beaumont, 20 Sam Dugdale, 21 Nye Thomas, 22 Sam James, 23 Tom O’Flaherty

Bath: 15 Tom de Glanville, 14 Ruaridh McConnochie, 13 Max Ojomoh, 12 Will Butt, 11 Matt Gallagher, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Louis Schreuder, 8 Jaco Coetzee, 7 Chris Cloete, 6 Ewan Richards, 5 GJ van Velze (c), 4 Josh McNally, 3 Johannes Jonker, 2 Niall Annett, 1 Thomas du Toit
Replacements: 16 Tom Dunn, 17 Juan Schoeman (50), 18 Archie Griffin, 19 Fergus Lee-Warner, 20 Nahum Merigan, 21 Ben Spencer, 22 Orlando Bailey, 23 Cameron Redpath

Venue: Salford Stadium
Kick-off: 19:45 GMT
Referee: Karl Dickson
Assistant Referees: George Selwood, Jamie Leahy
TMO: David Rose

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Bath Luke Cowan-Dickie

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