International stars return as England omission leads Bath on 200th Premiership appearance while Wallaby set to debut for Leicester Tigers

The Premiership returns this weekend after more or less a month of international rugby in the Autumn Nations Series and it arrives with some interesting match-ups.

Two games get the round underway on Friday evening as Harlequins host Bristol and Newcastle Falcons tackle Saracens, with Viliami Mata making his debut for the Bears.

On Saturday Northampton v Gloucester and Bath v Exeter are on the schedule as England omission Ben Spencer leads Bath on his 200th Premiership appearance.

The sole meeting on Sunday is probably the pick of the weekend as Sale Sharks and Leicester face off in Manchester, with Wallaby Jed Holloway on the bench for Tigers.

Friday

Harlequins v Bristol Bears

Harlequins: 15 Tyrone Green, 14 Rodrigo Isgro, 13 Oscar Beard, 12 Luke Northmore, 11 Cadan Murley, 10 Jarrod Evans, 9 Will Porter, 8 Alex Dombrandt (c), 7 Will Evans, 6 Jack Kenningham, 5 Dino Lamb, 4 Irne Herbst, 3 Simon Kerrod, 2 Jack Walker, 1 Joe Marler
Replacements: 16 Nathan Jibulu, 17 Fin Baxter, 18 Titi Lamostiele, 19 Joe Launchbury, 20 James Chisholm, 21 Danny Care, 22 Jamie Benson, 23 Nick David

Bristol Bears: 15 Rich Lane, 14 Jack Bates, 13 Kalaveti Ravouvou, 12 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 11 Gabriel Ibitoye, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Kieran Marmion, 8 Viliame Mata, 7 Fitz Harding (c), 6 Santiago Grondona, 5 Joe Owen, 4 James Dun, 3 Max Lahiff, 2 Gabriel Oghre, 1 Jake Woolmore
Replacements: 16 Harry Thacker, 17 Yann Thomas, 18 Lovejoy Chawatama, 19 Steven Luatua, 20 Benjamin Grondona, 21 Oscar Lennon, 22 Joe Jenkins, 23 Benjamin Elizalde

Venue: Twickenham Stoop
Kick-off: 19:45 GMT
Referee: Luke Pearce
Assistant Referees: Joe James, Jamie Leahy
TMO: Stuart Terheege

Newcastle Falcons v Saracens

Newcastle: 15 Ethan Grayson, 14 Ben Stevenson, 13 Sammy Arnold, 12 Cameron Hutchison, 11 Alex Hearle, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Sam Stuart, 8 Callum Chick (c), 7 Tom Gordon, 6 Freddie Lockwood, 5 Sebastian de Chaves, 4 Philip van der Walt, 3 Richard Palframan, 2 Jamie Blamire, 1 Murray McCallum
Replacements: 16 Ollie Fletcher, 17 Mike Rewcastle, 18 Callum Hancock, 19 Kiran McDonald, 20 Ollie Leatherbarrow, 21 Max Pepper, 22 Connor Doherty, 23 Adam Radwan

Saracens: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Tobias Elliott, 13 Alex Lozowski, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Rotimi Segun, 10 Fergus Burke, 9 Ivan van Zyl (c), 8 Tom Willis, 7 Toby Knight, 6 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 5 Hugh Tizard, 4 Theo McFarland, 3 Fraser Balmain, 2 Theo Dan, 1 Rhys Carre
Replacements: 16 James Hadfield, 17 Eroni Mawi, 18 Marco Riccioni, 19 Harry Wilson, 20 Nathan Michelow, 21 Gareth Simpson, 22 Sam Spink, 23 Tom Parton

Venue: Kingston Park
Kick-off: 19:45 GMT
Referee: Matthew Carley
Assistant Referees: Hamish Grant and Wayne Falla
TMO: Dean Richards

Saturday

Northampton v Gloucester

Northampton Saints: 15 George Furbank (c), 14 George Hendy, 13 Tom Litchfield, 12 Rory Hutchinson, 11 Ollie Sleightholme, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Tom James, 8 Juarno Augustus, 7 Tom Pearson, 6 Angus Scott-Young, 5 Alex Coles, 4 Chunya Munga, 3 Trevor Davison, 2 Curtis Langdon, 1 Tom West
Replacements: 16 Craig Wright, 17 Emmanuel Iyogun, 18 Luke Green, 19 Tom Lockett, 20 Henry Pollock, 21 Alex Mitchell, 22 Fraser Dingwall, 23 James Ramm

Gloucester: 15 Santi Carreras, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Max Llewellyn, 12 Seb Atkinson, 11 Ollie Thorley, 10 Gareth Anscombe, 9 Caolan Englefield, 8 Zach Mercer, 7 Lewis Ludlow (c), 6 Jack Clement, 5 Freddie Thomas, 4 Arthur Clark, 3 Afo Fasogbon, 2 Jack Singleton, 1 Val Rapava-Ruskin
Replacements: 16 Seb Blake, 17 Ciaran Knight, 18 Kirill Gotovtsev, 19 Matias Alemanno, 20 Ruan Ackermann, 21 Charlie Chapman, 22 Chris Harris, 23 Josh Hathaway

Venue: Franklin’s Gardens
Kick-off: 15:00 GMT
Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe
Assistant Referees: Joe James and Simon Harding
TMO: Andrew Jackson

Bath Rugby v Exeter Chiefs

Bath: 15 Tom de Glanville, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Will Butt, 11 Will Muir, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ben Spencer (c), 8 Miles Reid, 7 Guy Pepper, 6 Ted Hill, 5 Charlie Ewels, 4 Quinn Roux, 3 Will Stuart, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Thomas du Toit
Replacements: 16 Niall Annett, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Kieran Verden, 19 Ross Molony, 20 Josh Bayliss, 21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Cameron Redpath, 23 Alfie Barbeary

Exeter Chiefs: 15 Josh Hodge, 14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 13 Tamati Tua, 12 Will Rigg, 11 Tommy Wyatt, 10 Henry Slade, 9 Stu Townsend, 8 Greg Fisilau, 7 Jacques Vermeulen (c), 6 Ethan Roots, 5 Richard Capstick, 4 Rusi Tuima, 3 Marcus Street, 2 Dan Frost, 1 Scott Sio
Replacements: 16 Jack Innard, 17 Will Goodrick-Clarke, 18 Jimmy Roots, 19 Franco Molina, 20 Ross Vintcent, 21 Will Becconsall, 22 Will Haydon-Wood, 23 Ben Hammersley

Venue: The Rec
Kick-off: 17:45 GMT
Referee: Sara Cox
Assistant Referees: Dan Jones and Harry Walbaum
TMO: David Rose

Sunday

Sale Sharks v Leicester Tigers

Sale Sharks: 15 Joe Carpenter, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Rob du Preez, 12 Luke James, 11 Arron Reed, 10 George Ford, 9 Gus Warr, 8 Dan du Preez, 7 Ben Curry (c), 6 Tom Curry, 5 Hyron Andrews, 4 Ernst van Rhyn, 3 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Bevan Rodd
Replacements: 16 Tadgh McElroy, 17 Si McIntyre, 18 James Harper, 19 JL du Preez, 20 Tom Burrow, 21 Sam Dugdale, 22 Raffi Quirke, 23 Will Addison

Leicester Tigers: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Izaia Perese, 12 Solomone Kata, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 8 Olly Cracknell, 7 Tommy Reffell, 6 Hanro Liebenberg, 5 Tom Manz, 4 George Martin, 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Charlie Clare, 1 Nicky Smith
Replacements: 16 Archie Vanes, 17 James Cronin, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Jed Holloway, 20 Emeka Ilione, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Jamie Shillcock, 23 Will Wand

Venue: Salford Community Stadium
Kick-off: 15:15 GMT
Referee: Adam Leal
Assistant Referees: Hamish Smales and Peter Allan
TMO: Tom Foley

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