Marcus Smith absent and George Ford ruled out with knee injury for key Premiership clashes

Adam Kyriacou
Add as a preferred source on Google

George Ford alongside Marcus Smith during England's Rugby World Cup clash with Japan.

Two games are scheduled to take place on Friday as the Premiership round begins with Newcastle Falcons v Harlequins and Sale Sharks v Bristol Bears.

Check on the team news, below.

Newcastle Falcons v Harlequins

Brett Connon will make his 100th appearance for Newcastle Falcons in their clash with Harlequins at Kingston Park on Friday.

The 27-year-old Cumbrian has scored 478 points in his 99 games for the Falcons, coming in as one of five changes for the home game.

Connon forms a half-back partnership with James Elliott while George Wacokecoke starts at outside centre after impressing from the bench in recent weeks, replacing Matias Moroni (knee).

He partners the returning Jordan Holgate in midfield, with the only other change from last weekend’s trip to Saracens seeing Bryan Byrne coming in at hooker after an infection ruled out Jamie Blamire.

Meanwhile, Harlequins have named a reshuffled squad that features six changes to the starting XV that lined up against Gloucester in Big Game 15.

In the engine room, Fin Baxter replaces the injured Joe Marler at loosehead, combining with hooker Jack Walker and tighthead Will Collier. Irne Herbst and George Hammond form a fresh second-row partnership, with James Chisholm at blindside flanker and Will Evans resuming at openside. Alex Dombrandt skippers the squad from number eight.

In the backs, Will Porter and Will Edwards start at scrum-half and fly-half in place of Danny Care and Marcus Smith. Andre Esterhuizen and Oscar Beard maintain their impressive Big Game partnership, with Cameron Anderson on the left wing and Nick David on the right. Tyrone Green continues at full-back for the six consecutive match.

Amongst the bench, there’s returns for props Jordan Els and Lovejoy Chawatama, back-row Chandler Cunningham-South, scrum-half Max Green and wing Louis Lynagh. Sam Riley and Joe Launchbury provide experience at hooker and second-row, with Lennox Anyanwu adding versatility across the backline.

The teams

Newcastle Falcons: 15 Tom Penny, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 George Wacokecoke, 12 Jordan Holgate, 11 Iwan Stephens, 10 Brett Connon, 9 James Elliott, 8 Callum Chick (c), 7 Guy Pepper, 6 Pedro Rubiolo, 5 Kiran McDonald, 4 Sebastian de Chaves, 3 Eduardo Bello, 2 Bryan Byrne, 1 Phil Brantingham
Replacements: 16 Michael van Vuuren, 17 Adam Brocklebank, 18 Murray McCallum, 19 Tim Cardall, 20 Philip van der Walt, 21 Josh Barton, 22 Louie Johnson, 23 Elliott Obatoyinbo

Harlequins: 15 Tyrone Green, 14 Nick David, 13 Oscar Beard, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Cameron Anderson, 10 Will Edwards, 9 Will Porter, 8 Alex Dombrandt (c), 7 Will Evans, 6 James Chisholm, 5 George Hammond, 4 Irne Herbst, 3 Will Collier, 2 Jack Walker, 1 Fin Baxter
Replacements: 16 Sam Riley, 17 Jordan Els, 18 Lovejoy Chawatama, 19 Joe Launchbury, 20 Chandler Cunningham-South, 21 Max Green, 22 Lennox Anyanwu, 23 Louis Lynagh

Venue: Kingston Park
Kick-off: 19:45 GMT
Referee: Matthew Carley
Assistant Referees: Hamish Smales, Wayne Falla
TMO: Tom Foley

Sale Sharks v Bristol Bears

Centre Rekeiti Ma’asi-White will make his first Premiership start while Rob du Preez switches to fly-half to replace the injured George Ford (knee) as Sale Sharks make just one change to their XV to face Bristol Bears.

Director of rugby Alex Sanderson has picked an unchanged forward pack from the Round 10 defeat at Northampton, as his side go in search of a 13th successive home win.

In the front-row, England hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie, who scored for the second week running against Saints, starts between props Ross Harrison and Nick Schonert.

The rest of the pack is unchanged with Cobus Wiese and Jonny Hill again teaming up in the second-row and the Premiership’s top tackler Ernst van Rhyn, captain Ben Curry and Jean-Luc du Preez in the back-row.

With Ford missing through injury, Gus Warr has Rob du Preez for company at half-back and they’ll have former Wasps man Ma’asi-White and Sam James outside them in the centres.

It’s as you were in the back three with Tom Roebuck and Arron Reed starting on the wings, either side of full-back Joe Carpenter.

Agustin Creevy returns to join props Tumy Onasanya and James Harper as the front-row replacements, with Josh Beaumont and Sam Dugdale covering the rest of the forwards.

Backs Nye Thomas, Tom Curtis and Telusa Veainu will give Sanderson more options off the bench.

Meanwhile, former Sale Sharks fly-half AJ MacGinty will make his return from injury for Bristol Bears in the clash in Salford.

The playmaker, who sustained a hamstring injury in the Round One victory over Leicester Tigers in October, is back for the Round 11 clash, with Callum Sheedy ruled out through injury.

James Williams comes into the side at inside centre in place of the injured Virimi Vakatawa, with Benhard Janse van Rensburg shifting to outside centre. Gabriel Ibitoye returns in the back three, with Rich Lane dropping to the bench.

Up front, Josh Caulfield replaces the injured James Dun in the second-row, while Jake Woolmore comes into the front-row. Steven Luatua continues as captain the absence of Fitz Harding.

The teams

Sale Sharks: 15 Joe Carpenter, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Sam James, 12 Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, 11 Arron Reed, 10 Rob du Preez, 9 Gus Warr, 8 Jean-Luc du Preez, 7 Ben Curry (c), 6 Ernst van Rhyn, 5 Jonny Hill, 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Nick Schonert, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Ross Harrison
Replacements: 16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Tumy Onasanya, 18 James Harper, 19 Josh Beaumont, 20 Sam Dugdale, 21 Nye Thomas, 22 Tom Curtis, 23 Telusa Veainu

Bristol Bears: 15 Max Malins, 14 Noah Heward, 13 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 12 James Williams, 11 Gabriel Ibitoye, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Harry Randall, 8 Magnus Bradbury, 7 Dan Thomas, 6 Steven Luatua (c), 5 Joe Batley, 4 Josh Caulfield, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Gabriel Oghre, 1 Jake Woolmore
Replacements: 16 Will Capon, 17 Sam Grahamslaw, 18 George Kloska, 19 Joe Owen, 20 Jake Heenan, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Kalaveti Ravouvou, 23 Rich Lane

Venue: Salford Community Stadium
Kick-off: 19:45 GMT
Referee: Karl Dickson
Assistant Referees: Craig Maxwell-Keys, Jamie Leahy
TMO: Andrew Jackson

READ MORE: England’s Six Nations preparations take another hit after forward banned

Bristol George Ford Marcus Smith

Related Articles