Premiership: Adam Hastings back from injury for Gloucester against Leicester while Jack Yeandle hits 200 for Exeter
The teams have been named for this weekend’s Premiership games, including the encounter between defending champions Leicester Tigers and fourth-placed Gloucester at Welford Road on Saturday.
Check out the teams and our predictions for all of the weekend’s games, here.
London Irish v Saracens
Form: London Irish’s 39-17 home win over Newcastle in Round 12 ended a five-game losing run in Premiership Rugby. The Exiles have lost only one of their last six home games at GTech Community Stadium in Premiership Rugby and that by a solitary point to Gloucester on October 21. Saracens have won all nine matches they have played in Premiership Rugby this campaign. Saracens have lost just once away from home in Premiership Rugby since mid-February: 54-7 at Gloucester on June 4. London Irish beat Saracens 32-30 at GTech Community Stadium in February to end a nine-game winless run against Saracens in Premiership Rugby. Saracens’ only other previous visit to London Irish’s new home ended in a 20-29 defeat in the Premiership Rugby Cup in November 2021.
Prediction: Saracens by 11
The teams:
London Irish: 15 Ben Loader, 14 Lucio Cinti, 13 Will Joseph, 12 Benhard van Rensburg, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Ben White, 8 So’otala Fa’aso’o, 7 Tom Pearson, 6 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 5 Adam Coleman (c), 4 Api Ratuniyarawa, 3 Oliver Hoskins, 2 Mike Willemse, 1 Will Goodrick-Clarke
Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Ciaran Parker, 19 Chunya Munga, 20 Rob Simmons, 21 Chandler Cunningham-South, 22 Caolan Englefield, 23 Rory Jennings
Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Alex Lewington, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Sean Maitland, 10 Owen Farrell (c), 9 Ivan Van Zyl, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Ben Earl, 6 Andy Christie, 5 Hugh Tizard, 4 Nick Isiekwe, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Tom Woolstencroft, 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements: 16 Kapeli Pifeleti, 17 Robin Hislop, 18 Eduardo Bello, 19 Andrew Kitchener, 20 Jackson Wray, 21 Aled Davies, 22 Duncan Taylor, 23 Max Malins
Venue: GTech Community Stadium
Kick-off: 19:45 GMT
Referee: Matthew Carley
Assistant referees: Craig Maxwell-Keys, Gareth Holsgrove
TMO: Rowan Kitt
Newcastle Falcons v Sale Sharks
Form: Newcastle Falcons’ two-game winning run in Premiership Rugby ended with their 39-17 defeat at London Irish in Round 12. The Falcons have won just twice at Kingston Park in Premiership Rugby this season, beating Bristol in Round Four and Exeter in Round 11. Sale Sharks have won their last two Premiership Rugby encounters, both at home to Gloucester and Bristol. The Sharks lost their most recent away game in Premiership Rugby 33-22 at Saracens on October 30 to end a four-game unbeaten run on the road in the tournament. The last seven fixtures between the two clubs in Premiership Rugby have all been won by the home side on the day. The Sharks have not been victorious at Kingston Park in Premiership Rugby since a 21-15 win in May 2016.
Prediction: Sale by 9
The teams:
Newcastle: 15 Elliott Obatoyinbo, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Matias Moroni, 12 Tom Penny, 11 Mateo Carreras, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Michael Young (c), 8 Carl Fearns, 7 Callum Chick, 6 Gary Graham, 5 Sebastian de Chaves, 4 Greg Peterson, 3 Trevor Davison, 2 Jamie Blamire, 1 Adam Brocklebank
Replacements: 16 Ollie Fletcher, 17 Logovi’i Mulipola, 18 Richard Palframan, 19 Matthew Dalton, 20 Tom Marshall, 21 Sam Stuart, 22 Tian Schoeman, 23 Zach Kerr
Sale: 15 Luke James, 14 Arron Reed, 13 Ryan Mills, 12 Sam Hill, 11 Tom O’Flaherty, 10 Robert du Preez, 9 Gus Warr, 8 Daniel du Preez, 7 Ben Curry (c), 6 Jono Ross, 5 Jonny Hill, 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Nic Schonert, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Bevan Rodd
Replacements: 16 Akker van der Merwe, 17 Ross Harrison, 18 Joe Jones, 19 Josh Beaumont, 20 Jean-Luc du Preez, 21 Joe Simpson, 22 Tom Curtis, 23 Byron McGuigan
Venue: Kingston Park
Kick-off: 19:45 GMT
Referee: Adam Leal
Assistant referees: Harry Walbaum, Jamie Leahy
TMO: Dean Richards
Saturday
Exeter Chiefs v Bath
Form: Exeter Chiefs’ only victory in their last five Premiership Rugby fixtures was 22-17 at home to London Irish on 12 November. The Chiefs have lost only once at Sandy Park in the tournament since the end of March: 20-22 to Saracens on October 22. Bath’s three game winning run in Premiership Rugby ended with their 19-13 reversal at home to Harlequins on December 2. Bath won their most recent away game in Premiership Rugby at Newcastle in Round Nine – in fact Bath’s last three away wins in Premiership Rugby, in games that were played, have all been against the Falcons at Kingston Park. Exeter have lost only once to Bath in their last twelve fixtures in Premiership Rugby: 13-10 at the Recreation Ground in October 2019. Bath have not won at Sandy Park in any competition since a 13-10 victory in Premiership Rugby on October 30, 2016.
Prediction: Exeter by 4
The teams:
Exeter: 15 Josh Hodge, 14 Jack Nowell, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Solomone Kata, 11 Olly Woodburn, 10 Joe Simmonds, 9 Sam Maunder, 8 Sam Simmonds, 7 Chris Tshiunza, 6 David Ewers, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Dafydd Jenkins, 3 Harry Williams, 2 Jack Yeandle (c), 1 Scott Sio
Replacements: 16 Dan Frost, 17 Josh Iosefa-Scott, 18 Patrick Schickerling, 19 Ruben van Heerden, 20 Santiago Grondona, 21 Tom Cairns, 22 Tom Hendrickson, 23 Stuart Hogg
Bath: 15 Matt Gallagher, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Cameron Redpath, 11 Ruaridh McConnochie, 10 Orlando Bailey, 9 Louis Schreuder, 8 Josh Bayliss, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Ted Hill, 5 Fergus Lee-Warner, 4 Will Spencer, 3 D’Arcy Rae, 2 Tom Dunn (c), 1 Lewis Boyce
Replacements: 16 Niall Annett, 17 Valeriy Morozov, 18 Archie Griffin, 19 Dave Attwood, 20 Tom Ellis, 21 Ben Spencer, 22 Max Ojomoh, 23 Miles Reid
Venue: Sandy Park
Kick-off: 15:00 GMT
Referee: Tom Foley
Assistant referees: Anthony Woodthorpe, Jonathan Healy
TMO: David Rose
Leicester Tigers v Gloucester
Form: Leicester Tigers’ last three matches in Premiership Rugby have been evenly split with a win, a draw, and a loss. Leicester’s only defeat in Premiership Rugby at Mattioli Woods Welford Road since June 2021 was 26-16 to Sale on October 8. Gloucester’s 34-19 win at home to Northampton in Round 12 ended a three-game losing run in the tournament. Gloucester have won just twice away from home in Premiership Rugby since the end of January and that was in successive trips to Bath and London Irish in October. The Tigers’ only defeat to Gloucester in their last seven meetings was 46-30 at Kingsholm in August 2020. Gloucester are without a win in their last fourteen visits to Welford Road in Premiership Rugby since their 30-17 victory there in October 2007, although they did draw a thriller at the venue 41-41 in April 2011.
Prediction: Leicester by 3
The teams:
Leicester: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Guy Porter, 12 Dan Kelly, 11 Harry Potter, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 8 Olly Cracknell, 7 Tommy Reffell, 6 Hanro Liebenberg (c), 5 Ollie Chessum, 4 Harry Wells, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Charlie Clare, 1 James Whitcombe
Replacements: 16 Gabriel Oghre, 17 Nephi Leatigaga, 18 Joe Heyes, 19 Calum Green, 20 Sean Jansen, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Charlie Atkinson, 23 Chris Ashton
Gloucester: 15 Santiago Carreras, 14 Louis Rees-Zammit, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Seb Atkinson, 11 Jonny May, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 Stephen Varney, 8 Albert Tuisue, 7 Lewis Ludlow (c), 6 Ruan Ackermann, 5 Matias Alemanno, 4 Freddie Clarke, 3 Kirill Gotovtsev, 2 Santi Socino, 1 Val Rapava-Ruskin
Replacements: 16 George McGuigan, 17 Alex Seville, 18 Ciaran Knight, 19 Alex Craig, 20 Ben Morgan, 21 Charlie Chapman, 22 Giorgi Kveseladze, 23 Lloyd Evans
Venue: Welford Road
Kick-off: 15:00 GMT
Referee: Christophe Ridley
Assistant referees: Charlie Gayther, Peter Allan
TMO: Dean Richards
READ MORE: England: Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter ‘very pleased’ by Steve Borthwick’s appointment