Owen Farrell hits 200 for Saracens

David Skippers
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Saracens' Owen Farrell

The Premiership continues on Saturday as three matches take place, including Leicester Tigers’ encounter against rivals and play-off chasers Bath.

Saracens v Harlequins

Owen Farrell will make his 200th Saracens appearance this Saturday when Harlequins visit Allianz Park.

The fly-half made his maiden Sarries outing aged 17 and 11 days in 2008 – becoming the youngest player in English rugby history – and two seasons later kicked 17 of 22 points as the Men in Black won their first ever Premiership final.

He has since become an instrumental figure for club and country, helping the former to a further four league titles and three European crowns.

England captain Farrell will form a half-back partnership with Wales international Aled Davies on his full Saracens debut.

Senior academy prop Sam Crean is set for his first Premiership appearance after earning his initial senior caps in the Premiership Rugby Cup and Heineken Champions Cup earlier this season.

After recently graduating into the Senior Squad, Elliott Obatoyinbo will wear a starting jersey in the league for the first time and his inclusion at full-back sees Sean Maitland switch back to the wing.

Dom Morris, who impressed in Round 14 at Bristol Bears, is joined in the midfield by returning skipper Brad Barritt.

Scotland lock Tim Swinson, props Richard Barrington and Josh Ibuanokpe, scrum-half Tom Whiteley and fly-half Manu Vunipola all come on to the bench.

For Harlequis, head of rugby Paul Gustard has named an almost unchanged side from the team that claimed victory during the Premiership’s return against Sale Sharks last Friday.

Right wing Chris Ashton is replaced by Aaron Morris in the 14 jersey, with the former of the outside backs picking up a minor injury during training this week.

The last time these two London sides met came during round nine in January, with Harlequins claiming a high-scoring 41-14 victory in this London derby.

Form: Saracens were narrowly defeated 12-16 in a thriller at Bristol on Saturday and have not lost back-to-back Premiership Rugby encounters since March 2018. Saracens have lost just once at Allianz Park in the Premiership since February 2018, 25-27 to Northampton on the opening round this season. Harlequins’ last four matches have all been won by the home side on the day whilst their only victory on the road in the tournament since March 2019 was 28-22 at Wasps last December. Harlequins beat Saracens 41-14 at Twickenham Stoop in Round 9 but have not achieved a Premiership Rugby season’s double over their London rivals since 2008/09. Harlequins’ only previous victory at Allianz Park was by a single point in a pool game in the Anglo-Welsh Cup in November 2017.

The teams:

Saracens: 15 Elliott Obatoyinbo, 14 Alex Lewington, 13 Dom Morris, 12 Brad Barritt (c), 11 Sean Maitland, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Aled Davies, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Jackson Wray, 6 Mike Rhodes, 5 Callum Hunter-Hill, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Jamie George, 1 Sam Crean
Replacements: 16 Tom Woolstencroft, 17 Richard Barrington, 18 Josh Ibuanokpe, 19 Tim Swinson, 20 Sean Reffell, 21 Tom Whiteley, 22 Juan Pablo Socino, 23 Manu Vunipola

Harlequins: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Aaron Morris, 13 Joe Marchant, 12 James Lang, 11 Nathan Earle, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Martin Landajo, 8 Alex Dombrandt, 7 Chris Robshaw (c), 6 James Chisholm, 5 Matt Symons, 4 Stephan Lewies, 3 Simon Kerrod, 2 Scott Baldwin, 1 Joe Marler
Replacements: 16 Joe Gray, 17 Santiago Garcia Botta, 18 Will Collier, 19 Dino Lamb, 20 Tom Lawday, 21 Will Evans, 22 Scott Steele, 23 Paul Lasike

Date: Saturday, August 22
Venue: Allianz Park
Kick-off: 12:30 BST (11:30 GMT)
Referee: Christophe Ridley
Assistant referees: Jamie Leahy, Paul Dix
TMO: Geoff Warren

London Irish v Northampton Saints

London Irish have included six graduates from the club’s academy in the starting XV. Jack Cooke, Theo Brophy-Clews, Matt Williams, Ollie Hassell-Collins, Ben Loader and Tom Homer all start in the Exiles’ second match back after the restart.

Allan Dell and Ollie Hoskins start either side of the front-row, with Matt Cornish rewarded with his first start for the club after impressing from the replacements last weekend. George Nott and Sebastian de Chaves combine in the second-row.

Cooke is named at blindside flanker and Blair Cowan at openside flanker, the latter captaining the side. Albert Tuisue retains his place in the number eight jersey.

Ben Meehan partners Paddy Jackson in the half-backs and Brophy-Clews and Williams form the centre partnership.

Hassell-Collins and Loader are named on the wings, with Homer, making his first appearance since re-joining the club, at full-back.

Meanwhile, director of rugby Chris Boyd has handed Northampton Saints debuts to Nick Isiekwe and Shaun Adendorff this weekend as the men in Black, Green and Gold take on London Irish.

The Kiwi coach has made 10 changes in total to the side that went down to Wasps last Sunday, with one eye on the packed Premiership schedule that awaits in the coming weeks.

Northampton have been in good form on the road, winning three of their last four away matches in all tournaments, and co-incidentally also winning on three of their last four visits to Twickenham Stoop.

Lewis Ludlam will skipper Saints for only the second time, having first led out Northampton last season, and is joined in the back row by flanker Jamie Gibson with debutant Adendorff wearing the number eight jersey.

Loanee lock Isiekwe starts in the engine room alongside Alex Moon, while hooker Mikey Haywood returns to the front-row after missing Saints’ last outing following the birth of his second child, and packs down with Francois van Wyk and Paul Hill either side of him.

Northampton’s backline is also full of changes with James Grayson taking over fly-half and kicking duties, and centres Rory Hutchinson and Matt Proctor coming into the XV.

Full-back George Furbank and scrum-half Alex Mitchell are the only two Saints to remain in the backline last weekend, with Tom Collins and former England 7s international Ryan Olowofela lining up on the wings – with the latter making his first Premiership appearance for Saints.

Boyd has put his trust in a young bench on Saturday, with Reuben Bird-Tulloch and Tui Uru also set for their first league appearances for Northampton, with new signing Tom James primed for his club debut if he enters the action.

Form: London Irish have slipped to three straight defeats in Premiership Rugby, their worst sequence since February 2018. This is the first home game Irish have played at Twickenham Stoop since losing there 40-42 to Gloucester in May 2000. Northampton Saints’ only victory in their last six Premiership fixtures was 16-10 at Worcester on 6 March. However, the Saints have won three of their last four away games in all tournaments. The Saints have also won on three of their last four visits to The Stoop. London Irish beat Northampton 20-16 at Franklin’s Gardens in Round 9 and have never before achieved a Premiership Rugby season’s double over the East Midlanders. The two clubs have met just once before at Twickenham Stoop with The Saints winning 44-20 in January 2000.

The teams:

London Irish: 15 Tom Homer, 14 Ben Loader, 13 Matt Williams, 12 Theo Brophy Clews, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Ben Meehan, 8 Albert Tuisue, 7 Blair Cowan (c), 6 Jack Cooke, 5 Sebastian de Chaves, 4 George Nott, 3 Ollie Hoskins, 2 Matt Cornish, 1 Allan Dell
Replacements: 16 Motu Matu’u, 17 Will Goodrick-Clarke, 18 Sekope Kepu, 19 Ben Donnell, 20 TJ Ioane, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Jacob Atkins, 23 Ross Neal

Northampton: 15 George Furbank, 14 Ryan Olowofela, 13 Matt Proctor, 12 Rory Hutchinson, 11 Tom Collins, 10 James Grayson, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Shaun Adendorff, 7 Lewis Ludlam (c), 6 Jamie Gibson, 5 Nick Isiekwe, 4 Alex Moon, 3 Paul Hill, 2 Mike Haywood, 1 Francois van Wyk
Replacements: 16 Reece Marshall, 17 Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi, 18 Ehren Painter, 19 Lewis Bean, 20 Tui Uru, 21 Tom James, 22 Reuben Bird-Tulloch, 23 Ahsee Tuala

Date: Saturday, August 22
Venue: The Stoop
Kick-off: 14:00 BST (13:00 GMT)
Referee: Ian Tempest
Assistant referees: Andrew Jackson, Mike Hudson
TMO: Rowan Kitt

Leicester Tigers v Bath

Steve Borthwick has made 13 changes to the Leicester Tigers starting line-up for Saturday’s return to Welford Road against Bath.

Tomás Lavanini and George Worth, who moves into the midfield from full-back, are the only two players retained from the starting side that travelled to Exeter in Round 14.

After coming off the bench last weekend, front-rowers Nephi Leatigaga, Jake Kerr and Joe Heyes make up the front-row, with Lavanini partnering Australia international Blake Enever in the second-row.

Enever, who joined Tigers from the ACT Brumbies during the summer, will make his club debut.

In the back-row, it’s a trio of Premiership first starts for the club for George Martin, Luke Wallace and Thom Smith.

The 19-year-old Martin will also make his first appearance in the competition, as well as his first run out at Welford Road in just his second senior start for the club.

Smith, who made his Premiership debut at Exeter, will make his first starting appearance in the competition and Wallace, in just his second game for the club since his summer arrival, has been named vice-captain alongside outside-back Worth.

Ben White will captain the side and partner Johnny McPhillips at half-back.

Guy Porter has been named to make his Tigers debut alongside Worth at centre after arriving from the Brumbies during the postponement period.

Fellow new addition Harry Potter will also make his debut, alongside his former Sydney University team-mate Porter, after being named on the wing.

Harry Simmons is on the other wing and Zack Henry, in his first start for Leicester, is at full-back.

Dan Cole is the only one of the replacements who featured last weekend and is included alongside fellow Tigers academy graduates Charlie Clare and Ryan Bower as front-row cover.

Scotland Under-20s lock Cameron Henderson is in line to make his Tigers debut and is joined on the bench by back-rower Jordan Coghlan. Academy graduates Jack Van Poortvliet, Tom Hardwick and Freddie Steward complete the replacements.

Meanwhile, Bath make two changes for the trip to Welford Road.

Cameron Redpath comes in to make his first start for the Blue, Black and White after making an impressive debut off the bench in the 34-17 win over London Irish last Saturday. Redpath replaces Josh Matavesi, who is amongst the replacements.

With the only change to the forward pack, Tom Ellis comes in to replace Zach Mercer at blindside.

The rest of the side remains unchanged after picking up a bonus-point win at the Rec last week as Bath look to continue their good form from rugby restart.

Form: Leicester Tigers have slipped to successive Premiership Rugby defeats at Saracens and at Exeter, but at Welford Road they have won their last four matches in all competitions. Bath have lost just twice in the last six rounds of Premiership Rugby, at home to Bristol in Round 12 and away at Exeter in Round 13. Bath’s two away wins on the road this season in the Premiership were at London Irish in December and Worcester in February. Bath have won their last three matches against the Tigers in Premiership Rugby, their best run in league play against the East Midlanders since winning four in succession in the old Division One between 1990 and 1992. Bath have won on their last two visits to Welford Road and have never won three in succession at the famous old venue, which they have been visiting since 1913.

The teams:

Leicester: 15 Zack Henry, 14 Harry Potter, 13 George Worth , 12 Guy Porter, 11 Harry Simmons, 10 Johnny McPhillips, 9 Ben White (c), 8 Thom Smith, 7 Luke Wallace, 6 George Martin, 5 Blake Enever, 4 Tomás Lavanini, 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Jake Kerr, 1 Nephi Leatigaga
Replacements: 16 Charlie Clare, 17 Ryan Bower, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Cameron Henderson, 20 Jordan Coghlan, 21 Jack Van Poortvliet, 22 Tom Hardwick, 23 Freddie Steward

Bath: 15 Anthony Watson, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Cameron Redpath, 11 Ruaridh McConnochie, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Ben Spencer, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Tom Ellis, 5 Charlie Ewels (c), 4 Josh McNally, 3 Will Stuart, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Lewis Boyce
Replacements: 16 Jack Walker, 17 Beno Obano, 18 Christian Judge, 19 Elliott Stooke, 20 Josh Bayliss, 21 Will Chudley, 22 Josh Matavesi, 23 Tom de Glanville

Date: Saturday, August 22
Venue: Welford Road
Kick-off: 16:30 BST (15:30 GMT)
Referee: Karl Dickson
Assistant referees: Anthony Woodthorpe, Hamish Smales
TMO: David Grashoff

 

Bath