Premiership Preview: Friday

Two matches take place in the Premiership on Friday as Newcastle Falcons host Bath while Worcester Warriors welcome Harlequins to Sixways.

Newcastle Falcons v Bath

Toby Flood makes his 100th appearance for Newcastle Falcons on Friday when he captains them in their Premiership home match with Bath.

The fly-half skippers the side more than 12 years after his first team debut, the 60-times-capped England international making his first senior appearance back in February 2005.

In all, the Falcons show seven changes from the side which started at Harlequins last Friday, fit-again Johnny Williams partnering Chris Harris in the centres after the latter was released from the Scotland squad.

Tom Arscott replaces Alex Tait on the wing, Sam Stuart comes in at scrum-half behind a pack which sees starts for hooker Kyle Cooper, lock Glen Young and Fijian number eight Nemani Nagusa.

Meanwhile for Bath, Nathan Catt and Henry Thomas line up either side of Tom Dunn in the front-row. Matt Garvey leads the side out from second-row, forming an experienced lock pairing with Dave Attwood.

Tom Ellis starts at blindside, the flanker scoring his first try of the season last weekend against Worcester. Josh Bayliss moves to openside flanker with Zach Mercer returning from international duty and coming in at number eight.

Will Chudley and Freddie Burns form an unchanged half-back pairing. Jamie Roberts continues at inside centre with Jackson Willison outside him, in an exciting midfield partnership.

Semesa Rokoduguni starts once again on the right wing, with Cooper Vuna opposite him on the left. Tom Homer comes in at full-back to complete the dangerous looking back-line.

Form: Newcastle Falcons have lost their last four Premiership Rugby matches, whilst their only win in their last nine fixtures in the tournament was at Worcester in Round Three. Falcons are unbeaten in their last three matches at Kingston Park in all tournaments but have not won there in Premiership Rugby since Sale were the visitors in April. Bath’s seven game winless run in all competitions ended with their home win over Worcester on Saturday. Bath’s only away win in Premiership Rugby this season was at Harlequins in Round Three. The Falcons have won their last three matches against Bath in Premiership Rugby whilst Bath’s most recent victory at Kingston Park was in April 2015.

The teams:

Newcastle: 15 Simon Hammersley, 14 Tom Arscott, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Sinoti Sinoti, 10 Toby Flood (c), 9 Sam Stuart, 8 Nemani Nagusa, 7 John Hardie, 6 Gary Graham, 5 Glen Young, 4 Calum Green, 3 Jon Welsh, 2 Kyle Cooper, 1 Sam Lockwood
Replacements: 16 George McGuigan, 17 Adam Brocklebank, 18 David Wilson, 19 Andrew Davidson, 20 Ryan Burrows, 21 Michael Young, 22 Brett Connon, 23 Pedro Bettencourt

Bath: 15 Tom Homer, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jackson Willison, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Cooper Vuna, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Will Chudley, 8 Zach Mercer, 7 Josh Bayliss, 6 Tom Ellis, 5 Matt Garvey (c), 4 Dave Attwood, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Nathan Catt
Replacements: 16 Jack Walker, 17 Jacques van Rooyen, 18 Max Lahiff, 19 Luke Charteris, 20 Levi Douglas, 21 Chris Cook, 22 Ruaridh McConnochie, 23 Darren Atkins

Date: Friday, November 23
Venue: Kingston Park
Kick-off: 19:45 GMT
Referee: Christophe Ridley
Assistant referees: Wayne Falla, John Meredith
TMO: Trevor Fisher

Worcester Warriors v Harlequins

New England cap Ted Hill will return to club action with Worcester Warriors in Friday’s Premiership match against Harlequins at Sixways.

Hill, 19, made his England debut as a 74th minute replacement in their win over Japan at Twickenham last Saturday.

He trained with England again on Monday and Tuesday ahead of this weekend’s match against Australia before being released back to Warriors.

Hill will make his second Premiership start against Harlequins in a re-jigged back row which sees Matt Cox, a replacement at Bath last week, start at number eight in place of GJ van Velze who has been ruled out by a shoulder joint injury. Centre Ryan Mills will captain Warriors in Van Velze’s absence.

The third change to the side that played at Bath is in the second-row where Pierce Phillips will partner Anton Bresler.

Warriors are again missing centre Ben Te’o, wing Josh Adams and hooker Joe Taufete’e who are on international duty with England, Wales and USA respectively.

For Harlequins, Cadan Murley will make his Premiership debut in the game. Academy-product Murley, who has impressed on the right wing in the Premiership Rugby Cup this season, is the only change in the backline from the team that beat Newcastle Falcons last week.

There are two changes in the forwards with Joe Marler and Max Crumpton returning to the front row, having come off the bench against Newcastle Falcons.

Alex Dombrandt, who scored his third try of the season last week, starts again in the back-row while number eight James Chisholm leads the side although James Horwill, the club’s co-captain, returns from injury and is named among the replacements.

Form: Worcester Warriors’ two victories in Premiership Rugby this season were at Leicester in Round Four and at home to Bristol in Round Six. The Warriors have won their last six matches at Sixways in all tournaments. Harlequins have won two of their last three Premiership Rugby encounters, at Gloucester in Round Five and at home to Newcastle last Friday. The Londoners have not won successive away games in Premiership Rugby since May 2014. The last four matches between the two sides in Premiership Rugby have all been won by the home side on the day whilst ‘Quins’ most recent victory at Sixways in Premiership Rugby was in January 2016.

The teams:

Worcester: 15 Chris Pennell, 14 Bryce Heem, 13 Francois Venter, 12 Ryan Mills (c), 11 Perry Humphreys, 10 Duncan Weir, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Matt Cox, 7 Sam Lewis, 6 Ted Hill, 5 Pierce Phillips, 4 Anton Bresler, 3 Nick Schonert, 2 Jack Singleton, 1 Callum Black
Replacements: 16 Niall Annett, 17 Ethan Waller, 18 Gareth Milasinovich, 19 Darren Barry, 20 Matti Williams, 21 Michael Heaney, 22 Jamie Shillcock, 23 Wynand Olivier

Harlequins: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Cadan Murley, 13 Joe Marchant, 12 Ben Tapuai, 11 Nathan Earle, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Charlie Mulchrone, 8 James Chisholm (c), 7 Jack Clifford, 6 Alex Dombrandt, 5 Matt Symons, 4 George Merrick, 3 Will Collier, 2 Max Crumpton, 1 Joe Marler
Replacements: 16 Dave Ward, 17 Lewis Boyce, 18 Phil Swainston, 19 James Horwill, 20 Archie White, 21 Danny Care, 22 James Lang, 23 Francis Saili

Date: Friday, November 23
Venue: Sixways
Kick-off: 19:45 GMT
Referee: Andrew Jackson
Assistant referees: Peter Allan, Hamish Smales
TMO: Geoffrey Warren