Premiership Preview: Friday

The Premiership season kicks off with two games on Friday as Gloucester host Exeter while Newcastle welcome Worcester.

Gloucester v Exeter

There are two debutants in the starting XV for the Cherry and Whites – Fraser Balmain and Jason Woodward – with three more potentially amongst the replacements in Gareth Denman, Ed Slater and Ruan Ackermann.

Meanwhile, Tom Savage will make his 150th competitive appearance for the club.

Head Coach Johan Ackermann, previewing the game with the media this week, admitted that he’s very much looking forward to his first Premiership game at Kingsholm.

“It’s going to be a great experience for myself, I had a bit of a taste of it last Friday, but the real McCoy is this Friday when hopefully it’s a sold out stadium and I can’t wait to experience the atmosphere I’ve heard all about.”

And, talking about the prospect of taking on the defending champions.

“We’ve had a good look at them and they’re obviously a quality team, I’ve the utmost respect for what they’ve achieved. They’re a quality side, very close, work extremely hard and are a physical side.

“It’s a great challenge but this is why we play the game, to test yourself constantly at the highest level. Playing against Exeter, as the defending champions in the first round, is a great start and we’ll know where we are.

“But you can only control what you can control. We can control our own mindset and how we pitch up on Friday. We need to focus on ourselves and what we do although we will respect the opposition.”

Although Chiefs coach Rob Baxter has added six new faces to the playing ranks at Sandy Park in the summer, only one – Aussie scrum-half Nic White – makes the starting XV for tomorrow’s encounter. Fellow newcomer and former Cherry & Whites favourite, Matt Kvesic, is named among the Exeter replacements.

Elsewhere, it’s a fairly settled look to the visiting line-up with nine of tomorrow’s starters having also run out from the outset in May’s Grand Final at HQ.

Having that experience in tow will be key for the Chiefs, who will certainly be looking to ensure they don’t start this campaign as they did 12 months ago.

Baxter added: “Last year it took us a little while to come to terms with the fact that if you lose a Premiership final, you should only be talking about winning one. Now, having won the final, as a team we have to be comfortable about winning it again. Teams are very fluid things. They’re like animals, they grow and they change, so it will be interesting to see how we grow and change in the situation we find ourselves in.

“As I said, we worked extremely hard to win the Premiership. Now, if you want to win the Premiership again, you have to want to deal with the seasons that follow it. Some of our players will thrive on that, some of them will take a little while to get used to it. However, I am sure that over the course of the season, we will come through very strongly again.”

Form: Gloucester head coach Johan Ackermann takes charge of his first Premiership Rugby match after last month he guided the Lions to this year’s Super Rugby Final. Gloucester Rugby concluded last season with three defeats in all tournaments including a loss in the European Challenge Cup final to Stade Francais at Murrayfield. Gloucester’s only victory in round 1 in the last seven seasons came at Newcastle in 2015. Reigning Aviva Premiership Rugby champions Exeter Chiefs are unbeaten in their last 17 fixtures in the competition, and if they avoid defeat tonight will break Leicester Tigers previous record of unbeaten  games set between 1999-2000. The Chiefs most recent defeat in the tournament was at home to Bath at the end of October. The Devonians have won just once on the opening weekend in the past four seasons: 52-0 at London Welsh in 2014. The last seven fixtures between the two clubs in Aviva Premiership Rugby are evenly split with three wins apiece plus a draw. The Chiefs have won on three of their last five visits to Kingsholm in the competition.

The teams:

Gloucester: 15 Jason Woodward, 14 Ollie Thorley, 13 Andy Symons, 12 Mark Atkinson, 11 Henry Purdy, 10 Billy Burns, 9 Willi Heinz (c), 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Jacob Rowan, 6 Lewis Ludlow, 5 Jeremy Thrush, 4 Tom Savage, 3 Fraser Balmain, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 John Afoa
Replacements: 16 Motu Matu’u, 17 Josh Hohneck, 18 Gareth Denman, 19 Ed Slater, 20 Ruan Ackermann, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Billy Twelvetrees, 22 Matt Scott

Exeter: 15 Phil Dollman, 14 Olly Woodburn, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Ian Whitten, 11 Max Bodilly, 10 Gareth Steenson, 9 Nic White, 8 Sam Simmonds, 7 Don Armand, 6 Dave Dennis, 5 Jonny Hill, 4 Ollie Atkins, 3 Harry Williams, 2 Jack Yeandle (c), 1 Ben Moon
Replacements:  16 Elvis Taione, 17 Carl Rimmer, 18 Tomas Francis, 19 Sam Skinner, 20 Matt Kvesic, 21 Jack Maunder, 22 Jack Nowell, 23 Lachie Turner

Date: Friday, September 1
Venue: Kingsholm Stadium
Kick-Off: 19:45 pm local (18:45 GMT)
Referee: Matthew Carley
Assistant Referees: Paul Dix, Jonathan Healy
TMO: Sean Davey

Newcastle v Worcester

Simon Hammersley will make his first Premiership appearance in more than nine months for Newcastle Falcons.

The fit-again full-back has scored in his last two pre-season appearances after recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament tear sustained last November, and forms part of a Falcons side which sees a competitive debut for Fijian international centre Josh Matavesi.

Sonatane Takulua starts at scrum-half in the week the Tongan signed a new four-year deal with the club, Joel Hodgson starting at fly-half in a side captained by flanker Will Welch.

Summer signings Toby Flood and DTH van der Merwe miss out with minor niggles, England international Mark Wilson taking up his place in the back row after a summer which saw him making his international debut in a 2-0 series win in Argentina.

“Pre-season is behind the boys now and we’re into the proper business,” said director of rugby Dean Richards.

“There have been enough weight training sessions, enough on-field running sessions and enough cardiovascular sessions. The boys have had enough of it to be honest with you, because they just want to get out there and play. We’re going out there to score tries, we’ve put together a squad capable of doing that and there’s a huge amount of excitement around the club.”

Will Spencer and Nick Schonert will return to action this Friday night for Worcester.

The pair haven’t featured for Warriors in pre-season but are straight into the side which is led by new Club captain Donncha O’Callaghan.

Schonert starts in the front row with Ryan Bower and Jack Singleton while Spencer accompanies O’Callaghan in the second row.

Number eight GJ van Velze returns to the side for his first competitive game in what is almost a year to the day since his last appearance, after returning from a concussion setback.

Vice-captain Van Velze is joined in the back row by Welshman Sam Lewis and Matt Cox while Jonny Arr and Tom Heathcote form the half-back combination.

Jackson Willison and Wynand Olivier form an experienced centre partnership while Josh Adams, Bryce Heem and Dean Hammond occupy the back three.

New signings Ethan Waller, Pierce Phillips, Peter Stringer and Sam Olver are all named on the bench and could make their debuts should they feature in the North.

England and British & Irish Lions star Ben Te’o is also among the replacements.

Form: Dean Richards begins his 15th season leading a Premiership Rugby club, the tournament’s most experienced head coach has been in charge for 294 Premiership Rugby matches since his first with Leicester Tigers in 1998. Newcastle Falcons finished the 2016/17 campaign in 8th spot having won three of their last four matches. The Falcons beat Sale in round 1 last season – their first victory on the opening weekend since 2007. Worcester Warriors only victory in the last five rounds of Aviva Premiership Rugby in 2016/17 was 25- 19 at home to Bath on 15 April. Warriors have not won away from home in the competition since a trip to Harlequins in March 2016. Newcastle’s 16-14 victory over Worcester in their most recent meeting at Kingston Park in April ended a four game losing run to the Warriors, whilst Worcester’s record at Kingston Park in Premiership Rugby is won three, drawn two, lost five.

The teams:

Newcastle: 15 Simon Hammersley, 14 Alex Tait, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Josh Matavesi, 11 Belisario Agulla, 10 Joel Hodgson, 9 Sonatane Takulua, 8 Callum Chick, 7 Will Welch (c), 6 Mark Wilson, 5 Will Witty, 4 Calum Green, 3 Jon Welsh, 2 Kyle Cooper, 1 Rob Vickers
Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Sami Mavinga, 18 Trevor Davison, 19 Tevita Cavubati, 20 Nili Latu, 21 Sam Stuart, 22 Craig Willis, 23 Juan Pablo Socino

Worcester: 15 Josh Adams, 14 Dean Hammond, 13 Wynand Olivier, 12 Jackson Willison, 11 Bryce Heem, 10 Tom Heathcote, 9 Jonny Arr, 8 GJ van Velze, 7 Sam Lewis, 6 Matt Cox, 5 Will Spencer, 4 Donnacha O’Callaghan (c), 3 Nick Schonert, 2 Jack Singleton, 1 Ryan Bower
Replacements: 16 Joe Taufete’e, 17 Ethan Waller, 18 Biyi Alo, 19 Pierce Phillips, 20 Alafoti Faosiliva, 21 Peter Stringer, 22 Sam Olver, 23 Ben Te’o

Date: Friday, September 1
Venue: Kingston Park
Kick-Off: 19:45 local (18:45 GMT)
Referee: Wayne Barnes
Assistant Referees: Adam Leal, Wayne Fella
TMO: Rowan Kitt