Premiership Preview: Friday

Three Premiership games take place on Friday with Northampton hosting Bath, Exeter travelling to Worcester and Sale welcoming London Irish.

Northampton Saints v Bath

Northampton have made a number of changes in the pack, with Mikey Haywood, Paul Hill and David Ribbans all making their first Premiership starts of the season.

Dylan Hartley (hand) and Tom Wood (shoulder) are on the sidelines, although both are anticipated to be in training next week. Piers Francis (jaw) and Stephen Myler (leg) continue to make good progress in their respective rehabilitation programmes.

Sam Underhill will make his Bath debut against Northampton Saints in the Premiership clash at Franklin’s Gardens.

Underhill is one of four changes to the starting line-up that beat Saracens 31-21 last time out, with Ben Tapuai, Kahn Fotuali’i and Charlie Ewels all making their first starts of the season.

England international Underhill lines up on the openside flank, forming a formidable back-row with Taulupe Faletau and captain Matt Garvey. Ewels comes in to the second row alongside Elliott Stooke, whilst the front-row is unchanged.

Fotuali’i, who came on early in the first-half last week at the Rec, links up with Rhys Priestland in the half-backs, as Tapuai joins Jonathan Joseph in the midfield. Semesa Rokoduguni, who has scored three tries in two games, and Matt Banahan start out wide, with Anthony Watson providing the threat from full-back.

Form: Northampton Saints have scored 24 points, including three tries, in both of their matches this year, however in the first they conceded 55, but in the second it was only 11. The Saints have lost just once at Franklin’s Gardens in Premiership Rugby since November, to Leicester in March. Bath Rugby’s only defeat in the last four rounds of Premiership Rugby was at Sale in the final game of the 2016/17 campaign. Bath’s victory at Leicester on the opening weekend ended a seven game losing streak on the road in Premiership Rugby. Bath achieved the season’s double over The Saints in 2016/17, something they had not achieved since 1999/2000. Bath have not won successive league games at Franklin’s Gardens since 1994.

The teams:

Bath: 15 Anthony Watson, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Ben Tapuai, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Kahn Fotuali’i, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Matt Garvey (c), 5 Elliott Stooke, 4 Charlie Ewels, 3 Anthony Perenise, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Beno Obano
Replacements: 16 Jack Walker, 17 Nick Auterac, 18 Scott Andrews, 19 James Phillips, 20 Paul Grant, 21 Darren Allinson, 22 Freddie Burns, 23 Max Clark

Northampton: 15 Ahsee Tuala, 14 George North, 13 Rob Horne, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 Tom Collins, 10 Harry Mallinder, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Teimana Harrison, 7 Jamie Gibson, 6 Courtney Lawes (c), 5 David Ribbans, 4 Michael Paterson, 3 Paul Hill, 2 Mikey Haywood, 1 Alex Waller
Replacements: 16 Reece Marshall, 17 Campese Ma’afu, 18 Kieran Brookes, 19 Christian Day, 20 Lewis Ludlam, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 James Grayson, 23 Ben Foden

Date: Friday, September 15
Venue: Franklin’s Gardens
Kick-off: 19:45 local (18:45 GMT)
Referee: Thomas Foley
Assistant Referees: Jack Makepeace & Simon McConnell
TMO: Graham Hughes

Worcester Warriors v Exeter Chiefs

Warriors have made just one change to the starting line-up ahead of this Friday’s Premiership battle with reigning champions Exeter Chiefs.

Tighthead Biyi Alo, who crossed the whitewash after coming on as a replacement in the first minute of last weekend’s clash with Wasps, starts in the front row next to Ryan Bower and Jack Singleton.

Alo replaces Nick Schonert who is sidelined with a lengthy ankle injury while Pierce Phillips keeps his place in the second row alongside skipper Donncha O’Callaghan.

Matt Cox, Sam Lewis and GJ van Velze occupy the back row once again while Jonny Arr and Tom Heathcote form the half-back pairing.

Ben Te’o and Jackson Willison start in midfield while the pacey back three of Bryce Heem, Perry Humphreys and Josh Adams will look to cause the Chiefs a headache on Friday night under the lights of Sixways.

Tighthead Gareth Milasinovich returns to the squad following a hamstring injury and could make his first appearance of the campaign from the replacements bench.

Exeter Chiefs have made just one change to their starting XV with Carl Rimmer coming into the side for Ben Moon in the front-row.

With normal service resumed at the weekend with victory over London Irish, defending Premiership champions Exeter Chiefs take to the road for their latest top-flight engagement.

Floored by a late sucker punch at Gloucester in their seasonal opener, Rob Baxter’s side wasted little time in rediscovering their winning formula last Saturday, producing a five-try display that saw off the Exiles, as well as underlining the hallmarks of their title-winning credentials of last season.

Not surprisingly, Baxter sticks with a virtually unchanged line-up with the sole change to his matchday 23 coming in the front-row, where Carl Rimmer swaps place with Ben Moon at loosehead. Otherwise, it’s ‘as you were’ for the Chiefs, who have never tasted defeat to the Warriors since being promoted into the Premiership back in 2010.

Form: Worcester Warriors have slipped to four straight defeats in Aviva Premiership Rugby since beating Bath 25-19 at Sixways in April. The Warriors have lost their last two home games, to Leicester and Wasps, but have not been defeated three times in succession at Sixways since February 2016. Exeter Chiefs only defeat in Premiership Rugby since November came on the opening evening this season at Gloucester. The Chiefs have not lost successive away games in the tournament since April 2016. Exeter have a perfect played ten, won ten record against Worcester in Premiership Rugby, with the Warriors most recent success over the Devonians being 25-14 at the old County Ground in League Division 1 in 2004.

The teams:

Worcester: 15 Josh Adams, 14 Perry Humphreys, 13 Jackson Willison, 12 Ben Te’o, 11 Bryce Heem, 10 Tom Heathcote, 9 Jonny Arr, 8 GJ van Velze, 7 Sam Lewis, 6 Matt Cox, 5 Pierce Phillips, 4 Donncha O’Callaghan (c), 3 Biyi Alo, 2 Jack Singleton, 1 Ryan Bower
Replacements: 16 Joe Taufete’e, 17 Ethan Waller, 18 Gareth Milasinovich, 19 Christian Scotland-Williamson, 20 Alafoti Faosiliva, 21 Peter Stringer, 22 Sam Olver, 23 Jamie Shillcock

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

Date: Friday, September 16
Venue: Sixways Stadium
Kick-off: 19:45 local (18:45 GMT)
Referee: Ian Tempest
Assistant Referees: Adam Leal & Philip Waters
TMO: Keith Lewis

Sale Sharks v London Irish

Sale have made four changes to the side that lost to Newcastle for Friday’s clash with London Irish.

Captain Will Addison moves to full-back, Josh Charnley makes his first appearance of the season on the left wing, Bryn Evans returns at lock to face his former club and Marc Jones makes his first start at hooker following his return from Bristol in the close season.

Speaking about the game boss Steve Diamond said, “There is no doubt that London Irish Director of Rugby Nick Kennedy and his coaching staff have done a fantastic job bringing the club back up to the Premiership. We are under no illusions that we face a big task as we look to get our season really up and rolling by registering our first win of the campaign. Last Friday’s 13-12 defeat at home to Newcastle was obviously very frustrating for us all.”

Diamond added: “We didn’t play well in certain areas against Newcastle and for us to be highly competitive in this league winning at home is very important. As a club, we pride ourselves on setting the highest of standards and the disappointment last Friday was that we didn’t meet them. Rest assured that everyone has been working extremely hard on and off the training ground this week and I’m hopeful that our efforts ensure we will get the turnaround in fortunes that we all want to see.”

Meanwhile, London Irish have made four changes for the Premiership clash.

Ben Franks captains the side, the double World Cup-winning All Black replacing Petrus Du Plessis at tighthead. Franks packs down alongside hooker Dave Porecki who comes in for David Paice, while in the backline Fijian international Aseli Tikoirotuma and Brendan McKibbin start at outside centre and scrum-half respectively.

The Exiles travel to Greater Manchester with five points to their name, having defeated Harlequins in the season opener at Twickenham.

Looking for his side to improve on last week’s performance at Exeter Chiefs, Exiles’ boss Nick Kennedy said: “We’ve addressed a few things from the Exeter game and as a team we’re looking forward to the challenge that awaits us at Sale.

“Sale are a physical side and we will need to match them in that department from the very first whistle.

“I’ve made some changes to the team to freshen things up after the first two rounds of the season and I’m looking forward to seeing how Ben Franks, Dave Porecki, Aseli Tikoirotuma and Brendan McKibbin all do from the start.”

Form: Worcester Warriors have slipped to four straight defeats in Premiership Rugby since beating Bath 25-19 at Sixways in April. The Warriors have lost their last two home games, to Leicester and Wasps, but have not been defeated three times in succession at Sixways since February 2016. Exeter Chiefs only defeat in Premiership Rugby since November came on the opening evening this season at Gloucester. The Chiefs have not lost successive away games in the tournament since April 2016. Exeter have a perfect played ten, won ten record against Worcester in Premiership Rugby, with the Warriors most recent success over the Devonians being 25-14 at the old County Ground in League Division 1 in 2004.

The teams:

Sale: 15 Will Addison (c), 14 Denny Solomona, 13 Sam James, 12 Mark Jennings, 11 Josh Charnley, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Josh Strauss, 7 Ben Curry, 6 Jono Ross (cc), 5 Josh Beaumont, 4 Bryn Evans, 3 Alex Tarus, 2 Marc Jones, 1 Ross Harrison
Replacements: 16 Rob Webber, 17 James Flynn, 18 Halani Aulika, 19 Andre Ostrikov, 20 Tom Curry, 21 TJ Ioane, 22 Will Cliff, 23 Mike Haley

London Irish: 15 Tommy Bell, 14 Alex Lewington, 13 Aseli Tikoirotuma, 12 Luke McLean, 11 Topsy Ojo, 10 James Marshall, 9 Brendan McKibbin, 8 Ofisa Treviranus 7 Blair Cowan, 6 Mike Coman, 5 Sebastian De Chaves, 4 Franco van der Merwe, 3 Ben Franks (c), 2 Dave Porecki, 1 Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi
Replacements: 16 David Paice, 17 Harry Elrington, 18 Petrus Du Plessis, 19 Josh McNally, 20 Conor Gilsenan, 21 Scott Steele, 22 Greig Tonks 23 Napolioni Nalaga

Date: Friday, September 16
Venue: AJ Bell Stadium
Kick-off: 20:00 local (19:00 GMT)
Referee: Wayne Barnes
Assistant Referees: Hamish Smales & Wayne Falla
TMO: Stuart Terheege