Preview: Worcester Warriors v Northampton Saints

Worcester Warriors welcome back captain GJ van Velze, scrum-half Francois Hougaard, openside flanker Sam Lewis and full-back Chris Pennell for Friday’s Premiership match against Northampton Saints at Sixways.

Van Velze, who signed a new two-year contract earlier this week, Hougaard and Lewis all return from injuries while Pennell will start against Northampton having completed a two-week suspension.

Lock Michael Fatialofa will make his Premiership debut having made his Warriors’ bow in last Saturday’s European Challenge Cup victory over Pau.

Marco Mama, who made his return from injury against Pau, has also been named in the starting XV and will make his first Premiership appearance since the 52-7 victory over Bristol in early October.

Among the replacements, hooker Joe Taufete’e is included in a Warriors’ squad for the first time since October 13. Taufete’e has recovered from concussion which he suffered playing for USA against Ireland last month.

Scott van Breda will make his Premiership debut if he comes off the bench.

Meanwhile, Northampton director of rugby Chris Boyd has made 10 changes to his starting line-up for Friday’s clash at Worcester.

The men in Black, Green and Gold travel to Sixways having won four of the last five matches between the two sides.

Club co-captains Dylan Hartley and Alex Waller return to lead the side at Sixways, with tighthead prop Paul Hill completing the front-row.

David Ribbans and Courtney Lawes start together in the engine room for the seventh time in the Premiership this term, while Tom Wood, Lewis Ludlam and Teimana Harrison make up the back-row for Northampton.

Cobus Reinach and Dan Biggar are reunited in Saints’ half-back positions, with number nine Reinach hoping to add to his tally of six tries in all competitions so far.

Luther Burrell and Piers Francis make up Northampton’s midfield once again, and Taqele Naiyaravoro, Tom Collins and Ahsee Tuala complete the line-up in the back three.

Finally, amongst the replacements, flanker Jamie Gibson is poised for his 100th club cap should he enter the fray from the bench, and Heinrich Brüssow is in line for his first Premiership appearance since September.

Form: Worcester Warriors’ last five Premiership Rugby matches have all been won by the home side on the day. The Warriors have won their last five home matches in all competitions since Newcastle’s 23-20 victory in Round Three of Premiership Rugby. Northampton Saints’ only win in the last four rounds of Premiership Rugby was 36-17 at home to Wasps on 17 November. The Saints have won three of their last four games at Franklin’s Gardens in all tournaments. Worcester have beaten Northampton just twice since 2011, both at Sixways in Premiership Rugby, in 2015 and 2017.

The teams:

Worcester: 15 Chris Pennell, 14 Bryce Heem, 13 Francois Venter, 12 Ryan Mills, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Duncan Weir, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 GJ van Velze(c), 7 Sam Lewis, 6 Marco Mama, 5 Michael Fatialofa, 4 Anton Bresler, 3 Nick Schonert, 2 Jack Singleton, 1 Callum Black
Replacements: 16 Joe Taufete‘e, 17 Ethan Waller, 18 Gareth Milasinovich, 19 Pierce Phillips, 20 Ted Hill, 21 Jonny Arr, 22 Ollie Lawrence, 23 Scott van Breda

Northampton: 15 Ahsee Tuala, 14 Tom Collins, 13 Luther Burrell, 12 Piers Francis, 11 Taqele Naiyaravoro, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Teimana Harrison, 7 Lewis Ludlam, 6 Tom Wood, 5 Courtney Lawes, 4 David Ribbans, 3 Paul Hill, 2 Dylan Hartley (cc), 1 Alex Waller (cc)
Replacements: 16 James Fish, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Ben Franks, 19 Api Ratuniyarawa, 20 Jamie Gibson, 21 Heinrich Brüssow, 22 Alex Mitchell, 23 Fraser Dingwall

Date: Friday, December 21
Venue: Sixways
Kick-off: 19:45 GMT
Referee: Wayne Barnes
Assistant Referees: Paul Dix, Anthony Woodthorpe
TMO: Rowan Kitt