Saracens trio hit milestones in Bath clash

Two crucial games take place in the Premiership on Friday as Bath take on Saracens and Sale Sharks go head-to-head with Leicester Tigers.

Bath v Saracens

Tom Homer returns to the Bath starting line-up at full-back, with Jack Wilson also coming into the back three alongside Ruaridh McConnochie for the game against Saracens.

Jonathan Joseph continues at outside centre, with Jackson Willison joining the England international in the midfield. The half-back pairing remains the same, with Rhys Priestland and captain Will Chudley at fly-half and scrum-half respectively.

Nathan Catt, Tom Dunn and Henry Thomas form the front-row trio, whilst Levi Douglas starts alongside Dave Attwood in the second-row.

Elliott Stooke switches to the back-row and Miles Reid will make his first start in the Premiership at openside flanker after impressing as a second-half replacement last week. Zach Mercer completes the pack at number eight.

Tom Ellis completes his return to the squad, with the back-rower named among the replacements.

Meanwhile, three Saracens will reach significant milestones on Friday against Bath.

Winger David Strettle makes his 150th appearance for the club, nine years after making a try-scoring debut at home to Sale Sharks.

Long-serving back Alex Goode, who will co-captain the side at The Rec alongside Jackson Wray, features for the 200th time in the Premiership while it will be fellow academy graduate Ben Spencer’s 100th league match.

All three have been named as starters for the trip to Somerset with Alex Lewington and Alex Lozowski joining them in the back division.

Elsewhere, Vincent Koch, Mike Rhodes and Schalk Burger all return to the starting XV.

Form: Bath’s only victory in the last four rounds of Premiership Rugby was 30-13 at home to Newcastle Falcons on February 16. Bath’s 29-31 defeat to Harlequins last weekend was their first reversal at the Rec in any competition since early December. Saracens have lost just one of their last seven first team matches: 24-30 at Gloucester in round 14. Sarries have lost their last three away games in the Premiership but have not lost four in a row on the road since 2010. The last five meetings between the two clubs have all been won by the home side on the day while Saracens’ only victory at the Rec in the last five years was 30-10 in April 2016.

The teams:

Bath: 15 Tom Homer, 14 Jack Wilson, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Jackson Willison, 11 Ruaridh McConnochie, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Will Chudley (c), 8 Zach Mercer, 7 Miles Reid, 6 Elliott Stooke, 5 Levi Douglas, 4 Dave Attwood, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Nathan Catt
Replacements: 16 Ross Batty, 17 Beno Obano, 18 Anthony Perenise, 19 Jack Davies, 20 Tom Ellis, 21 Kahn Fotuali’i, 22 Freddie Burns, 23 Max Clark

Saracens: 15 Max Malins, 14 David Strettle, 13 Nick Tompkins, 12 Alex Lozowski, 11 Alex Lewington, 10 Alex Goode (cc), 9 Ben Spencer, 8 Jackson Wray (cc), 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Mike Rhodes, 5 Nick Isiekwe, 4 Will Skelton, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Tom Woolstencroft, 1 Richard Barrington
Replacements: 16 Joe Gray, 17 Titi Lamositele, 18 Christian Judge, 19 Dom Day, 20 Ben Earl, 21 Tom Whiteley, 22 Marcelo Bosch, 23 Matt Gallagher

Venue: The Rec
Kick-off: 19:45 GMT
Referee: Andrew Jackson
Assistant referees: Jack Makepeace, Jonathan Healy
TMO: Geoff Warren

Sale Sharks v Leicester Tigers

Josh Beaumont returns to Sale Sharks’ back-row for the visit of Leicester Tigers in their Premiership Round 16 clash at the AJ Bell Stadium.

Arron Reed deputises on the left wing for Byron McGuigan, who is away with Scotland, whilst on the bench Gus Warr replaces the injured Will Cliff. Paolo Odogwu steps into the gap vacated by Reed and lock Matt Postlethwaite is named.

Meanwhile, Harry Simmons makes his first appearance of the season for Leicester and Leonard Sarto starts a Premiership fixture for the first time.

Scrum-half Simmons has returned to full fitness from a knee injury and starts following injury to both Ben White and Sam Harrison in the win over Wasps last weekend, while Italy international Sarto came off the bench in that fixture and is included on the wing as Jonah Holmes moves to full-back.

Tigers head coach Geordan Murphy pairs George Worth and Kyle Eastmond at centre with Gareth Owen ruled out after a head injury last weekend.

There is only one change in the pack where England U20s prop Joe Heyes steps up to start with Dan Cole on England duty at the Six Nations.

Form: Sale Sharks have lost just twice in the last eight rounds of the Premiership, but both of those defeats have been in the last three games. The Sharks have lost their last two matches at AJ Bell Stadium, against Newcastle in the Premiership Rugby Cup and to Exeter in round 15. They have not lost three in succession at home since New Year 2017. Leicester Tigers beat Wasps at Welford Road last weekend but have not won successive league encounters since rounds five and six. Tigers’ only away win in any competition since they beat Sale in round 22 last season was against Northampton at Twickenham in October. Leicester have won their last four matches against Sale in the Premiership since Sale’s 34-30 victory at AJ Bell Stadium in October 2016.

The teams:

Sale: 15 Luke James, 14 Denny Solomona, 13 James O’Connor, 12 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 11 Arron Reed, 10 Sam James, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Josh Beaumont, 7 Ben Curry, 6 Jono Ross (c), 5 James Phillips, 4 Bryn Evans, 3 WillGriff John, 2 Rob Webber, 1 Valery Morozov
Replacements: 16 Curtis Langdon, 17 Tom Bristow, 18 James Jones, 19 Matt Postlethwaite, 20 Cameron Neild, 21 Gus Warr, 22 Cameron Redpath, 23 Paolo Odogwu

Leicester: 15 Jonah Holmes, 14 Leonardo Sarto, 13 George Worth, 12 Kyle Eastmond, 11 Sam Aspland-Robinson, 10 Joe Ford, 9 Harry Simmons, 8 Sione Kalamafoni, 7 Guy Thompson, 6 Mike Williams, 5 Graham Kitchener, 4 Will Spencer, 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Tom Youngs (c), 1 Facundo Gigena
Replacements: 16 Jake Kerr, 17 Campese Ma’afu, 18 David Feao, 19 Harry Wells, 20 Will Evans, 21 Sam Lewis, 22 Tom Hardwick, 23 Jordan Olowofela

Venue: AJ Bell Stadium
Kick-off: 20:00 GMT
Referee: Matthew Carley
Assistant referees: Jamie Leahy, Peter Allan
TMO: Graham Hughes