Premiership Round 13

Sorry been slow on this - getting back to work is a painful process.

Friday 7th 19:45
Bristol v Sale

Saturday 8th all 15:00
Harlequins v Exeter Chiefs
Newcastle Falcons v Northampton Saints
Saracens v Gloucester

Sunday 9th all 15:00
Bath v Worcester Warriors
Wasps v Leicester Tigers

Bristol vs Sale

Bristol: Morahan; Lloyd, Radradra, Bedlow, Purdy; Sheedy, Randall; Lahiff, Thacker, Sinckler, Joyce (capt), Hawkins, Vui, D Thomas, Harding.

Replacements: Capon, Woolmore, Afoa, Holmes, Heenan, Uren, O'Conor, Bates.

Sale: L James; McGuigan, R du Preez, Van Rensburg, Yarde; MacGinty, Cliff; Rodd, Ashman, Schonert, J-L du Preez, De Jager, Ross (capt), T Curry, D du Preez.

Replacements: Taylor, McIntyre, Oosthuizen, J-P du Preez, B Curry, Warr, S James, Hammersley.

All you need is locks, locks. Locks are all you need. Tigers name four in the starting lineup.

STARTING XV
15 Freddie Steward [45]
14 Harry Potter [25]
13 Matt Scott [34]
12 Dan Kelly [31]
11 Guy Porter [30]
10 George Ford [117]
9 Jack van Poortvliet [32]
1 Ellis Genge (c) [99]
2 Julián Montoya [14]
3 Dan Cole [277]
4 Calum Green [73]
5 Eli Snyman [8]
6 Harry Wells [138]
7 Tommy Reffell [60]
8 Ollie Chessum [21]
REPLACEMENTS
16 Charlie Clare [37]
17 James Whitcombe [10]
18 Joe Heyes [85]
19 Kini Murimurivalu [30]
20 Nic Dolly [13]
21 Ben Youngs [273]
22 Freddie Burns [85]
23 Matías Moroni [23]

Wasps XV: 15 Ali Crossdale (9), 14 Francois Hougaard (6), 13 Sam Spink (11), 12 Jimmy Gopperth (139), 11 Josh Bassett (161), 10 Charlie Atkinson (18), 9 Sam Wolstenholme (25); 1 Tom West (60), 2 Tom Cruse (105), 3 Jeffery Toomaga-Allen (56), 4 Vaea Fifita (10), 5 Elliott Stooke (11), 6 Alfie Barbeary (19), 7 Brad Shields (64) (c), 8 Tom Willis (50)

Replacements: 16 Dan Frost (8), 17 Robin Hislop (11), 18 Biyi Alo (25), 19 Tim Cardall (40), 20 Thomas Young (149), 21 Will Porter (39), 22 Ryan Mills (6), 23 Rob Miller (127)

Is that a winger and a hooker covering back-row for Leicester? Is there a covid outbreak to have only 1 fit back-rower or is this a slow move to rugby league?

Hazel Sapling wrote:Is that a winger and a hooker covering back-row for Leicester? Is there a covid outbreak to have only 1 fit back-rower or is this a slow move to rugby league?

Liebenburg shoulder injury.
Van Staden concussion.
Weise last week of suspension for yellow card accumulation.
Martin ? was slightly surprised to see him leave the pitch for Murimurivalu last week so must have picked up a knock.
Ilione shoulder injury though selection for the under 20s suggests he must be nearing a comeback after months out.

Henderson the lock is also out injured recovering from a nasty knee injury apparently.

Kyle Brink was given an early release to go back to the Bulls in SA having not been required for most of the season to date and having had lots of injury issues. Sods law he's now both fit and we have an injury crisis.

Other options would be a 19 year old backrow who's highest level of rugby to date is BUCS or an 18 year old lock who's played a couple of games for Notts.

Murimurivalu to channel his 7s days, his technique over the ball is pretty good.

Hazel Sapling wrote:Is that a winger and a hooker covering back-row for Leicester? Is there a covid outbreak to have only 1 fit back-rower or is this a slow move to rugby league?

For Leicester, it's a shame Jonny May left. Think of the hours of entertainment we would have if he was covering the back row.

Harlequins Starting XV
1. Joe Marler
2. Jack Walker
3. Will Collier
4. Matt Symons
5. Hugh Tizard
6. Tom Lawday
7. Jack Kenningham
8. Alex Dombrandt - Captain
9. Danny Care
10. Marcus Smith
11. Cadan Murley
12. Andre Esterhuizen
13. Luke Northmore
14. Joe Marchant
15. Tyrone Green

Impact Players
16. Jack Musk
17. Santiago Garcia Botta
18. Simon Kerrod
19. Dino Lamb
20. James Chisholm
21. Scott Steele
22. Huw Jones
23. Louis Lynagh

Unavailable due to injury:
Aaron Morris, Tommy Allan, Will Evans

Interestingly, the implication is that Louw and Lewies are fit but Collier and Tizard are picked ahead of them. It may be they're not fully match fit.

(quins vs) Exeterrr

Exeter: Hogg; Nowell, Slade, Whitten, Cordero; J Simmonds, Maunder; Hepburn, Yeandle (capt), Iosefa-Scott, Gray, Hill, Ewers, Kirsten, S Simmonds.

Replacements: Innard, Moon, Schickerling, S Skinner, Armand, Maunder, H Skinner, Hendrickson.

Newcastle Saints

Newcastle: Brown; Penny, Orlando, Burrell, Carreras; Hodgson, Schreuder; Cooper, McGuigan, Davison, Peterson, Robinson, Van der Walt, Welch (c), Chick.

Replacements: Blamire, Brocklebank, Tampin, Fearns, Graham, Stuart, Connon, Wacokecoke.

Northampton: Furbank; Skosan, Dingwall, Hutchinson, Collins; Biggar, Mitchell; Waller, Matavesi, Hill, Ribbans, Ratuniyarawa, Wood, Ludlam (c), Harrison.

Replacements: Fish, Iyogun, Painter, Coles, Wilkins, James, Litchfield, Freeman.

Sarries Gloucester

Saracens: Malins; Segun, Lozowski, Morris, Daly, Goode, Van Zyl; Vunipola, George (capt), Koch, Itoje, Swinson, Isiekwe, Earl, Christie.

Replacements: Woolstencroft, Mawi, Milasinovich, Hunter-Hill, McFarland, De Haas, Tompkins, Lewington.

Gloucester: Evans; Carreras, Harris, Atkinson, May, Hastings, Chapman; Seville, Singleton, Balmain, Clarke, Alemanno, Reid, Ludlow (capt), Ackermann.

Replacements: Socino, Knight, Gotovtsev, Slater, Clement, Meehan, Twelvetrees, Rees-Zammit

Bath side this weekend;
Bath Rugby: 15 Tom de Glanville, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Max Ojomoh, 11 Will Muir, 10 Orlando Bailey, 9 Ollie Fox; 1 Lewis Boyce, 2 Tom Doughty, 3 Will Stuart, 4 Josh McNally, 5 Charlie Ewels , 6 Tom Ellis, 7 Ewan Richards, 8 Josh Bayliss

Replacements: 16 Jacques du Toit, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 D’Arcy Rae, 19 Will Spencer, 20 Mike Williams, 21 Joe Simpson, 22 Max Clark, 23 Ruaridh McConnochie

In better news, Cokanasiga, Redpath, Schoeman and Faletau are close to returning but Cipriani still has a worrying concussion issue and Underhill misses this weekend also with concussion from the last game. Spencer is missing too, so 19 year old Bailey continues at FH with minimal support inside at 9 and 20 year old Ojomoh outside him. He is certainly getting experience at the deep end.
Looks like we have also seen the last of Watson and possibly Obano, both with ACL injuries and out for the season. Dunn is out and another first league start now, at hooker in Doughty - great name, with Miles Reid another missing for a substantial period.
It will be very interesting to see next season's new Coach make decisions on the current squad within the salary cap. Nine of that first XV have come through the academy.

(Bath vs) Worriers

Worcester: Shillcock; Humphreys, Venter (cc), Beck, Van der Merwe; Smith, Simpson; Sutherland, Annett, Judge, Batley, Kitchener, Hatherell, Hill (cc), Kvesic

Replacements: Baldwin, Waller, Tyack, Garvey, Lewis, Chudley, Morris, Doel