Friday 22 March 2019 16:40, UK
The Gallagher Premiership returns this weekend and there are just six rounds to go before we dive into the realms of playoff rugby and the small matter of this year's final.
As always, after the culmination of the Guinness Six Nations Championship, there's the balancing act of re-introducing internationals for head coaches and directors of rugby to think about.
Already it's been a Premiership season like no other in terms of the ups and downs and there's absolutely no way of predicting what will happen as we race towards the end of the regular season.
The East Midlands derby will start the weekend with a bang as Geordan Murphy's men welcome Northampton Saints to Welford Road.
The Tigers go into it having won their last three Premiership home games, their best run in the tournament since December 2016, while Northampton Saints have lost their last two.
However, all at Saints will have been boosted by their Premiership Rugby Cup victory last weekend and will be eager to put right their 23-15 defeat at the hands of Leicester back in October.
Five of the Tigers' England internationals are back and will start, including Manu Tuilagi's first appearance after agreeing a new contract, however Ben Youngs misses out due to a knock.
Saints will be led by No 8 Teimana Harrison, Grand Slam winner Dan Biggar will marshal the troops from fly-half and join-up with the club's top-scorer Cobus Reinach at scrum-half.
Leicester Tigers: 15 Jordan Olowofela, 14 Sam Aspland-Robinson, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Kyle Eastmond, 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Sam Harrison, 1 Ellis Genge, 2 Tom Youngs (c), 3 Dan Cole, 4 Will Spencer, 5 Graham Kitchener, 6 Mike Williams, 7 Brendon O'Connor, 8 Guy Thompson.
Replacements: 16 Jake Kerr, 17 Facundo Gigena, 18 Joe Heyes, 19 Harry Wells, 20 Mike Fitzgerald, 21 Ben White, 22 Matt Toomua, 23 Gareth Owen.
Northampton Saints: 15 Ahsee Tuala, 14 Tom Collins, 13 Rory Hutchinson, 12 Piers Francis, 11 Taqele Naiyaravoro, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Cobus Reinach, 1 Francois Van Wyk, 2 James Fish, 3 Paul Hill, 4 Alex Moon, 5 Api Ratuniyarawa, 6 Jamie Gibson, 7 Heinrich Brüssow, 8 Teimana Harrison (c).
Replacements: 16 Reece Marshall, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Ben Franks, 19 James Craig, 20 Tom Wood, 21 Alex Mitchell 22 Andrew Kellaway, 23 George Furbank.
At Ashton Gate, Bristol Bears are looking to make it three Premiership wins on the bounce and if they do, it will be the first time that they've done so in the league since the 2006/07 season.
Pat Lam's side go into this weekend in ninth position, seven points ahead of Worcester, and eager to harness the power of home comforts and home support.
"It's huge having the home crowd with the numbers and the noise," said head coach Lam.
"There is so much evidence throughout the season of that crowd bringing us home and really influencing our performance.
"So, we look forward to a lot of people getting behind the team and we understand that responsibility for us to perform."
Lam makes five changes to his side including lock Ed Holmes returning from injury. But, they will be without Charles Piutau for four weeks. The flyer has a calf injury and is expected to return to action at the end of April.
In contrast, Warriors have their big guns available with Josh Adams and Ben Te'o both returning from Six Nations duty to start.
Te'o will don club colours for the first time since January, 19 when he started in their European Challenge Cup victory over Stade Français Paris.
Bristol Bears: 15 Luke Daniels, 14 Luke Morahan, 13 Piers O'Conor, 12 Siale Piutau (co-capt), 11 Tom Pincus; 10 Callum Sheedy, 9 Harry Randall; 1 Jake Woolmore, 2 Harry Thacker, 3 Lewis Thiede, 4 Ed Holmes, 5 Chris Vui, 6 Steve Luatua, 7 Jake Heenan, 8 Jordan Crane (co-capt).
Replacements: 16 Sam Parry, 17 Yann Thomas, 18 John Afoa, 19 Joe Batley, 20 Dan Thomas, 21 Andy Uren, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Mat Protheroe.
Worcester Warriors: 15 Chris Pennell, 14 Bryce Heem, 13 Ben Te'o, 12 Ryan Mills (c), 11 Josh Adams, 10 Jono Lance, 9 Francois Hougaard, 1 Callum Black, 2 Niall Annett, 3 Nick Schonert, 4 Anton Brelser, 5 Michael Fatialofa, 6 Ted Hill, 7 Sam Lewis, 8 Marco Mama.
Replacements: 16 Joe Taufete'e, 17 Ethan Waller, 18 Gareth Milasinovich, 19 Pierce Philips, 20 Carl Kirwan, 21 Michael Heaney, 22 Duncan Weir, 23 Will Butler.
The ardent Cherry and White fans at Kingsholm have witnessed just one Premiership loss there since September.
Gloucester's home record over Wasps is a strong one too - Dai Young's outfit haven't come away from the iconic ground what that winning-feeling since December 2014
This term Wasps haven't enjoyed themselves on the road, a 29-22 victory over Bristol Bears in Round 13 was their first away victory (in any competition) since the end of September.
Gloucester name a settled side with just one amendment to their starting XV from last time out - Franco Marais starts at hooker.
Joe Launchbury will lead Wasps with Brad Shields, Nathan Hughes, Elliot Daly and Zurabi Zhvania all being handed starts.
Amongst their replacements, Josh Bassett could make his 100th appearance for the club while Will Rowlands could be in line for his 50th Premiership appearance.
Gloucester Rugby: 15 Jason Woodward, 14 Tom Marshall, 13 Billy Twelvetrees, 12 Mark Atkinson, 11 Ollie Thorley; 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Willi Heinz (c), 1 Josh Hohneck, 2 Franco Marais, 3 Fraser Balmain, 4 Ed Slater, 5 Franco Mostert, 6 Ruan Ackermann, 7 Jaco Kriel, 8 Ben Morgan.
Replacements: 16 Henry Walker, 17 Val Rapava Ruskin, 18 Ruan Dreyer, 19 Freddie Clarke, 20 Jake Polledri, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Matt Banahan, 23 Charlie Sharples.
Wasps: 15 Willie Le Roux, 14 Marcus Watson, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Gaby Lovobalavu, 11 Elliot Daly, 10 Rob Miller, 9 Joe Simpson, 1 Zurabi Zhvania, 2 Tommy Taylor, 3 Will Stuart, 4 Joe Launchbury (c), 5 James Gaskell, 6 Brad Shield, 7 Nizaam Carr, 8 Nathan Hughes.
Replacements: 16 Tom Cruse, 17 Ben Harris, 18 Jake Cooper-Woolley, 19 Will Rowlands, 20 Ashley Johnson , 21 Will Porter, 22 Jacob Umaga, 23 Josh Bassett
Saracens will make London Stadium their home for their derby match and find themselves in second place in the table, despite their record of three wins and four losses in the last seven rounds.
For Quins, a five-match winning Premiership run was halted by Gloucester in Round 16 and previously trips on the road (near or far) haven't been positive ones. That said, they're turning that around having won their last two away matches.
Earlier on in the season, Mark McCall's side prevailed 25-20 over their London rivals but haven't actually achieved a Premiership Rugby double against them since 2014/15.
Kyle Sinckler starts for Harlequins and joins Joe Marler and Elia Elia in their front row while Danny Care has recovered from a rib injury to line-up at scrum-half.
Five of Saracens' Six Nations contingent will start - Liam Williams slots in at 15, Sean Maitland returns to the wing with Jamie George and Billy Vunipola featuring in the pack.
Ben Spencer, who earned his third England cap against Scotland, will face-off against Care. Saracens' captain Brad Barritt has recovered from injury to lead them at London Stadium.
Saracens: 15 Liam Williams, 14 David Strettle, 13 Alex Lozowski, 12 Brad Barritt (c), 11 Sean Maitland, 10 Alex Goode, 9 Ben Spencer, 1 Titi Lamositele, 2 Jamie George, 3 Vincent Koch, 4 Will Skelton, 5 Nick Isiekwe, 6 Jackson Wray, 7 Schalk Burger, 8 Billy Vunipola.
Replacements: 16 Tom Woolstencroft, 17 Richard Barrington, 18 Christian Judge, 19 Joel Kpoku, 20 Ben Earl, 21 Henry Taylor, 22 Max Malins, 23 Nick Tompkins.
Harlequins: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Nathan Earle, 13 Joe Marchant, 12 Ben Tapuai, 11 Ross Chisholm, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Danny Care, 1 Joe Marler, 2 Elia Elia, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 4 Matt Symons, 5 James Horwill (Co-Captain), 6 Jack Clifford, 7 Chris Robshaw (Co-Captain) 8 Alex Dombrandt.
Replacements: 16 Dave Ward, 17 Lewis Boyce, 18 Will Collier, 19 George Merrick, 20 Renaldo Bothma, 21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 22 Demetri Catrakilis, 23 Alofa Alofa.
Newcastle Falcons are also making a different venue home this weekend - St James' Park - and 12 months ago they beat Northampton 25-22 there with Vereniki Goneva's famous Alan Shearer try celebration.
Goneva has overcome a calf injury to start this time too with England flanker Mark Wilson taking the captaincy reins and Chris Harris also switching from international to domestic duties.
Life in the 2018/19 season has been tricky for Falcons, they're three points behind Worcester at the bottom of the table, but have won their last two in the competition.
Steve Diamond's Sale Sharks arrive having beaten the Falcons back in Round 6 but having not achieved a league-double over them in four years..
"We've had a hard training week and have been quite physical, said director of rugby Diamond.
"There's no bigger challenge: they were top for last season, and their present position doesn't reflect their abilities, as shown by their last two results.
"This is our hardest game so far, the Falcons are in a corner and will be fighting for their lives and we need to make sure we're as desperate for a result."
Newcastle Falcons: 15 Simon Hammersley, 14 Vereniki Goneva, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Josh Matavesi, 11 Sinoti Sinoti, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Sonatane Takulua, 1 Sam Lockwood, 2 George McGuigan, 3 Logovi'i Mulipola, 4 Calum Green, 5 Andrew Davidson, 6 Mark Wilson (c), 7 John Hardie, 8 Nemani Nagusa.
Replacements: 16 Kyle Cooper, 17 Adam Brocklebank, 18 David Wilson, 19 Evan Olmstead, 20 Gary Graham, 21 Sam Stuart, 22 Brett Connon, 23 Johnny Williams.
Sale Sharks: 15 Luke James, 14 Denny Solomona, 13 James O'Connor, 12 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 11 Byron McGuigan, 10 Sam James, 9 Faf de Klerk, 1 Ross Harrison, 2 Rob Webber, 3 WillGriff John, 4 Josh Beaumont, 5 James Phillips, 6 Tom Curry, 7 Ben Curry, 8 Jono Ross (c).
Replacements: 16 Curtis Langdon, 17 Tom Bristow, 18 Joe Jones, 19 Bryn Evans, 20 Cameron Neild, 21 Gus Warr, 22 Cameron Redpath, 23 Arron Reed.
Former Harlequin Karl Dickson will be the man in the middle for the final match of the weekend where the Chiefs look to extend their impressive Premiership record at Sandy Park.
The table-toppers haven't lost a league game at home since February 2018 and have won their last four against Bath in the competition.
England duo Jack Nowell and Henry Slade are brought into Chiefs' XV at the expense of Tom O'Flaherty and Ian Whitten.
Harry Williams starts at tight-head ahead of Greg Homes, while Nic White gets the nod at scrum-half in place of Jack Maunder.
Todd Blackadder's men have won two and lost three since the start of the year and don't have the services of Anthony Watson back yet.
Joe Cokanasiga and Ruaridh McConnochie will take a wing birth each while Jonathan Joseph and Jamie Roberts combine together to form an experienced midfield. Sam Underhill is poised to make an impact off the bench.
Exeter Chiefs: 15 Santiago Cordero, 14 Jack Nowell, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Ollie Devoto, 11 Olly Woodburn, 10 Gareth Steenson, 9 Nic White, 1 Alec Hepburn, 2 Jack Yeandle (c), 3 Harry Williams, 4 Dave Dennis, 5 Jonny Hill
6 Dave Ewers, 7 Don Armand, 8 Matt Kvesic.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Billy Keast, 18 Tomas Francis, 19 Mitch Lees, 20 Sam Skinner, 21 Jack Maunder, 22 Joe Simmonds, 23 Sam Hill.
Bath Rugby: 15 Tom Homer, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Ruaridh McConnochie, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Will Chudley (c), 1 Nathan Catt, 2 Tom Dunn, 3 Henry Thomas, 4 Elliott Stooke, 5 Charlie Ewels, 6 Tom Ellis, 7 Francois Louw , 8 Zach Mercer.
Replacements: 16 Jack Walker, 17 Beno Obano, 18 Anthony Perenise, 19 Levi Douglas, 20 Sam Underhill, 21 Kahn Fotuali'i, 22 Freddie Burns, 23 Max Clark.
