Wasps v Harlequins: Teams
Ceri Jones will lead out Harlequins on his 200th appearance for the club as they kick-off their season against Wasps at Twickenham.
Last Updated: 03/09/10 2:24pm
Ceri Jones will lead out Harlequins on his 200th appearance for the club as they kick-off their season against Wasps at Twickenham as part of the London double-header at HQ.
Quins face old rivals Wasps after London Irish play Saracens, and it will be a special occasion for Jones who has been given the honour of leading the team out by captain Chris Robshaw.
A strong English backbone bolsters the Quins team, with young centre pairing of Jordan Turner-Hall and George Lowe determined to show both the Premiership and Martin Johnson what they can do.
Tomas Vallejos will make his Premiership debut in the second row, behind Chris Brooker who returns from injury to play in the front row alongside Jones and Mark Lambert.
The bench is also strong, with former Falcons player Pete Browne hoping to make his Premiership debut for Quins, along with British Lion, Ollie Smith, who returns after two years with Montpellier.
Wasps signings
New signings Nic Berry, Riki Flutey, Richard Haughton and Andy Powell will all start for Wasps in front of an expected crowd around 70,000 at Twickenham.
Berry, who joined the Club from Racing Metro in the summer, comes in for Joe Simpson who is ruled out with a tight hamstring.
John Hart has been ruled out with a shoulder injury and makes way for Powell, while a rejuvenated Phil Vickery looks back to form after recovering from a neck injury which limited him last season.
Strength and depth is also seen on the bench with regulars Broster, Taulafo, Betsen, Ward-Smith and Walder joining young guns Tom Lindsay, Jack Wallace and new signing scrum half Charlie Davies.
"Whilst we still have a couple of niggles and feel the frustration of players like Joe Simpson (hamstring), John Hart (shoulder) and Christian Wade (wrist) who were all very much in contention for this game, we are confident in the depth of this squad and look forward to seeing our new signings mark a make alongside our regulars," said Wasps boss Tony Hanks.
"With over 70,000 fans at Twickenham there is no better way to open a season and we know it will be a highly competitive game against our local rival Quins."
Harlequins: 1 Ceri Jones, 2 Chris Booker, 3 Mark Lambert, 4 Ollie Kohn, 5 Tomas Vallejos, 6 Chris Robshaw (c), 7 Will Skinner, 8 Nick Easter, 9 Danny Care, 10 Nick Evans, 11 Ugo Monye, 12 Jordan Turner-Hall, 13 George Lowe, 14, Tom Williams, 15 Mike Brown
Replacements: 16 Matt Cairns, 17 Jor Marler, 18 James Johnston, 19 Peter Browne, 20 Tom Guest, 21 Karl Dickson, 22 Rory Clegg, 23 Ollie Smith
Wasps: 15 Mark Van Gisbergen, 14 Richard Haughton, 13 Ben Jacobs, 12 Dom Waldouck, 11 Tom Varndell, 10 Riki Flutey, 9 Nic Berry, 1 Tim Payne, 2 Rob Webber, 3 Phil Vickery, 4 Simon Shaw, 5 Richard Birkett, 6 Joe Worsley, 7 Tom Rees (c), 8 Andy Powell
Replacements: 16 Tom Lindsay, 17 Zak Taulafo, 18 Ben Broster, 19 Dan Ward-Smith, 20 Serge Betsen, 21 Charlie Davies, 22 Dave Walder, 23 Jack Wallace