Aviva Premieship Round 3 - Preview and Discussion

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TABLE


Friday 14th September

Bath Rugby (4,4) v Northampton Saints (4,5) - 19:45 ESPN
Preview

Bath Team News:
Bath make two changes, Ben williams for the Injured Banahan and Paul James in for Nathan Catt.

15. Nick Abendanon, 14. Kyle Eastmond, 13. Dan Hipkiss, 12. Ben Williams, 11. Tom Biggs, 10. Olly Barkley, 9. Michael Claassens
1. Paul James, 2. Lee Mears, 3. David Wilson, 4. Stuart Hooper (c), 5. Dominic Day, 6. Simon Taylor, 7. Carl Fearns, 8. Ben Skirving

16. Ross Batty, 17. Nathan Catt, 18. Anthony Perenise, 19. Dave Attwood, 20. Josh Ovens, 21. Mark McMillan, 22. Ollie Devoto, 23. Jack Cuthbert


Saints Team News:
A few enforced changes for Saints - Burrell starts for the injured Pisi, tom Mercey is chosen ahead of PDJ to deputise for the Mooj. Finally Rhys Oakley stands in for the suspended van Velze. In the backs Myler chosen ahead of Lamb. Nice to see Lawes making an appearance on the Saints bench.

15 Ben FODEN, 14 Ken PISI, 13 Dom WALDOUCK ,12 Luther BURRELL ,11 Vasily ARTEMYEV ,10 Stephen MYLER ,9 Lee DICKSON ,
1 Soane TONGA'UIHA ,2 Dylan HARTLEY (capt) ,3 Tom MERCEY ,4 Samu MANOA ,5 Christian DAY ,6 Phil DOWSON ,7 Tom WOOD ,8 Rhys OAKLEY

16 Mike HAYWOOD 17 Alex WALLER 18 Paul DORAN JONES 19 Mark SORENSON 20 Courtney LAWES 21 Martin ROBERTS 22 Ryan LAMB 23 Tom MAY



Saturday 15th September

Worcester Warriors (1,0) v Gloucester Rugby (1,4) 13:30 ESPN
Preview

Worcester:
Warriors make changes on the wing, centre and back row with Walker, Carlisle and Kvesic coming in.
15 Chris Pennell, 14 Nikki Walker, 13 Alex Grove, 12 Joe Carlisle, 11 David Lemi, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Shaun Perry
1 Matt Mullan, 2 Aleki Lutui, 3 John Andress, 4 James Percival, 5 Dean Schofield (c), 6 Chris Jones, 7 Sam Betty, 8 Matt Kvesic

16 Ollie Hayes, 17 Ceri Jones, 18 James Currie, 19 Craig Gillies, 20 Semisi Taulava, 21 Jonny Arr, 22 Josh Matavesi, 23 Josh Drauniniu


Gloucester:
36 switches to 10 while Tindall returns in the 12 shirt.
Jonny May; Shane Monahan, Henry Trinder, Mike Tindall, James Simpson-Daniel; Billy Twelvetrees, Dan Robson;
Nick Wood, Huia Edmonds, Rupert Harden; Will James, Jim Hamilton (capt); Tom Savage, Andy Hazell, Ben Morgan

Darren Dawidiuk, Dan Murphy, Shaun Knight, Sione Kalamafoni, Akapusi Qera, Dave Lewis, Freddie Burns, Rob Cook




Harlequins (5,5) v Sale Sharks (0,1) – 15:00
Preview

Quins:
Care switches with Dickson, while Easter is back at 8 seeing Guest moving to 6. Clegg replaces Botica on the bench.

15 Mike Brown, 14 Tom Williams, 13 George Lowe, 12 Jordan Turner-Hall, 11 Ugo Monye, 10 Nick Evans, 9 Danny Care
1 Joe Marler, 2 Joe Gray, 3 James Johnston, 4 Charlie Matthews, 5 George Robson, 6 Tom Guest, 7 Chris Robshaw (C), 8 Nick Easter

16 Rob Buchanan, 17 Darryl Marfo, 18 Will Collier, 19 Peter Browne, 20 Maurie Fa'asavalu, 21 Karl Dickson, 22 Rory Clegg, 23 Matt Hopper


Sale:
cueto back into the Sales strarting XV

15.Rob Miller, 14.Tom Brady, 13.Johnny Leota, 12.Sam Tuitupou, 11.Mark Cueto , 10.Danny Cipriani, 9.Dwayne Peel ,
1.Eifion Lewis-Roberts, 2.Joe Ward, 3.Vadim Cobilas, 4.Richie Gray, 5.Kearnan Myall, 6.James Gaskell , 7.David Seymour (capt.), 8.Richie Vernon

16.Tommy Taylor, 17.Alasdair Dickinson, 18.Henry Thomas, 19.Fraser McKenzie, 20.Mark Easter, 21.Will Cliff, 22.Nick Macleod, 23.Mark Jennings




London Wasps (1,1) v London Irish (0,0) – 15:00
Preview

Wasps:
Masi returns for Wasps in the centre, while Stephen Jones makes his AP debut. Lindsay, Haskell and Vunipola move to the bench with thomas, Palmer and Johnson starting. Launchberry moves to 6.

1 Tim Payne, 2 T Rhys Thomas, 3 Fabio Staibano, 4 Tom Palmer, 5 Marco Wentzel, 6 Joe Launchbury, 7 Jonathan Poff, 8 Ashley Johnson
9 Joe Simpson, 10 Stephen Jones ,11 Christian Wade ,12 Andrea Masi, 13 Elliot Daly, 14 Tom Varndell, 15 Hugo Southwell (c)

16 Tom Lindsay, 17 Simon McIntyre, , 18 Zak Taulafo, 19 James Haskell, 20 Billy Vunipola, 21 Charlie Davies, 22 Nick Robinson, 23 Tommy Bell


London Irish:

15. Tom Homer; 14. Topsy Ojo*13. Jonathan Joseph*; 12. Sailosi Tagicakibau*; 11. Marland Yarde 10. Steve Shingler; 9. Tomás O’Leary*; 1. Max Lahiff; 2. Scott Lawson*; 3. Leo Halavatau; 4. George Skivington; 5. Bryn Evans*; 6. Declan Danaher (Captain); 7. Ofisa Treviranus*; 8. Jon Fisher

16. Brian Blaney; 17. Halani Aulika*; 18. John Ryan; 19. Kieran Low; 20. Alex Gray; 21. Anthony Watson; 22. Shane Geraghty*; 23. Jack Moates



Saracens (5,4) v Leicester Tigers (5,5) – 15:30 SKY
Preview

Saracens Team News:
A fair few changes for Sarries - Carlos Nieto, Jackson Wray, Neil de Kock, Owen Farrell and James Short recalled to the starting line-up, with Petrus du Plessis, Will Fraser, Richard Wigglesworth, Charlie Hodgson and Chris Wyles switching to the replacement's bench.

15 Alex Goode,
14 Chris Ashton, 13 Joel Tomkins, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 James Short, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Neil de Kock,
1 Mako Vunipola, 2 Schalk Brits, 3 Carlos Nieto, 4 Steve Borthwick (c), 5 Mouritz Botha, 6 Kelly Brown, 7 Jackson Wray, 8 Ernst Joubert

16 John Smit, 17 Rhys Gill, 18 Petrus du Plessis, 19 Alistair Hargreaves, 20 Will Fraser, 21 Richard Wigglesworth, 22 Charlie Hodgson, 23 Chris Wyles


Tigers Team News:
Tigers, bringing in Cole for Castro and Logo for Stanko. Final change on the bench sees Chuter replacing Hawkins.

15 Geordan Murphy (c), 14 Scott Hamilton, 13 Manusamoa Tuilagi, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Vereniki Goneva, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Sam Harrison
1 Logovi'i Mulipola, 2 Tom Youngs, 3 Dan Cole, 4 Graham Kitchener, 5 Geoff Parling, 6 Steve Mafi, 7 Julian Salvi, 8 Thomas Waldrom

16 George Chuter, 17 Boris Stankovich, 18 Martin Castrogiovanni, 19 Rob Andrew, 20 Jordan Crane, 21 Patrick Phibbs, 22 George Ford, 23 Matt Smiths swap prop




Sunday 16th September

London Welsh (0,0) v Exeter Chiefs (5,1) - 15:00
Preview

Exeter Chiefs:
Some reshuffling of the backs I understand.
15 Luke Arscott, 14 Ian Whitten, 13 Sireli Naqelevuki, 12 Phil Dollman, 11 Matt Jess, 10 Ignacio Mieres, 9 Will Chudley
1 Brett Sturgess, 2 Chris Whitehead, 3 Craig Mitchell, 4 Tom Hayes (capt), 5 James Hanks, 6 Tom Johnson, 7 James Scaysbrook, 8 Richard Baxter

16 Simon Alcott, 17 Ben Moon, 18 Carl Rimmer, 19 Aly Muldowney, 20 James Phillips, 21 Kevin Barrett, 22 Gareth Steenson, 23 Jack Nowell



London Welsh:
15. Tom Arscott, 14. Phil Mackenzie*, 13. Sonny Parker*, 12. Hudson Tonga’uiha*, 11. Nick Scott, 10. Gordon Ross*, 9. Tyson Keats,
1. Frank Montanella*, 2. Neil Briggs, 3. Paulica Ion*, 4 Jonathan Mills ©, 5. Matt Corker, 6. Daniel Browne, 7. Mike Denbee, 8. Ed Jackson.

16. Dan George, 17. Tom Bristow, 18. Arthur Joly, 19. Kirill Kulemin*, 20. Alfie To’oala*, 21. Jonah Holmes, 22. James Lewis, 23. Seb Jewell.

LondonTiger wrote:He may not be a trophy hunter, but he has one contract left in him and a duty to his family.

True but then staying London on what I imagine is a very good wage wouldn't be a bad thing. I wouldn't sniff at a £250k contract

LondonTiger wrote:He may not be a trophy hunter, but he has one contract left in him and a duty to his family.

Very true. It would be hard for any player in that situation to turn down a big offer.