There are five matches scheduled for Saturday and Sunday with the marquee match at Sandy Park between champions Exeter and Harlequins.
Worcester Warriors v Northampton Saints
Back-line duo Francois Hougaard and Ryan Mills are both set for a return to action in this fixture for the Warriors.
Springbok Hougaard is set for his first appearance of the season after missing the start of the campaign through international duty and injury and links up with Jono Lance in the half-back combination.
Meanwhile, Mills is back in the side after a quad injury sustained in September against Gloucester, and partners Jackson Willison in the centres.
Chris Pennell is restored to the starting line-up at full-back and joins a back three which includes Bryce Heem and Josh Adams.
In the pack, Ethan Waller starts in the front row against his old club next to Jack Singleton and Nick Schonert, with the latter making his first Premiership appearance since picking up an ankle injury against Wasps in early September.
Skipper Donncha O’Callaghan and Will Spencer form the second row while GJ van Velze makes his comeback from concussion in the back row alongside Alafoti Faosiliva and Sam Lewis.
Matti Williams is among the replacements as he recovers from a fractured hand, while Gareth Milasinovich, Michael Dowsett, Sam Olver and Dean Hammond are all rewarded with a place in the squad after impressing in the recent cup competitions.
Meanwhile, Northampton Saints director of rugby Jim Mallinder has named a strong matchday squad for this encounter.
The backline shows three changes – a renewed centre partnership between Rob Horne and Luther Burrell, and Tom Collins’ inclusion on the wing.
A familiar looking front row of Alex Waller, Mikey Haywood and Kieran Brookes starts, while in the back row Jamie Gibson and Teimana Harrison also come in.
The teams:
Worcester Warriors: 15 Chris Pennell, 14 Bryce Heem, 13 Jackson Willison, 12 Ryan Mills, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Jono Lance, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 GJ van Velze, 7 Sam Lewis, 6 Alafoti Faosiliva, 5 Will Spencer, 4 Donncha O’Callaghan (c), 3 Nick Schonert, 2 Jack Singleton, 1 Ethan Waller
Replacements: 16 Matti Williams, 17 Ryan Bower, 18 Gareth Milasinovich, 19 Pierce Phillips, 20 Christian Scotland-Williamson, 21 Michael Dowsett, 22 Sam Olver, 23 Dean Hammond
Northampton Saints: 15 Harry Mallinder, 14 Ken Pisi, 13 Rob Horne, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 Tom Collins, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Teimana Harrison, 7 Jamie Gibson, 6 Tom Wood, 5 Sam Dickinson (c), 4 Michael Paterson, 3 Kieran Brookes, 2 Mikey Haywood, 1 Alex Waller
Replacements: 16 Reece Marshall, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Jamal Ford-Robinson, 19 Alex Moon, 20 Mitch Eadie, 21 Nic Groom, 22 Piers Francis, 23 Ben Foden
Date: Saturday, 18 November
Venue: Sixways
Kick-off: 13:00 GMT
Referee: Andrew Jackson
Assistant referees: Paul Burton, Philip Watters
TMO: David Sainsbury
Wasps v Newcastle Falcons
Ashley Johnson is set to make his 150th appearance for Wasps and will captain the side, while Jimmy Gopperth makes his 50th Premiership appearance for Wasps.
There are also welcome returns from injury for Kyle Eastmond, Gabiriele Lovobalavu and Kearnan Myall. Eastmond makes his first start since rupturing his Achilles against Gloucester at the end of February, while Lovobalavu and Myall have recovered from calf and ankle injuries respectively to take their place among the replacements.
Wasps’ two loan players, hooker Nathan Charles and back row Nizaam Carr, who made a try-scoring debut in the Anglo-Welsh Cup last week, are also poised to get their first taste of Premiership action.
Speaking ahead of the game, Wasps’ Director of Rugby Dai Young said: “It’s great to have three more players back from injury for this game and we’re looking forward to seeing them in action as they start to build match sharpness. We’re hoping to get back to somewhere near full-strength over the next month, which will be a real boost.
“It was really pleasing to finish the last block of games with a couple of good wins in Europe and the Premiership. Now it’s important to fully turn the ship around and kick on in what’s going to be a massive block for us.
"We’ve put ourselves back in the mix, with the table being so tight, but we know we can’t afford to lose too many more games and we need to pick up as many points as we can during this next block of games to ensure we are still in the mix after the break.
“The Falcons have got the better of us the last couple of times we’ve played them in the A league and Anglo Welsh Cup, so we’re well aware of the talent and depth to their squad.
"They’re a quality team who have threats right across the board. They have the best lineout in the league at this moment in time stats wise, with a very good driving lineout, so we know they are going to be really strong at set-piece time.
"If we give them opportunities, they have quality players who could cause us plenty of problems, so we will need to be on our mettle and produce the quality of performance that got us the last couple of results.”
For Newcastle Falcons flanker Gary Graham will makes his Premiership debut in this match.
In doing so, Graham follows in the footsteps of his father George, the Scottish international prop who was a Premiership title winner with the Falcons back in 1998.
Gary has already featured prominently for the Falcons in cup action since his summer arrival, scoring three tries in four appearances to help Newcastle to the top of their group in both the Anglo-Welsh Cup and European Challenge Cup.
He joins a side which sees Maxime Mermoz making his first Premiership start for the club, the French centre having been part of Newcastle’s victorious Anglo-Welsh Cup trip to the Ricoh Arena less than a fortnight ago. Mermoz is partnered by last week’s man of the match Josh Matavesi, Alex Tait moving from full-back to the wing as Simon Hammersley returns from injury.
Toby Flood comes in at fly-half in a line-up which sees a first Premiership start for Sam Stuart, the scrum-half who arrived from Richmond in the summer, while Jon Welsh packs down at tight-head following his midweek stint with the Scotland squad.
Falcons director of rugby Dean Richards said: “It’ll be a tough game down there, of that we have absolutely no doubt. When we played Wasps in the cup two weeks ago it wasn’t their best team and there’ll be a lot of boys coming back into the fold, so it will be a great test for us.
“Our defence has to be at its absolute best and there has been a lot of focus on that. Our defence overall this season has been better than it has been for the past four or five years, and we’re starting to turn into a half-reasonable side. It’s going in the right direction but we’re not there yet.
“We have won all four of our cup games so in that respect we are doing alright, but we’re smarting from our last Aviva Premiership game which was a home loss to Leicester in front of our first full house in nine years.
“We didn’t do it on the day against a very good Tigers team, but with a little more accuracy we’d have been in with a chance of winning it. We talk about repeated actions and being accurate with it, and there’s a reason why we do that. It’s to get us over that line in tight games against top sides, and the guys have taken that frustration and channelled it in a positive way during our recent Anglo-Welsh Cup games.”
Missing six of his players due to international call-ups (Sonatane Takulua, Vereniki Goneva, DTH van der Merwe, Evan Olmstead, Jake Ilnicki and Nick Civetta) Richards said: “I always see players being selected by their country as an opportunity for someone else to come in.
“Yeah, it’s not ideal having guys away but it’s an honour for those players to represent their countries, and you just accept it as the way it is. It’s been there for a long time, there’s no point fighting it and we just embrace it as an opportunity for boys to come in and show their wares. Across the board we have competition for places, and that’s a big part of what is driving us forward.”
The teams:
Wasps: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Juan De Jongh, 12 Kyle Eastmond, 11 Josh Bassett, 10 Jimmy Gopperth, 9 Dan Robson, 8 Guy Thompson, 7 Thomas Young, 6 James Haskell, 5 James Gaskell, 4 Will Rowlands, 3 Jake Cooper-Woolley, 2 Ashley Johnson (c), 1 Simon McIntyre
Replacements: 16 Nathan Charles, 17 Ben Harris, 18 Marty Moore, 19 Kearnan Myall, 20 Nizaam Carr, 21 Joe Simpson, 22 Rob Miller, 23 Gabiriele Lovobalavu
Newcastle: 15 Simon Hammersley, 14 Alex Tait, 13 Maxime Mermoz, 12 Josh Matavesi, 11 Sinoti Sinoti, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Sam Stuart, 8 Mark Wilson, 7 Gary Graham, 6 Will Welch (c), 5 Sean Robinson, 4 Calum Green, 3 Jon Welsh, 2 Scott Lawson, 1 Rob Vickers
Replacements: 16 Kyle Cooper, 17 Sami Mavinga, 18 Scott Wilson, 19 Will Witty, 20 Nili Latu, 21 Joel Hodgson, 22 Juan Pablo Socino, 23 Chris Harris
Date: Saturday, 18 November
Venue: Ricoh Arena
Kick-off: 17:15 GMT
Referee: Matthew O'Grady
Assistant referees: Anthony Woodthorpe, Dean Richards
TMO: Trevor Fisher
Leicester Tigers v Sale Sharks
Mike Williams, Mike Fitzgerald and Gareth Owen return from injury to join the Leicester Tigers squad for this match.
Back-row Williams is included in the starting line-up for the first time since suffering an ankle injury in the Champions Cup match against Racing in Paris last month, while Owen is named at centre in his first appearance since the European win over Castres.
Fitzgerald joins the matchday squad for the first time after recovering from knee surgery in the summer.
Tigers are able to bring Telusa Veainu, Nick Malouf and Matt Smith into the backline after sitting out the Anglo-Welsh Cup weeks, and Adam Thompstone starts his first league game of the season after scoring tries in successive cup ties on his return from injury.
Ellis Genge is among the front-row replacements following his release from the England squad.
Development squad duo Harry Simmons and Tom Hardwick are rewarded for their form in the cup competition with a place in a Premiership squad for the first time and Jonah Holmes, scorer of three tries in the two cup games, is also included.
Tigers head coach Matt O’Connor said: “We’re missing some internationals but the guys in the environment understand that this is their opportunity to contribute and perform.
“Mike Williams, Mike Fitzgerald and Gareth Owen have all trained really well and we look forward to seeing them back on the field. And we’ve also got guys from the Anglo-Welsh Cup who’ve been sticking their hands up for selection which is good for the whole squad.
“Sale certainly have their threats and we know we will have to deliver on the things that are important to us.”
Meanwhile, Sale's side includes 12 changes with only Ben Curry, Josh Strauss and Mike Haley remaining in the side from the group that beat Saracens at the AJ Bell Stadium in the Anglo-Welsh Cup last Friday.
Marland Yarde makes his highly anticipated Sale Sharks debut as in-form Byron McGuigan is away on international duty with Scotland, Yarde will play alongside former team-mate James O'Connor who returns to the fold with his half-back partner Faf de Klerk.
Both sides will have returning players who have been rested during the Anglo-Welsh Cup weekend.
The teams:
Sale Sharks: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Denny Solomona, 13 Sam James, 12 Mark Jennings, 11 Marland Yarde, 10 James O’Connor, 9 Faf De Klerk, 8 Josh Strauss, 7 Ben Curry, 6 Jono Ross (c), 5 Andre Ostrikov, 4 Bryn Evans, 3 Will-Griff John, 2 Rob Webber, 1 Ross Harrison
Replacements: 16 Marc Jones, 17 James Flynn, 18 Alexandru Tarus, 19 George Nott, 20 Sam Moore, 21 Cameron Neild, 22 Will Cliff, 23 Josh Charnley
Leicester: 15 Telusa Veainu, 14 Nick Malouf, 13 Matt Smith, 12 Gareth Owen, 11 Adam Thompstone, 10 Joe Ford, 9 Sam Harrison, 8 Valentino Mapapalangi, 7 Will Evans, 6 Mike Williams, 5 Graham Kitchener, 4 Dom Barrow, 3 Pat Cilliers, 2 Tom Youngs (c), 1 Greg Bateman
Replacements: 16 Harry Thacker, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Chris Baumann, 19 Mike Fitzgerald, 20 Brendon O’Connor, 21 Harry Simmons, 22 Tom Hardwick, 23 Jonah Holmes
Date: Sunday, 19 November
Venue: Welford Road
Kick-off: 15:00 GMT
Referee: Luke Pearce
Assistant referees: Hamish Smales, Nigel Carrick
TMO: Sean Davey
Exeter Chiefs v Harlequins
Exeter Chiefs Director of Rugby Rob Baxter says his side will need to make the most of home advantage during a crucial block of Premiership fixtures over the next month.
Although missing four of his key stars (Sam Simmonds, Henry Slade, Harry Williams and Tomas Francis) to international duty this weekend, Baxter is still able to parade a power arsenal of talent for the visit of the Londoners, who themselves are minus a plethora of frontline names due to Test match duty and injury.
England stars Luke Cowan-Dickie and Ollie Devoto, both of whom have been sidelined for much of the season, are both included in this weekend’s squad following successful returns to action during the recent Anglo-Welsh Cup block, while Scottish international Moray Low is another to benefit from decent showings in the past fortnight, packing down for his Premiership start of the season alongside skipper Jack Yeandle and fellow prop Ben Moon.
Such experience will be vital against a Harlequins side, who will head to the West Country looking to claim a prized scalp in the shape of the Chiefs.
“In their words, they’ve had a few ups and downs so far this season,” said Baxter.
“At times, they’ve looked very dangerous and scored a lot of points, but at other times they’ll probably feel a little annoyed with the points they have lost.
“You look at their squad, however, they have some very good players and although a few of them will be away on international duty this weekend, they still carry multiple threats across the board. When a team carries multiple threats like that, they can often scare you because you can play well against them, but all of a sudden they score against you. Then you play well again for another ten minutes, and then they score again against you.
“I’ll be honest, I don’t like playing against sides like that, so what we have talked about this week is focusing more on ourselves. If we try to cover off every single threat that Harlequins bring, we will probably end up getting even more confused, so instead we have talked about the intensity we want to bring to the game and how we want to play and how we want to defend.
"What we are expecting then is that a lot of those systems and a lot of those actions we perform, ultimately deal with the threats Harlequins will bring.”
Meanwhile, there are nine changes to Harlequins' starting XV that defeated Worcester Warriors in Round 2 of the Anglo-Welsh Cup last weekend.
Ross Chisholm and Marcus Smith start at full-back and fly-half respectively while Joe Marchant returns to partner James Lang in the midfield. Jono Kitto – who signed this week – starts at scrum-half with Ian Prior also looking for his first appearance among the replacements.
Dave Ward returns from suspension and is named alongside Mark Lambert and Will Collier in the front row. Captain James Horwill partners Charlie Matthews in the second row with Jack Clifford returning from injury. In the back row, Clifford joins James Chisholm and Mat Luamanu, who will make his 50th appearance for the club.
Ahead of the match, Harlequins Director of Rugby, John Kingston said: "Exeter are the champion team in England and that title is fully deserved for the current stand out team in the league.
"We are under no illusions with the task in front of us heading to Sandy Park this weekend. They are unbeaten for more than a year in the Aviva Premiership on their own patch, which makes us heavy underdogs. We are, however, looking forward to the challenge."
The teams:
Exeter: 15 Phil Dollman, 14 Lachie Turner, 13 Ian Whitten, 12 Ollie Devoto, 11 Olly Woodburn, 10 Gareth Steenson, 9 Nic White, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Don Armand, 5 Jonny Hill, 4 Mitch Lees, 3 Moray Low, 2 Jack Yeandle (c), 1 Ben Moon
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Greg Holmes, 19 Toby Salmon, 20 Sam Skinner, 21 Will Chudley, 22 Joe Simmonds, 23 Sam Hill
Harlequins: 15 Ross Chisholm, 14 Alofa Alofa, 13 Joe Marchant, 12 James Lang, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Jono Kitto, 8 Mat Luamanu, 7 Jack Clifford, 6 James Chisholm, 5 James Horwill (c), 4 Charlie Matthews, 3 Will Collier, 2 Dave Ward, 1 Mark Lambert
Replacements: 16 Charlie Piper, 17 Lewis Boyce, 18 Phil Swainston, 19 George Merrick, 20 Ben Glynn, 21 Ian Prior, 22 Harry Sloan, 23 Charlie Walker
Date: Sunday, 19 November
Venue: Sandy Park
Kick-off: 15:00 GMT
Referee: JP Doyle
Assistant referees: Adam Leal, Jonathan Healy
TMO: Stuart Terheege
London Irish v Bath
The Exiles, boosted by the news of four re-signings in the build-up to the game, make three changes to the side that locked horns with Saracens in the Premiership last month.
In-form flanker Max Northcote-Green gets the nod against his former club, the 23-year-old talent having bagged a brace of tries against Bath in the Anglo-Welsh Cup a fortnight ago. Northcote-Green partners Conor Gilsenan in the back row, with Blair Cowan switching to number eight in place of Ofisa Treviranus who is currently on international duty with Samoa.
Luke McLean starts at inside centre alongside Fergus Mulchrone, while Tommy Bell and James Marshall swap positions to fly-half and full-back respectively.
“We’ve had a very good training week and we’re really looking forward to this weekend’s game,” said Exiles’ director of rugby Nick Kennedy.
“We have back-to-back home games for the next two Sundays and our supporters can play a crucial role in being our 16th man. It’s important that we pick up points on home soil and we’ll be doing everything we can to get a positive result on Sunday.”
Meanwhile, Bath's Tom Dunn and Zach Mercer return to the visitors' starting line-up for this fixture.
The duo, who have been away on international duty with England, take their places at hooker and openside flanker respectively.
Dunn will be joined by Beno Obano and Anthony Perenise in the front row, whilst Luke Charteris returns in the second row alongside Elliott Stooke.
Matt Garvey, who made his 100th appearance for the club last Friday against Leicester Tigers, captains the side in a back row which includes Mercer and Paul Grant.
Kahn Fotuali’i starts in the number nine shirt, with Freddie Burns, who scored 16 points on his last visit to the Madejski two weeks ago, joining the Samoan in the half-back combination.
James Wilson makes his first Premiership start for Bath at outside centre, with Matt Banahan completing the centre partnership, as Bath look to make it two out of two against the Exiles this year.
The teams:
London Irish: 15 James Marshall, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Fergus Mulchrone, 12 Luke McLean, 11 Alex Lewington, 10 Tommy Bell, 9 Ben Meehan, 8 Blair Cowan, 7 Conor Gilsenan, 6 Max Northcote-Green, 5 Teofilo Paulo, 4 Franco van der Merwe, 3 Petrus Du Plessis, 2 David Paice (c), 1 Ben Franks
Replacements: 16 Dave Porecki, 17 Harry Elrington, 18 Ollie Hoskins, 19 Sebastian De Chaves, 20 Mike Coman, 21 Scott Steele, 22 Greig Tonks, 23 Tom Fowlie
Bath: 15 Tom Homer, 14 Jack Wilson, 13 James Wilson, 12 Matt Banahan, 11 Aled Brew, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Kahn Fotuali’i, 8 Paul Grant, 7 Zach Mercer, 6 Matt Garvey (c), 5 Elliott Stooke, 4 Luke Charteris, 3 Anthony Perenise, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Beno Obano
Replacements: 16 Michael van Vuuren, 17 Nick Auterac, 18 Max Lahiff, 19 Levi Douglas, 20 Josh Bayliss, 21 Darren Allinson, 22 Josh Lewis, 23 Darren Atkins
Date: Sunday, 19 November
Venue: Madejski Stadium
Kick-off: 15:00 GMT
Referee: Thomas Foley
Assistant referees: Paul Dix, Wayne Falla
TMO: Keith Lewis
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