The Premiership resumes on Friday with two matches scheduled to take place as Bristol Bears take on Newcastle Falcons and Gloucester host Harlequins.
Bristol Bears v Newcastle Falcons
Bristol Bears director of Rugby Pat Lam makes two changes from the narrow defeat at Saracens, with Noah Heward coming in at full-back and Jake Woolmore starting in the front-row.
Steven Luatua captains the side from the blindside flank, while at half-back, Harry Randall and AJ MacGinty link up with Callum Sheedy is absent with a facial injury.
Among the replacements, there are potential Premiership debuts for hooker Fred Davies and academy centre Harry Ascherl, who impressed in the cup victory over Sale last time out.
Meanwhile, the Falcons were 30-15 winners when the two teams met at Kingston Park Stadium back in September, with Mateo Carreras’ sensational solo score delivering a four-try bonus point with the final play of the game.
The Argentina winger has scored more tries, beaten more defenders and made more clean breaks than any player in the league this season, and forms a formidable wing pairing with Adam Radwan.
Pumas duo Matias Orlando and Matias Moroni link up once again in midfield, with fly-half Brett Connon keen to extend a hot streak which has seen him missing just one kick at goal in his last six league games.
Connon’s most recent outing – a bonus-point victory over champions Leicester Tigers – saw him striking seven from seven off the tee, with the Cumbrian part of a side captained by scrum-half Michael Young.
Sebastian de Chaves, the Premiership’s leading line-out stealer, starts in the second row for a Newcastle team who have scored more first-phase tries than any other in the division this season.
Gary Graham, Callum Chick and Carl Fearns form an abrasive back-row unit, with Newcastle defeating Scottish side Southern Knights 68-19 last weekend. Lock-forward Freddie Lockwood scored a hat-trick of tries on that occasion, and the Yorkshireman forms part of a potent Falcons bench which also includes flyer Ben Stevenson.
Form: Bristol Bears have won just once in Premiership Rugby since Round 3: 15-12 at Harlequins on 27 December. Bristol are unbeaten in their last five matches in all competitions at Ashton Gate. Newcastle Falcons have won four of their last six Premiership Rugby fixtures with the two defeats being in their two most recent away games at London Irish and at Bath. The Falcons have won only once away from home in the tournament since April: 27-21 at Gloucester in Round 10. Newcastle beat Bristol 30-15 at Kingston Park in Round 4 and have not achieved a Premiership Rugby season’s double over the West Country men since 2016/17. The Falcons’ only previous victory at Ashton Gate was in May 2017.
The teams:
Bristol: 15 Noah Heward, 14 Siva Naulago, 13 Semi Radradra, 12 James Williams, 11 Gabriel Ibitoye, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Harry Randall, 8 Magnus Bradbury, 7 Fitz Harding, 6 Steven Luatua (c), 5 Chris Vui, 4 Joe Batley, 3 Max Lahiff, 2 Harry Thacker, 1 Jake Woolmore
Replacements: 16 Fred Davies, 17 Yann Thomas, 18 George Kloska, 19 Ed Holmes, 20 Jake Heenan, 21 Andy Uren, 22 Harry Ascherl, 23 Ioan Lloyd
Newcastle: 15 Tom Penny, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Matias Moroni, 12 Matias Orlando, 11 Mateo Carreras, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Michael Young (c), 8 Carl Fearns, 7 Callum Chick, 6 Gary Graham, 5 Sebastian de Chaves, 4 Greg Peterson, 3 Trevor Davison, 2 Jamie Blamire, 1 Adam Brocklebank
Replacements: 16 Ollie Fletcher, 17 Logovi’i Mulipola, 18 Richard Palframan, 19 Philip van der Walt, 20 Freddie Lockwood, 21 Sam Stuart, 22 Tian Schoeman, 23 Ben Stevenson
Venue: Ashton Gate
Kick-off: 19:45 GMT
Referee: Karl Dickson
Assistant referees: Craig Maxwell-Keys, Phil Watters
TMO: Dean Richards
Gloucester v Harlequins
After a month away, the Cherry & Whites return to Kingsholm tomorrow night when they welcome the 2021 winners Harlequins in the Premiership.
Both teams are level on 32 points in the league after 16 rounds, with Gloucester sitting one place above Quins on points difference.
Val Rapava-Ruskin is set to make his 100th club appearance against Quins, and he packs down with Seb Blake and Kirill Gotovtsev in the front-row.
Freddie Clarke and Matias Alemanno combine again in the second-row.
Ruan Ackermann returns from injury in the back-row to join Albert Tuisue and captain Lewis Ludlow.
Ben Meehan and Santi Carreras are the half-backs, with Seb Atkinson and Chris Harris starting in the centres.
Harris has featured twice from the bench for Scotland in the opening two rounds of the Six Nations.
Ollie Thorley, Jonny May and Lloyd Evans complete the team.
Henry Walker, Harry Elrington and Jamal Ford-Robinson are the front-row cover on the bench. They are joined by Cam Jordan, Jack Clement, Charlie Chapman, Tom Seabrook and Louis Rees-Zammit.
Rees-Zammit makes a welcome return from the injury he sustained against Leicester Tigers on Christmas Eve.
For Harlequins, Danny Care is set to break the club’s appearance record after being named in the starting line-up for Friday’s clash.
Equalling former Quin and long-time teammate, Mike Brown, away against London Irish earlier this month, Care will start at scrum-half alongside Tommy Allan this Friday away to Gloucester as he becomes the most capped player in Quins’ history with 352.
Care first joined the Londoners in 2006 from Leeds Tykes, going on to establish himself as a regular England international, with 87 caps to his name, and a bona fide Harlequins legend.
Care has been central to two of the biggest days in the club’s history, starting in the 2012 and 2021 Premiership-winning sides, as well as the 2011 Challenge Cup final.
Elsewhere in the matchday squad, there are four changes to the starting XV that fell to defeat against London Irish. Jack Musk, James Chisholm, Luke Wallace and Cadan Murley all return to the starting line-up. Chisholm earns his first start of the campaign, having returned from injury last time out.
Centre Luke Northmore returns to the matchday squad in the 23 jersey amongst the replacements this week as he completes a long-awaited return from injury, having last played for Quins in the return fixture when Gloucester travelled to The Stoop in November last year.
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Further changes see hooker Sam Riley and back-row Matas Jurevicius return to the matchday squad as they look to add energy and dynamism to the field during the latter stages of the contest.
Form: Gloucester have won only two of their last eight Premiership Rugby matches, beating Northampton Saints and London Irish both at Kingsholm in December. Gloucester have lost their last two fixtures at Kingsholm in all competitions and have not lost three in succession at the venue since early 2021. Harlequins have slipped to four straight defeats in Premiership Rugby since beating Bath at the Recreation Ground on December 2. The Londoners have not lost five in succession in the competition since 2019. Harlequins have won twice more on the road in Premiership Rugby this season, at Newcastle in Round 1 and at Sale in Round 7. Harlequins have won their last seven fixtures against Gloucester in Premiership Rugby since the Cherry and Whites 29-7 victory at Twickenham Stoop in March 2019. Harlequins have won on their last four visits to Kingsholm.
The teams:
Gloucester: 15 Lloyd Evans, 14 Jonny May, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Seb Atkinson, 11 Ollie Thorley, 10 Santi Carreras, 9 Ben Meehan, 8 Albert Tuisue, 7 Lewis Ludlow (c), 6 Ruan Ackermann, 5 Matias Alemanno, 4 Freddie Clarke, 3 Kirill Gotovtsev, 2 Seb Blake, 1 Val Rapava-Ruskin
Replacements: 16 Henry Walker, 17 Harry Elrington, 18 Jamal Ford-Robinson, 19 Cam Jordan, 20 Jack Clement, 21 Charlie Chapman, 22 Tom Seabrook, 23 Louis Rees-Zammit
Harlequins: 15 Nick David, 14 Cadan Murley, 13 Oscar Beard, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Josh Bassett, 10 Tommy Allan, 9 Danny Care, 8 Tom Lawday, 7 Luke Wallace, 6 James Chisholm, 5 Irne Herbst, 4 Dino Lamb, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Jack Musk, 1 Joe Marler
Replacements: 16 Sam Riley, 17 Fin Baxter, 18 Simon Kerrod, 19 George Hammond, 20 Matas Jurevicius, 21 Scott Steele, 22 Will Edwards, 23 Luke Northmore
Venue: Twickenham Stoop
Kick-off: 19:45 GMT
Referee: Luke Pearce
Assistant referees: Sara Cox, Alex Thomas
TMO: Stuart Terheege