Friday's Premiership line ups

November 19, 2020
6550
Ultimate Rugby

The 2020/21 Premiership season kicks off on Friday 20 November with the opening two games seeing Harlequins host the defending champions Exeter at the Stoop while Sale Sharks host Northampton Saints at Welford Road.

Harlequins v Exeter Chiefs

New Club Captain Stephan Lewies will lead Harlequins for the first time in his new role, joining fit-again Matt Symons in the injury room. Amongst the replacements are scrum-half Jack Stafford and Tyrone Green who are both set to make their debuts in the Quarters having signed for the Club mid-way through the 2019/20 season.

Meanwhile for Exeter Chiefs, Jack Nowell (toe) and Jacques Vermeulen (shoulder) are both sidelined until the New Year, while fellow finalists Stuart Hogg, Jonny Gray, Sam Skinner, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne (all Scotland), Henry Slade and Jonny Hill (both England) and Tomas Francis (Wales) are also missing. Luke Cowan-Dickie has recovered sufficiently from minor knee surgery to take his place on the bench, while England team-mate Harry Williams is included in the starting line-up having been released by Eddie Jones from his training squad preparing for Saturday’s clash with Ireland at Twickenham.

HARLEQUINS

1. Santiago Garcia Botta

2. Scott Baldwin

3. Wilco Louw

4. Matt Symons

5. Stephan Lewies - Captain

6. Tom Lawday

7. Will Evans

8. Alex Dombrandt

9. Danny Care

10. Marcus Smith

11. Cadan Murley

12. Andre Esterhuizen

13. Luke Northmore

14. Nathan Earle

15. Mike Brown

16. Jack Musk

17. Jordan Els

18. Simon Kerrod

19. Glen Young

20. Archie White

21. Jack Stafford

22. Ben Tapuai

23. Tyrone Green

EXETER CHIEFS

15 Facundo Cordero
14 Tom O’Flaherty
13 Ian Whitten
12 Ollie Devoto
11 Olly Woodburn
10 Joe Simmonds
9 Jack Maunder
1 Alec Hepburn
2 Jack Yeandle (capt)
3 Harry Williams
4 Will Witty
5 Don Armand
6 Dave Ewers
7 Jannes Kirsten
8 Sam Simmonds

16 Luke Cowan-Dickie
17 Ben Moon
18 Marcus Street
19 Tom Price
20 Richard Capstick
21 Stu Townsend
22 Harvey Skinner
23 Tom Hendrickson

Sale Sharks v Northampton Saints

Russian international Valery Morozov joins Springbok’s Akker van der Merwe and Coenie Oosthuizen in the Sale Sharks front row with an all-South African second row of Jean-Luc du Preez and Cobus Wiese. Club Captain Jono Ross, Ben Curry and Daniel du Preez complete a dynamic Sale pack for the round 1 fixture. The Sharks back division is in full force as the new season gets underway, with World Cup-winning scrum-half Faf de Klerk taking centre stage alongside USA international AJ MacGinty. The experienced half-back pairing have the services of powerful inside centre Rohan Janse van Rensburg and the eclectic skills of Sam James outside them.

After an impressive performance in the reverse of this fixture at the end of last season, Simon Hammersley takes his place on the wing alongside Denny Solomona, with the in-form Luke James securing the 15 shirt for Friday’s match.

Alex Waller returns to skipper Northampton Saints on his first competitive appearance for nine months, as the men in Black, Green and Gold travel to Sale Sharks for their Gallagher Premiership opener. Loosehead prop Waller will lead out Northampton following his recovery from an achilles injury, with hooker James Fish and tighthead Paul Hill alongside him in the front row.

Youth and experience combine in the engine room with Alex Moon and Api Ratuniyarawa packing down together, while Nick Isiekwe is selected at flanker with Tom Wood and No.8 Teimana Harrison completing the back in the back row. No.10 James Grayson and scrum-half Henry Taylor will hope to pull the strings from the half-back berths for Northampton, with two international centres selected in the visitors’ midfield in Piers Francis and Matt Proctor. Meanwhile Tom Collins and Ahsee Tuala will be hoping to get their season try-scoring tallies off to a flying start with the duo starting on the wings for the men in Black, Green and Gold. Saints welcome George Furbank, David Ribbans, and Alex Mitchell, back from England international duty in time for the clash – but only the fullback makes the starting line-up with Ribbans and Mitchell ready to make an impact for Northampton from amongst the replacements.

SALE SHARKS