Premiership Rugby weekly previews: Round Four

There is no better World Cup hangover cure than an enticing weekend of Gallagher Premiership Rugby, packed with returning stars from the tournament.

The weekend’s action begins at the AJ Bell Arena, where Sale Sharks and Gloucester will both be seeking to avenge their first defeats of the season.

The three 3pm kick-offs on Saturday – the Premiership are still unable to stagger the kick-offs to allow for more TV coverage for unknown reasons – are Harlequins vs Newcastle, Northampton Saints vs table toppers Bath, and the pick of the bunch: Saracens vs Leicester Tigers.

The weekend will be rounded off on Sunday afternoon as Exeter Chiefs take on Bristol Bears at home, a game for which you can find a preview in The Rugby Paper this Sunday.

Sale Sharks vs Gloucester, Friday 3rd November (7.45pm kick-off, TNT Sports)

A big performance from Sale is an absolute necessity following their 43-0 thrashing away to Exeter. Their XV was far from understrength, but this week they’re bringing back the heavy artillery.

George Ford starts at fly half, with captain Rob Du Preez pushed out to outside centre as he did in last season’s Premiership final. Also returning from the World Cup are Bevan Rodd, and new signing Agustin Creevy. Ben Curry will also make his long-awaited return from a hamstring tear from the bench.

Gloucester are also looking to bounce back following a heavy defeat of their own; they succumbed 24-3 to an out-of-form Saracens side at Kingsholm last week, but do not have the reinvigoration of returning World Cup players to help them, meaning no Jonny May, Santi Carreras, and Louis Rees-Zammit.

They are without Zach Mercer, George McGuigan; both have been standouts so far but were withdrawn in the first half last week.

In better news, however, Mark Atkinson returns to the 12 shirt. It’s been 390 days and two surgeries since his major knee injury against Bath last October, and he is an important bolster to a slightly underpar Gloucester side.

Harlequins vs Newcastle Falcons, Saturday 4th November (3pm kick-off)

Quins will look to continue their rich vein of form following their opening day defeat by welcoming an underwhelming Falcons side to The Stoop.

And they’ll look to do so in style, with World Cup internationals Marcus Smith, Joe Marler and Dillon Lewis all coming onto the bench.

Smith will wear the 22 shirt, suggesting he’ll come onto replace Jarrod Evans at fly half. Nick David’s impressive form at 15 also lends weight to this expectation.

Falcons, however, might be glad to be making the 250 mile trip south, as it presents a chance to escape the treacherous weather conditions that have limited their last two losses to kick heavy rugby.

Their cavalry has arrived to help them do just that, with Argentine trio Matías Moroni, Pedro Rubiolo, and Mateo Carreras all injected straight back into the starting lineup. Standout prop Eduardo Bello has also returned from France to make his Falcons debut off the bench.

Amidst all this, Adam Radwan, who has made the joint-most clean breaks in the league this year, starts on the wing meaning Newcastle finally get the chance to unleash their exciting backline at full strength.

Northampton Saints vs Bath, Saturday 4th November (3pm kick-off)

Saints return home following their first win of the season against Newcastle courtesy of a moment of Tom Pearson magic. George Furbank continues to captain from full-back despite Lewis Ludlam’s return to the starting line-up.

Ludlam will hope that his strong ball carrying will help improve Saints’ thus far stuttering attack. They’ve scored just seven tries this season despite averaging over four a game last year. The return of Tommy Freeman from an ankle injury will certainly hope, he scored a game-winning hat trick when the two sides met in the Premiership Cup in September.

Their defence finally made tangible progress under new defence coach Lee Radford last week, albeit against Newcastle: They have made almost 200 more tackles than Bath so far.

Table toppers Bath will play without mercurial talisman Finn Russell, but Orlando Bailey deputising showcases their renewed strength in depth. Sam Underhill returns to the back row following his man of the match return to England in the Third-Place Play-off, whilst Will Stuart comes onto the bench.

Bath remain top of the table despite last week’s overtime loss to Leicester Tigers, but their lead is much more fragile, meaning a win this weekend at a stadium they haven’t won at since before COVID is critical. A loss, in fact, could see Saints overtake them all the way up from seventh position.

Saracens vs Leicester Tigers, Saturday 4th November (3.05pm kick off, TNT Sports)

2022’s finalists will do battle at the StoneX with Saracens surely the overwhelming favourites, despite both sides winning just their first games of the season last week.

Saracens have named their irresistibly full strength team, including Owen Farrell, Ben Earl, Jamie George, and Maro Itoje in the starting XV, along with Nick Tompkins, Elliot Daly, Marco Riccioni, and Billy Vunipola, as well as the in-form Theo Dan on the bench.

As well as Mark McCall’s comments last week that he would not rush his England players back, the selection of Vunipola raises eyebrows as the 125kg+ number eight replaces a red-hot Tom Willis, who beat eight players and made three turnovers in the process of scoring a brace last week.

Facing the formidable task of suppressing this international frenzy is an understrength Tigers side, still missing eight of their World Cup knockout stars.

Jamie Shillcock continues at fly half in the meantime, having heroically kicked a last minute penalty to win Dan McKellar his first league game in charge last week vs Bath. It was reported this week that McKellar has ruled out the possibility of him replacing Eddie Jones as head coach of Australia, but this week’s task looks to be an equally unenviable job.

Written by Tom Jeffreys

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