Newcastle Red Bulls vs Northampton Saints
Kickoff: 7:45pm, Friday 17th October
Venue: Kingston Park
Watch on: Discovery plus
Newcastle and Northampton are heading in very different directions. Newcastle started the season with a lot of hope but have since lost a director of rugby and 3 matches. Northampton, on the other hand, have managed to get themselves into 3rd in the table without several key players. Now, some of those players have returned and the Saints look even stronger. Newcastle will be playing their 2nd home game of the prem season and will be hoping that the atmosphere can give them a lift.
The Red Bulls have made 4 changes to the team that got swept aside by Sale at CorpAq Stadium last Friday night. All of those changes come in the back line with the pack remaining unchanged. Brett Connon, Liam Williams, Oli Spencer and Simon Benitez Cruz all come into the starting XV with Grayson, Obatoyinbo, Doherty and Elliot all dropping out. Brett Connon's return means that Chamberlain moves to fullback from fly-half whilst Liam Williams will start on the wing. This means that Alex Hearle goes to the centres from the wing. This looks like a team built for a rainy night in Newcastle. The pack is as heavy as it can be, whilst the back line has plenty of kicking options. The Red Bulls will need to keep the game within that style if they are to have a shot at beating Northampton.
Dowson has made 5 changes to his team that beat Leicester in the East Midlands derby. In the pack, Danilo Fischetti, Josh Kemeny, Robbie Smith and Sam Graham come in for Iyogun, Pearson, Wright and Lockett. The only personnel change in the back line is Hendy being replaced by Litchfield. Hendy suffered a serious injury last week and will be unavailable for the foreseeable future. Tommy Freeman also left the field due to injury but is fit enough to start again this weekend. He has moved to fullback in order to accommodate the addition of Tom Litchfield.
Team news
Newcastle Red Bulls
Starting XV
1.Adam Brocklebank 2.George McGuigan(C) 3.Richard Palframan 4.Jamie Hodgson 5.Freddie Clarke
6.Fergus Lee-Warner 7.Tom Gordon 8.Amanaki Mafi 9.Simon Benitez Cruz 10.Brett Connon
11.Liam Williams 12.Max Clark 13.Alex Hearle 14.Oli Spencer 15.Boeta Chamberlain
Bench
16.Ollie Fletcher 17.Murray McCallum 18.Luan de Bruin 19.Oscar Usher
20.Freddie Lockwood 21.James Elliot 22.Rhys Beeckmans 23.Stefan Coetzee
Northampton Saints
Starting XV
1.Danilo Fischetti 2.Robbie Smith 3.Trevor Davison 4.Alex Coles 5.JJ van der Mescht
6.Josh Kemeny 7.Sam Graham 8.Callum Chick(C) 9.Alex Mitchell 10.Fin Smith
11.Tom Litchfield 12.Fraser Dingwall 13.Rory Hutchinson 14.Edoardo Todaro 15.Tommy Freeman
Bench
16.Craig Wright 17.Emmanuel Iyogun 18.Luke Green 19.Tom Lockett
20.Ed Prowse 21.Henry Pollock 22.Archie McParland 23.Anthony Belleau
Predicted winner: Northampton Saints
Gloucester vs Bristol Bears
Kickoff: 7:45pm, Friday 17th October
Venue: Kingsholm
Watch on: TNT Sports
A West Country derby on the round after derby weekend is a perfect way to kick off this round of fixtures. The Bears are already bruised and battered whilst Gloucester are still without a win. This feels like a big game for both teams, given how their seasons have begun. Gloucester must get up to speed quickly in order to stay in touch with the teams above them whilst Bristol need to gather as many points as normal before their big stars return in the new year.
George Skivington has made 4 changes to the team that lost to Bath. Afo Fasogbon is back in for Laulala who drops out of the team entirely. The back five has been shifted around with Venter being the only player to stay in exactly the same position, Freddie Thomas moves from the back row to lock, whilst Basham moves to blindside flanker to make space for Bokenham to play at no.8. There are two big misses for Gloucester in the back line; Seb Atkinson and Tomos Williams are both out. Caolan Englefield comes in at fly-half whilst Llewellyn will make his first appearance of the season at his less familiar midfield position.
Pat Lam has made 5 changes to the team that beat Exeter last weekend. The biggest (new) omissions are Ellis Genge and Tom Jordan. The latter has been handed a suspension that will see him miss 3 games upon completion of tackle school. Bristol will now have to go forward with their 3rd-choice fly-half, Sam Worsley, who will be eager to impress after his struggles last season. Max Pepper will make his first start on the right wing in place of Carrington in a back line that continues to lose players. This is becoming a seriously tough time for the Bears, who didn't have a particularly deep squad to begin with.
Team news
Gloucester
Starting XV
1.Ciaran Knight 2.Seb Blake 3.Afo Fasogbon 4.Freddie Thomas 5.Matias Alemanno
6.Josh Basham 7.James Venter(C) 8.Hugh Bokenham 9.Caolan Englefield 10.Ross Byrne
11.Ollie Thorley 12.Max Llewllyn 13.Will Joseph 14.Ben Loader 15.Charlie Atkinson
Bench
16.Jack Innard 17.Archie McArthur 18.Kirill Gotovtsev 19.Cam Jordan
20.Jack Mann 21.Harry Taylor 22.Mikey Austin 23.Josiah Edwards-Giraud
Bristol Bears
Starting XV
1.Jake Woolmore 2.Gabriel Oghre 3.George Kloska 4.Pedro Rubiolo 5.Joe Batley
6.Steven Luatua 7.Fitz Harding(C( 8.Viliame Mata 9.Kieran Marmion 10.Sam Worsley
11.Kalaveti Ravouvou 12.Bernhard Janse van Rensburg 13.Matias Moroni 14.Max Pepper 15.Benjamin Elizalde
Bench
16.Harry Thacker 17.Sam Grahamslaw 18.Lovejoy Chawatama 19.James Dun
20.Joe Owen 21.Benjamin Grondona 22.Oscar Lennon 23.Toby Fricker
Predicted winner: Gloucester
Leicester Tigers vs Bath
Kickoff: 3:05pm, Saturday 18th October
Venue: Mattioli Woods Welford Road
Watch on: TNT Sports 1/ ITV4
The next challenger to face Bath will be the Leicester Tigers. They have been inconsistent to start this season and will need to be on top form to challenge the league-leaders. This Bath team does look a lot weaker than it did last week, so this could be a huge opportunity for Geoff Parling to earn his first big win at the Leicester Tigers.
Geoff Parling has made 5 changes to the team that narrowly lost to Northampton last season - 2 in the pack and 3 in the backs.
The front row remains unchanged whilst Cameron Henderson is the only new face in the tight five. At no.8, Emeka Ilione is replaced by Olly Cracknell and will take Cracknell's, spot on the bench. At centre, Woodward replaces Wand which moves Kata to outside centre. The big news for Leicester in this line-up is the absence of Jack van Poortvliet. Whiteley will start in place, but he has been far from convincing so far this season. Ben Spencer is back for Bath so this looks like a titanic mismatch. A positive for Leicester is that James O'Connor will make his first start for the club at fly-half up against Finn Russell.
Bath's pack has had some significant changes made to it. The props remain unchanged but Tom Dunn drops to the bench with Nick Frost being given the start. Quinn Roux has become unavailable once again, and will start next to Ross Molony in the second row, even though Ewan Richards scored twice last week against Gloucester. The back line will be boosted by the additions of Spencer and Carreras who will play at scrum-half and fullback respectively. The addition of Carreras moves Tom de Glanville to the wing in a slightly surprising move given that the Argentinian has more wing experience than the man he has usurped at fullback. One concern for Bath will be their midfield. The team is without Lawrence, Ojomoh and Butt so Hennessey starts at outside centre. Bath fans will be looking to get something out of this week after it was announced that Thomas du Toit will be leaving the club to return to South Africa with the Sharks for the 2026/27 season.
Team news
Leicester Tigers
Starting XV
1.Nicky Smith 2.Jamie Blamire 3.Joe Heyes 4.Cameron Henderson 5.Ollie Chessum
6.Hanro Liebenberg 7.Tommy Reffell 8.Olly Cracknell 9.Tom Whiteley 10.James O'Connor
11.Ollie Hassell-Collins 12.Joseph Woodward 13.Solomone Kata 14.Adam Radwan 15.Freddie Steward
Bench
16.Charlie Clare 17.Ale Loman 18.Will Hurd 19.Harry Wells
20.Emeka Ilione 21.Ollie Allan 22.Billy Searle 23.Will Wand
Bath
Starting XV
1.Beno Obano 2.Dan Frost 3.Will Stuart 4.Quinn Roux 5.Ross Molony
6.Ethan Staddon 7.Sam Underhill 8.Alfie Barbeary 9.Ben Spencer 10.Finn Russell
11.Henry Arundell 12.Cameron Redpath 13.Louie Hennessey 14.Tom de Glanville 15.Santi Carreras
Bench
16.Tom Dunn 17.Francois van Wyk 18.Thomas du Toit 19.Ewan Richards
20.Miles Reid 21.Tom Carr-Smith 22.Will Butt 23.Arthur Green
Predicted winner: Bath
Saracens vs Sale Sharks
Kickoff: 5:30pm, Saturday 18th October
Venue: StoneX Stadium
Watch on: TNT Sports 1
This is the game of the week. Saracens looked to be back to their ominous best in the first 2 weeks of the season before having a rude awakening against their London rivals. Sale, on the other hand, have lost to Bath but have otherwise looked like their usual selves. That sets up a great match between 2 teams that expect to be in the top 4 next June.
Mark McCall has made 6 changes to the team that lost to Harlequins. Mawi and George have come into the starting line-up in place of Carre and Dan, who drop to the bench. Maro Itoje is back in the team and will resume his captaincy on Saturday. The final change in the pack is the addition of Gonzalez in place of Christie in the back row. 2 youngsters have been added to the back-line. Charlie Bracken is starting in the absence of van Zyl whilst Davies comes into the 23. Noah Caluori made his try-scoring debut in Newcastle a few weeks ago but has since been loaned out to Ampthill in the Champ. He scored twice for them last week and is now back with Saracens where he will get his first start on the wing in place of Jack Bracken who drops to the bench. Owen Farrell will be looking to prove a point after it was leaked that he won't be in England's Autumn Nations squad.
Alex Sanderson has selected an almost identical team to the one that waltzed past Newcastle last week, and that change has been forced. Joe Carpenter is out this week and Sale don't have an obvious replacement for him. This has led to O'Flaherty being selected in that position. He is a short winger who will no doubt be targeted by the likes of Owen Farrell now that he is playing out of position. The team's lack of depth is on full display when you look at the bench. For a second week in a row, Ethan Caine (a hooker) is covering the back row with the only good news being the return of Ma'asi-White who will now have to battle with Marius Louw for the spot that he had last season.
Team news
Saracens
Starting XV
1.Eroni Mawi 2.Jamie George 3.Marco Riccioni 4.Maro Itoje(C) 5.Hugh Tizard
6.Juan Martin Gonzalez 7.Ben Earl 8.Tom Willis 9.Charlie Bracken 10.Fergus Burke
11.Lucio Cinti 12.Owen Farrell 13.Nick Tompkins 14.Noah Caluori 15.Max Malins
Bench
16.Theo Dan 17.Rhys Carre 18.Marcus Street 19.Harry Wilson
20.Nick Isiekwe 21.Andy Onyeama-Christie 22.Gareth Simpson 23.Jack Bracken
Sale Sharks
Starting XV
1.Bevan Rodd 2.Luke Cowan-Dickie 3.Asher Opoku-Fordjour 4.Ben Bamber 5.Hyron Andrews
6.Ernst van Rhyn 7.Tristan Woodman 8.Sam Dugdale 9.Gus Warr 10.George Ford
11.Arron Reed 12.Marius Louw 13.Rob du Preez 14.Tom Roebuck 15.Tom O'Flaherty
Bench
16.Nathan Jibulu 17.Simon McIntyre 18.James Harper 19.Tom Burrow
20.Ethan Caine 21.Raffi Quirke 22.Rekeiti Ma'asi-White 23.Luke James
Predicted winner: Saracens
Exeter Chiefs vs Harlequins
Kickoff: 3pm, Sunday 19th October
Venue: Sandy Park
Watch on: TNT Sports 1
Exeter and Harlequins have had a frustrating couple of seasons and will be looking to turn things around in the 2025/26 season. Exeter have started quite well and are now bolstered by the additions of Ikitau and Hooper who both make their debuts this weekend. Harlequins have had their fortunes massively improved by a former Chiefs in Harry Williams who will be looking to make a statement on his return to Sandy Park.
Rob Baxter has made 5 changes to the team that beat Bristol last week. The big names coming in are Ikitau and Hooper. The former has just been named as Australia's player of the year and has become one of the best centres in the World since his deal with the Chiefs was announced. His partnership with Henry Slade looks set to be the best midfield in the league. Ikitau's fellow Aussie, Tom Hooper, will add some beef to a back row that certainly packs a punch with Roots and Fisilau also featuring. Elsewhere, Josh Hodge returns at fullback to give Exeter the fastest back three in the Gallagher Prem. If Exeter's half-backs can manage the game well, the rest of the side looks set to dominate.
Harlequins have, understandably, got a very similar team to the one that beat Saracens. The only change in the pack sees Stephan Lewies come into the XV for Kieran Treadwell who drops to the bench. In the backs, Jamie Benson continues in midfield and will be joined by Luke Northmore after Ocar Beard suffered an injury last week. This is a big game for Harlequins. Their season started very poorly until the Saracens game and they will want to make sure that it wasn't just a one-off this time. They were able to win that kind of game fairly regularly last season, and beat Saracens twice, but struggled to back those results up on a week-to-week basis. A win this week would go a long way to reassuring fans that things could be different this time around.
Team news
Exeter Chiefs
Starting XV
1.Will Goodrick-Clarke 2.Joseph Dweba 3.Josh Iosefa-Scott 4.Dafydd Jenkins(C) 5.Rusi Tuima
6.Tom Hooper 7.Ethan Roots 8.Greg Fisilau 9.Stephen Varney 10.Harvey Skinner
11.Paul Brown-Bampoe 12.Len Ikitau 13.Henry Slade 14.Immanuel Feyi-Waboso 15.Josh Hodge
Bench
16.Jack Yeandle 17.Scott Sio 18.Bachuki Tchumbadze 19.Andrea Zambonin
20.Lewis Pearson 21.Kane James 22.Charlie Chapman 23.Ben Hammersley
Harlequins
Starting XV
1.Fin Baxter 2.Jack Walker 3.Harry Williams 4.Guido Petti 5.Stephan Lewies
6.Jack Kenningham 7.Will Evans 8.Chandler Cunningham-South 9.Will Porter 10.Marcus Smith
11.Cadan Murley 12.Jamie Benson 13.Luke Northmore 14.Rodrigo Isgro 15.Tyrone Green
Bench
16.George Turner 17.Boris Wenger 18.Pedro Delgado 19.Kieran Treadwell
20.Harry Browne 21.Zach Carr 22.Stu Townsend 23.Cameron Anderson
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