Sale Sharks vs Gloucester

Kickoff: 7:45pm, Thursday

Venue: CorpAcq Stadium

Watch on: TNT Sports

The newly re-branded Gallagher Prem will kickoff on a Thursday night this year, presumable in order to give some space for the World Cup final on Saturday afternoon. It will kick off in Salford in a game between 2 teams with big ambitions. Gloucester have pulled themselves up the league over the last couple of seasons and are now knocking on the door of the playoffs - this could be their year. For Sale, they have qualified for the playoffs in the past 3 seasons without managing to lift the title for the first time since 2006. 

The teams on Thursday night look a little bit different to how they could look for the majority of the season so this game is a good test of depth. Sale are without Luke Cowan-Dickie, Tom Curry and Raffi Quirke. However, they still have a strong front row that includes a debut for Nathan Jibulu, Jacques Vermeulen will also be making his debut for the club in  back row with Ben Curry and Sam Dugdale. Sale's back line is exactly as it was for much of last season: Warr and Ford as the half backs, Ma'asi-White and du Preez in midfield and the 4 back 3 players are always in the 23. This time Reed will be on the bench with O'Flaherty starting.

Gloucester have a very young front row in this game. Afo Fasogbon is starting at tighthead prop alongside 20-year-old Harrison Bellamy. At hooker, Blake and Singleton are both out so Innard makes his league debut with Freeman-Price, an 18-year-old, on the bench. Behind them, Clark and Alemanno start in the 2nd row and Thomas moves out to the flank.Their back line is strong with Ross Byrne and Tomos Wiliams making their debut as a pair in the league.Atkinson and Llewllyn will continue their strong partnership with Loader and Thorley bringing the pace out wide. Charlie Atkinson will act as a 2nd play-maker from fullback.

Team news

Sale Sharks

Starting XV

1.Bevan Rodd 2.Nathan Jibulu 3.Asher Opku-Fordjour 4.Ernst van Rhyn(C) 5.Ben Bamber

6.Jacques Vermeulen 7.Ben Curry 8.Sam Dugdale 9.Gus Warr 10.George Ford 

11.Tom O'Flaherty 12.Rekeiti Ma'asiWhite 13.Rob du Preez 14.Tom Roebuck 15.Joe Carpenter

Bench

16.Ethan Caine 17.Sim McIntyre 18.Willgriff John 19.Hyron Andrews

20.Tom Burrow 21.Dom Hanson 22.Arron Reed 23.Tristan Woodman

Gloucester

Starting XV

1.Harrison Bellamy 2.Jack Innard 3.Afolabi Fasogbon 4.Athur Clark 5.Matias Alemanno

6.Freddie Thomas 7.James Venter 8.Jack Clement 9.Tomos Williams(C) 10.Ross Byrne

11.Ollie Thorley 12.Seb Atkinson 13.Max Llewellyn 14.Ben Loader 15.Charlie Atkinson

Bench

16.Kealan Freeman-Price 17.Archie McArthur 18.Kirill Gotovtsev 19.Cam Jordan

20.Lewis Ludlow 21.Caolan Englefield 22.Will Joseph 23.Josiah Edwards-Giraud

Predicted winner

Sale Sharks

Harlequins vs Bath

Kickoff: 7:45pm, Friday

Venue: Twickenham Stoop

Watch on: TNT Sports

Harlequins will kick off their season under the lights at the Twickenham Stoop against a Bath team that is looking to defend its title. Their front row is strong with Baxter and Walker being joined by Harry Wiliams and George Turner providing some experience on the bench. The Londoners are clearly facing some depth issues already which means that Chandler Cunningham-South starts at lock next to the returning Keiran Treadwell. Kenningham, Evans and Dombrandt will pick back up where they left off as one of the top trios in the league. The only difference will be that they don't have Cunningham-South waiting in the wings to come on in the 2nd half and cause havoc. The big news for Harlequins is that Marcus Smith is unavailable; that means that Jarrod Evans starts in the 10 jersey. He is a good 2nd string fly half so the real concern will be in the centres where Sean Kerr starts. Northmore and Waghorn both would've been good options but neither are in the team.

This Bath team is obviously not as strong as it could be, but it is still a good team on paper. The front row is missing Dan Frost, Will Stuart and Thomas du Toit which gives opportunities to a couple of exciting youngsters - Kepu Tuipulotu and Vilikesa Sela. Tuipulotu is on the bench but Sela starts which is a big vote of confidence given that he is ahead of Archie Griffin. The biggest news going into this game will surround Bath's fly half situation. Bath have 3 players who are all good options at the position - Carreras, Donoghue and Russell. All 3 are unavailable which has caused some serious issues for Van Graan. Max Ojomoh will step in; he is a good player but is far from being a natural at the position. Harlequins are also missing Marcus Smith, but Evans is a far better option than anything Bath have available. Smith and Russell are both out due to playing on the Lions Tour so fans will miss out on seeing 2 of the most exciting players that Prem Rugby has to offer go head-to-head,

Team news

Harlequins

Starting XV

1.Fin Baxter 2.Jack Walker 3.Harry Williams 4.Chandler Cunningham-South 5.Keiran Treadwell

6.Jack Kenningham 7.Will Evans 8.Alex Dombrandt(C) 9.WIll Porter 10.Jarrod Evans

11.Cadan Murley 12.Sean Kerr 13.Oscar Beard 14.Nick David 15.Tyrone Green

Bench

16.George Turner 17.Jordan Els 18.Ollie Streeter 19.Jonny Green

20.Zach Carr 21.Max Green 22.Ludo Kolade 23.Cameron Anderson

Bath

Starting XV

1.Beno Obano 2.Tom Dunn 3.Vilikesa Sela 4.Quinn Roux 5.Charlie Ewels 

6.Josh Bayliss 7.Guy Pepper 8.Miles Reid 9.Ben Spencer(C) 10.Max Ojomoh

11.Henry Arundell 12.Cameron Redpath 13.Ollie Lawrence 14.Joe Cokanasiga 15.Tom de Glanville

Bench

16.Kepu Tuipulotu 17.Francois Van Wyk 18.Archie Griffin 19.Ross Molony

20.Ted Hill 21.Tom Carr-Smith 22.Chris Harris 23.Sam Underhill

Predicted winner

Harlequins

Newcastle Red Bulls vs Saracens

Kickoff: 7:45pm, Friday

Venue: Kingston Park

Watch on: TNT Sports

Newcastle have already played at home in the Prem Cup, but this is the real grand opening. Last time Saracens came to town,they rested some key players and were punished for it as Newcastle won 17-12. They team now called the Red Bulls would love to repeat that feat on Friday night.

Steve Diamond has opted to phase in his new players rather than chucking them in from the beginning. Luan de Bruin, Amanaki Mafi and Boeta Chamberlain all start but other new signings have had to settle for the bench at best. A back row of Neild, Gordon and Mafi will present a physical challenge to Saracens with Clarke, Lee-warner and Lockwood proving more grit on the bench to counter the inevitable Saracens wave that will come into play in the 2nd half. Brett Connon has managed to keep hold of the 10 jersey for the moment and is deserving of the start having been one of Newcastle's best players for a while now. He has done well without actually having a pack that can consistently gain parity with the opposition.

Mark McCall will be completely aware of the type of atmosphere that his team will be walking into on Friday night. With that surely in mind, he has selected very experienced starting XV that only has 1 inexperienced player (Nathan Michelow) in it. Notably, Owen Farrell is starting at 12 with Nick Tompkins starting at 13 and Fergus Burke keeping the 10 jersey. Max Malins starts at fullback as well, which gives Saracens 3 legitimate play-makers. Perhaps they have decided to play the territory game and to kick away any early momentum that Newcastle may look to build.

The bench for Saracens is a different story to the starting XV - it is full of inexperience. Olamide Sodeke and Charlie Bracken are very exciting prospects, but this is a tough place to come and play. Newcastle have a much more experienced set of forwards to come on in the 2nd half so this could be a strange role-reversal where Newcastle's bench is a strength rather than Saracens'.

Team news

Newcastle Red Bulls

Starting XV

1.Murray McCallum 2.George McGuigan(C) 3.Luan de Bruin 4.Oscar Usher 5.Jamie Hodgson

6.Cameron Neild 7.Tom Gordon 8.Amanaki Mafi 9.Sam Stuart 10.Brett Connon 

11.Alex Hearle 12.Max Clark 13.Sammy Arnold 14.Oli Spencer 15.Boeta Chamberlain

Bench

16.Ollie Fletcher 17.Adam Brocklebank 18.Richard Palframan 19.Freddie Clarke

20.Fergus Lee-Warner 21.Freddie Lockwood 22.James Elliot 23.Elliott Obatoyinbo

Saracens

Starting XV

1.Rhys Carre 2.Theo Dan 3.Marco Riccioni 4.Nick Isiekwe 5.Hugh Tizard

6.Nathan Michelow 7.Andy Onyeama-Christie 8.Tom Willis 9.Ivan van Zyl 10.Owen Farrell

11.Rotimi Segun 12.Owen Farrell 13.Nick Tompkins 14.Brandon Jackson 15.Max Malins

Bench

16.Eoghan Clarke 17.Eroni Mawi 18.Alec Clarey 19.Harry Wilson

20.Olamide Sodeke 21.Charlie Bracken 22.Cameron Hutchinson 23.Noah Caluori

Predicted winner

Newcastle Red Bulls