Bristol Bears vs Gloucester

Kickoff: 7:45pm, Friday 17th April

Venue: Ashton Gate

Watch on: TNT Sports 1

Prem Rugby will return on Friday night with a West Country derby between Bristol and Gloucester. These teams find themselves in very different parts of the table; Bristol are trying to stay in the playoff race whilst Gloucester are trying to cling on to a Champions Cup spot. The first installment of this fixture took place in October and resulted in a 34-49 win for the Bears.

Pat Lam has made a few changes to his team that lost to Toulouse. In the pack, Luatua has been replaced by Batley with Owen moving to the back row. At scrum-half, Randall is on the bench with Marmion starting whilst Lane starts at fullback instead of Rees-Zammit. The real battle in this game will be up front where Bristol have their strongest group available and Gloucester look vulnerable. The teams look fairly evenly matched throughout but Bristol have a slight edge at most positions. Charlie Atkinson needs to have another big game if his side is to have any hope of coming away with a victory.

Team news

Bristol Bears

Starting XV

1.Ellis Genge 2.Gabriel Oghre 3.George Kloska 4.James Dun 5.Joe Batley

6.Joe Owen 7.Fitz Harding(C) 8.Benjamin Grondona 9.Keiran Marmion 10.Tom Jordan

11.Gabriel Ibitoye 12.James Williams 13.Bernhard Janse van Rensburg 14.Kalaveti Ravouvou 15.Rich Lane

Bench

16.Harry Thacker 17.Jake Woolmore 18.Max Lahiff 19.Steele Barker

20.Luka Ivanashvili 21.Harry Randall 22.Matias Moroni 23.Noah Heward

Gloucester

Starting XV
1.Dian Bleuler 2.Seb Blake 3.Afo Fasogbon 4.Danny Eite 5.Arthur Clark

6.Deian Gwynne 7.Lewis Ludlow 8.Jack Clement 9.Caolan Englefield 10.Charlie Atkinson

11.Ollie Thorley 12.Seb Atkinson(C) 13.Max Llewellyn 14.Josiah Edwards-Giraud 15.George Barton

Bench

16.Jack Innard 17.Val Rapava Ruskin 18.Ciaran Knight 19.Matias Alemmano 

20.Will Trenholm 21.Mikey Austin 22.Will Joseph 23.Ben Loader

Leicester Tigers vs Newcastle Red Bulls

Kickoff: 3pm, Saturday 18th April

Venue: Mattioli Woods Welford Road

Watch on: HBO/TNT Sports

The second game of the weekend will take place in Leicester where the Tigers will host the Red Bulls who have been making strides in performance without converting their form into wins. Leicester are 3rd in the table and closer to 1st than 5th. Meanwhile, Newcastle sit bottom of the table having won only once this season.

The Tigers have a strong pack, captained by Ollie Chessum, and a consistent group of backs with some in-form playmakers and some electric wingers on the outside. Newcastle will hope to cop with this through their newer additions to the squad such as Healy and Hodge at fly-half and fullback. It's tricky to see how the Red Bulls could get anything out of this one given the disparity between the packs, but this team has shown that it can compete properly now so you never know what could happen.

Team news

Leicester Tigers

Starting XV

1.Nicky Smith 2.Jamie Blamire 3.Joe Heyes 4.Cameron Henderson 5.Ollie Chessum(C)

6.Hanro Liebenberg 7.Hamish Watson 8.Joaquin Moro 9.Jack van Poortvliet 10.Billy Searle

11.Gabriel Hamer-Webb 12.Orlando Bailey 13.Will Wand 14.Adam Radwan 15.Freddie Steward

Bench

16.Charlie Clare 17.Tarek Haffar 18.Will Hurd 19.George Martin

20.Olly Cracknell 21.Tom Whiteley 22.Izaia Perese 23.Ollie Hassell-Collins

Newcastle Red Bulls

Starting XV

1.Micky Rewcastle 2.Ollie Fletcher 3.Richard Palframan 4.Jamie Hodgson 5.Adam Scott

6.Tom Gordon 7.Tom Christie(C) 8.Ollie Leatherbarrow 9.James Elliot 10.Ben Healy

11.Elliott Obatoyinbo 12.Rhys Beeckmans 13.Alex Hearle 14.Christian Wade 15.Josh Hodge

Bench

16.Samson Adejimi 17.Adam Brocklebank 18.Murray McCallum 19.Freddie Clarke

20.Reuben Parsons 21.Simon Benitez Cruz 22.Brett Connon 23.Fergus Lee-Warner

Exeter Chiefs vs Northampton Saints

Kickoff: 3:05pm, Saturday 18th April

Venue: Sandy Park

Watch on: TNT Sports 1

The game of the weekend will see 4th host 1st when Northampton visit Exeter at Sandy Park. Northampton narrowly won a mad match that defined the cliche " a game of two halves". Both teams have been able to maintain their form throughout the season and are well set for another fantastic match. 

These sides are evenly matched across the board but their are a couple of areas that could leave some weaknesses for these sides. Jimmy Roots is still fairly inexperienced at tighthead prop and will have to go up against Manny Iyogun for at least an hour in this game. In the second row, Exeter have a slight advantage with two impressive international stars taking on two fringe internationals. The back rows are equally tantalising and will be the contest to watch in this game. England's half-back pairing of Mitchell and Smith should be a big advantage but Varney and Skinner have been the driving force behind Exeter's uplift in fortunes so this could be very tight. Both teams have strong enough back 3's that Tommy Freeman and Brown-Bampoe are both on the bench. This will be a great match but I give Northampton a slight edge.

Team news

Exeter Chiefs

Starting XV

1.Scott Sio 2.Jack Yeandle 3.Jimmy Roots 4.Dafydd Jenkins(C) 5.Andrea Zambonin

6.Tom Hooper 7.Ross Vintcent 8.Greg Fisilau 9.Stephen Varney 10.Harvey Skinner

11.Campbell Ridl 12.Will Rigg 13.Henry Slade 14.Immanuel Feyi-Waboso 15.Olly Woodburn

Bench

16.Joseph Dweba 17.Ethan Burger 18.Bachuki Tchumbadze 19.Rusi Tuima

20.Ethan Roots 21.Tom Cairns 22.Will Haydon-Wood 23.Paul Brown-Bampoe

Northampton Saints

Starting XV

1.Emmanuel Iyogun 2.Craig Wright 3.Cleopas Kundiona 4.Ed Prowse 5.Tom Lockett

6.Josh Kemeny 7.Sam Graham 8.Callum Chick 9.Alex Mitchell 10.Fin Smith

11.Ollie Sleightholme 12.Fraser Dingwall 13.Tom Litchfield 14.George Hendy 15.George Furbank(C)

Bench

16.Robbie Smith 17.Tom West 18.Elliot Millar Mills 19.JJ van der Mescht 

20.Henry Pollock 21.Archie McParland 22.James Pater 23.Tommy Freeman

Bath vs Harlequins

Kickoff: 5:30pm, Saturday 18th April

Venue: The Recreation Ground

Watch on: TNT Sports 1

It tricky to find two teams in more contrasting positions. Bath are flying high and look set to end their season at the Allianz for the third year in a row. Meanwhile, a dispirited Harlequins team will travel to Bath hoping to qualify for the competition they just got knocked out of by Sale.

Bath have a young starting duo of props but van Wyk and du Toit are waiting on the bench to dominate in the second half. They will have a big advantage over their beleaguered opponents who are without Williams, Baxter and a few others. In the second row, Treadwell starts with Cunningham-South whilst Petti stays at blindside flanker. This is surprising given that Cunningham-South tends to play in the back row and Petti normally resides in the second row. There is also a disparity at half-back where the world class duo of Spencer and Russell will take on Friday and Evans. Expect Finn Russell to look to exploit Marcus Smith at fullback.

I struggle to see any path, other than Marcus Smith having an insanely good game, for Harlequins to avoid defeat at the Rec this weekend.

Team news

Bath

Starting XV

1.Scott Kirk 2.Tom Dunn 3.Vilikesa Sela 4.Ewan Richards 5.Charlie Ewels

6.Ted Hill 7.Guy Pepper 8.Alfie Barbeary 9.Ben Spencer(C) 10.Finn Russell

11.Henry Arundell 12.Max Ojomoh 13.Ollie Lawrence 14.Joe Cokanasiga 15.Santi Carreras

Bench

16.Dan Frost 17.Francois van Wyk 18.Thomas du Toit 19.Ross Molony

20.Josh Bayliss 21.Tom Carr-Smith 22.Louie Hennessey 23.Miles Reid

Harlequins

Starting XV
1.Will Hobson 2.George Turner 3.Joe Jones 4.Chandler Cunningham-South 5.Kieran Treadwell

6.Guido Petti 7.Jack Kenningham 8.Alex Dombrandt(C) 9.Lucas Friday 10.Jarrod Evans

11.Cadan Murley 12.Bryn Bradley 13.Luke Northmore 14.Nick David 15.Marcus Smith

Bench

16.Jack Walker 17.Ethan Clarke 18.Ollie Streeter 19.Elliot Williams

20.Zach Carr 21.Will Evans 22.Stu Townsend 23.Sean Kerr

Sale Sharks vs Saracens

Kickoff: 3pm, Sunday 19th April

Venue: CorpAcq Stadium

Watch on: TNT Sports 1

Sale's playoff hopes are over but Saracens still have a chance, assuming they can quickly get their act together. This Sale team is missing a boatload of big stars whilst Saracens have a strong team packed with stars. Sale's backs look strong but they are missing several players in the front row. The front-row injury crisis has moved Opoku-Fordjour to loosehead prop and kept both Cowan-Dickie and Jibulu out of the starting team. In the back row, Gilmore starts with Logan on the bench in the absence of the Curry brothers. This shouldn't be too close.

Team news

Sale Sharks

Starting XV
1.Asher Opoku-Fordjour 2.Ethan Caine 3.James Harper 4.Ernst van Rhyn 5.Ben Bamber

6.Jacques Vermeulen 7.Jos Gilmore 8.Sam Dugdale 9.Gus Warr 10.George Ford

11.Tom Roebuck 12.Rekeiti Ma'asi-White 13.Marius Louw 14.Tom O'Flaherty 15.Rob du Preez

Bench

16.Alfie Longstaff 17.Ralph McEachran 18.Tye Ramont 19.Dylan Hodkinson

20.Reuben Logan 21.Dom Hanson 22.Joe Bedlow 23.Tristan Woodman

Saracens

Starting XV

1.Rhys Carre 2.Jamie George 3.Marcus Street 4.Maro Itoje(C) 5.Hugh Tizard

6.Theo McFarland 7.Ben Earl 8.Tom Willis 9.Charlie Bracken 10.Fergus Burke

11.Rotimi Segun 12.Olly Hartley 13.Nick Tompkins 14.Noah Caluori 15.Max Malins

Bench

16.Theo Dan 17.Eroni Mawi 18.Marco Riccioni 19.Harry Wilson

20.Nathan Michelow 21.Ivan van Zyl 22.Owen Farrell 23.Angus Hall