Premiership Rugby Team News and Lineups
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The final round of the 2021/22 Premiership Rugby season is upon us.
Here are how the teams' lineups.
Exeter Chiefs v Harlequins
Team news for the Chiefs sees England international Jack Nowell return to the starting line-up for the first time in ten weeks following a broken arm. He returns to a back division which also sees Harvey Skinner start in the centre and Stu Townsend at scrum-half.
In the pack, skipper Jack Yeandle starts in an unchanged front-row alongside Alec Hepburn and Harry Williams, but there are changes behind with Jenkins coming into the second-row and Richard Capstick added to the back-row.On the bench, Sam Skinner is set for his final outing in an Exeter jersey before his move to Edinburgh; Welshman Iestyn Harris gets his first-ever involvement with the first team squad, whilst Sean O’Brien and Facundo Cordero offers options in the backline.
Tyrone Green and Aaron Morris both make starting comebacks for Harlequins after long-term injuries. Joe Marler also returns to the starting line-up this week having taken up a spot amongst the Impact Players last time out, with fellow prop Will Collier recovering from the injury that saw him pull out of Big Summer Kick-Off prior to the start of the match to retain the three jersey.
George Skivington has made three changes to the starting line up that played Harlequins last time out with Ben Meehan, Jack Singleton and Jordy Reid all retuning to the starting team.
Jonny May is named on the replacements bench and is set for his first appearance since Saracens away after returning from injury.
The Men in Black end the regular season against Gloucester safe in the knowledge that they will host a last-four clash at StoneX Stadium the following week, and all permutations will be settled with all six Gallagher Premiership matches kicking off at the same time.
In his 50th senior appearance for the club, Charlie Clare starts at hooker alongside props Ellis Genge and Dan Cole in the front row. Tom Cowan-Dickie, Nephi Leatigaga and Will Hurd are the front-row replacements. If used, Hurd will make his first appearance in this season’s Premiership. Ollie Chessum and Calum Green are the second-row pairing in the starting pack. In the starting back row, George Martin and Hanro Liebenberg are the flankers and Jasper Wiese is included at No8.
Harry Wells and Tommy Reffell are included among the replacements. Ben Youngs and George Ford are the starting half-backs, with Jack van Poortvliet and Freddie Burns named on the bench.
Guy Porter and Matías Moroni make up the midfield, with Harry Potter, Chris Ashton and Freddie Steward the starting back-three. Nemani Nadolo is the remaining back on the bench.
There are three personnel changes to the Wasps starting line-up from the Sale Sharks Premiership clash. The team sees two players, Gopperth and Gaskell playing their final game in Black & Gold.
Paolo Odogwu returns to the starting line up at 14, joined by Josh Bassett at 11 and Ali Crossdale at full-back. Sam Spink joins Jimmy Gopperth to form the centre partnership. The half-back partnership remains unchanged with Dan Robson at scrum half and Charlie Atkinson at 10.
Brad Shields is joined in the back row by brothers Jack and Tom Willis. Captain Joe Launchbury lines up alongside James Gaskell in the second row, whilst the front row remains unchanged with Tom West, Gabriel Oghre and Biyi Alo.
![15 Freddie Steward [53] 14 Chris Ashton [10] 13 Matías Moroni [33] 12 Guy Porter [42] 11 Harry Potter [38] 10 George Ford [126] 9 Ben Youngs [279] 1 Ellis Genge (c) [108] 2 Charlie Clare [49] 3 Dan Cole [287] 4 Ollie Chessum [28] 5 Calum Green [88] 6 George Martin [36] 7 Hanro Liebenberg (vc) [56] 8 Jasper Wiese [42] REPLACEMENTS 16 Tom Cowan-Dickie [8] 17 Nephi Leatigaga [65] 18 Will Hurd [7] 19 Harry Wells [153] 20 Tommy Reffell [75] 21 Jack van Poortvliet [46] 22 Freddie Burns [100] 23 Nemani Nadolo [35]Starting XV: 15 Ali Crossdale, 14 Paolo Odogwu, 13 Sam Spink, 12 Jimmy Gopperth, 11 Josh Bassett, 10 Charlie Atkinson, 9 Dan Robson, 1 Tom West, 2 Gabriel Oghre, 3 Biyi Alo, 4 Joe Launchbury (C), 5 James Gaskell, 6 Brad Shields, 7 Jack Willis, 8 Tom Willis, Replacements: 16 Dan Frost, 17 Robin Hislop, 18 Elliot Millar-Mills, 19 Vaea Fifita, 20 Alfie Barbeary, 21 Will Porter, 22 Rob Miller, 23 Malakai Fekitoa](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FUUy-99WUAA4amC?format=jpg&name=small)
For Newcastle, Sean Robinson replaces Philip van der Walt, who sustained an ACL injury to his left knee in the Falcons’ last game against Leicester Tigers.
Conor Kenny is in line for his competitive debut after being named on the bench, with the former Connacht prop having missed most of the season due to a neck injury sustained during the pre-season victory at Glasgow.
Faf de Klerk captains the Sharks on his final appearance for the club, while Lood de Jager, Rohan Janse van Rensburg and Simon Hammersley will also bid farewell to the AJ Bell Stadium.
The quartet are among eight Sharks leaving the club at the end of the season, with JP du Preez, AJ MacGinty, Cam Nield, and Curtis Langdon also saying their goodbyes on Saturday.
Sharks Director of Rugby Alex Sanderson makes four personnel changes to face Pat Lam’s side, with van Rensburg, Cobus Wiese, Hammersley and Sam James named to start.
A further two switches are positional, with the versatile Rob du Preez shifting from centre to fly-half to replace the injured AJ MacGinty, and JL du Preez moving to the back row to replace skipper Jono Ross, who misses the season finale after undergoing an operation to repair a dislocated toe.
For The Bristol Bears John Afoa, Alapati Leiua and Nathan Hughes will make their last outings for the club before departing at the end of the season.
Jack Bates comes into the back line, while Jake Kerr, John Hawkins and Dan Thomas earn starts in the pack for the Sale Sharks encounter.
Hooker Niall Annett, openside flanker Sam Lewis and loosehead prop Ethan Waller have each made more than 100 appearances for Warriors.
Warriors will also say goodbye to Director of Rugby Alan Solomons, who is retiring from coaching at the end of the season. Solomons joined Warriors, initially as a consultant, midway through the 2017/18 season and will bring the curtain down on a coaching career that started in 1977 with University of Cape Town’s third XV.
Hooker Isaac Miller is in lien to make his 50th appearance for Warriors off the bench and there is also a place among the replacements for back-row forward Tom Dodd who has recovered from a knee injury sustained against Sale Sharks in February.
Of the starting XV against Bath only Lewis and British and Irish Lions and Scotland loosehead dprop Rory Sutherland did not start in the Premiership Rugby Cup-winning side against London Irish two weeks ago.
As for Bath, Beno Obano will start his first game in just over seven months when Bath Rugby take on Worcester Warriors in the final game of the Premiership season.
The England international returned to action last time out in the win over London Irish following an ACL injury and makes his seventh appearance of the campaign.
Taulupe Faletau will make it 72 and out at Sixways from Number 8 with Jaco Coetzee and Sam Underhill completing the back row. Having played 16 times in the Premiership this term, Max Ojomoh is back in the centre while fellow Academy graduate Orlando Bailey, who has featured 18 times in the league, remains at fly-half.
The young duo have experience and leaders around them in Ben Spencer and Jonathan Joseph while there is an abundance of tries in the back three. Joe Cokanasiga has five tries in seven Premiership matches while on the other wing, Will Muir (eight tries) will be looking to cement his position as the club’s top try scorer this season. Tom de Glanville (also five tries) is set for Premiership appearance number 20 in 2020/21.
Among the replacements, front-row three Jacques du Toit, Valeriy Morozov and Ma’afu Fia will bid farewell to Bath while Max Green is back from his short-term loan spell at Bristol Bears.
