Preview: Premiership, Round 19
Comments
0
Bath hooker Ross Batty insists there is no chance of his side underestimating Newcastle Falcons as the Premiership run-in reaches the business end.
With four rounds to go, Mike Ford's Bath side badly need a victory to keep up their chase for the top four while the Falcons, with safety already secured, appear to have little to play for.
But on a Friday at Kingston Park, the Falcons will be desperate for a prize scalp and Batty admits he and his teammates are ignoring the form book, which says they have beaten the Falcons in 18 of the last 19 encounters.
"I don't see our run-in being easier than anyone else's on paper," he said.
"We need to make sure we go to Newcastle and do our jobs.
"We need to do well between now and the end of the season to get where we want to be. There's no let-up.
"They have a few big runners in the backline that we will have to be wary of, and they are a very well-drilled outfit.
"It's going to be a big challenge for us, particularly on a Friday."
The Falcons have won just once at Kingston Park in Premiership since November, with a 38-7 triumph over London Welsh in Round 13.
Bath have won on their last nine visits to Kingston Park since a 17-19 reversal in 2003 but Falcons loose forward Chris York says a Friday Kingston Park atmosphere can still play a role as the team go in search of their first win in any competition since February.
Recent performances against clubs like Leicester Tigers and Saracens shows that this season's Falcons can challenge visiting teams on the home field – according to York.
"I think certainly for most of the games we've played recently here, we've getting the best of teams like Leicester, when we had up here for 70 minutes we were pretty much leading the game and we're not expecting any change there," he said.
"With this new pitch, we're accustomed to it, we know what our strengths are and how we can best get them from this pitch so I think I think there definitely is a home advantage.
"Hopefully we will be able to use our experience from playing on the new surface this season and show some of that on Friday.
"We've had a couple of results which probably haven't gone our way due to a number of different reasons, but we believe that's because of ourselves and what we haven't done in the game, what we should have been doing in the game so we're looking to obviously get a good performance on Friday."
All of the weekend's match details:
Friday, April 10
Newcastle Falcons v Bath
(Kingston Park, Kick-off: 19.45; 18.45 GMT)
Teams:
Newcastle: 15 Simon Hammersley, 14 Chris Harris, 13 Adam Powell (captain), 12 Juan Pablo Socino, 11 Sinoti Sinoti, 10 Rory Clegg, 9 Ruki Tipuna, 8 Chris York, 7 Mark Wilson, 6 Richard Mayhew, 5 Kane Thompson, 4 Calum Green, 3 Kieran Brookes, 2 Scott Lawson, 1 Rob Vickers.
Replacements: 16 George McGuigan, 17 Eric Fry, 18 Juan Pablo Orlandi, 19 Joshua Furno, 20 Sean Robinson, 21 Sonatane Takalua, 22 Tom Catterick, 23 Gonzalo Tiesi.
Bath: 15 Anthony Watson, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Ollie Devoto, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 George Ford, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 Leroy Houston, 7 Francois Louw (captain), 6 Sam Burgess, 5 Dominic Day, 4 Matt Garvey, 3 Max Lahiff, 2 Ross Batty, 1 Nick Auterac.
Replacements: 16 Rob Webber, 17 Paul James, 18 Kane Palma-Newport, 19 Dave Attwood, 20 Carl Fearns, 21 Alafoti Faosiliva, 22 Micky Young, 23 Tom Homer.
Referee: JP Doyle
Assistant referees: Andrew Jackson, Ashley Rowden
TMO: Trevor Fisher
Saturday, April 11
Harlequins v Gloucester
(Twickenham Stoop, Kick-off: 15.00; 14.00 GMT)
Teams:
Harlequins: 15 Ollie Lindsay-Hague, 14 Marland Yarde, 13 Asaeli Tikoirotuma, 12 Harry Sloan, 11 Charlie Walker, 10 Nick Evans, 9 Danny Care, 8 Jack Clifford, 7 Chris Robshaw, 6 Luke Wallace, 5 George Robson, 4 Nick Easter, 3 Matt Shields, 2 Dave Ward, 1 Joe Marler (captain).
Replacements: 16 Rob Buchanan, 17 Mark Lambert, 18 Darryl Marfo, 19 Charlie Matthews, 20 Netani Talei, 21 Karl Dickson, 22 Ben Botica, 23 Ugo Monye.
Gloucester: 15 Steve McColl, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Bill Meakes, 12 Billy Twelvetrees (captain), 11 Jonny May, 10 James Hook, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 Gareth Evans, 7 Jacob Rowan, 6 Sione Kalamafoni, 5 James Hudson, 4 Tom Savage, 3 John Afoa, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Nick Wood.
Replacements: 16 Darren Dawidiuk, 17 Dan Murphy, 18 Sila Puafisi, 19 Mariano Galarza, 20 Ross Moriarty, 21 Dan Robson, 22 Billy Burns, 23 Henry Purdy.
Referee: Luke Pearce
Assistant referees: Andrew Pearce, Kelvin Stewart
TMO: Rowan Kitt
Saracens v Leicester Tigers
(Aviva stadium, Kick-off: 15.15; 14.15 GMT)
Teams:
Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Chris Wyles, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Kelly Brown, 6 Jackson Wray, 5 Alistair Hargreaves (captain), 4 George Kruis, 3 Petrus Du Plessis, 2 Jamie George, 1 Mako Vunipola.
Replacements: 16 Scott Spurling, 17 Richard Barrington, 18 James Johnston, 19 Maro Itoje, 20 Ernst Joubert, 21 Neil de Kock, 22 Duncan Taylor, 23 David Strettle.
Leicester: 15 Mathew Tait, 14 Niall Morris, 13 Matt Smith, 12 Seremaia Bai, 11 Vereniki Goneva, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Ben Youngs (captain), 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Jamie Gibson, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Sebastian De Chaves, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Michele Rizzo, 18 Logovi'i Mulipola, 19 Graham Kitchener, 20 Laurence Pearce, 21 Sam Harrison, 22 Tommy Bell, 23 Adam Thompstone.
Referee: Matthew Carley
Assistant referees: Roy Maybank, Robin Goodliffe
TMO: David Grashoff
Sunday, April 12
Exeter Chiefs v Northampton Saints
(Sandy Park, Kick-off: 14.00; 13.00 GMT)
Teams:
Exeter Chiefs: 15 Phil Dollman, 14 Ian Whitten, 13 Jack Nowell, 12 Sam Hill, 11 Matt Jess, 10 Henry Slade, 9 Will Chudley, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Ben White, 6 Dave Ewers, 5 Mitch Lees, 4 Dean Mumm (captian), 3 Tomas Francis, 2 Jack Yeandle, 1 Ben Moon.
Replacements: 16 Elvis Taione, 17 Carl Rimmer, 18 Alex Brown, 19 Sam Skinner, 20 Kai Horstmann, 21 Dave Lewis, 22 Gareth Steenson, 23 Tom James.
Northampton Saints: 15 James Wilson, 14 Ken Pisi, 13 George Pisi, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 Jamie Elliott, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Kahn Fotuali'i, 8 Sam Dickinson, 7 Calum Clark, 6 Tom Wood, 5 Christian Day, 4 Samu Manoa, 3 Gareth Denman, 2 Dylan Hartley (captain), 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements: 16 Mike Haywood, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Tom Mercey, 19 Jon Fisher, 20 Phil Dowson, 21 Lee Dickson, 22 Tom Stephenson, 23 Ahsee Tuala.
Referee: Wayne Barnes
Assistant referees: Roger Baileff, Paul Burton
TMO: Geoffrey Warren
London Welsh v Wasps
(Kassam Stadium, Kick-off: 14.30; 13.30 GMT)
Teams:
London Welsh: 15 Seb Jewell, 14 Seb Stegmann, 13 Nic Reynolds, 12 Tom May (captain), 11 Chris Elder, 10 Tristan Roberts, 9 Rob Lewis, 8 Opeti Fonua, 7 Darren Waters, 6 Pete Browne, 5 Matt Corker, 4 Ben West, 3 Ben Cooper, 2 Koree Britton, 1 Nathan Trevett.
Replacements: 16 Matthew Dobson, 17 Eddie Aholelei, 18 Jack Gilding, 19 Josh McNally, 20 Richard Thorpe, 21 Paul Rowley, 22 Olly Barkley, 23 James Lewis.
Wasps: 15 Andrea Masi, 14 Tom Varndell, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Alapati Leiua, 11 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Joe Simpson, 8 Guy Thompson, 7 Thomas Young, 6 James Haskell (captain), 5 James Gaskell, 4 James Cannon, 3 Jake Cooper-Woolley, 2 Ashley Johnson, 1 Matt Mullan.
Replacements: 16 Carlo Festuccia, 17 Simon McIntyre, 18 Lorenzo Cittadini, 19 Kearnan Myall, 20 Sam Jones, 21 Charlie Davies, 22 Alex Lozowski, 23 James Downey.
Referee: Gregory Garner
Assistant referees: Paul Dix, Peter Huckle
TMO: Graham Hughes
London Irish v Sale Sharks
(Madejski stadium, Kick-off: 15.00; 14.00 GMT)
Teams:
London Irish: 15 Andrew Fenby, 14 Topsy Ojo, 13 Eoin Griffin, 12 Fergus Mulchrone, 11 Alex Lewington, 10 Chris Noakes, 9 Scott Steele, 8 Tom Guest, 7 Blair Cowan, 6 Jebb Sinclair, 5 Nic Rouse, 4 George Skivington (captain), 3 Richard Palframan, 2 David Paice, 1 Tom Court.
Replacements: 16 Jimmy Stevens, 17 Jamie Hagan, 18 Halani Aulika, 19 Dan Leo, 20 Luke Narraway, 21 Darren Allinson, 22 Gerard Ellis, 23 Tom Fowlie.
Sale Sharks: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Tom Arscott, 13 Johnny Leota, 12 Sam Tuitupou, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Chris Cusiter, 8 Josh Beaumont, 7 David Seymour, 6 Dan Braid (captain), 5 Nathan Hines, 4 Andrei Ostrikov, 3 Vadim Cobilas, 2 Tommy Taylor, 1 Ross Harrison.
Replacements: 16 Marc Jones, 17 Eifion Lewis-Roberts, 18 Ciaran Parker, 19 Jonathan Mills, 20 Magnus Lund, 21 Will Cliff, 22 Joe Ford, 23 Tom Brady.
Referee: Greg Macdonald
Assistant referees: Nigel Carrick, Ross Campbell
TMO: Stuart Terheege
ADVERTISEMENT
