Stars return for Quins Gloucester clash
Danny Care and Ugo Monye have both return to the Harlequins lineup for this weekend’s big clash with Gloucester at the Twickenham Stoop.
Joining them in the starting lineup is England team mate Nick Easter after he recovered from a calf injury sustained against Worcester.
With the return of Nick Evans last week for the away trip to Franklin’s Garden’s, the 23 man Quins team is almost back to full strength and, with just the awaited return of team captain Will Skinner and Argentinian International Gonzalo Tiesi, it will be a strong and determined team that will run out at the Stoop.
Gloucester Rugby Head Coach Bryan Redpath meanwhile has kept faith with the majority of the side that tamed the Tigers last weekend but is able to include returning England internationals Olly Morgan and James Simpson-Daniel as his side head for Harlequins this weekend.
Both were originally selected to start last Friday but were late withdrawals before the game and Morgan takes up his usual full back spot.
However, Simpson-Daniel has to come into the centre with Henry Trinder suffering a dead leg, Mike Tindall still sidelined and Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu away with Samoa.
In a further backline change, Tom Voyce moves from fullback to the wing with Lesley Vainikolo dropping to the bench.
The pack that started against Leicester remains unchanged although Scott Lawson and Akapusi Qera have returned from international duty and are named amongst the replacements as is Welsh international fly half Nicky Robinson who also had to miss out last Friday.
Harlequins currently sit in 10th place in the Guinness Premiership, just a point behind Gloucester, and Head Coach Bryan Redpath knows it’ll be a tough encounter at the Stoop.
“Everybody has an opportunity to beat anyone in this league. There’s no easy game and no fixtures which you can say are a dead cert.”
“We have to be massively focussed on the next two games. We need victories, however we achieve them.”
“The pressure was relieved last week but it hasn’t gone away and we’ll go down to Harlequins having worked hard Monday to Friday and will do everything we can to win the game.”
“Quins are fighting hard. They’re in the same position as us. They’ve been unlucky with injuries and international call ups and they’ll be desperate to get back to winning ways.”
The Teams
Harlequins: 15 Mike Brown, 14 David Strettle, 13 George Lowe, 12 Nils Mordt, 11 Ugo MOnye, 10 Nick Evans, 9 Danny Care
8 Nick Easter, 7 Chris Robshaw, 6 Tom Guest, 5 George Robson, 4 James Percival, 3 John Andress, 2 Tani Fuga, 1 Ceri Jones
Replacements: 16 Chris Brooker, 17 Aston Croall, 18 Mark Lambert, 19 Lewis Stevenson, 20 Neil McMillan, 21 Karl Dickson, 22 Rory Clegg, 23 Tom Williams
Gloucester Rugby: 15 Olly Morgan, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 James Simpson-Daniel, 12 Tim Molenaar, 11 Tom Voyce, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Dave Lewis,
8 Gareth Delve (captain), 7 Jake Boer, 6 Peter Buxton, 5 Dave Attwood, 4 Will James, 3 Greg Somerville, 2 Darren Dawidiuk, 1 Nick Wood
Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Paul Doran-Jones, 18 Pierre Capdevielle, 19 Adam Eustace, 20 Akapusi Qera, 21 Jordi Pasqualin, 22 Nicky Robinson, 23 Lesley Vainikolo
Date: Saturday, November 28
Venue: The Stoop
Time: 15:00 (15:00 GMT)
Referee: Tim Wigglesworth
Assistant referees: Bruce Robertson, Andy Watson
TMO: Roy Marfleet
