Preview - ECC Round Five
Lock duo pack down once again for Bath
Bath captain Steve Borthwick and Danny Grewcock will line up together in the second row for the first time since September 9, when the England duo to battle in the European Challenge Cup against Connacht at the Sportsground in Galway on Friday.
Borthwick made his comeback from injury in last weekend’s league encounter against Harlequins, but Grewcock missed that match through suspension. In addition, Lee Mears, who was absent from the Twickenham Stoop for the same reason, returns at hooker.
Joining him in the front row is Aaron Jarvis, the young prop, while in the back row, Gareth Delve will make his first start since his return from injury. Chris Malone and Nick Walshe form the half-back pairing, and David Bory returns to the left wing.
Mark Bakewell, the Forwards Coach, says that the club is under no illusions that Connacht – who led by ten points before Bath overhauled them when they played at the Rec – will be difficult opponents.
“Particularly in the first half they were really impressive," Bakewell said.
"They like to play rugby, they are a very positive team and they were pretty assertive down here. I think they came here with a nothing-to-lose attitude and really took it to us, so we are not expecting anything different.
“They played all the rugby in the first half,” Bakewell added.
”It was really only the last 20 minutes when we pulled our fingers out and managed to score a couple of late tries in the game.
"They have been very impressive. They are a very simple, effective team, they don’t complicate things, they do things in a simple fashion and do it well, and they are very enthusiastic.”
Connacht have made eight changes to that which played Munster on New Years Eve as well as two positional switches, with Mark McHugh moving to inside centre and Paul Warwick moving to scrum-half from outside centre. Ted Robinson, John Hearty, Michael Swift, Matt Lacey, Conor O’Loughlin, Adrian Flavin, Conor McPhillips and Brendan O’Connor are all recalled to the starting line up in place of Darren Yapp, Gavin Williams, David Gannon, Ray Ofisa, Chris Keane, John Fogarty, Keith Matthews and John Muldoon.
Fogarty, Ofisa, Keane and Yapp are named among the replacements along with versatile three quarter Peter Durcan and second row David McGowan for the first time this season.
Newcastle Falcons have made five changes to their team for Friday’s European Challenge Cup clash against French side Brive at Kingston Park.
Fit-again Matthew Burke returns to skipper the side from fullback following the concussion which kept him out of Sunday’s 31-29 victory over Leicester Tigers.
Three of the five changes are enforced as forwards Joe McDonnell, Mark Sorenson and Russell Winter are not registered for Europe, with Jon Golding, Andy Buist and Brent Wilson slotting in respectively.
The only other change to the team is at scrum half, where Lee Dickson comes in for James Grindal in a Falcons team aiming to make it five home wins in a row.
The Falcons will face three fmailiar foes, in the shape of Brive prop Luke Harbut, formerly of Northampton Saints, centre Terry Fanolua, formerly of Gloucester, and full-back Nicolas Le Roux, formerly of Worcester.
Harlequins make nine changes to the team that started against Bath in the Guinness Premiership last Saturday, for the game against
Montpellier in the European Challenge Cup at the Stade Sabathe.
In the pack, four players that started against Bath have been rested. Tani Fuga is replaced by Jimmy Richards at hooker, Jim Evans comes into the second row in place of Ollie Kohn, while Chris Hala’Ufia and Will Skinner are in the back row in place of Andre Vos and Paul Volley respectively. Nick Easter will captain the side in Volley’s absence.
In the back division, Hal Luscombe comes into the midfield to take the place of Stuart Abbott, who is also rested along with Mike Brown, meaning that Gavin Duffy starts at fullback. Injury rules out Simon Keogh so Tom Williams is on the left wing with Ugo Monye starting on the right wing in place of David Strettle, who is amongst the replacements. Steve So’oialo is back at scrum half, with Danny Care dropping to the bench.
Meanwhile, Montpellier line up with a largely second-string team, but Argentina international Olivier Sarramea continues his long road back from injury with a start at full-back for the match. Young fly-half Francois Trinh Duc starts again after he was sent off in the last match against Connacht.
Newport Gwent Dragons have made three changes to the team that defeated Munster last weekend for their European Challenge Cup game against Bristol.
Alex Walker replaces Gareth Cooper at scrum-half while among the forwards Kieran Crawford comes in for Ben Daly who hasn't recovered from his injured calf and a reshuffle in the back row sees Colin Charvis move to number and Andrew Hall come in at blindside flanker.
Meanwhile, Bristol captain Matt Salter will make his first start since October 15 when he suffered a dislocated shoulder against Harlequins.
In addition prop Alex Clarke, who was named recently in the England Saxons squad, has been taken unwell but Hill is able to bring in a very capable replacement in the form of David Hilton.
A win would all but clinch the group for Bristol with a home tie against Bucuresti next Friday to come. However, a win for the Dragons would mean that the group would go down to the wire and they would travel to Bayonne next week needing a win to make sure.
Glasgow Warriors head coach Sean Lineen has made five changes to his team for the game against GRAN Parma in Italy on Saturday.
Sean Marsden replaces Colin Gregor at full-back with Scott Barrow coming in for Andy Henderson at centre.
Sam Pinder, who has been called into the Scotland training squad for next week, starts at scrum-half in place of Graeme Beveridge.
Among the forwards, Andy Newman replaces Dan Turner at lock, while flanker Steve Swindall takes over from Andrew Wilson.
Bayonne have named a largely full-strength side for their match at home to Bucuresti, as the French aim to overturn their embarrassment in Romania last October.
Veteran captain Richard Dourthe, who was instrumental in Bayonne's upset of Top14 leaders Stade Francais last weekend, leads the team from centre, where he is joined by France sevens player Vincent Inigo.
Two of Bernard Laporte's new French team members, full-back Anthony Floch and prop Laurent Emmanuelli, international scrum-half Pierre Mignoni, and international number eight Elvis Vermeulen are all in the Clermont team to face Worcester on Saturday, along with Italy international Gonzalo Canale, Argentina hoker Mario Ledesma, and a host of other familiar names.
Fly-half for Clermont is the Top 14 top scorer Brock James.
Albi have former Munster centre Paul Devlin in their team to face Viadana on Saturday, and Canadian prop Forest Gainer also makes the starting XV, although his international captain and scrum-half Morgan Williams is on the bench.
Viadana have Italy internationals Kaine Robertson and Josh Sole in their side at full-back and number eight respectively as well as former Otago winger Hayden Pedersen.
Narbonne include points machine fly-half Cédric Rosalen, who scored 73 per cent of their points last season, as well as French international winger Julien Candelon, but other than that the team for their trip to Saracens is largely second string.
European Challenge Cup fixtures – Round Five:
(All kick-off times are local)
Friday, December 15
Pool 1 – Bayonne v Bucuresti, 19:30
Pool 1 – Dragons v Bristol, 19:45
Pool 3 – Montauban v Petrarca Padova, 19:00
Pool 3 – Newcastle Falcons v Brive, 20:00
Pool 4 – Connacht v Bath, 19:00
Pool 4 – Montpellier v Harlequins, 19:30
Saturday, January 13
Pool 2 – GRAN Parma v Glasgow, 14:30
Pool 5 – Worcester v Clermont, 15:00
Pool 5 – Albi v Viadana, 18:30
Sunday, January 14
Pool 2 – Saracens v Narbonne, 15:00
For full standings, click here
