Prem Rugby Cup

[Epaminondas Pules]

Sale vs Bristol:

Sale Sharks Starting XV:

15.Ollie Davies, 14. Tom O’Flaherty, 13. Rob du Preez ©, 12. Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, 11. Obi Ene, 10. Tom Curtis 9. Nye Thomas; 1. Simon McIntyre, 2. Nathan Jibulu, 3. James Harper, 4. Ernst van Rhyn, 5. Ben Bamber, 6. Jacques Vermeulen, 7. Sam Dugdale, 8. Dan du Preez.

Replacements:

16. Ethan Caine, 17. Tumy Onasanya, 18. Patreece Bell, 19. Hyron Andrews, 20. Jos Gilmore, 21. Dom Hanson, 22. Sam Bedlow, 23. Tristan Woodman.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Gloucester vs Exeter:
Gloucester Rugby starting XV

15 Charlie Atkinson
14 Will Joseph
13 Max Llewellyn
12 Will Butler
11 Ollie Thorley
10 Ross Byrne
9 Caolan Englefield
1 Ciaran Knight
2 Jack Singleton
3 Afolabi Fasogbon
4 Freddie Thomas
5 Cam Jordan
6 James Venter
7 Lewis Ludlow (C)
8 Jack Clement

16 Jack Innard
17 Archie McArthur
18 Kirill Gotovtsev
19 Matias Alemanno
20 Josh Basham
21 Mikey Austin
22 George Barton
23 Josiah Edwards-Giraud

Exeter Chiefs:

15 Will Haydon-Wood
14 Paul Brown-Bampoe
13 Ben Hammersley
12 Harry Ascherl
11 Nick Lilley
10 Harvey Skinner
9 Stephen Varney
1 Will Goodrick-Clarke
2 Joseph Dweba
3 Josh Iosefa-Scott
4 Lewis Pearson
5 Rusi Tuima
6 Christ Tshiunza
7 Ethan Roots (c)
8 Ross Vintcent

Replacements:
16 Jack Yeandle
17 Kwenzo Blose
18 Jimmy Roots
19 Andrea Zambonin
20 Kane James
21 Charlie Chapman
22 Ben Coen
23 Zack Wimbush

[Epaminondas Pules]

Newcastle vs Quins:
Newcastle Red Bulls team v Harlequins (Friday, 7.45pm, Kingston Park, live on TNT Sports)

15 Alex Hearle, 14 Oli Spencer, 13 Sammy Arnold, 12 Max Clark, 11 Joel Grayson, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Sam Stuart; 1 Murray McCallum, 2 George McGuigan (captain), 3 Luan de Bruin, 4 Oscar Usher, 5 Jamie Hodgson, 6 Cameron Neild, 7 Tom Gordon, 8 Amanaki Mafi.

Replacements: 16 Ollie Fletcher, 17 Micky Rewcastle, 18 Callum Hancock, 19 Seb de Chaves, 20 Freddie Lockwood, 21 James Elliott, 22 Rhys Beeckmans, 23 Nathan Greenwood.

STARTING XV
15. Nick David (72)
14. Cassius Cleaves (13)
13. Bryn Bradley (14)
12. Sean Kerr (8)
11. Cameron Anderson (16)
10. Jamie Benson (24)
9. Max Green (9)
1. Jordan Els (50)
2. Jack Walker (89)
3. Cameron Doak (*)
4. Jonny Green (9)
5. Stephan Lewies © (82)
6. Zach Carr (7)
7. Tom Lawday (94)
8. Lucas Schmid (8)

IMPACT PLAYERS:
16. Sam Riley (69)
17. Jamie Miller (*)
18. Ollie Streeter (3)
19. Harry Browne (7)
20. Joe Launchbury (44)
21. Elliot Williams (*)
22. Jake Murray (13)
23. Hayden Hyde (13)

[FKAS]

STARTING XV
15 Ollie Hassell-Collins [48]
14 Adam Radwan [11]
13 Izaia Perese [15]
12 Joseph Woodward [33]
11 Gabriel Hamer-Webb *
10 Orlando Bailey *
9 Tom Whiteley[40]
1 Archie van der Flier [4]
2 Jamie Blamire *
3 Will Hurd [50]
4 Tom Manz [14]
5 James Thompson *
6 Hanro Liebenberg (c)
7 Emeka Ilione [48]
8 Olly Cracknell [66]

REPLACEMENTS
16 Finn Theobald-Thomas [17]
17 Tubuna Maka [2]
18 Ale Loman [1] **
19 Harry Palmer *
20 Joaquin Moro *
21 Ollie Allan [3]
22 Charlie Titcombe *
23 Will Wand [11]

* Leicester Tigers debut
** Loan Player

[Epaminondas Pules]

Saracens Men team to play Leicester Tigers:
1 Rhys Carre
2 James Hadfield
3 Marco Riccioni
4 Harry Wilson
5 Hugh Tizard
6 Olamide Sodeke
7 Charlie West
8 Nathan Michelow
9 Charlie Bracken
10 Louie Johnson
11 Noah Caluori
12 Cameron Hutchison
13 Nick Tompkins (c)
14 Jack Bracken
15 Max Malins

Replacements:
16 Eoghan Clarke
17 Tietie Tuimauga
18 Marcus Street
19 Kennedy Sylvester
20 Reggie Hammick
21 Ivan van Zyl
22 Brandon Jackson
23 Rotimi Segun

Players Unavailable:

Eroni Mawi, Phil Brantingham, Theo Dan, Jamie George, Alec Clarey, Vilikesa Nairau, Nick Isiekwe, Maro Itoje, Theo McFarland, Andy Onyeama-Christie, Juan Martin Gonzalez, Ben Earl, Max Eke, Toby Knight, Tom Willis, Fergus Burke, Owen Farrell, Angus Hall, Olly Hartley, Alex Lozowski, Sam Spink, Elliot Daly, Lucio Cinti, Tobias Elliott.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Sale vs Bristol:

Sale Sharks Starting XV:

15.Ollie Davies, 14. Tom O’Flaherty, 13. Rob du Preez ©, 12. Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, 11. Obi Ene, 10. Tom Curtis 9. Nye Thomas; 1. Simon McIntyre, 2. Nathan Jibulu, 3. James Harper, 4. Ernst van Rhyn, 5. Ben Bamber, 6. Jacques Vermeulen, 7. Sam Dugdale, 8. Dan du Preez.

Replacements:

16. Ethan Caine, 17. Tumy Onasanya, 18. Patreece Bell, 19. Hyron Andrews, 20. Jos Gilmore, 21. Dom Hanson, 22. Sam Bedlow, 23. Tristan Woodman.

Bristol Bears team to face Sale Sharks in round one of the PREM Rugby Cup on Saturday (3pm KO):

15. Josh Carrington (debut), 14. Aidan Boshoff (3 apps), 13. Joe Jenkins (26 apps), 12. Benhard Janse van Rensburg (50 apps), 11. Gabriel Ibitoye (59 apps), 10. AJ MacGinty (53 apps), 9. Kieran Marmion (52 apps); 1. Jake Woolmore (169 apps), 2. Harry Thacker (133 apps), 3. George Kloska (65 apps), 4. Joe Owen (35 apps), 5. Joe Batley (75 apps), 6. Luka Ivanishvili (debut), 7. Fitz Harding (c) (97 apps), 8. Ben Grondona (20 apps).

System players: 16. Tomas Gwilliam (5 apps), 17. Sam Grahamslaw (12 apps), 18. Lovejoy Chawatama (5 apps), 19. Kenzie Jenkins (3 apps), 20. Kofi Cripps (3 apps), 21. Max Pepper (debut), 22. James Williams (55 apps), 23. Louis Rees-Zammit (debut).

[FKAS]

OHC at fullback and two tightheads on the bench. Some unexpected selections in amongst that lot for Tigers.

[Epaminondas Pules]

There's only the one game on the box I think, which is Red Bull vs Quins, which is a shame as there's some good match ups this weekend.

[twitchy]

Yeah I was hoping glos v exe would be on.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Only thing to really take from that is that Green is fucking awful!

[fivepointer]

A decent enough start for Newcastle. A comfortable win and a good turnout. Quins looked well below par.

[Scrumhead]

Not sure how much to take away from that TBH?

Only a handful of players in that Quins 23 will be in contention once the internationals and first team players are back in the picture (we were missing - or chose not to pick - 16 internationals + Tyrone Green). Comparatively, that’s not miles off being Newcastle’s starting XV.

Feel good story for Falcons and hopefully no more than an appropriately sour note for Wilson to leave on.

[FKAS]

Newcastle seemed to just want that game more, their aggression and physicality was just a step up from Quins.

Whilst it was a fairly strong Newcastle side they still had quite a few players to come back in Freddie Clark, Bello, Chamberlain, Wade and the new Puma scrum for starters. Diamond will be pleased with what he saw but know that the attack still needs to click if they are going to push on, there was a few passes not quite to hand and a few lines that were a little off in timing.

[FKAS]

Tigers beat Sarries 20-7. Dunno what was happening with Tigers kickers, four tries but no conversions. Three forwards push over tries and then Bailey creates space for Wand to go in. Liebenburg, Blamire and Ilione with the other tries for Tigers. Michelow for Sarries.

[FKAS]

STARTING XV

15 George Pearson [5]
14 Gabriel Hamer-Webb [1]
13 Will Wand [12]
12 Joseph Woodward [34]
11 Ryan Crowley **
10 Charlie Titcombe [1]
9 Ollie Allan [3]

1 Tarek Haffar *
2 Charlie Clare (c) [124]
3 Ale Loman [2] **
4 Harry Wells [217]
5 Osian Thomas *
6 Harry Palmer [1]
7 Joshua Manz [9]
8 Joaquin Moro [1]

REPLACEMENTS
16 Finn Theobald-Thomas [18]
17 Nicky Smith [24]
18 Cameron Miell [2]
19 Monty Loggenberg *
20 George Marsh *
21 Tom Whiteley [41]
22 Billy Searle *
23 Tom Threlfall [3]

* Leicester Tigers debut
** Loan player

Heavily rotated Tigers side as expected. Three flyhalfs in the 23 is a slightly odd call, suspect Threlfall might end up at 12 or 15. Miell covering tighthead is interesting, he's mainly played loosehead in senior rugby.

[FKAS]

STARTING XV

15. Tyrone Green (94)
14. Cassius Cleaves (14)
13. Sean Kerr (9)
12. Bryn Bradley (15)
11. Nick David (73)
10. Jarrod Evans (34)
9. Max Green (10)

1. Jordan Els (51)
2. Jack Walker (C) (90)
3. Harry Williams (*)
4. Kieran Treadwell (6)
5. Jonny Green (10)
6. Jack Kenningham (73)
7. Will Evans (115)
8. Tom Lawday (95)

IMPACT PLAYERS:
16. George Turner (*)
17. Jamie Miller (1)
18. Ollie Streeter (4)
19. Harry Browne (8)
20. Zach Carr (8)
21. Jake Murray (14)
22. Ludo Kolade (4)
23. Cameron Anderson (17)

Much stronger Quins side as you'd expect for a home game. Suspect it'll be a long night at the office for the fairly youthful Tigers side.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Gloucester Rugby squad v Bristol Bears (H)

15 Jake Morris
14 Jack Cotgreave
13 Will Knight*
12 Max Knight
11 Ewan Caven*
10 George Barton
9 Mikey Austin
1 Jono Benz-Salomon
2 George Knowles
3 Nepo Laulala*
4 Deian Gwynne
5 Hugh Bokenham*
6 Harry Taylor (C)
7 Caio James
8 Will Trenholm*

16 Kealan Freeman-Price*
17 George Alexander*
18 Harry Wright*
19 Pete Paramore*
20 Jack Gilbert
21 Rhys Price*
22 Rio Ebanks*
23 George Dufty*

*Denotes senior Gloucester Rugby debut.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Bristol Bears team to face Gloucester Rugby at Kingsholm on Friday night in the PREM Rugby Cup (7.45pm KO, live on TNT Sports):

15. Tom Jordan (debut), 14. Louis Rees-Zammit (1 app), 13. Joe Jenkins (27 apps), 12. Toby Baker (2 apps), 11. Aidan Boshoff (4 apps), 10. AJ MacGinty (54 apps), 9. Harry Randall (c) (146 apps); 1. Sam Grahamslaw (13 apps), 2. Gabriel Oghre (43 apps), 3. Lovejoy Chawatama (6 apps), 4. Paddy Pearce (14 apps), 5. Joe Owen (36 apps), 6. Luka Ivanishvili (1 app), 7. Kofi Cripps (4 apps), 8. Ben Grondona (21 apps).

System players: 16. Tomas Gwilliam (6 apps), 17. Louie Trevett (3 apps), 18. Jimmy Halliwell (12 apps), 19. Kenzie Jenkins (4 apps), 20. Fitz Harding (98 apps), 21. Max Pepper (1 app), 22. Sam Worsley (17 apps), 23. Evan Morris (debut)

[Epaminondas Pules]

Saracens Men team to play Northampton Saints:
1 Rhys Carre
2 Theo Dan
3 Marcus Street
4 Nick Isiekwe
5 Olamide Sodeke
6 Harry Wilson
7 Andy Onyeama-Christie (cc)
8 Nathan Michelow
9 Charlie Bracken
10 Louie Johnson
11 Rotimi Segun
12 Cameron Hutchison
13 Sam Spink
14 Jack Bracken
15 Max Malins (cc)

Replacements:

16 Eoghan Clarke
17 Alex O’Driscoll
18 Tietie Tuimauga
19 Kennedy Sylvester
20 Charlie West
21 Gareth Simpson
22 Luke Davidson
23 Brandon Jackson

[Epaminondas Pules]

SARACENS vs NORTHAMPTON SAINTS
PREM Rugby Cup, Round 2
Friday 19 September, 2025
StoneX Stadium
Kick-off: 7.30pm

15 George Hendy
14 James Ramm
13 Rory Hutchinson
12 Toby Thame
11 Edoardo Todaro – Saint #2114
10 Anthony Belleau – Saint #2113
9 Archie McParland

1 Emmanuel Iyogun
2 Craig Wright
3 Trevor Davison
4 Ed Prowse
5 JJ Van Der Mescht – Saint #2111
6 Angus Scott-Young
7 Tom Pearson
8 Callum Chick (c) – Saint #2112

Replacements:
16 Henry Walker
17 Danilo Fischetti – Northampton Saints debut
18 Elliot Millar Mills
19 Fyn Brown
20 Sam Graham
21 Jonny Weimann
22 Amena Caqusau – Northampton Saints debut
23 Tom Litchfield

Not considered for selection:
Emeka Atuanya, Fraser Dingwall, Tommy Freeman, George Furbank, Josh Kemeny, Curtis Langdon, Tom Lockett, Alex Mitchell, Chunya Munga, Henry Pollock, Charlie Ulcoq, Ollie Sleightholme, Fin Smith and Tom West.

[Which Tyler]

I wasn't planning on watching a single minute of PRC, since screwing over the Champ clubs; but this team announcement...

Bath Rugby Starting XV v Exeter Chiefs:
1 Scott Kirk
2 Jasper Spandler
3 Kieran Verden
4 Harvey Cuckson
5 Ewan Richards ©
6 Ethan Staddon
7 Thomson Cowan
8 Arthur Green

09 Tom Carr-Smith
10 James Linegar
11 Tyler Offiah
12 Will Butt
13 Louie Hennessey
14 Austin Emens
15 Jack Woods

16 Max Pearce, 17 Mikey Summerfield, 18 Alfie Griffin, 19, Will Jeanes, 20 Alex Ridgway, 23 George Timmins
21 Neil le Roux, 22 Charlie Griffin


Friday night's friendly at Worcester has a much more 1stXV look
Bath United Starting XV v Worcester Warriors: 1 Francois van Wyk, 2 Kepueli Tuipulotu, 3 Archie Griffin, 4 Ted Hill, 5 Charlie Ewels, 6 Miles Reid, 7 Guy Pepper, 8 Josh Bayliss, 9 Ben Spencer ©, 10 Max Ojomoh, 11 Will Muir, 12 Cameron Redpath, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 15 Henry Arundell

Bath United Replacements (in alphabetical order): Henry Bartlett, Tom de Glanville, Tom Dunn, Dan Frost, Chris Harris, James Maloney, Isaac Mears, Ross Molony, Enoch Opoku-Gyamfi, Quinn Roux, Vilikesa Sela, Connor Treacey, Bernard van der Linde, Claudius Wheeler, Sam Winters

[Epaminondas Pules]

Exeter Chiefs:
15 Josh Hodge
14 Paul Brown-Bampoe
13 Ben Hammersley
12 Henry Slade
11 Dan John
10 Harvey Skinner
9 Stephen Varney
1 Kwenzo Blose
2 Jack Yeandle (c)
3 Bachuki Tchumbadze
4 Rusi Tuima
5 Lewis Pearson
6 Ethan Roots
7 Christ Tshiunza
8 Ross Vintcent

Replacements:
16 Joseph Dweba
17 Will Goodrick-Clarke
18 Josh Iosefa-Scott
19 Andrea Zambonin
20 Kane James
21 Charlie Chapman
22 Ben Coen
23 Nick Lilley

[Which Tyler]

I'm shocked that Exeter are going strong in the PRC
Shocked, I say

[FKAS]

I'm shocked by the fact Tigers at 17-5 up at Quins at halftime. Could be a mild shock on down at the Stoop if Quins don't improve after half time.

Looks like a try fest between Sarries and Saints. Bristol are unsurprisingly given Glaws a going over.

[FKAS]

Tigers win away at the Stoop. Joe Woodward kicking a penalty, slightly unusual. Youngsters Lonnengan and Marsh make debuts off the bench.