Prem Finale

Bath v Northampton Saints
15:05

Gloucester v Newcastle Falcons
15:05

Harlequins v Bristol
15:05

Leicester Tigers v Exeter Chiefs
15:05

Saracens v Sale
15:05

Newcastle Falcons team v Gloucester Rugby (Saturday, 3.05pm, Kingsholm, live on Discovery+)

15 Louis Brown,
14 Adam Radwan,
13 Matias Moroni,
12 Cameron Hutchison,
11 Ben Redshaw,
10 Brett Connon,
9 Sam Stuart;

1 Adam Brocklebank,
2 Jamie Blamire,
3 Eduardo Bello,
4 Tim Cardall,
5 John Hawkins,
6 Sam Cross,
7 Guy Pepper,
8 Callum Chick (captain).

Replacements: 16 Bryan Byrne, 17 Mark Dormer, 18 Richard Palframan, 19 Adam Scott, 20 Freddie Lockwood, 21 James Elliott, 22 Rory Jennings, 23 Oli Spencer.

Not available for selection: Phil Brantingham, Sebastian de Chaves, Murray McCallum, Kiran McDonald, Elliott Obatoyinbo, Hugh O’Sullivan, Tom Penny, Pedro Rubiolo, Ben Stevenson, Philip van der Walt.

Gloucester Rugby:
15 Josh Hathaway,
14 Jonny May,
13 Chris Harris,
12 Seb Atkinson,
11 Ollie Thorley,
10 Charlie Atkinson,
9 Caolan Englefield;

1 Jamal Ford-Robinson,
2 Seb Blake,
3 Kirill Gotovtsev,
4 Freddie Clarke,
5 Freddie Thomas,
6 Ruan Ackerman,
7 Lewis Ludlow (captain),
8 Zach Mercer.

Replacements: 16 Santiago Socino, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Ciaran Knight, 19 Albert Tuisue, 20 Jack Clement, 21 Stephen Varney, 22 Alex Hearle, 23 Jake Morris.

Referee: Sara Cox.

Bristol Bears team to face Harlequins at The Stoop on Saturday (3.05pm KO, live on TNT Sports 2):

15. Max Malins (32 apps), 14. Noah Heward (20 apps), 13. Benhard Janse van Rensburg (24 apps), 12. James Williams (41 apps), 11. Gabriel Ibitoye (40 apps), 10. Callum Sheedy (164 apps), 9. Harry Randall (125 apps); 1. Ellis Genge (44 apps), 2. Harry Thacker (114 apps), 3. Kyle Sinckler (60 apps), 4. James Dun (33 apps), 5. Joe Batley (62 apps), 6. Steven Luatua (129 apps), 7. Fitz Harding (c) (71 apps), 8. Magnus Bradbury (44 apps).

System players: 16. Gabriel Oghre (16 apps), 17. Jake Woolmore (149 apps), 18. Max Lahiff (85 apps), 19. Josh Caulfield (22 apps), 20. Ben Grondona (debut), 21. Kieran Marmion (22 apps), 22. Virimi Vakatawa (18 apps), Siva Naulago (34 apps).

Unavailable: Chris Vui, Santiago Grondona, Jake Heenan, AJ MacGinty, Kalaveti Ravouvou.

Quins Starting XV:

1. Fin Baxter (50)
2. Jack Walker (63)
3. Will Collier (241)
4. Irne Herbst (46)
5. Stephan Lewies (69 - Captain)
6. Chandler Cunningham-South (16)
7. Will Evans (89)
8. Alex Dombrandt (138)

9. Danny Care (375)
10. Marcus Smith (159)
11. Oscar Beard (54)
12. Andre Esterhuizen (89)
13. Luke Northmore (67)
14. Louis Lynagh (66)
15. Tyrone Green (75)

Impact Players:
16. Sam Riley (53)
17. Simon Kerrod (102)
18. Dillon Lewis (18)
19. George Hammond (65)
20. James Chisholm (149)
21. Will Porter (21)
22. Jarrod Evans (16)
23. Will Joseph (12)

Not available for selection (injury): Dino Lamb, Nick David, Matas Jurevicius, Joe Launchbury, Cadan Murley, Joe Marler

There are a lot of features on the permutations. Here's a BBC summary:

https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/articles/cpdgdy5kgp5o

Interesting Saints lineup.  All replacements from the Gloucester match are starting on Saturday.  But only two starters from the Gloucester match are retained in the starting XV.  All that said, it's obviously not Saints best lineup, see especially Tom James at 9 and Hutchinson's first ever Premiership start at fly half, but this lineup is still pretty good.  

I would wager Saints have a puncher's chance here.  If the halfbacks are competitive then we have a game.  If not, then doom on us.

Ooga, Ooga, Ooga-Chaka;
Ooga, Ooga, Ooga-Chaka; 
I am excited for the Premiership week 18:   
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrI-UBIB8Jk

Someone should tell the guys they've been live for the last 5 mins

Think the team on TNT2 must have lost comms completely - they don't seem to know what's going on ...

STARTING XV

15 Freddie Steward [87]
14 Mike Brown [26]
13 Matt Scott [79]
12 Dan Kelly [80]
11 Ollie Hassell-Collins [21]
10 Handré Pollard [32]
9 Jack van Poortvliet [72]
1 Francois van Wyk [53]
2 Julián Montoya (C) [58]
3 Dan Cole [322]
4 George Martin [65]
5 Harry Wells [198]
6 Hanro Liebenberg [106]
7 Tommy Reffell [113]
8 Jasper Wiese [78]

REPLACEMENTS

16 Charlie Clare [94]
17 James Cronin [33]
18 Joe Heyes [140]
19 Finn Carnduff [12]
20 Olly Cracknell [42]
21 Tom Whiteley [29]
22 Kieran Wilkinson [4]
23 Solomone Kata [18]

Exeter Chiefs:

15 Dan John
14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso
13 Henry Slade
12 Joe Hawkins
11 Olly Woodburn
10 Harvey Skinner
9 Tom Cairns
1 Scott Sio
2 Max Norey
3 Marcus Street
4 Jack Dunne
5 Dafydd Jenkins (c)
6 Ethan Roots
7 Jacques Vermeulen
8 Greg Fisilau

Replacements:

16 Dan Frost
17 Billy Keast
18 Ehren Painter
19 Christ Tshiunza
20 Ross Vintcent
21 Niall Armstrong
22 Will Haydon-Wood
23 Zack Wimbush

In the game nobody is likely to watch unless they are a supporter of one of the two teams. Chiefs bench will probably be the difference.

Looks like Maitland is out after colliding with Daly in the warm-ups in the Sarries match ...

Backseat child voice: Are we there yet?

Genge being carried off at Quins, which has England ramifications.

Sheedy also off in the same passage of play.

Watching the Sarries vs Sale match with my northern rugby hat on, think that LCD was unlucky not to score. There was separation, but he got a firm hand on it before he dotted down.

Despite all the doom and gloom in September, I actually think this has been the best season of Premiership rugby that I can remember. If Newcastle and (to a lesser extent) Gloucester can sort themselves out, next season could be amazing!

Malins has moved to 10 for Bristol, which could be interesting.

Bristol doing well despite all the enforced changes due to injuries

Sale have made all the other results irrelevant.

While Sale, Bristol and Exeter seemed to come from nowhere in these last matches, it's really been the story of Quins imploding. Their European challenge came just as they hit a terrible run in the league, and they just couldn't get it back together.

Superb win for Sale, they bossed it up until Sarries' bench came on, but still managed to hold out.

Don't support Bath, but great for the city to host a semi final. As a resident I will be cheering them on.

Think I would have preferred to see Bristol in the semis to Sale ...

That josh hathaway, Gloucester full back, is some player....20 year old.

Is he aligned to Wales or England...

He is Welsh but is playing underage for england at the moment. I dont think he will play for england internationally though...

Ill be surprised if gats doesnt look at him for the summer tour....we need a full back

Can't say I am disappointed at the outcome pf Bath-Saints, but expected better.  But this was the perfect time to see mostly Saints seconds (plus a few players coming back from injury), and now we know what they need.  More impactful, for me at least, was Hutchinson at 10 with Tom James at 9.  This clearly did not work.  But now we know and it didn't cost us in real terms.  The table is properly set for two more games and looking forward to it.

Yeah, he is Welsh. Think he came into the English system via the private school route . I reckon he will (and should) pursue an opportunity with Wales. Saying that, he always seems so skinny and ungainly to me (like a kid who has stepped up to open age early). I'm not saying that he won't make it, but he reminds me of Matthew Morgan a little bit. An absolute superstar at age grade who couldn't quite translate it to senior level.

Cumbrian wrote:Yeah, he is Welsh.  Think he came into the English system via the private school route . I reckon he will (and should) pursue an opportunity with Wales.  Saying that, he always seems so skinny and ungainly to me (like a kid who has stepped up to open age early).  I'm not saying that he won't make it, but he reminds me of Matthew Morgan a little bit.  An absolute superstar at age grade who couldn't quite translate it to senior level.

There seem to me a lot of very tall skinny young 15s about at the moment, Steward and Hodge is only 23, Hendy 21 and now this Hathaway .

Disappointed by the Saints result, but that is a squad team that train together but have never really played together, with a half back combo featuring a 10 that has never played at fly half professionally, however the players from last week needed the break, Mitchell, Lawes, Freeman, Furbank have been at it all season without the international break. A home semi was confirmed, just very surprised at Sarries losing at home to Sale. I would back us at The Gardens against either Sale or Bath, but a hurt Sarries team is something alse, they are going to be looking to prove a point and get revenge for the mauling we gave them a while ago. Not quite so sure as I was on Friday as to our place a HQ.

WELL-PAST-IT wrote:

Cumbrian wrote:Yeah, he is Welsh.  Think he came into the English system via the private school route . I reckon he will (and should) pursue an opportunity with Wales.  Saying that, he always seems so skinny and ungainly to me (like a kid who has stepped up to open age early).  I'm not saying that he won't make it, but he reminds me of Matthew Morgan a little bit.  An absolute superstar at age grade who couldn't quite translate it to senior level.

There seem to me a lot of very tall skinny young 15s about at the moment, Steward and Hodge is only 23, Hendy 21 and now this Hathaway .

Disappointed by the Saints result, but that is a squad team that train together but have never really played together, with a half back combo featuring a 10 that has never played at fly half professionally, however the players from last week needed the break, Mitchell, Lawes, Freeman, Furbank have been at it all season without the international break. A home semi was confirmed, just very surprised at Sarries losing at home to Sale. I would back us at The Gardens against either Sale or Bath, but a hurt Sarries team is something alse, they are going to be looking to prove a point and get revenge for the mauling we gave them a while ago. Not quite so sure as I was on Friday as to our place a HQ.

Mate, I am not so worried about Saracens as I might have been in past years. This year, they have lost games they simply wouldn't lose in the past, and have been outplayed a number of times, yesterday included. If Sale had a better attack, I think the scoreline would have been greater. Not at all saying they are a spent force, but this is clearly a group at the end of its run. If Saints can get control of the momentum by around the 20 minute mark, it will be very difficult for Saracens to win.

WELL-PAST-IT wrote:

Cumbrian wrote:Yeah, he is Welsh.  Think he came into the English system via the private school route . I reckon he will (and should) pursue an opportunity with Wales.  Saying that, he always seems so skinny and ungainly to me (like a kid who has stepped up to open age early).  I'm not saying that he won't make it, but he reminds me of Matthew Morgan a little bit.  An absolute superstar at age grade who couldn't quite translate it to senior level.

There seem to me a lot of very tall skinny young 15s about at the moment, Steward and Hodge is only 23, Hendy 21 and now this Hathaway .

Hodge and Hathaway are rocking in roughly three stone lighter than Steward, not sure they are comparable bar saying they are tall. Even that isn't strictly accurate with Hathaway only 6ft. Hathaway reminds me a bit of Protheroe who ended up a club man at Ospreys. If you look at Hendy who's pacey with quick feet he's just shy of 15 stone. Hodge a similar player is 13 and a bit stone and frequently broken. I think a bit of extra muscle might help them last the full Prem season.

Cumbrian wrote:Yeah, he is Welsh.  Think he came into the English system via the private school route . I reckon he will (and should) pursue an opportunity with Wales.  Saying that, he always seems so skinny and ungainly to me (like a kid who has stepped up to open age early).  I'm not saying that he won't make it, but he reminds me of Matthew Morgan a little bit.  An absolute superstar at age grade who couldn't quite translate it to senior level.

Dont get me started on Morgan.  They totally messed his career up.  He should have been a great 10.  They totally moved him all over the park and never really nurtured his talent.  Regional coaching had a lot to answer for that one and one of my main gripes is that some of our young talent ends up getting brought through in the wrong positions.  They do it all the time.  I could add countless of welsh youngsters with similar stories over the last 10 years.