Saturday 20 September 2014 13:37, UK
Saturday’s Premiership action sees two London derbies, a battle of fly-halves, while London Welsh and Sale lock horns as both search for their first win of the season.
Thursday signalled the mark of one year until the start of the Rugby World Cup on British soil and this season’s Aviva Premiership will be awash with selection subplots.
Stuart Lancaster, the England head coach, will undoubtedly have eyes fixed on the Recreation Ground on Saturday as Bath host Leicester Tigers, with George Ford and Freddie Burns going toe-to-toe in a battle of the No 10s.
Both have made a formidable start to the season and fellow England contenders Kyle Eastmond, Jonathan Joseph, Semesa Rokoduguni, Dave Attwood, Dave Wilson, Geoff Parling and Tom Croft will also be out to lay down an early marker.
While all eyes will be on the fly-half duel, the rivalry between Bath and Leicester – both of whom enter the third round level on nine points - stretches back over a century and clubs will be eager to walk away with bragging rights.
Bath head coach Mike Ford makes just one change to the side which thrashed London Welsh 53-26 with captain Matt Banahan back on the wing, while forwards Dave Wilson and Dave Attwood retain their places despite injury fears from last weekend.
England flanker Croft makes a very welcome return to action after missing the majority of last season through injury; he is joined in the pack by Italy hooker Leonardo Ghiraldini and returning No 8 Jordan Crane.
At The Stoop, Harlequins will be desperate to erase memories of their 39-0 thrashing at the hands of rivals Saracens last Friday when fellow Londoners Wasps pay a visit.
Conor O’Shea’s side suffered their heaviest defeat in four-and-a-half years when they were shut out by Sarries, while Wasps produced the result of Round 2 by beating reigning champions Northampton Saints.
Quins do have the ruling over Wasps of late having triumphed in nine of the last 10 meetings between the sides in all competitions.
In reaction to their embarrassing reverse, Quins director of rugby O’Shea has made four changes with summer signing Aseli Tikoirotuma making his debut, while Ben Botica, Harry Sloan and Dave Ward are all brought into the run-on side.
There are also four changes from Wasps coach Dai Young, who brings Kearnan Myall, Tom Lindsay and Guy Thompson into the pack, while Christian Wade lines up opposite England rival Marland Yarde on the wing after missing last week’s triumph following a car crash.
The other all-capital clash sees London Irish host in-form Saracens, who are already being widley tipped for the title this time around, at the Madejski Stadium.
Their authoritative warning salvo against Harlequins, combined with a hard-fought 34-28 win over Wasps, sees them top the Premiership table, level on points with Bath and Leicester.
The Exiles were the lone team to beat Saracens on their own patch last season and have prevailed in two of the last three meetings between the teams, though, Brian Smith’s side have not won back-to-back games since February.
Smith’s bid to double the win tally is boosted by the return of forwards Jebb Sinclair and former England No 8 Luke Narraway making their first starts of the season.
Sarries head coach Mark McCall’s rotation policy sees England fly-half Owen Farrell feature from the off for the first time this campaign, while Tim Streather, Chris Wyles, Rhys Gill, Ernst Joubert, Jacques Burger all come into the side and Scotland international Jim Hamilton debuts.
London Welsh’s search for a first win since their return to the top flight takes them to the AJ Bell Stadium for a showdown with Sale Sharks, who are also winless this term.
Justin Burnell’s Welsh currently prop up the Premiership table and will be desperate to avoid matching Beford’s unwanted record of being the only side to concede in excess of 50 points in three successive matches.
Welsh can take solace from the fact that their only previous away Premiership victory came at the AJ Bell Stadium in September 2012 - when they defeated Sale 29-19.
The Sharks will be without Nathan Hines for the next 12 weeks due to an arm injury, meaning director of rugby Steve Diamond has been forced to shuffle his pack with Michael Paterson moving to lock and Magnus Lund earning a first start since his return.
In a bid to claim their first success story, Burnell has made three changes to the Welsh pack with. Koree Britton, Dean Schofield and James Down all coming into the starting XV.
