Ollie Lawrence missing, as Ewels hits milestone vs Newcastle

England lock Charlie Ewels will make his 200th appearance for boyhood club Bath as the reigning PREM champions look to get their season back on track with a win against bottom-of-the-table Newcastle at The Rec this Saturday.

With Quinn Roux suspended, Ted Hill moves into the second row to partner Ewels, who has been at the club since he was 14.

Having suffered three straight losses, Bath have opted to field their gun front row from the start, with Beno Obano and Thomas du Toit propping the scrum, joined by Tom Dunn at hooker.

Across the back row, Josh Bayliss will start on the blindside with Guy Pepper on the openside and Miles Reid at No.8

Captaining from scrum-half, Ben Spencer pairs up with Finn Russell, while there is an all-Scottish midfield combination of Cam Redpath and Chris Harris, who will return to Newcastle for a second spell this summer. Redpath and Harris have never started together at centre before in blue, black and white.

Johann van Graan has either decided to rest England’s Ollie Lawrence for bigger battles ahead, or could have justifiably excluded him on form, after some indifferent defensive displays. No mention has been made of him being injured, although it is known that he’s been carrying a niggle for the past two to three weeks.

Completing the back line, Henry Arundell and Joe Cokanasiga start on the wings, seeing Santi Carreras come back into the starting line-up at full back.

Max Ojomoh is fit again after a spell out of the side with injury and is named on a 6-2 bench.

Bath Rugby: 1 Beno Obano, 2 Tom Dunn, 3 Thomas du Toit, 4 Ted Hill, 5 Charlie Ewels (200), 6 Josh Bayliss, 7 Guy Pepper, 8 Miles Reid, 9 Ben Spencer (c), 10 Finn Russell, 11 Henry Arundell, 12 Cameron Redpath, 13 Chris Harris, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 15 Santi Carreras.

Replacements: 16 Dan Frost, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Vilikesa Sela, 19 Ross Molony, 20 Sam Underhill, 21 Tom Carr-Smith, 22 Max Ojomoh, 23 Alfie Barbeary.