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Saracens roll out England big guns as Quins rest theirs: All Premiership teams for this weekend

Tommy Freeman, Jamie George and Maro Itoje of England walk out of the tunnel after half time during the Guinness Six Nations 2025 match between England and Italy at the Allianz Stadium on March 09, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Mullan - RFU/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)

England captain Maro Itoje will return to captain a Saracens side containing four of his international team-mates during the Guinness Six Nations when they host Harlequins in the Gallagher Premiership on Saturday.

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Itoje will start in the second-row at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with Elliot Daly, Jamie George and Tom Willis also in the starting XV.

Despite starting on the bench in round one against Ireland and round five in the mauling of Wales, No.8 Willis, like Itoje, featured in every match of the Championship for Steve Borthwick’s side. George and Daly missed the round one fixture before having the rest of their tournament split between the starting XV and bench appearances. Back-row Ben Earl has been given a rest by Mark McCall after a busy two months.

Theo Dan will also take his place among the substitutes after featuring in round one against Ireland. He will be joined on the bench by Andy Onyeama-Christie, who will be making his Premiership return after a gruesome ankle injury in October, which required surgery.

Fixture
Gallagher Premiership
Saracens
12 - 23
Full-time
Harlequins
All Stats and Data

They will face a Harlequins side that have opted to rest their England internationals who featured in the Six Nations. Marcus Smith, Chandler Cunningham-South, Fin Baxter and the injured Cadan Murley will all miss the trip to the Premier League venue, though England squad members Alex Dombrandt and Oscar Beard will feature.

Quins are the only side that have opted to rest all of their England internationals that played in the Championship, though none has made Bath’s starting XV that will host Gloucester. Scotland’s Finn Russell will reclaim the No.10 shirt though.

Friday

Newcastle Falcons v Sale Sharks

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Newcastle Falcons: 15 Elliott Obatoyinbo, 14 Oli Spencer, 13 Sammy Arnold, 12 Max Clark, 11 Alex Hearle, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Sam Stuart; 1 Adam Brocklebank, 2 Jamie Blamire, 3 Murray McCallum, 4 Philip van der Walt, 5 Kiran McDonald, 6 Freddie Lockwood, 7 Cameron Neild, 8 Callum Chick (c)
Replacements: 16 Ollie Fletcher, 17 Micky Rewcastle, 18 Richard Palframan, 19 Sebastian de Chaves, 20 Ollie Leatherbarrow, 21 Joe Davis, 22 Kieran Wilkinson, 23 Louis Brown

Sale Sharks: 15 Joe Carpenter, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Rekeiti Ma’asi White, 12 Rob du Preez, 11 Tom O’Flaherty, 10 George Ford 9 Gus Warr, 1 Bevan Rodd, 2 Tadgh McElroy, 3 Asher Opoku-Fordjour 4 Ben Bamber, 5 Jonny Hill, 6 Ernst van Rhyn, 7 Ben Curry (c), 8 JL du Preez
Replacements: 16 Harry Thompson, 17 Si McIntyre, 18 WillGriff John, 19 Hyron Andrews, 20 Sam Dugdale, 21 Nye Thomas, 22 Sam Bedlow, 23 Arron Reed

Northampton Saints v Leicester Tigers

Northampton Saints: 15 George Hendy, 14 James Ramm, 13 Fraser Dingwall (c), 12 Rory Hutchinson, 11 Tom Seabrook, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Tom James; 1 Emmanuel Iyogun, 2 Curtis Langdon, 3 Trevor Davison, 4 Temo Mayanavanua, 5 Tom Lockett, 6 Josh Kemeny, 7 Tom Pearson, 8 Juarno Augustus
Replacements: 16 Henry Walker, 17 Tarek Haffar, 18 Luke Green, 19 Alex Coles, 20 Chunya Munga, 21 Henry Pollock, 22 Jonny Weimann, 23 Burger Odendaal

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Leicester Tigers: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Solomone Kata, 12 Joseph Woodward, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Jack van Poortvliet; 1 Nicky Smith, 2 Julian Montoya, 3 Joe Heyes, 4 Cameron Henderson, 5 Harry Wells, 6 Hanro Liebenberg, 7 Tommy Reffell, 8 Olly Cracknell
Replacements: 16 Charlie Clare, 17 James Whitcombe, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Côme Joussain, 20 Emeka Ilione, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Ben Volavola, 23 Izaia Perese

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Saturday

Saracens v Harlequins

Saracens: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Tobias Elliott, 13 Alex Lozowski, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Rotimi Segun, 10 Fergus Burke, 9 Ivan van Zyl; 1 Eroni Mawi, 2 Jamie George, 3 Marco Riccioni , 4 Maro Itoje (c), 5 Hugh Tizard, 6 Theo McFarland, 7 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 8 Tom Willis
Replacements: 16 Theo Dan, 17 Phil Brantingham, 18 Alec Clarey, 19 Nick Isiekwe, 20 Andy Onyeama-Christie, 21 Nathan Michelow, 22 Gareth Simpson, 23 Alex Goode

Harlequins: 15. Leigh Halfpenny, 14. Rodrigo Isgro, 13. Oscar Beard, 12. Ben Waghorn, 11. Nick David, 10. Jarrod Evans, 9. Will Porter; 1. Wyn Jones, 2. Jack Walker, 3. Titi Lamositele, 4. Joe Launchbury, 5. Stephan Lewies, 6. Jack Kenningham, 7. Will Evans, 8. Alex Dombrandt (c)
Replacements: 16. Sam Riley, 17. Jordan Els, 18. Will Hobson, 19. Irne Herbst, 20. George Hammond, 21. Jake Murray, 22. Jamie Benson, 23. Tyrone Green

Bristol Bears v Exeter Chiefs

Bristol Bears: 15 Rich Lane, 14 Jack Bates, 13 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 12 James Williams, 11 Kalaveti Ravouvou, 10 Harry Byrne, 9 Harry Randall; 1 Jake Woolmore, 2 Gabriel Oghre, 3 George Kloska, 4 James Dun, 5 Joe Owen, 6 Santiago Grondona, 7 Fitz Harding (c), 8 Viliame Mata
Replacements: 16 Harry Thacker, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Max Lahiff, 19 Josh Caulfield, 20 Steven Luatua, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Benjamin Elizalde, 23 Siva Naulago

Exeter Chiefs: 15 Dan John, 14 Paul Brown-Bampoe, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Will Rigg, 11 Josh Hodge, 10 Ben Coen, 9 Tom Cairns; 1 Will Goodrick-Clarke, 2 Max Norey, 3 Jimmy Roots, 4 Dafydd Jenkins (c), 5 Christ Tshiunza, 6 Martin Moloney, 7 Richard Capstick, 8 Greg Fisilau
Replacements: 16 Jack Yeandle, 17 Scott Sio, 18 Josh Iosefa-Scott, 19 Lewis Pearson, 20 Kane James, 21 Niall Armstrong, 22 Harvey Skinner, 23 Ben Hammersley

Gallagher Premiership

P
W
L
D
PF
PA
PD
BP T
BP-7
BP
Total
1
Bath
11
9
2
0
46
2
Bristol
11
7
4
0
40
3
Gloucester
11
6
5
0
35
4
Leicester
11
6
4
1
35
5
Saracens
11
6
5
0
34
6
Harlequins
11
5
5
1
32
7
Sale
11
6
5
0
29
8
Northampton
11
5
6
0
26
9
Exeter Chiefs
11
2
9
0
15
10
Newcastle
11
2
9
0
9

Sunday

Bath Rugby v Gloucester Rugby

Bath Rugby: 15 Tom de Glanville, 14 Ruaridh McConnochie, 13 Max Ojomoh, 12 Cameron Redpath, 11 Will Muir, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ben Spencer; 1 Beno Obano, 2 Tom Dunn, 3 Thomas du Toit, 4 Quinn Roux, 5 Charlie Ewels, 6 Josh Bayliss, 7 Guy Pepper, 8 Alfie Barbeary
Replacements: 16 Niall Annett, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Ted Hill, 20 Sam Underhill, 21, Louis Schreuder, 22 Will Butt, 23 Jaco Coetzee

Gloucester Rugby: 15 George Barton, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Seb Atkinson, 11 Max Llewellyn, 10 Santi Carreras, 9 Tomos Williams; 1 Ciaran Knight, 2 Seb Blake, 3 Afo Fasogbon, 4 Freddie Clarke, 5 Freddie Thomas, 6 Jack Clement, 7 Lewis Ludlow (c), 8 Ruan Ackermann
Replacements: 16 Jack Singleton, 17 Val Rapava-Ruskin, 18 Kirill Gotovtsev, 19 Cam Jordan, 20 Harry Taylor, 21 Caolan Englefield, 22 Charlie Atkinson, 23 Josh Hathaway

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S
SK 54 minutes ago
'Haves and have nots': The Six Nations numbers reveal hidden truths

Really interesting stats, especially around the scrums and the props spending so little time in them. The game is changing and is becoming faster but its also heavily territory and momentum dependent now. The amount of tries scored by forwards in the top 3 teams shows the importance of forward firepower at the lineout and is also of great importance when you are 5m out trying to get over the line from general play. Ireland don’t have behemoths but do well in this area due to superior technique and quality, France have the biggest most powerful pack and replace them with an arguably bigger pack with the 7-1 and England have plenty of power in this area. Teams are choosing to retain territory and use pens as a launchpad for dominating territory. Exits have also never been as important as they are today with teams giving away turnovers in their own half being heavily punished. The 50-22 is also important in this respect and we have seen how kickers go for it when on or inside their own 10. This especially happens directly after an aerial duel contest is won or in the event of a turnover in midfield. With the winger out of place and defence scrambling at the line a kicker is well within his rights to go for the 50-22. Giving away back to back penalties is also a no no as this leads to a 60-80m retreat. The Six Nations proves that in the modern age territorial supremacy and forward based power is what is winning games and championships.

9 Go to comments
S
SK 1 hour ago
South African rugby's top heavy house of cards

I think everyone knows that the SA teams are prioritising the URC which is why they have been so bad in Europe. The champions cup group stage fixtures couldnt come at a worse time for SA franchises. They come hot on the heels of the Autumn internationals and in December and Jan when its coldest in Europe and as hot as it gets in SA. During this period SA franchises have to leap from Africa to Europe one week after the next. SA franchises sometimes have to hop from Europe back to Africa and then back to Europe in 3 to 4 weeks. Mandatory Springbok rest periods are opted into by franchises to keep the players fit as the Springbok players cannot play year-round and injuries take their toll. Fatigue also sets in for players who have played non-stop since March as there is no global calendar. They don’t get a chance to regroup again until the six nations. SA teams prioritise what’s in front of them. The Springboks are top heavy and SA franchises are in Transition between the new and older generation. There are lots of youngsters coming through but they need more time at the top level. Coaching is also in transition in SA Rugby with many coaches at a young age. The age group levels SA has underperformed but the talent is there. Its coming through at franchise level and these players are getting great experience playing in a variety of comps. I would hardly call it a house of cards though. Succession planning has already become a reality. At Prop the Springboks are already replacing the seniors, at Scrum Half the Springboks are building depth and at 10 they have loads of options now and at 4 and 5 the Boks have used a host of players in recent years. Rassie has a plan for 2027 and the best coaching staff at international level. He has some difficult questions in front of him when it comes to the squad but is finding answers at the moment. Yes its possible Springbok performances could dip this year and perhaps in 2026 however I would not bet against them continuing to dominate while in transition. There were similar doubts cast about them last year and they proved the doubters wrong.

3 Go to comments
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