Harlequins v Bath preview: Team news, kick-off time, line-ups and stats for the Aviva Premiership clash - Ruck

Harlequins v Bath preview: Team news, kick-off time, line-ups and stats for the Aviva Premiership clash

  • Harlequins host Bath at the Stoop in Friday’s Aviva Premiership clash: 19:45 kick-off
  • Quins boss Conor O’Shea has made four changes to his starting line-up
  • Ollie Devoto will make his 80th club appearance at fly-half for Bath
Harlequins have made four changes to the XV which lost at Sale for Friday’s Aviva Premiership clash against Bath at the Stoop.

Behind an unchanged forward pack, Karl Dickson and George Lowe return from injury to start, with Charlie Walker and Henry Cheeseman named on the wings.

Second year Academy member Cheeseman will be making his Premiership debut for the club.

Among the replacements, Sam Twomey and Ollie Lindsay-Hague are named, having recovered from injuries sustained in December against London Irish.

Meanwhile, Bath make only one change from the team which beat struggling London Irish in their last fixture.

Ollie Devoto moves to fly-half, with Argentina international Horacio Agulla taking Devoto’s former role in the centre.


KEY STATS
  • Harlequins have won just one of their last six Premiership matches: at home to Leicester in Round 13, picking up just seven league points along the way. A run which has seen them drop from third to eighth in
    the table.
  • At the Twickenham Stoop Harlequins have been beaten just once in any tournament since Bath last visited in Round 21 last year: 23-27 to Northampton in February.
  • Bath picked up only their second victory since the New Year in beating London Irish at the Recreation Ground on Saturday.
  • Bath’s only away win in the Premiership, since their victory at London Irish in November, came on a trip to Worcester on 13 February.
  • Harlequins beat Bath 38-28 at the Recreation Ground in Round 3 and have not achieved a Premiership double over them since season 2011/12.
  • Bath have won on their last two visits to Twickenham Stoop in all tournaments.

PLAYERS TO WATCH
Harlequins: Nick Easter

Bath: Semesa Rokoduguni

Harlequins: 15 Ross Chisholm, 14 Charlie Walker, 13 George Lowe, 12 Harry Sloan, 11 Henry Cheeseman, 10 Ben Botica, 9 Karl Dickson, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Luke Wallace, 6 Mat Luamanu, 5 James Horwill (c), 4 George Merrick, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Dave Ward, 1 Mark Lambert
Replacements: 16 Joe Gray, 17 Owen Evans, 18 Will Collier, 19 Sam Twomey, 20 James Chisholm, 21 Tito Tebaldi, 22 Joe Marchant, 23 Ollie Lindsay-Hague

Bath: 15 Tom Homer, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Matt Banahan, 12 Kyle Eastmond, 11 Horacio Agulla, 10 Ollie Devoto, 9 Chris Cook, 8 Amanaki Mafi, 7 Francois Louw (c), 6 Matt Garvey, 5 Dominic Day, 4 Charlie Ewels, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Rob Webber, 1 Max Lahiff
Replacements: 16 Tom Dunn, 17 Nathan Catt, 18 David Wilson, 19 Leroy Houston, 20 Guy Mercer, 21 Jonathan Evans, 22 Max Clark, 23 Jeff Williams


Date: Friday, March 11
Venue: The Stoop
Kick-off: 19:45 GMT
Referee: Dean Richards
Assistant Referees: Andy Watson, Nigel Carrick
TMO: Sean Davey