Harlequins v Bath Rugby Premiership Preview

Bath have named Ollie Devoto to make his his 80th Club appearance at fly-half in their Aviva Premiership match against Harlequins at the Twickenham Stoop

Devoto, who has been training with England this Six Nations, will partner scrum-half Chris Cook for the first time this season.

Kyle Eastmond and Matt Banahan, who ranked second and first respectively in the most clean breaks in Round 15, are named in the midfield.

Last weekend’s joint-top attacker in the Aviva Premiership, Semesa Rokoduguni – who beat seven defenders – is named on the right wing, with Horacio Agulla at eleven and Tom Homer at fullback.

Max Lahiff, Rob Webber and Henry Thomas continue in the front row after last weekend’s successful outing at the Rec, as does the second row combination of Charlie Ewels and Dominic Day.

The only change to the back row sees Amanaki Mafi return to play at number eight, with captain Francois Louw at openside and Matt Garvey at number six.

Harlequins have won just one of their last six Aviva Premiership Rugby 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 Rugby 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 Aviva Premiership Rugby since their victory at London Irish in November came on a trip to Worcester on 13th February.

Harlequins beat Bath 38-28 at the Recreation Ground in round 3 and have not achieved a Premiership Rugby double over them since season 2011/12. Bath have won on their last two visits to Twickenham Stoop in all tournaments.

Meanwhile Harlequins have named a team with four changes to the starting team which played Sale Sharks last week.

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 Aviva 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.

In injury news, following specialist consultation, Marland Yarde is expected to be out for four to five weeks having suffered a shoulder injury against Sale Sharks.

After further review, centre Winston Stanley is expected to return to action in late April.

The Bookies have given Bath a 5 point start for this Match – with an offer of up to £200 in Bonus bets.

Match : Harlequins v Bath Rugby
Date : Friday 11 March
Venue : Twickenham Stoop,
Kick Off : 7.45pm
Live on: BT Sport
Match Officials
Referee :Dean Richards (86th Premiership game).
Assistant Referees: Andy Watson & Nigel Carrick
TMO: Sean Davey.

Teams

Harlequins

15. Ross Chisholm , 14. Charlie Walker , 13. George Lowe , 12. Harry Sloan , 11. Henry Cheeseman , 10. Ben Botica , 9. Karl Dickson ,1. Mark Lambert , 2. Dave Ward , 3. Kyle Sinckler , 4. George Merrick , 5. James Horwill© , 6. Mat Luamanu , 7. Luke Wallace , 8. Nick Easter

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 , 1 Max Lahiff , 2 Rob Webber , 3 Henry Thomas , 4 Charlie Ewels , 5 Dominic Day , 6 Matt Garvey , 7 Francois Louw (c) , 8 Amanaki Mafi

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