Saturday's Aviva Premiership team news

Saturday's Premiership team news as Gloucester host Leicester and Bath travel to Allianz Park to take on Saracens.

Sale Sharks v London Irish (2.30pm)

Following his return from the England training camp, No 8 Josh Beaumont comes into the Sale side along with Sam Tuitupou, David Seymour and TJ Ioane, who all make starts against the Exiles.

"London Irish are a side going through a bit of transition, with new coaches," said Sale coach Steve Diamond.

"But they seem to have got their act together with a couple of good wins against Newcastle Falcons and Northampton Saints and they've won games in the European Rugby Challenge Cup, so they'll be coming confident so we've got to carry on the way we've been playing."

London Irish head coach Tom Coventry has made 11 changes to the side that beat Agen to secure a Challenge Cup quarter-final last weekend.

Brendan McKibbin returns to the side at scrum-half with Shane Geraghty starting at fly-half. Johnny Williams and Ciaran Hearn form the centre partnership and Topsy Ojo, Aseli Tikoirotuma and Sean Maitland are the back three.

Coventry said: "We were delighted with the result last weekend and it is important that we build on that performance with another good display against Sale. The Sharks are a formidable side at home so we know we will have to be at our best to get the result."

Sale Sharks: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Will Addison, 13 Sam James, 12 Sam Tuitupou, 11 Nev Edwards, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Peter Stringer, 1 Eifion Lewis-Roberts, 2 Tommy Taylor, 3 Brian Mujati, 4 Bryn Evans, 5 Andrei Ostrikov, 6 TJ Ioane, 7 David Seymour (c), 8 Josh Beaumont.

Replacements: 16 Neil Briggs, 17 Ross Harrison, 18 Vadim Cobilas, 19 Jonathan Mills, 20 Cameron Neild, 21 Chris Cusiter, 22 Joe Ford, 23 Tom Arscott.

London Irish: 15 Sean Maitland, 14 Topsy Ojo, 13 Ciaran Hearn, 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Aseli Tikoirotuma, 10 Shane Geraghty, 9 Brendan McKibbin, 1 Tom Court, 2 David Paice, 3 Halani Aulika, 4 Matt Symons (c), 5 Will Lloyd, 6 Ofisa Treviranus, 7 Conor Gilsenan, 8 Luke Narraway.

Replacements: 16 Gerard Ellis, 17 Johnny Harris, 18 Leo Halavatau, 19 Jebb Sinclair, 20 Rob McCusker, 21 Scott Steele, 22 Theo Brophy Clews, 23 Andrew Fenby.

Gloucester v Leicester Tigers (3pm)

Peter Betham and Greg Bateman return to the starting line-up for Leicester Tigers in the tenth-round fixture away to Gloucester.

Australia international Betham comes back into the side after featuring from the bench in the Champions Cup last week, while hooker Bateman returns from injury.

Ben Youngs and Dan Cole miss out as they remain with the England squad preparing for the start of the Six Nations, while hooker Tom Youngs is serving a one-week ban for punching Stade Francais' Rabah Slimani during last weekend's Champions Cup match.

Manu Tuilagi misses out with a hamstring injury after coming through his first three appearances following a 15-month lay-off.

Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill said: "This is the start of a key part of the season with clubs affected by having players away for the internationals.

"We've done pretty well in managing the squad to this point and the next eight weeks during the Six Nations will be very important in the format of the season."

"Manu has just tweaked a hamstring which will probably mean a couple of weeks out. He's done well since his return from a long-term injury and we're looking after him.

"We've got guys like Mat Tait and Matt Smith who have been in good form this season so we have options in the backline."

Leicester Tigers: 15 Tommy Bell, 14 Peter Betham, 13 Mathew Tait (c), 12 Matt Smith, 11 Telusa Veainu, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Sam Harrison, 1 Marcos Ayerza, 2 Greg Bateman, 3 Fraser Balmain, 4 Dom Barrow, 5 Graham Kitchener, 6 Mike Fitzgerald, 7 Tom Croft, 8 Lachlan McCaffrey.

Replacements: 16 Harry Thacker, 17 Riccardo Brugnara, 18 Logovi'i Mulipola, 19 Sebastian de Chaves, 20 Jordan Crane, 21 Jono Kitto, 22 Gonzalo Camacho, 23 Jack Roberts.

Gloucester: 15 Steve McColl, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Billy Meakes, 12 Billy Twelvetrees (c), 11 David Halaifonua, 10 James Hook, 9 Willi Heinz, 1 Paddy McAllister, 2 Richard Hibbard, 3 Paul Doran-Jones, 4 Tom Savage, 5 Jeremy Thrush, 6 Sione Kalamafoni, 7 Jacob Rowan, 8 Ben Morgan.

Replacements: 16 Darren Dawidiuk, 17 Nick Wood, 18 Nicky Thomas, 19 Mariano Galarza, 20 Matt Kvesic, 21 Greig Laidlaw, 22 Billy Burns, 23 Mark Atkinson.

Saracens v Bath (3.15pm)

England squad member Maro Itoje features in the Saracens second row for the Allianz Park clash, while flanker Jacques Burger starts his first Premiership game since November.

Centre Brad Barritt captains the league leaders and Scotland centre Duncan Taylor, who extended his contract with the club on Friday, is on the wing.

Saracens director of rugby, Mark McCall: "Our attention is solely focussed on a challenging block of Aviva Premiership games throughout the Six Nations.

"From the beginning of the season we knew this period of the season would be very demanding and we are confident that we have the calibre of players across the squad to thrive during this run of games.

"Bath will be a real test of where we are at squad-wise as they are a quality outfit and we know that they possess some very good players who are capable of winning big games. I'm sure that once again we can expect a fiercely contested clash against Mike Ford's side."

Meanwhile former Leicester and London Irish back Dan Bowden makes his Bath debut in the No 12 jersey, lining up alongside Matt Banahan in midfield, with Wales international Rhys Priestland pulling the strings at fly-half. Semesa Rokodoguni is on the wing, with flanker Francois Louw captaining the team.

Rob Webber makes his 70th career appearance for Bath, as Nick Auterac and Henry Thomas pack down either side of the hooker.

Saracens: 15 Ben Ransom, 14 Duncan Taylor, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Brad Barritt (c), 11 Chris Wyles, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 1 Richard Barrington, 2 Schalk Brits, 3 Petrus Du Plessis, 4 Maro Itoje, 5 Jim Hamilton, 6 Michael Rhodes, 7 Jacques Burger, 8 Jackson Wray.

Replacements: 16 Jared Saunders, 17 Hayden Thompson-Stringer, 18 Titi Lamositele, 19 Hayden Smith, 20 Kelly Brown, 21 Ben Spencer, 22 Nils Mordt, 23 Nick Tompkins.

Bath: 15 Tom Homer, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Matt Banahan, 12 Dan Bowden, 11 Horacio Agulla, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Chris Cook, 1 Nick Auterac, 2 Rob Webber, 3 Henry Thomas, 4 Charlie Ewels, 5 Dominic Day, 6 Matt Garvey, 7 Francois Louw (c), 8 Leroy Houston.

Replacements: 16 Tom Dunn, 17 Max Lahiff, 18 David Wilson, 19 Tom Ellis, 20 Guy Mercer, 21 Alafoti Faosiliva, 22 Jonathan Evans, 23 Max Clark.