Saturday's Premiership teams

All the team news for Saturday's Aviva Premiership clashes, including Leicester's trip to Saracens and Sharks v Wasps.

Gloucester v London Irish (3pm)

London Irish head coach Tom Coventry has named an unchanged starting XV from the side that beat Northampton on Boxing Day.

Brendan Mckibbin and Chris Noakes form the half-back pairing, while Johnny Williams joins Canada international Ciaran Hearn in the midfield.

"The squad are buoyed after last Saturday's first win of the season," said Coventry. "They have continued to work hard in training this week and know it will be another tough contest at Gloucester on Saturday. We look forward to the challenge."

Meanwhile Gloucester have made six changes for the clash. Jonny May and Henry Trinder both sustained injuries in Gloucester's thrilling 39-39 draw with Harlequins at Twickenham last week, and are replaced by Henry Purdy and Bill Meakes respectively.

In the pack, Nicky Thomas continue at tight-head prop, while Nick Wood comes in for Dan Murphy.

Gloucester: 15 Rob Cook, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Bill Meakes, 12 Billy Twelvetrees (c), 11 Henry Purdy, 10 James Hook, 9 Willi Heinz, 1 Nick Wood, 2 Richard Hibbard, 3 Nicky Thomas, 4 Tom Savage, 5 Jeremy Thrush, 6 Ross Moriarty, 7 Matt Kvesic, 8 Sione Kalamafoni.

Replacements: 16 Tom Lindsay, 17 Dan Murphy, 18 Paddy McAllister, 19 Ben Morgan, 20 Jacob Rowan, 21 Greig Laidlaw, 22 Billy Burns, 23 Mark Atkinson.

London Irish: 15 Sean Maitland, 14 Alex Lewington, 13 Ciaran Hearn, 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Aseli Tikoirotuma, 10 Chris Noakes, 9 Brendan McKibbin, 1 Tom Court, 2 David Paice, 3 Ben Franks, 4 Matt Symons (c), 5 Will Lloyd, 6 Luke Narraway, 7 Blair Cowan, 8 Ofisa Treviranus.

Replacements: 16 Gerard Ellis, 17 Tom Smallbone, 18 Halani Aulika, 19 Jebb Sinclair, 20 Joe Trayfoot, 21 Scott Steele, 22 Shane Geraghty, 23 Topsy Ojo.

Newcastle Falcons v Bath (3pm)

Bath have made three changes to the starting line-up that takes on Newcastle Falcons at Kingston Park on Saturday.

Nick Auterac returns to the side loosehead prop, where he joins Henry Thomas and hooker Ross Batty in the front row. Matt Garvey and Charlie Ewels partner in the second row, while Guy Mercer once again captains the team in the No 7 jersey.

Niko Matawalu links up with Rhys Priestland in the half-backs, with the midfield combination of Ollie Devoto and Jonathan Joseph lining up once more.

Argentina international Juan Pablo Socino moves up from the Falcons bench this Saturday in the only change to the starting XV that lost to Leicester last week.

Newcastle: 15 Simon Hammersley, 14 Alex Tait, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Juan Pablo Socino 11 Marcus Watson, 10 Craig Willis, 9 Michael Young, 1 Rob Vickers, 2 George McGuigan, 3 Jon Welsh, 4 Mark Wilson, 5 Sean Robinson, 6 Ally Hogg, 7 Will Welch (c), 8 Nili Latu.

Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Alex Rogers, 18 Paddy Ryan, 19 Mouritz Botha, 20 Todd Clever, 21 Sonatane Takulua, 22 Tom Catterick, 23 Belisario Agulla.

Bath: 15 Tom Homer, 14 Horacio Agulla, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Ollie Devoto, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Niko Matawalu, 1 Nick Auterac, 2 Ross Batty, 3 Henry Thomas, 4 Matt Garvey, 5 Charlie Ewels, 6 Leroy Houston, 7 Guy Mercer (c), 8 David Denton.

Replacements: 16 Rob Webber, 17 Max Lahiff, 18 David Wilson, 19 Dominic Day, 20 Francois Louw, 21 Jonathan Evans, 22 George Ford, 23 Anthony Watson.

Saracens v Leicester Tigers (3.15pm)

Mark McCall has made three changes to the Saracens starting line-up that beat Wasps at the Ricoh Arena last week.

In comes Marcelo Bosch at centre, where he partners skipper Brad Barritt, while Charlie Hodgson gets a start at fly-half. The final change sees Schalk Brits take the No 2 jersey, where he packs down alongside props Mako Vunipola and Petrus Du Plessis.

"We have had some great battles with Leicester over the last few seasons," McCall said.

"Under Richard Cockerill the Tigers have consistently challenged for the top spots in the Aviva Premiership and they have made a great start to the season both in the league and in Europe.

"We know that we will have to put in a strong performance on Saturday if we want to come away with the win."

Argentina international wing Gonzalo Camacho will make his first Premiership start for Leicester Tigers in the trip to Saracens, while prop Marcos Ayerza makes his 150th Premiership appearance for the club.

Owen Williams makes a return to the matchday squad after recovering from a knee injury suffered against Munster earlier in the month.

Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Brad Barritt (c), 11 Chris Wyles, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 1 Mako Vunipola, 2 Schalk Brits, 3 Petrus Du Plessis, 4 Maro Itoje, 5 George Kruis, 6 Michael Rhodes, 7 Will Fraser, 8 Billy Vunipola.

Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Rhys Gill, 18 Titi Lamositele, 19 Jim Hamilton, 20 Jackson Wray, 21 Neil de Kock, 22 Owen Farrell, 23 Duncan Taylor.

Leicester: 15 Telusa Veainu, 14 Gonzalo Camacho, 13 Mathew Tait, 12 Seremaia Bai, 11 Vereniki Goneva, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Sam Harrison, 1 Marcos Ayerza, 2 Harry Thacker, 3 Fraser Balmain, 4 Dom Barrow, 5 Graham Kitchener, 6 Ed Slater (c), 7 Tom Croft, 8 Laurence Pearce.

Replacements: 16 Tom Youngs, 17 Logovi'i Mulipola, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Mike Fitzgerald, 20 Lachlan McCaffrey, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Owen Williams, 23 Adam Thompstone.

Sale Sharks v Wasps (5.30pm)

Wasps are boosted by the return to fitness of George Smith and Ben Jacobs ahead of their trip to Salford this weekend, with both players named in Dai Young's starting line-up.

The other two changes to the run-on side sees Joe Simpson start at scrum-half, while Sam Jones comes in at No 8.

"We were all disappointed not to get anything from last weekend's game," said Young of the loss to Saracens.

"Having looked back at the match, we were happy with how we played in the most part but there were small mistakes that allowed Saracens to pull clear and we will take what we have learnt from that going forward.

"This weekend is another big challenge. Our record up there isn't brilliant, so we know how tough a prospect it is that faces us."

There are two changes to the Sharks side that lost out to Exeter Chiefs on Boxing Day. David Seymour comes into the side at No 7 to replace TJ Ioane, while Chris Cusiter replaces Peter Stringer at scrum-half.

Sale Sharks: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Tom Arscott, 13 Sam James, 12 Sam Tuitupou, 11 Will Addison, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Chris Cusiter, 1 Ross Harrison, 2 Tommy Taylor, 3 Vadim Cobilas, 4 Bryn Evans, 5 Jonathan Mills, 6 Dan Braid (c), 7 David Seymour, 8 Josh Beaumont.

Replacements: 16 Cameron Neild, 17 Eifion Lewis-Roberts, 18 Brian Mujati, 19 Andrei Ostrikov, 20 Mark Easter, 21 Peter Stringer, 22 Joe Ford, 23 Mark Jennings.

Wasps: 15 Rob Miller, 14 Frank Halai, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Ben Jacobs, 11 Charles Piutau, 10 Jimmy Gopperth, 9 Joe Simpson, 1 Matt Mullan, 2 Ashley Johnson, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 4 Joe Launchbury, 5 James Gaskell, 6 James Haskell (c), 7 George Smith, 8 Sam Jones.

Replacements: 16 Edd Shervington, 17 Simon McIntyre, 18 Phil Swainston, 19 Kearnan Myall, 20 Thomas Young, 21 Dan Robson, 22 Ruaridh Jackson, 23 Sailosi Tagicakibau.