Harlequins v Bristol: Teams
Harlequins have made one forced change to their starting line-up for Saturday's visit of Bristol to the Stoop.
Last Updated: 12/09/08 1:04pm
Harlequins have made one forced change to their starting line-up for Saturday's visit of Bristol to the Stoop, as the two sides continue their Guinness Premiership campaigns.
All Black Nick Evans picked up an injury in the opening day victory over Saracens and has not recovered in time to retain his place. Therefore Waisea Luveniyali comes into the starting XV instead.
On the bench Tom Williams and Gary Botha return, the latter after having overcome the injury that prevented him from playing in pre-season.
One of last week's try scorers, Ugo Monye, is expecting a tough battle against Bristol.
"It's great to be back at home this Saturday against Bristol, a side which will no doubt cause us problems," he said.
"They have a strong forward pack, whose set pieces, line-outs and scrums are always difficult to defend against."
Hill upbeat
For Bristol there are two changes, one tactical the other injury forced, as they look to bounce back from an opening day defeat to rivals Bath.
Neil Brew, who pulled a hamstring in pre-season, returns for Junior Fatialofa - who ironically injured a hamstring against Bath.
In the forwards Mariano Sambucetti comes into the second row with Nathan Budgett moving to blindside flanker. Andrew Blowers shifts across to number eight, meaning Dan Ward-Smith is demoted to the bench.
Head coach Richard Hill remains upbeat despite his side's disappointing start, but knows that his team will have to be on their mettle this weekend.
"When we looked at our performance last week, we weren't bad. We played some good rugby on occasion and weren't totally dissatisfied. We were beaten by a better team," Hill said.
"We played well against Quins in the Heineken Cup last year but got caught out in the league. Quins haven't always been known for their physicality but have developed that under Dean Richards and have some very big ball carriers and compete hard at the breakdown."
Harlequins: 15 Mike Brown, 14 David Strettle, 13 Gonzalo Tiesi, 12 Jordan Turner-Hall, 11 Ugo Monye, 10 Waisea Luveniyali, 9 Danny Care, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Will Skinner (c), 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 George Robson, 4 Ollie Kohn, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Tani Fuga, 1 Ceri Jones.
Replacements: 16 Aston Croall, 17 John Brooks, 18 Jim Evans, 19 Tom Guest, 20 Andy Gomarsall, 21 Waisea Luveniyali, 22 Epi Taione.
Bristol: 15 Luke Arscott, 14 Tom Arscott, 13 Neil Brew, 12 Kevin Maggs, 11 David Lemi, 10 Adrian Jarvis, 9 Haydn Thomas, 8 Andrew Blowers, 7 Joe El Abd (c), 6 Nathan Budgett, 5 Robert Sidoli, 4 Mariano Sambucetti, 3 Jason Hobson, 2 Scott Linklater, 1 Mark Irish.
Replacements: 16 David Blaney, 17 Peter Bracken, 18 Dan Ward-Smith, 19 Alfie To'oala, 20 Graeme Beveridge, 21 Ed Barnes, 22 Greg Barden.