Leeds v Saracens: Teams
Alan Dickens will captain Saracens at his former club in the EDF Energy Cup on Friday.
By Phil Jackson
Last Updated: 25/10/07 3:04pm
Scrum-half Alan Dickens will captain Saracens at his former club in the EDF Energy Cup on Friday night.
Alan Gaffney's side come into the game on the back of their narrow defeat to Sale Sharks last weekend, and he has taken the opportunity to freshen up the squad for the trip to Yorkshire.
Italy's World Cup hooker Fabio Ongaro comes into the team in place of Fiji captain Moses Rauluni, while Tom Ryder, Paul Gustard and Tom Mercey also come into the pack.
Gordon Ross starts at fly-half, with South African number eight Guthrie Hall and Canadian winger Daniel van der Merwe set for their debuts.
Injuries
Brent Russell, Cobus Visagie, Matias Aguero and Dan Scarbrough are all on the long-term injury list, while Francisco Leonelli, Kameli Ratuvou, Sakiusa Matadigo and Cencus Johnston have picked up knocks.
And England's Andy Farrell has failed to recover from the calf injury he sustained on World Cup duty in time to make the squad.
"We've decided to give an opportunity to a few of the guys this weekend and we will have to utilise the full depth of the squad over the season if we are to be competitive in all three competitions," explained Gaffney.
"After doing well in the league last season, the next step and challenge for this squad is to compete in all tournaments. To do that, everyone will have to play their part and if we play to our strengths and focus on our own performance, we can get the result we want on Friday night."
Leeds suffered their fourth defeat of the Guinness Premiership season at Bristol on Sunday and have also made a string of changes.
James Parkes comes in at hooker, with Rob Rawlinson's shoulder injury requiring further examination.
Kearnan Myall replaces captain Stuart Hooper (hamstring) in the second row and Danny Paul completes the pack in place of number eight Mark Lock.
Scrum-half Joe Bedford suffered a mild concussion against Bristol and so Alberto di Bernado and James Brookes continue in tandem at half-back, whilst Tom Rock and Andy Tuilagi make up the centres.
Fiji winger Appo Satala is set to make his debut for Leeds on the wing meanwhile, in place of the rested Tom Biggs, and Richard Welding (knee) makes way for Leigh Hinton down the other flank.
Consistency
Academy winger Scott Armstrong is on the bench as well, with the club's director of rugby Stuart Lancaster eager to see a strong performance.
"The trick for us is to get consistency of performance," he said. "The EDF Energy Cup is a great opportunity for us to work on improving our levels of performance and it is a competition we will be looking to do well in.
"I am excited about seeing the team we have selected perform. It has given us an opportunity to rotate one or two players and give some players who have been pushing hard in training and in the A team a chance at a higher level.
"Players such as Jon Dunbar and Rob Vickerman are close to full fitness and with Martin Schusterman back we have plenty of players hungry for games."
Leeds: 15 Jon Goodridge, 14 Leigh Hinton, 13 Tom Rock, 12 Andy Tuilagi, 11 Appo Satala, 10 Alberto Di Bernardo, 9 James Brooks, 1 Mike MacDonald, 2 James Parkes, 3 Fosi Pala'amo, 4 Erik Lund, 5 Kearnan Myall, 6 Danny Paul, 7 Calum Clark, 8 Rhys Oakley (c).
Replacements: 16 Adam Hopcroft, 17 Vili Ma'asi, 18 Pablo Bouza, 19 Sam Stitcher, 20 Darren Edwards, 21 Lee Blackett, 22 Scott Armstrong
Saracens: 15 Richard Haughton, 14 Daniel van der Merwe, 13 Rodd Penney, 12 Craig McMullen, 11 Edd Thrower, 10 Gordon Ross, 9 Alan Dickens (c), 1 Nick Lloyd, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 3 Tom Mercey, 4 Kris Chesney, 5 Tom Ryder, 6 Paul Gustard, 7 David Seymour, 8 Guthrie Hall.
Replacements: 16 Andy Kyriacou, 17 Aaron Liffchak, 18 Hugh Vyvyan, 19 Don Barrell, 20 Moses Rauluni, 21 Kevin Sorrell, 22 Noah Cato