Aviva Premiership preview: Saracens, Leicester and Exeter battle for semi-final spots

There is still plenty to play for in the final round of the regular Aviva Premiership season on Saturday.

While London Welsh have long been doomed for the drop, the battle for the final two play-off positions is going right down to the wire with Leicester, Exeter and Saracens all fancying their chances of reaching next weekend’s semi-finals.

Just a point separates the three sides, which means that it is likely to be a nervy afternoon for fans and players alike…

Bath v Gloucester

Bath host Gloucester in a West Country derby to round off their regular season but will have one eye on a home play-off next weekend after securing second place with victory at Harlequins last time out.

Gloucester also have little to play for other than local bragging rights, sitting ninth in the table. David Humphreys' side can move up to eighth with a win but their European Challenge Cup win has no doubt been the highlight of their season.

Bath make three changes to their XV as Semesa Rokoduguni, Ollie Devoto and Rob Webber come in to the starting line-up.

Only three Gloucester players are retained from the XV who started their win over London Irish as they ready themselves for the possibility of two play-off games to qualify for the Champions Cup next season.

Bath: 15 Anthony Watson, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Ollie Devoto, 12 Kyle Eastmond, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 George Ford, 9 Peter Stringer; 1 Paul James, 2 Rob Webber, 3 David Wilson, 4 Dave Attwood, 5 Dominic Day, 6 Sam Burgess, 7 Francois Louw (c), 8 Leroy Houston.

Replacements: 16 Ross Batty, 17 Nick Auterac, 18 Henry Thomas, 19 Matt Garvey, 20 Carl Fearns, 21 Chris Cook, 22 Horacio Agulla, 23 Tom Homer.

Gloucester: 15 Rob Cook, 14 Steph Reynolds, 13 Henry Purdy, 12 Brendan Macken, 11 Steve McColl, 10 Aled Thomas, 9 Callum Braley; 1 Nick Wood (c), 2 Aleki Lutui, 3 Shaun Knight, 4 Tom Hicks, 5 James Hudson, 6 Elliott Stooke, 7 Dan Thomas, 8 Lewis Ludlow.

Replacements: 16 Darren Dawidiuk, 17 James Gibbons, 18 Yann Thomas, 19 Sam Underhill, 20 Jacob Rowan, 21 Dan Robson, 22 Lloyd Evans, 23 Mark Atkinson.

Exeter Chiefs v Sale Sharks

Exeter can make the Premiership play-offs for the first time by matching or bettering Saracens' result on Saturday. The Chiefs currently occupy the final top four spot courtesy of a marginally better score difference than Sarries and trail third-placed Leicester by just a point.

Even victory may not be enough for Exeter should Leicester beat Northampton and gain a bonus point and Saracens win by four or more points than the Chiefs can manage.

Jack Nowell comes back in at full-back for the Chiefs' must-win encounter and captain Dean Mumm plays his final home game before returning to Australia to join the Waratahs.

Meanwhile, Sale still have an outside chance of securing automatic qualifcation to next season's European Champions Cup. They require a bonus point win to have any chance of achieving that though and will more likely face a play-off.

The match will mark the final appearances before retirement of Nathan Hines and former England winger Mark Cueto as Steve Diamond names an unchanged team.

Exeter: 15 Jack Nowell, 14 Ian Whitten, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Sam Hill, 11 Matt Jess, 10 Gareth Steenson, 9 Will Chudley; 1 Ben Moon, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3 Tomas Francis, 4 Dean Mumm (c), 5 Mitch Lees, 6 Don Armand, 7 Ben White, 8 Thomas Waldrom.

Replacements: 16 Jack Yeandle, 17 Carl Rimmer, 18 Alex Brown, 19 Damian Welch, 20 Kai Horstmann, 21 Dave Lewis, 22 Max Bodilly, 23 Byron McGuigan.

Sale: 15 Tom Arscott, 14 Tom Brady, 13 Johnny Leota, 12 Sam Tuitupou, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Chris Cusiter; 1 Eifion Lewis Roberts, 2 Tommy Taylor, 3 Vadim Cobilas, 4 Jonathan Mills, 5 Nathan Hines, 6 Dan Braid (c), 7 David Seymour, 8 Josh Beaumont.

Replacements: 16 Marc Jones, 17 Ross Harrison, 18 Ciaran Parker, 19 Michael Paterson, 20 Mark Easter, 21 Will Cliff, 22 Joe Ford, 23 Mike Haley.

Leicester Tigers v Northampton Saints

Leicester take on a Northampton side that has already secured top spot in the Aviva Premiership, knowing a bonus point win would see them join the Saints in the play-offs.

However, with both Exeter and Saracens breathing down their necks and boasting vastly superior score differences, anything less than five points would open the door for both their rivals to leapfrog the Tigers and secure the final two play-off positions.

Club captain Ed Slater makes his first start of the season after recovering from injury and replaces Geoff Parling who misses out with a rib injury. Christian Loamanu replaces the suspended Seremaia Bai at inside centre.

Phil Dowson captains the Saints in his final game before joining Worcester in the summer while Alex Corbisiero comes back into the starting XV, one of several changes for Jim Mallinder's side. 

Leicester: 15 Niall Morris, 14 Vereniki Goneva, 13 Mathew Tait, 12 Christian Loamanu, 11 Adam Thompstone, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Ben Youngs (c); 1 Logovi'i Mulipola, 2 Tom Youngs, 3 Dan Cole, 4 Brad Thorn, 5 Graham Kitchener, 6 Ed Slater, 7 Julian Salvi, 8 Jordan Crane.

Replacements: 16 Harry Thacker, 17 Marcos Ayerza, 18 Fraser Balmain, 19 Sebastian De Chaves, 20 Jamie Gibson, 21 Sam Harrison, 22 Tommy Bell, 23 Jack Roberts.

Northampton: 15 Ahsee Tuala, 14 Jamie Elliott, 13 Dom Waldouck, 12 Tom Stephenson, 11 Tom Collins, 10 James Wilson, 9 Lee Dickson; 1 Alex Corbisiero, 2 Mike Haywood, 3 Salesi Ma'afu, 4 Sam Dickinson, 5 James Craig, 6 Phil Dowson (c), 7 Teimana Harrison, 8 Jon Fisher.

Replacements: 16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Gareth Denman, 19 Christian Day, 20 Ben Nutley, 21 Kahn Fotuali'i, 22 Sam Olver, 23 Howard Packman.

London Irish v Wasps

Wasps require just a point to make certain of a top six finish and a place in the Champions Cup next season as they travel to London Irish on Saturday. They lead Sale by four points with a significantly better score difference meaning even a bonus point defeat would almost certainly be enough for Dai Young's men.

Irish will finish the season in 10th regardless of the result and have named Shane Geraghty captain for their season finale. Glenn Delaney, has made two changes to his starting line up with Dan Leo returning in the second row and Darren Allison back at scrum half.

Joe Simpson is out with a medial ligament strain for the visitors so Charlie Davies joins Andy Goode in a new half-back pairing. No 8 Nathan Hughes is missing having flown back to New Zealand to be with his wife for the birth of their first baby.

London Irish: 15 Andrew Fenby, 14 Alex Lewington, 13 Eoin Griffin, 12 Shane Geraghty (c), 11 James Short, 10 Chris Noakes, 9 Darren Allison; 1 Tom Court, 2 David Paice, 3 Richard Palframan, 4 Dan Leo, 5 Jebb Sinclair, 6 Luke Narraway, 7 Blair Cowan, 8 Tom Guest.

Replacements: 16 Jimmy Stevens, 17 Tom Smallbone, 18 Halani Aulika, 19 Ollie Curry, 20 Ofisa Treviranus, 21 Callum Watson, 22 Eamonn Sheridan, 23 Andrew Short.

Wasps: 15 Andrea Masi, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Alapati Leiua, 11 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Charlie Davies; 1 Matt Mullan, 2 Tom Lindsay, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 4 Joe Launchbury, 5 James Gaskell, 6 Ashley Johnson, 7 James Haskell (c), 8 Guy Thompson .

Replacements: 16 Simon McIntyre, 17 Will Taylor, 18 Kearnan Myall, 19 Sam Jones, 20 Thomas Young, 21 Piri Weepu, 22 Alex Lozowski, 23 Rob Miller.

London Welsh v Saracens

Saracens are without Brad Barritt so Chris Wyles continues at inside centre alongside Marcelo Bosch as they attempt to reach the Premiership semi-finals.

Mark McCall's side go into the final round outside the top four on score difference but will fancy their chances of a bonus point victory against a London Welsh side who have lost every game this season, picking up just a single point.

While they could be reasonably confident that such a result would be enough for a play-off place, bonus points wins for Leicester and Exeter would mean, score difference would decide whether Sarries or the Chiefs progress. 

London Welsh captain Tom May starts on what will be his final appearance before retiring after a 17-year career.

London Welsh: 15 Seb Jewell, 14 Alan Awcock, 13 Nic Reynolds, 12 Tom May (c), 11 Chris Elder, 10 Olly Barkley, 9 Rob Lewis; 1 Eddie Aholelei, 2 Koree Britton, 3 Jack Gilding, 4 Josh McNally, 5 Matt Corker, 6 Ben West, 7 Darren Waters, 8 Opeti Fonua.

Replacements: 16 Nathan Morris, 17 Nathan Trevett, 18 Ben Cooper, 19 Daniel Browne, 20 Richard Thorpe, 21 Paul Rowley, 22 Will Robinson, 23 Seb Stegmann.

Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Chris Wyles, 11 David Strettle, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Neil De Kock; 1 Mako Vunipola, 2 Schalk Brits, 3 Petrus Du Plessis, 4 George Kruis, 5 Alistair Hargreaves (c), 6 Jackson Wray, 7 Jacques Burger, 8 Billy Vunipola.

Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Rhys Gill, 18 Juan Figallo, 19 Maro Itoje, 20 Kelly Brown, 21 Richard Wigglesworth, 22 Charlie Hodgson, 23 Duncan Taylor.

Newcastle Falcons v Harlequins

Newcastle make seven changes to their starting line up for the visit of Harlequins on Saturday.

Neither side are likely to improve on their current standings in the table. The Falcons are cemented in 11th place while Quins are eighth and need a win to ensure they stay there. Mathetically the visitors are still able to catch Sale in seventh but realistically the score difference deficit is too great to be overcome.

Scotland international Mike Blair will captain the Falcons team while Alesana Tuilagi, Eric Fry, Scott MacLeod and Uili Kolo’ofai all return to the starting line up alongside Tom Catterick and Richard Mayhew.

Harlequins also make seven changes with Dany Care captaining the side and centre Joe Marchant coming in to make his debut. Tom Williams, who announced this week that he will retire at the end of the season, starts on the bench.

Newcastle: 15 Simon Hammersley, 14 AlexTait, 13 AdamPowell, 12 Juan Pablo Socino, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Tom Catterick, 9 Mike Blair (c); 1 Eric Fry, 2 Scott Lawson, 3 Kieran Brookes, 4 Calum Green, 5 Scott MacLeod, 6 Richard Mayhew, 7 Mark Wilson, 8 Uili Kolo’ofai.

Replacements: 16 George McGuigan, 17 Rob Vickers, 18 Alex Rogers, 19 Will Witty, 20 Andy Saull, 21 Ruki Tipuna, 22 Andy Tuilagi, 23 Zach Kibirige.

Harlequins: 15 Ollie Lindsay-Hague, 14 Marland Yarde, 13 Joe Marchant, 12 Harry Sloan, 11 Charlie Walker, 10 Nick Evans, 9 Danny Care (c); 1 Darryl Marfo, 2 Dave Ward, 3 Matt Shields, 4 George Merrick, 5 Charlie Matthews, 6 James Chisholm, 7 Jack Clifford, 8 Netani Talei.

Replacements: 16 Joe Gray, 17 Rob Buchanan, 18 Seb Adeniran-Olule, 19 Sam Twomey, 20 Joe Trayfoot, 21 Karl Dickson, 22 Ben Botica, 23 Tom Williams.