Aviva Premiership: Leaders Northampton visit bottom-placed London Welsh

Bottom-placed London Welsh face a tough ask against Aviva Premiership table-toppers Northampton on Saturday.

London Welsh v Northampton

Paul Rowley starts at scrum-half for a London Welsh side showing four changes from their 26-5 home defeat to Leicester Tigers. Dean Schofield partners James Down at lock, while Lachlan McCaffrey shifts to No 8 to replace the injured Opeti Fonua, with Carl Kirwan slotting in on to the flank.

Northampton boss Jim Mallinder has fielded an unchanged starting line-up following on from last weekend's 31-24 victory at Saracens. Kahn Fotuali'i and Ken Pisi are back after international duty with Samoa to take seats on the bench, with fit-again Sam Dickinson also named among the replacements.

Luther Burrell and Tom Stephenson again pair up at centre, with Lee Dickson at scrum-half and Phil Dowson captaining the side from openside flanker.

London Welsh: 15 Seb Jewell, 14 Seb Stegmann, 13 Nic Reynolds, 12 Tom May (c), 11 Nick Scott, 10 Gordon Ross, 9 Paul Rowley; 1 Ricky Reeves, 2 Nathan Vella, 3 Taione Vea, 4 Dean Schofield, 5 James Down, 6 Pete Browne, 7 Carl Kirwan, 8 Lachlan McCaffrey.

Replacements: 16 Nathan Morris, 17 Nathan Trevett, 18 Ben Cooper, 19 Matt Corker, 20 Ben Pienaar, 21 Rob Lewis, 22 Will Robinson, 23 Alan Awcock.

Northampton: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Jamie Elliott, 13 Tom Stephenson, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 James Wilson, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Lee Dickson; 1 Alex Waller, 2 Mike Haywood, 3 Salesi Ma'afu, 4 James Craig, 5 Christian Day, 6 Calum Clark, 7 Phil Dowson (c), 8 Samu Manoa.

Replacements: 16 Ross McMillan, 17 Ethan Waller, 18 Gareth Denman, 19 Sam Dickinson, 20 Ben Nutley, 21 Kahn Fotuali'i, 22 Dom Waldouck, 23 Ken Pisi.

London Irish v Gloucester

London Irish are bolstered by the return of Test quintet Geoff Cross, Kieran Low, Blair Cowan, Jebb Sinclair and Ofisa Treviranus.

Full-back Tom Homer returns to start after injury, with Shane Geraghty and Fergus Mulchrone pairing up in the centres. Greig Laidlaw is back from Scotland action to captain Gloucester with Billy Twelvetrees on England duty.

For Gloucester, James Hook returns at fly-half after Wales commitments, with Richard Hibbard and Sione Kalamafoni also starting after Test absences. Aleki Lutui and Sila Puafisi are named on the bench, with Charlie Sharples and Henry Purdy fit after knocks picked up at Newcastle last weekend.

London Irish: 15 Tom Homer, 14 Alex Lewington, 13 Fergus Mulchrone, 12 Shane Geraghty, 11 James Short, 10 Chris Noakes, 9 Scott Steele; 1 Tom Court, 2 David Paice, 3 Geoff Cross, 4 George Skivington (c), 5 Kieran Low, 6 Jebb Sinclair, 7 Blair Cowan, 8 Ofisa Treviranus.

Replacements: 16 Tom Woolsencroft, 17 Leo Halavatau, 18 Halani Aulika, 19 Dan Leo, 20 Conor Gilsenan, 21 Darren Allinson, 22 Eoin Griffin, 23 Topsy Ojo

Gloucester: 15 Steve McColl, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Billy Meakes, 12 Mark Atkinson, 11 Henry Purdy, 10 James Hook, 9 Greig Laidlaw (c); 1 Yann Thomas, 2 Richard Hibbard, 3 John Afoa, 4 Tom Savage, 5 Tom Palmer, 6 Sione Kalamafoni, 7 Matt Kvesic, 8 Gareth Evans. 

Replacements: 16 Aleki Lutui, 17 James Gibbons, 18 Sila Puafisi, 19 Elliott Stooke, 20 Ross Moriarty, 21 Callum Braley, 22 Billy Burns, 23 Shane Monahan

Newcastle v Sale

Hooker George McGuigan replaces Scott Lawson in Newcastle's only change from the starting line-up that saw off Gloucester 20-10 last weekend.

Dean Richards sticks with the settled combinations that pulled off victory last week, with Mike Blair and Rory Clegg again the half-back duo.

Former England wing and all-time top Premiership try-scorer Mark Cueto makes his first start for Sale since the opening day of the season. Chris Cusiter, Luke McLean, Johnny Leota and Alberto de Marchi all return following autumn international duty.

Newcastle: 15 Alex Tait, 14 Sinoti Sinoti, 13 Gonzalo Tiesi, 12 Juan Pablo Socino, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Rory Clegg, 9 Mike Blair; 1 Rob Vickers, 2 George McGuigan, 3 Oliver Tomaszczyk, 4 Calum Green, 5 Dom Barrow, 6 Mark Wilson, 7 Andy Saull, 8 Ally Hogg (c).

Replacements: 16 Alex Rogers, 17 Eric Fry, 18 Scott Wilson, 19 Kane Thompson, 20 Josh Furno, 21 Warren Fury, 22 Adam Powell, 23 Simon Hammersley.

Sale: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Luke McLean, 13 Jonny Leota, 12 Sammy Tuitupou, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Chris Cusiter; 1 Eifion Lewis Roberts, 2 Marc Jones, 3 Vadim Cobilas, 4 Jonathan Mills, 5 Andrei Ostrikov, 6 Dan Braid (c), 7 Magnus Lund, 8 Josh Beaumont.

Replacements: 16 Shalva Mamukashvili, 17 Alberto de Marchi, 18 Ross Harrison, 19 Mark Easter, 20 Viliami Fihaki, 21 Will Cliff, 22 Nick Macleod, 23 Mark Jennings.