Harlequins recall England trio for trip to Bath
England trio Marcus Smith, Fin Baxter and Chandler Cunningham-South will return to the Harlequins side for Saturday's match at Premiership leaders Bath.The internationals sat out the 23-12 comeback victory against London rivals Saracens last weekend as they had a mandatory rest period following the Six Nations.The win lifted the Twickenham-based club to fourth in the table with six games remaining."Great performance from everyone involved. I think there was an element of getting the tactics right and an element of grit and determination to stay in the fight," head coach Danny Wilson told BBC Radio London."The boys did that against a very good Saracens side at a venue where they would be 100% favourites."A win at the Recreation Ground on Saturday (15:05 GMT) would strengthen their grip on a spot for the end-of-season semi-finals."They're a very good side - [they have] unbelievable squad depth. The bench that they seem to be able to put out week in, week out is really impressive," Wilson said.
Smith returns at fly-half with Benson on bench
England prop Baxter starts in the front row alongside hooker Jack Walker and Titi Lamositele, with Irne Herbst and Stephan Lewies - captain for the day - in the second row.Cunningham-South at number eight is flanked by Jack Kenningham and Tom Lawday.Scrum-half Will Porter partners Smith at fly-half, with Luke Northmore and Oscar Beard at centre.Nick David and Argentina international Rodrigo Isgro on the wings and South African Tyrone Green at full-back make up the backline.Danny Care returns to the bench from injury alongside fly-half Jamie Benson, who came on to kick 13 points against Saracens.
Full Bath v Harlequins teams
Bath: De Glanville; Cokanasiga, Ojomoh, Redpath, Muir; Russell, Spencer; Obano, Dunn, Stuart, Molony, Ewells, Hill, Read, BarbearyReplacements: Annett, Van Wyk, Du Toit, Pepper, Underhill, Carr-Smith, Butt, CoetzeeHarlequins: T Green; Isgro, Beard, Northmore, David; Smith, Porter; Baxter, Walker, Lamositele, Herbst, Lewies, Kenningham, Lawday, Cunningham-SouthReplacements: Riley, Els, Jones, Launchbury, Hammond, Schmid, Care, BensonReferee: Anthony Woodthorpe
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scotsman
an hour ago
- Scotsman
Glasgow Warriors reaction: Dressing room tears shed as admission made over defeat to Leinster
Franco Smith accepts Glasgow beaten by 'world class' opponents Sign up to our Rugby Union newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Franco Smith admitted that Leinster are way out in front in the United Rugby Championship after the Irish side ended Glasgow Warriors' tenure as champions with a comprehensive victory in Dublin. Smith expressed pride in his side's reign but they were ultimately outplayed by the hosts who won the semi-final 37-19 at the Aviva Stadium. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Leinster, who also knocked Glasgow out of the Champions Cup this season, thrashing them 52-0 in the quarter-finals, will now meet the Bulls in the final at Croke Park next weekend and there will be a new name added to the URC roll of honour. Neither side has won the trophy before. Franco Smith accepted that Leinster were just too strong for his Glasgow Warriors side. (Photo by) | Getty Images Leinster, for all their brilliance, have lost in the semi-finals in each of the last three seasons but will be hot favourites to lift silverware for the first time since 2021 when they won the old Pro14 Championship. Glasgow were overwhelmed in the first half, conceding four tries through Dan Sheehan (two), Jamie Osborne and Thomas Clarkson, with George Horne replying for the visitors. Osborne and Ciaran Frawley pressed home Leinster's superiority after the break before Jamie Dobie and Sione Tuipulotu scored late consolations for the Warriors. 'Tears were shed in the changing room, to be honest,' said Smith. 'In the first 20 minutes, we just had no luck. We turned the ball over too many times and we made 70 tackles in the first quarter of the game, which is way too many and ended up going into the sheds at half-time 25-5 down. That means you're chasing against a world-class team. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'You chase the scoreline and Leinster were very good. I was never in any doubt that they would be. I know the press asked a lot of questions around their mentality but I never had doubt. There are too many class A players. I sat here a month ago talking about the [Champions Cup] quarter-final and it's still a world-class team, nothing's changed. So, if we were going to lose the URC Championship title, I'd rather it was against them than anybody else. 'That said, we're a proud team. I thought we gave it everything. I see this holistically, not just in terms of today's game. We defended our title bravely but today we fell short.' Ronan Kelleher of Leinster is tackled by Kyle Rowe of Glasgow Warriors during the United Rugby Championship semi-final match at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. (Photo By Brendan Moran/Sportsfile via Getty Images) | Sportsfile via Getty Images Smith refused to use an extensive injury list as an excuse but there is no doubt Glasgow suffered in the absence of Zander and Matt Fagerson, Jack Dempsey, Huw Jones and Gregor Brown. 'I don't want to make excuses because I definitely felt the team that we named could have won the game,' said the Glasgow coach. 'So, yes, it would have been good to have had some of those boys back, but I backed the team that we picked. I backed the depth and the growth of the club that we've seen, with more players becoming eligible for Scotland and putting their hands up to play at this level this whole season.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Leinster are ahead of everybody else,' he added. 'They started this process way back when. I think I was still coaching Benetton and they were already on top of their game. With Joe Schmidt bringing in certain structures and certain expectations, they've got an unbelievable feeding source here from the schools and a huge academy.
The Herald Scotland
2 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Why Finn Russell came off before the end of Bath's win over Bristol
The 32-year-old was taken off with five minutes to go. 'Multiple parts of his body are cramping,' said van Graan post-match [ 'He put in some effort, I thought. His goalkicking was phenomenal, the chases that he put in too. He was still cramping in the changing room but there's no reason to suppose he won't be fine. Read more: 'It was amazing how many guys on both sides went down with cramp. It just showed the effort that both teams put in. We worked incredibly hard to get into this position, to get back to Twickenham.' The victory means Bath have reached their second successive Gallagher Premiership final. 'We knew this was going to be a tough game and we picked a 23 that we believe will get the job done,' added van Graan. 'I thought at 34-13, we got some momentum but Bristol is a good team. They kept on attacking and it's never dead on 34-20. 'It was some game of rugby. We knew that we were going to be stretched but we actually defended pretty well. 'At half-time we spoke about our game and composure. It shows that we are a team that is fluid and adaptable. We made one or two tactical changes and then our fitness came through, our hunger, our will to win. 'At 13-6 we had a penalty. Many teams would have kicked for the posts but we went straight for the kill and made it 13-0. 'How good was the crowd! They gave us so much energy so we dominated them in the second half. 'I'm incredibly proud of this win and that we did this not only for ourselves but for the city. The people of Bath were amazing tonight.'
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Inspired Perese try edges Leicester past Sale and into Premiership final
And so it is the two grand old clubs of English rugby. Leicester will face off against Bath at Twickenham next Saturday – and the rest of us will have to check which century we are in. Leicester, admittedly, have featured far more among the honours this millennium, which is to say at all, than their arch rivals from the West Country, who so dominated the 1980s and 1990s. But neither team, if you asked their hoariest old warriors, could pick a foe they would rather lock horns with on a no-doubt sunny afternoon at HQ. This was a darker and more swirling affair at Welford Road. The Tigers seemed to have Sale in their pockets for half the match, but the visitors rallied midway through the second to level the scores with only 15 to play. Their tails seemed up. Then came a flash of brilliance – not the first of the afternoon by any means – and all that darkness was pierced by a try fit to win a semi-final. The final minutes played out to Leicester's beefiest squeezing out Manchester's, as English rugby's largest support bellowed them on. So familiar. Neither of these two are known for their lightness of touch. Nor did they flourish any of it for much of the match, but let it be noted that the decisive breakthroughs owed everything to brilliance. Welford Road bade farewell to some of Leicester's greatest servants, Dan Cole, Ben Youngs and captain Julián Montoya playing their last matches at the old place, but it was the newbies who won the match. Sign up to The Breakdown The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewed after newsletter promotion Adam Radwan's two first half tries, his 10th and 11th in 10 matches, since his arrival midseason from Newcastle, were taken with stunning audacity, to earn Leicester a 10-point lead at the break. Then, come the hour, or at least the 68th minute, Izaia Perese, the Wallaby whose season has been so disrupted by injury, broke the newly imposed deadlock by bursting on to a pass from 40 metres out and skinning the Sale defence to seize the keys to Twickenham. Sale, whose lightness tends to be supplied by George Ford, a previous champion with Leicester, had worked their way back into the match with a pair of penalties by the old maestro, either side of a try by Rob du Preez, put over by sweet interplay between the Curry twins and Ford again. Du Preez has played every single minute of Sale's Premiership campaign. How worthy a finalist he would have proven, but almost as soon as Ford's third penalty of the match had levelled the scores at 16-16, Perese relit the fires of Welford Road. Sale pressed in the final knockings, having survived another siege, as the minutes ticked away. Luke Cowan-Dickie charged down the left touchline, but he spilled the ball in a tackle by Freddie Steward with the clock deep in the red. Leicester, fans and players alike, went beserk, but there was one last twist of drama to be endured. Steward's head had collided with Cowan-Dickie's in the tackle that dislodged the ball. One last séance by TMO was required. It was decided that Steward, who was virtually prone on the floor when the tackle was made, could not conceivably have gone any lower. His arms were up in an attempt to make the tackle. But not as up as everybody else's after referee Matt Carley waved his to confirm once and for all the end of the match. Some heroes of yore had the send-off they craved. But there is one last battle to come.
