Northampton Saints have named a 33-man squad for their penultimate preseason fixture in Wales as they head to Rodney Parade to face Dragons.
Ten players will make their first starts of the season on Friday (kick-off 7.30pm), as new director of rugby Chris Boyd shakes things up from last weekend’s win over Ospreys, with new signings James Haskell and Dan Biggar making their first starts in Black, Green and Gold.
Courtney Lawes returns from injury looking to make an impact off the bench in Newport, with Mikey Haywood also making his return to the squad at starting hooker.
Tom Collins, Fraser Dingwall and Piers Francis start in the backs alongside last weekend’s starting wingers Ollie Sleightholme and Ken Pisi, with Biggar teaming up with Cobus Reinach in the half-backs.
And with Haywood returning to hooker, Francois van Wyk retains his starting spot at loosehead with Ehren Painter packing down for his first start of the season from tighthead; while in the second row, Api Ratuniyarawa links up with James Craig.
Haskell – who made his first appearance in a Saints shirt last weekend – Lewis Ludlam and Teimana Harrison make up the back row.
Northampton Saints play their first home preseason fixture against Glasgow Warriors at Franklin’s Gardens on Friday 24 August, before kicking off their Premiership campaign against Gloucester Rugby at Kingsholm on Saturday 1 September.
15 Tom Collins 14 Ollie Sleightholme 13 Fraser Dingwall 12 Piers Francis (capt) 11 Ken Pisi 10 Dan Biggar 9 Cobus Reinach
1 Francois van Wyk 2 Mikey Haywood 3 Ehren Painter 4 Api Ratuniyarawa 5 James Craig 6 James Haskell 7 Lewis Ludlam 8 Teimana Harrison
Replacements: Alex Waller, Will Davis, James Fish, Joe Gray, Ben Franks, Courtney Lawes, David Ribbans, Jamie Gibson, Heinrich Brüssow, Mitch Eadie, Alex Mitchell, James Grayson, Nafi Tuitavake, Rory Hutchinson, Matt Worley, Tom Emery
NEWS: Teams Up - Dragons vs Saints
Posted by: Marching On (IP Logged)
Date: 16/08/2018 12:17
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Good to see the whole squad being involved preseason. Let’s hope that continues throughout the season with everyone being given a fair chance and selection based on form rather than reputation.
When, do we think, the "probables" will be fielded as selections start to firm up? I would guess that you'd want your starting 15 for the season to get a run out together at some point before the first game?
So missing are Symonds reason unknown, Hartley, not sure where he is but perhaps not fit enough yet, Mallinder - seems to be taking an age to recover from whatever it is, Naiyaravoro - on holiday - Kellaway - also on holiday , Barrow (played last week), Ford-Robinson - yet to play, Burrell - bench last week, Onojaife - bench last week. Can't think of any others apart from one or two academy players who turned out last week
Hartley isnt match fit, he is working on it... he couldn’t train as made his concussions symptoms reoccur, so lost a lot of fitness and on the road back
Keep forgetting Tom Wood - don't mean to. Mallinder is a mystery - the fact that they don't identify his problem as they now appear to be doing as routine, suggests that there might be something personal involved.
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