Ollie Chessum back after Six Nations injury scare: All Premiership teams this weekend

England lock Ollie Chessum will return to Leicester Tigers’ starting XV on Sunday as his side host Saracens in the Gallagher Premiership.

After gingerly leaving the Principality Stadium pitch injured with only 19 minutes played of England’s Guinness Six Nations round five victory over Wales, the 24-year-old missed the Tigers’ derby victory over Northampton Saints last week as plenty of his international team-mates made their return on either side.

The injury was shortlived, however, and he will face a Saracens side that will also welcome back England star Ben Earl, who missed last week’s defeat to Harlequins at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The back-row will start on the bench at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.

Chessum’s replacement against Wales, Chandler Cunningham-South, will also make his return to club action alongside Marcus Smith and Fin Baxter as Harlequins face league leaders Bath at the Rec on Sunday.

Fixture

Gallagher Premiership

Sale

27 - 24

Full-time

Northampton

All Stats and Data

A Quins side shorn of their England internationals pulled off an unlikely victory over their London rivals last week, and will now be boosted by their Test contingent. Bath, too, will welcome back Will Stuart to their starting XV after opting to start the tighthead prop on the bench against Gloucester after a barnstorming Six Nations campaign.

Here are all the teams for this weekend’s action:

Friday March 28
Sale Sharks v Northampton Saints

Sale Sharks: 15 Joe Carpenter, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Rob du Preez (c), 12 Sam Bedlow, 11 Tom O’Flaherty, 10 George Ford 9 Gus Warr; 1 Bevan Rodd, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3 Asher Opoku-Fordjour 4 Ben Bamber, 5 Jonny Hill, 6 Ernst van Rhyn, 7 Tom Curry, 8 JL du Preez
Replacements:?16 Tadgh McElroy, 17 Si McIntyre, 18 WillGriff John, 19 Hyron Andrews, 20 Sam Dugdale, 21 Nye Thomas, 22 Will Addison, 23 Arron Reed

Northampton Saints: 15 James Ramm, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Burger Odendaal, 12 Fraser Dingwall (c), 11 George Hendy, 10 Tom James, 9 Alex Mitchell; 1 Emmanuel Iyogun, 2 Curtis Langdon, 3 Trevor Davison, 4 Chunya Munga, 5 Alex Coles, 6 Josh Kemeny, 7 Angus Scott-Young, 8 Henry Pollock
Replacements: 16 Henry Walker, 17 Tarek Haffar, 18 Luke Green, 19 Temo Mayanavnaua, 20 Juarno Augustus, 21 Tom Pearson, 22 Jonny Weimann, 23 Tom Litchfield

Saturday March 29
Exeter Chiefs v Newcastle Falcons

Exeter Chiefs: 15 Harvey Skinner, 14 Paul Brown-Bampoe, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Will Rigg, 11 Josh Hodge, 10 Ben Coen, 9 Stu Townsend; 1 Scott Sio, 2 Jack Yeandle, 3 Josh Iosefa-Scott, 4 Dafydd Jenkins (c), 5 Franco Molina, 6 Martin Moloney, 7 Richard Capstick, 8 Greg Fisilau
Replacements: 16 Max Norey, 17 Kwenzo Blose, 18 Jimmy Roots, 19 Rusi Tuima, 20 Kane James, 21 Tom Cairns, 22 Tamati Tua, 23 Ben Hammersley

Newcastle Falcons: 15 Elliott Obatoyinbo, 14 Alex Hearle, 13 Connor Doherty, 12 Max Clark, 11 Ben Stevenson, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Joe Davis; 1 Adam Brocklebank, 2 Jamie Blamire, 3 Richard Palframan, 4 John Hawkins, 5 Sebastian de Chaves, 6 Freddie Lockwood, 7 Cameron Neild, 8 Callum Chick (c)
Replacements: 16 Ollie Fletcher, 17 Micky Rewcastle, 18 Murray McCallum, 19 Adam Scott, 20 Ollie Leatherbarrow, 21 Sam Stuart, 22 Kieran Wilkinson, 23 Oli SpencerBath Rugby v Harlequins

Bath Rugby: 15 Tom de Glanville, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Max Ojomoh, 12 Cameron Redpath, 11 Will Muir, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ben Spencer (c); 1 Beno Obano, 2 Tom Dunn, 3 Will Stuart, 4 Ross Molony, 5 Charlie Ewels, 6 Ted Hill, 7 Miles Reid, 8 Alfie Barbeary
Replacements: 16 Niall Annett, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Guy Pepper, 20 Sam Underhill, 21 Tom Carr-Smith, 22 Will Butt, 23 Jaco Coetzee

Harlequins: 15 Tyrone Green, 14 Rodrigo Isgro, 13 Oscar Beard, 12 Luke Northmore, 11 Nick David, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Will Porter; 1 Fin Baxter, 2 Jack Walker, 3 Titi Lamositele, 4 Irne Herbst, 5 Stephan Lewies (c), 6 Jack Kenningham, 7 Tom Lawday, 8 Chandler Cunningham-South
Replacements: 16 Sam Riley, 17 Jordan Els, 18 Wyn Jones, 19 Joe Launchbury, 20 George Hammond, 21 Lucas Schmid, 22 Danny Care, 23 Jamie Benson

Gloucester v Bristol Bears

Gloucester: 15 Santi Carreras, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Seb Atkinson, 11 Josh Hathaway, 10 Charlie Atkinson, 9 Tomos Williams; 1 Val Rapava-Ruskin, 2 Jack Singleton, 3 Afo Fasogbon, 4 Freddie Clarke, 5 Freddie Thomas, 6 Jack Clement, 7 Lewis Ludlow (C), 8 Ruan Ackermann
Replacements: 16 Seb Blake, 17 Ciaran Knight, 18 Kirill Gotovtsev, 19 Cam Jordan, 20 Harry Taylor, 21 Caolan Englefield, 22 Will Butler, 23 George Barton

Bristol Bears: 15 Rich Lane, 14 Jack Bates, 13 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 12 James Williams, 11 Kalaveti Ravouvou, 10 Harry Byrne, 9 Harry Randall; 1 Ellis Genge, 2 Gabriel Oghre, 3 Max Lahiff, 4 James Dun, 5 Josh Caulfield, 6 Steven Luatua, 7 Fitz Harding (c), 8 Viliame Mata
Replacements: 16 Harry Thacker, 17 Jake Woolmore, 18 Jimmy Halliwell, 19 Paddy Pearce, 20 Jake Heenan, 21 Keiran Marmion, 22 AJ MacGinty, 23 Siva Naulago

Sunday March 30
Leicester Tigers v Saracens

Leicester Tigers: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Solomone Kata, 12 Joseph Woodward, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Jack van Poortvliet; 1 Nicky Smith, 2 Julian Montoya, 3 Joe Heyes, 4 Cameron Henderson, 5 Ollie Chessum, 6 Hanro Liebenberg, 7 Tommy Reffell, 8 Olly Cracknell
Replacements: 16 Charlie Clare, 17 James Whitcombe, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Harry Wells, 20 Emeka Ilione, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Jamie Shillcock, 23 Izaia Perese

Saracens: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Tobias Elliott, 13 Alex Lozowski, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Angus Hall, 10 Fergus Burke, 9 Ivan van Zyl; 1 Eroni Mawi, 2 Jamie George, 3 Fraser Balmain, 4 Maro Itoje (c), 5 Hugh Tizard, 6 Theo McFarland, 7 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 8 Tom Willis
Replacements: 16 Theo Dan, 17 Rhys Carre, 18 Marco Riccioni, 19 Nick Isiekwe, 20 Andy Onyeama-Christie, 21 Ben Earl, 22 Gareth Simpson, 23 Alex Goode