Three Premiership games take place on Friday with Newcastle hosting London Irish, Saracens travelling to Worcester and Sale welcoming Gloucester.

Newcastle Falcons v London Irish

Newcastle Falcons have made just one change with Alex Tait coming into the team.

The fit-again full-back replaces Simon Hammersley following the ankle injury he picked up in last Saturday’s 33-32 triumph at Bath, Newcastle fielding an otherwise unchanged side as they aim to build on the flying start which has seen them winning three of their four league games this season.

Defence coach John Wells said ahead of the game: “It’s fair to say we’re pretty chuffed about where we are, and it all comes back to the work we did in pre-season with regards to what we felt we needed to do to compete. Because of the quality of that pre-season work we have been able to transfer those things into our games, but it’s early days yet and we know the levels we need to hit if we want to remain in this kind of company up near the top of the league.

“Keeping a lid on all the hype is probably the next challenge, because we’ve won a few games and people are beginning to blow smoke up our backsides a little. We need to make sure that it’s not just a good start, that it’s really building something over a longer period of time and we’re mindful that we’re only four games into a 22-game season.

“The key now is to not only win the games that we should be winning, but to then do it against teams who historically have given us a good hiding. Last weekend was a classic example because our previous visit to Bath saw them putting 50-odd points on us in a shocking performance, and even when they put 32 unanswered points on us last Saturday we found a way to win.

“Character, fitness, confidence, togetherness and skill levels were all massive contributors to that but we’re going to have a lot more battles ahead of us this season – that’s just the nature of how competitive the Aviva Premiership is. Some of those in all probability won’t go our way and, while we’ll take the good start, we’re pretty realistic about where we are and what we need to do. We’ve got points in the bag, and let’s kick on now.”

Confident his side’s form can turn into more than a brief burst, he added: “It’s hard to coach the kind of character that we’ve got in the team at the moment but it’s really pleasing to see the way the boys are battling for one another.

“I still think there’s a lot more to come from this group because we’re developing and pushing through a young core of players who have coped with relegation, promotion and then a difficult couple of first seasons back in the Premiership.

“There’s a mental toughness which has arisen within them through that process, and it hasn’t happened overnight. A lot of those lads are still with the club, and as they’ve grown from 20-year-olds into their mid-20s, they’ve seen a lot. It’s alright me as a coach standing at the front of a room and saying we need leaders, but what I actually need is guys who know what leading looks like because they’ve seen other people doing it. We’re now getting to that point, and guys are standing up during the week to say things that need to be said. That, for me, is the progress we’ve made.”

Meanwhile, London Irish have made two changes as Ofisa Treviranus returns to the back row, while former England international David Paice replaces Dave Porecki at hooker.

Club stalwart Paice, who is now into his 15th campaign with the Exiles, skippers the side and packs down alongside double World Cup-winning All Black Ben Franks and European Rugby Champions Cup-winner Petrus Du Plessis.

Franco van der Merwe and Sebastian De Chaves retain their places in the second row, while Josh McNally and Blair Cowan start at blindside and openside flanker respectively.

In the backline, Alex Lewington will be hoping to build on his impressive start to the season which has yielded two tries including last week’s exquisite solo effort against Northampton Saints.

Johnny Williams, who made his long-awaited return from injury last weekend, partners Fijian international Aseli Tikoirotuma at centre, with Napolioni Nalaga getting the nod on the wing.

New Zealander James Marshall continues at fly-half, while full-back and goal-kicking specialist Tommy Bell will be looking to surpass his season tally of 50 points tomorrow night.

Exiles’ boss Nick Kennedy said: “We’ve addressed a few things from last week’s game and we’re looking forward to the trip to Newcastle.

“Dean Richards has done a great job up there and has transformed them into a team that is challenging in the upper reaches of the table.

“They are playing some excellent rugby and we will need to be at our very best from the word go.”

Treviranus, a try scorer during the Exiles’ opening day victory over Harlequins, makes a welcome return to the pack with Kennedy pleased to see him back in the mix.

“Ofisa has a wealth of experience which will be invaluable for us at Kingston Park,” said Kennedy.

“He’s a strong ball carrier that has the ability to regularly get us over the gain line and it’s great to see his name on the team sheet.”

Form: Newcastle Falcons only defeat in the last six rounds of Premiership Rugby was 7-29 to Saracens in Philadelphia on 16th September. The Tynesiders have won their last three Premiership Rugby fixtures at Kingston Park since Saracens beat them there in round 17 last season. London Irish have slipped to three straight defeats in Premiership Rugby since beating Harlequins 39-29 at Twickenham Stadium on the opening weekend. The Exiles have lost their last sixteen away games in Aviva Premiership Rugby – only Worcester (2012-14), Rotherham (2000-04) and London Welsh (2012-15) have gone more matches in succession without a win away from home in the history of the tournament. Newcastle’s 13-6 victory at Kingston Park the last time the two clubs met in April 2016 ended a four match winning run by the Exiles in this fixture. London Irish have won just once at Newcastle since 2010: 20-18 in September 2014.

The teams:

Newcastle: 15 Alex Tait, 14 DTH van der Merwe, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Juan Pablo Socino, 11 Vereniki Goneva, 10 Craig Willis, 9 Sonatane Takulua, 8 Nili Latu, 7 Will Welch (c), 6 Mark Wilson, 5 Will Witty, 4 Calum Green, 3 Jon Welsh, 2 Santiago Socino, 1 Rob Vickers

Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Sami Mavinga, 18 Trevor Davison, 19 Sean Robinson, 20 Ally Hogg, 21 Sam Stuart, 22 Joel Hodgson, 23 Josh Matavesi

London Irish: 15 Tommy Bell, 14 Alex Lewington, 13 Aseli Tikoirotuma, 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Napolioni Nalaga, 10 James Marshall, 9 Scott Steele, 8 Ofisa Treviranus, 7 Blair Cowan, 6 Josh McNally, 5 Sebastian De Chaves, 4 Franco van der Merwe, 3 Petrus Du Plessis, 2 David Paice (c), 1 Ben Franks

Replacements: 16 Saia Fainga’a, 17 Harry Elrington, 18 Ollie Hoskins, 19 Teofilo Paulo, 20 Conor Gilsenan, 21 Ben Meehan, 22 Greig Tonks, 23 Tom Fowlie

Date: Friday, September 29

Venue: Kingston Park

Kick-off: 19:45 local (18:45 GMT)

Referee: Ian Tempest

Assistant Referees: Hamish Smales, Peter Allan

TMO: Stuart Terheege

Saracens v Worcester

Will Spencer and Jonny Arr both return from injury while Jamie Shillcock and David Denton also start as Worcester go in search of their first win of the season.

Lock Spencer replaces Pierce Phillips who drops to the bench while flanker Denton gets his first start for the Club in place of Sam Lewis who misses out with a neck injury.

Arr returns from concussion in place of Peter Stringer while Shillcock replaces Ryan Mills who is sidelined with a quad problem.

In the replacements Sam Olver and Chris Pennell return to the first-team fray, after both having featured for Worcester Cavaliers against Northampton Wanderers on Monday.

Christian Scotland-Williamson is named as back row replacement as Gary Gold’s men hunt a repeat result of last season, in which they beat Sarries 24-18.

The match will also see Warriors forwards Jack Singleton and Biyi Alo up against their former club.

Meanwhile, Calum Clark will make his first Premiership start for Saracens with the 28-year old back-rower packing down. Clark, takes his place alongside Jackson Wray (number eight0 and Maro Itoje (blindside flanker) in the Sarries back row as loose-forward trio of Schalk Burger (shoulder), Michael Rhodes (shoulder) and Billy Vunipola (knee) all ruled with injury.

At lock, Dominic Day will line-up alongside George Kruis whilst in the front-row, Hayden Thompson-Stringer starts alongside Schalk Brits and Vincent Koch.

At half-back, Ben Spencer continues at scrum-half, with Alex Lozowski rotating with Owen Farrell at fly-half. At centre, Brad Barritt returns to partner Duncan Taylor whilst in the back-three Chris Wyles comes in for the rested Liam Williams, with Sean Maitland (right-wing) and Alex Goode (full-back) also named to start.

Form: Worcester Warriors have been defeated in their last six Premiership Rugby matches since beating Bath 25-19 at Sixways in April. The Warriors have lost three in succession at home in the tournament, their worst run at Sixways since February 2016. Saracens only defeat so far this campaign was 21-31 at Bath in round 2 of Premiership Rugby. Saracens two most recent away victories have not been at their opponent’s usual home grounds – against Newcastle in Philadelphia and Northampton at Milton Keynes. Their last victory on a ‘genuine’ away ground was against Falcons at Kingston Park in March. Worcester beat Saracens 24-18 at Sixways in February to end a six game winning run by Saracens in this fixture.

The teams:

Worcester: 15 Josh Adams, 14 Perry Humphreys, 13 Jackson Willison, 12 Ben Te’o, 11 Bryce Heem, 10 Jamie Shillcock, 9 Jonny Arr, 8 GJ van Velze, 7 Alafoti Faosiliva, 6 David Denton, 5 Will Spencer, 4 Donncha O’Callaghan (c), 3 Biyi Alo, 2 Jack Singleton, 1 Ryan Bower

Replacements: 16 Joe Taufete’e, 17 Ethan Waller, 18 Gareth Milasinovich, 19 Pierce Phillips, 20 Christian Scotland-Williamson, 21 Jono Kitto, 22 Sam Olver, 23 Chris Pennell

Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Duncan Taylor 12 Brad Barritt (c), 11 Chris Wyles, 10 Alex Lozowski, 9 Ben Spencer, 8 Jackson Wray, 7 Calum Clark, 6 Maro Itoje, 5 George Kruis, 4 Dominic Day, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Hayden Thompson-Stringer

Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Mako Vunipola, 18 Juan Figallo, 19 Nick Isiekwe, 20 Ben Earl, 21 Richard Wigglesworth, 22 Owen Farrell, 23 Nick Tompkins

Date: Friday, September 29

Venue: Sixways Stadium

Kick-off: 19:45 local (18:45 GMT)

Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys

Assistant Referees: Jack Makepeace, Jonathan Healy

TMO: David Grashoff

Sale Sharks v Gloucester

James O'Connor is set make his Sale debut after being named on the bench. The Australian fly-half joined Sale in the summer from French club Toulon but has been sidelined up to now after undergoing ankle surgery in the close season.

But having trained with Sale for the past fortnight, the Wallabies playmaker has been named on the replacements bench for the visit of Gloucester.

And with both Will Addison and Johnny Leota facing spells on the sidelines through injury, O'Connor's availability couldn't be better timed.

"James will come on from the bench at some stage," Diamond confirmed.

"He has trained well for the past two or three weeks and he's probably 95 per cent there.

"And with Johnny and Will being out injured, James has stuck up his hand and said he is ready for action for Sale so it is really good.

"We can't take anything for granted tomorrow night. Gloucester have beaten us up here the last could of times they have visited the AJ Bell and they have started the season very well.

"But we know we have got a good team together and we know we can deliver – now we need to show that at home on Friday night."

Sale will go into the game looking for a reaction following last weekend's disappointing 41-13 loss away at Saracens.

And with skipper Addison sidelined, summer signing Jono Ross will be entrusted with the captaincy assisted by another new arrival, Springbok scrum-half Faf De Klerk.

"The lads were blown away last week at Saracens. They were far better than us in all areas and it was a bit of a reality check," the Sale director of rugby reflected.

"So we've gone right back to basics in training this week and we're looking forward to putting it all together against Gloucester.

"Unfortunately Will has cracked his jaw in training and he won't be fit so Jono Ross will be captain and Faf will be vice-captain."

"They have taken the group by the scruff of the neck and demanded that standards be raised."

Gloucester make a number of changes to their starting line-up, some tactical and some injury-enforced. The six changes from the team that started last week against Worcester are split evenly between the backs and forwards. The three new faces in the pack – Richard Hibbard, Gareth Denman and Lewis Ludlow – come in for Motu Matu'u, John Afoa and Jacob Rowan who are all named as replacements.

Meanwhile, the back line is reshuffled due to injuries. Henry Trinder starts in the midfield alongside Billy Twelvetrees while there are two new faces on the wings in David Halaifonua and Henry Purdy.

Indeed, it's an injury ravaged Gloucester squad that heads north to take on the Sharks, with no fewer than 15 players ruled out as the Cherry and Whites look to make it three wins in a row at the AJ Bell Stadium.

That said, there is a bonus in being able to select summer signing Owen Williams in the matchday squad for the first time as he is named amongst the replacements.

It's another new venue for Head Coach Johan Ackermann and he knows that Gloucester will be up against a resolute Sale outfit.

"If you look at Sale, they have quality all over. Traditionally I have heard that they always come at you physically, but they have x factor players all over," he said.

"We all know about Faf (de Klerk) who I coached for a number of years. We know about Denny Solomona on the wing. But they have quality all over, so we have to be good defensively and also at the set-piece and first phase."

Despite winning their past two games at the AJ Bell, Gloucester have lost twice on the road this season and Ackermann is keen for his side to perform as well away from home as they do at Kingsholm.

"I don't want to have to use travel as an excuse. A good side stays in the moment, in the process of what they need to do. If you want to win competitions, you have to start to find a way to win away from home.

"We can control the parts between the white lines on Friday. We can't control anything outside that, the weather etc. We have to ensure we pitch up with the right mindset, look after the ball and give it a go. If we look after our style, our game then we have to believe we have a shot."

Form: Sale Sharks only victory in the first four rounds of Premiership Rugby was 36-7 over London Irish at AJ Bell Stadium on 15 September. Sale have won three of their last four home games in the tournament. All of Gloucester Rugby’s four games so far have been won by the home side on the day, with the Cherry & Whites only victory on the road in the tournament since they last visited Sale twelve months ago being on the short trip to Bristol in March. Gloucester have won their last four matches against Sale – their best ever sequence against the Northerners – including victories on their last two visits to AJ Bell Stadium.

The teams:

Sale: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Denny Solomona, 13 Sam James, 12 Mark Jennings,11 Byron McGuigan, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Josh Strauss 7 Ben Curry, 6 Jono Ross (c), 5 Josh Beaumont, 4 Bryn Evans, 3 Alex Tarus, 2 Rob Webber, 1 Ross Harrison

Replacements: 16 Marc Jones, 17 James Flynn, 18 Halani Aulika, 19 Andre Ostrikov, 20 Tom Curry, 21 Cameron Neild, 22 Will Cliff, 23 James O'Connor

Gloucester: 15 Jason Woodward, 14 David Halaifonua, 13 Henry Trinder, 12 Billy Twelvetrees, 11 Henry Purdy, 10 Billy Burns, 9 Willi Heinz (c), 8 Ruan Ackermann 7 Lewis Ludlow, 6 Freddie Clarke, 5 Jeremy Thrush, 4 Ed Slater, 3 Gareth Denman; 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Val Rapava Ruskin

Replacements: 16 Motu Matu'u, 17 Josh Hohneck, 18 John Afoa, 19 Tom Savage, 20 Jacob Rowan, 21 Callum Braley, 22 Owen Williams, 23 Ben Vellacott

Date: Friday, September 29

Venue: AJ Bell Stadium

Kick-off: 20:00 local (19:00 GMT)

Referee: JP Doyle

Assistant Referees: Andrew Jackson, Wayne Falla

TMO: Trevor Fisher