EIGHT CHANGES FOR PREMIERSHIP RUGBY CUP FIXTURE AT SANDY PARK WITH AARON MORRIS CAPTAIN.

Harlequins Head of Rugby Paul Gustard has made eight changes to the XV for the Premiership Rugby fixture at Sandy Park against Exeter Chiefs on Saturday (kick-off: 13:00).

Matt Symons, Marcus Smith and Ben Tapuai are all starters for the match which also sees the return of Luke Wallace from a back injury.

Elia Elia and Will Collier start in the front row alongside Lewis Boyce - a try-scorer in the narrow defeat against Newcastle Falcons at The Stoop last week - Symons returns to action in the second row while Wallace returns to the back row alongside Archie White and Alex Dombrandt, another try-scorer last week. Dave Ward, named among the Game Changers, is in line to make his 150th appearance for the Club.

Niall Saunders makes a very youthful and exciting half-back partnership with Marcus Smith and Cadan Murley gets another opportunity to impress on the right wing following a very good performance against Newcastle. Meanwhile Aaron Morris will captain the team and start at Outside centre with Charlie Walker returning on the left wing.

Gustard said: “The whole squad have trained with an excellent focus all week for this match and several players who have been rested over the past couple of weeks have been champing at the bit to get back out there which is great to see.

“Matt Symons has led by example all season and I know he will be part of a pack that will give everything for the Club as ever. It is also very good to have Luke Wallace back in the side after a frustrating time out with  injury and his attitude has been exemplary over the past few weeks.

“Last week against Newcastle was a missed opportunity for the squad having dominated possession and large parts of the game. Our lineout functioned the best it has all season which is testament to the effort Alex Codling gives to the team and the desire and application of the squad to improve.

“The points we conceded last week were because of our errors including an intercepted try which shows again we are a hard team to break down and this will only improve as we grow together this season.

“Once again we have seen improvement in our attack in training and we look forward to demonstrating this on Saturday.”

Harlequins XV to play Exeter Chiefs (kick-off: 13:00)

15. Ross Chisholm (93)
14. Charlie Walker (91)
13. Aaron Morris (Captain, 24)
12. Ben Tapuai (6)
11. Cadan Murley (3)
10. Marcus Smith (36)
9. Niall Saunders (2)

1. Lewis Boyce (21)
2. Elia Elia (23)
3. Will Collier (135)
4. Matt Symons (8)
5. Dino Lamb (14)
6. Archie White (24)
7. Luke Wallace (165)
8. Alex Dombrandt (3)

Game Changers
16. Max Crumpton (6)
17. Nick Auterac (2)
18. Phil Swainston (13)
19. Ben Glynn (24)
20. Dave Ward (149)
21. Dave Lewis (20)
22. Tim Visser (64)
23. Henry Cheeseman (15)

Not considered for selection
Alofa Alofa
Renaldo Bothma
Mike Brown
Rob Buchanan
Danny Care
Demetri Catrakilis
James Chisholm
Jack Clifford
Nathan Earle
James Horwill
Gabriel Ibitoye
Semi Kunatani
James Lang
Paul Lasike
Mat Luamanu
Joe Marchant
Joe Marler
George Merrick
Charlie Mulchrone
Chris Robshaw
Kyle Sinckler
Stan South

CHIEFS SIDE TO FACE HARLEQUINS

15 Joe Simmonds
14 Tom O’Flaherty
13 Tom Hendrickson
12 Sam Hill
11 Alex Cuthbert
10 Harvey Skinner
9 Stu Townsend (capt)
1 Billy Keast
2 Jack Innard
3 Marcus Street
4 Mitch Lees
5 Wilhelm Van Der Sluys
6 Josh Caulfield
7 James Freeman
8 Tom Lawday

16 Elvis Taione
17 James Kenny
18 Alfie Petch
19 Richard Capstick
20 Dave Dennis
21 Jack Maunder
22 Max Bodilly
23 James Short

Interesting selection. Seems to me like PG is trying out different options, rather than having to fill in due to injuries and non-availability. If so, it's good that he's rotating so that players get decent rest and time to recover from injuries and niggles.

I assume Chis is covering 10?

Clifford out again ??

Not necessarily. We'll never know these days -- and actually i quite like it.

I think he played the full 80 last weekend?

I get the impression this is rotation rather than injury driven.

White just isn’t a starter at any level for me. He never looks any better than very average, he is notably slow and always looks knackered. Am I missing something?

Again not necessarily but I'm delighted that generally we're not risking first team players in these matches.

Quote from: Quinky on Friday 09-Nov-2018, 12:30*

Interesting selection. Seems to me like PG is trying out different options, rather than having to fill in due to injuries and non-availability. If so, it's good that he's rotating so that players get decent rest and time to recover from injuries and niggles.

I assume Chis is covering 10?

If needed I would expect Tapuai or Morris to cover 10. Cheeseman to midfield

Mmmm not sure with that, mainly as I can't get my head around Morris starting ahead of Cheeseman at 13. Think it will be Tapuai  to 10 and Cheeseman to 12. If Chis goes to 10 then Visser will come on as FB and that worries me. Think he's a good enough winger but never been too impressed when he's played FB

Anyone know if this is being shown anywhere? Or would Twitter be the best way to follow the game?

Live commentary on bbc sport
:-)