40 - 33HT 19 - 19

Ricoh Arena
Att 14,949
Sun 26 Mar 17, 2:30pm

TEAM NEWS | Warriors unchanged for West Midlands derby

Warriors name an unchanged starting 15 as they return to Aviva Premiership action against Wasps in the West Midlands derby at the Ricoh Arena on Sunday (kick-off 2.30pm).

Having beaten Bristol Rugby in their last outing, Gary Gold’s men will be looking to put further space between them and their relegation rivals when they battle Dai Young’s Wasps, who sit pretty at the top of table.

Chris Pennell, Bryce Heem and Josh Adams form the Warriors back three with the latter having scored twice at the Ricoh Arena in an Anglo-Welsh Cup clash between the sides in November.

Jackson Willison and Wynand Olivier team up in the centre while Francois Hougaard and Ryan Mills form the half-back combination again for the sixth consecutive game.

In the pack, Val Rapava Ruskin, Joe Taufete’e and Nick Schonert complete a powerful front row, backed up by mammoth lock Will Spencer and skipper Donncha O’Callaghan, who celebrates his 38th birthday today.

Chris Vui, Sam Lewis and Marco Mama keep their spots in the back row.

In the replacements, Jaba Bregvadze returns after international duty with Georgia while Phil Dowson is recalled to the squad as a second back row replacement with Dewald Potgieter also on the bench.

Dean Hammond is also back in the side following his return from injury, and he and Ryan Lamb could both make their 50th Warriors appearances should they feature.

Warriors
15 Chris Pennell
14 Bryce Heem
13 Wynand Olivier
12 Jackson Willison
11 Josh Adams
10 Ryan Mills
9 Francois Hougaard
1 Val Rapava Ruskin
2 Joe Taufete’e
3 Nick Schonert
4 Donncha O’Callaghan (C)
5 Will Spencer
6 Chris Vui
7 Sam Lewis
8 Marco Mama

Replacements
16 Jaba Bregvadze
17 Ryan Bower
18 Biyi Alo
19 Phil Dowson
20 Dewald Potgieter
21 Luke Baldwin
22 Ryan Lamb
23 Dean Hammond


Competition: Aviva Premiership Rugby
Venue: Ricoh Arena
Referee: Luke Pearce
Game Type: Away
Fixture Round: 18
Attendance: 14,949
No. Name T C D P
15 Kurtley Beale
14 Christian Wade 2T
13 Alapati Leiua 1T
12 Jimmy Gopperth 4C
11 Willie le Roux
10 Danny Cipriani 1C
9 Dan Robson
1 Simon McIntyre
2 Ashley Johnson
3 Marty Moore
4 Will Rowlands 1T
5 Kearnan Myall
6 James Haskell
7 Thomas Young
8 Alex Rieder
Replacements
16 Tom Cruse
17 Matt Mullan
18 Jake Cooper-Woolley
19 Matt Symons
20 Guy Thompson
21 Joe Simpson
22 Brendan Macken 1T
23 Josh Bassett 1T

SIGN UP TO THE WARRIORS WEEKLY NEWSLETTER