Exeter without Feyi-Waboso as Reffell returns for Tigers

There are now just four rounds of the Prem season remaining so it is safe to say we really are in the business end of the campaign.

Twenty points might separate first from sixth in the table but there are only seven points between fourth and sixth.

Tantalisingly, this weekend’s round of matches features three games where all six of the teams still in the fight for the play-off spots go head to head.

You can listen to coverage of all of the matches on BBC DAB and FM local radio, via BBC Sounds or the BBC Sport website and app.

Having earned a morale-boosting, much-needed win against Exeter in their last outing, Gloucester’s George Skivington has stuck with almost the same line-up as the Cherry and Whites look to close the gap on Sale, seven points above them in the table.

Hooker Seb Blake returns after missing the win against the Chiefs, while Lewis Ludlow drops out with injury and James Venter comes into the back row.

Sale have made four changes to their starting XV as they also look to record back-to-back wins away from home having beaten Harlequins in their last game.

Joe Carpenter starts at full-back, Marius Louw comes into the centre and Hyron Andrews comes into a shuffled forward pack.

Rob du Preez misses out with a hamstring injury ending a record run off 88 consecutive Prem starts.

Gloucester: Barton; Joseph, Llewellyn, S. Atkinson, Loader; C. Atkinson, Williams (c); Rapava-Ruskin, Blake, Clark; Alemanno, Thomas, Venter, Trenholm.

Replacements: Innard, Bleuler, Knight, Eite, Gwynne, Clement. Englesfield, Edwards-Giraud.

Sale: Carpenter; Roebuck, Louw, Ma’asi-White, O’Flaherty; Ford, Warr; McEachran, Longstaff, Opoku-Fordjour; Andrews, Bamber, Van Rhyn (c), Vermeulen, Dugdale.

Replacements: Austin, Onasanya, Harper, Woodman, Kelly, Hanson, James, Reed.

Leicester Tigers flanker Tommy Reffell is set to start against Northampton Saints on his return after eight weeks out with a throat injury.

The Wales international has not featured since captaining Leicester to their Prem Cup final victory against Exeter Chiefs in mid-March.

Among a host of other changes from the side beaten by Saracens last time out, Australian James O’Connor comes in at fly-half after Billy Searle was injured in training, while England international George Martin makes his first start of the season and fit-again Solomone Kata is named on the bench.

Prem leaders Northampton will be captained by full-back George Furbank on his return to action after missing the win against Bath because of concussion protocols.

Saints head coach Sam Vesty has shuffled his pack, with Robbie Smith, JJ Van Der Mescht and Callum Chick coming in as Craig Wright, Ed Prowse and Henry Pollock drop to the bench.

Leicester Tigers: Steward; Radwan, Wand, Bailey, Hassell-Collins; O’Connor, Van Poortvliet; Smith, Blamire, Heyes, Chessum (c), Martin, Liebenberg, Reffell, Moro.

Replacements: Clare, Van der Flier, Hurd, Henderson, Williams, Whiteley, Kata, Perese.

Northampton Saints: Furbank (c); Freeman, Hutchinson, Dingwall, Hendy; F Smith, Mitchell; Iyogun, R Smith, Green; Lockett, Van Der Mescht, Kemeny, Graham, Chick.

Replacements: Wright, West, Millar Mills, Prowse, Munga, Pollock, McParland, Litchfield.

Bristol’s Harry Thacker makes his first Prem start since December as he comes into the front row in place of hooker Gabriel Oghre, who will miss the rest of the season after having surgery on a knee injury sustained away at Newcastle.

With flanker Benjamin Grondona also joining Oghre on the sidelines with a pectoral injury picked up in the same match, his brother Santiago starts at number eight in his place among five changes for the visit of Saracens.

Full-back Noah Heward, wing Kalaveti Ravouvou and scrum-half Kieron Marmion are the other changes as the Bears look to end a run of nine Prem games without beating the London side.

Wins against Sale and Leicester ensure Saracens have kept up the chase on the teams above them but they remain seven points off fourth (six behind Bristol) and know they can’t afford to any drop points.

Saracens have long had the upper hand against the Bears and they travel to Ashton Gate with two just changes to their starting XV.

Ernoi Mawi starts at loosehead prop, with Rhys Carre dropping to the bench and Nick Isiekwe moving to blindside flanker – his first start in that position in more than two years for the club – after Theo McFarland’s first child was born last weekend.

Bristol: Heward; Ravouvou, Moroni, Janse van Rensburg, Ibitoye; Jordan, Marmion; Genge, Thacker, Kloska; Dun, Batley, Owen, Harding (c), Grondona.

Replacements: Gwilliam, Woolmore, Lahiff, ⁠⁠Taylor, Cripps, ⁠⁠Randall, ⁠⁠Williams, Bates.

Saracens: Malins; Caluori, Tompkins, Hartley, Segun; Burke, Bracken; Mawi, George, Street; Itoje (c), Tizzard, Isiekwe, Earl, Willis.

Replacements: Dan, Carre, Clarey, McFarland, Michelow, Van Zyl, Farrell, Elliott.

George McGuigan returns to captain Newcastle Red Bulls as one of five changes to the team that lost at home to Bristol Bears in their last fixture.

Centre Sammy Arnold, Argentina scrum-half Simon Benitez Cruz and forwards Micky Rewcastle and Tom Gordon are the other players to come back into the side.

Christian Wade makes his 150th Prem appearance as he tries to chase down Chris Ashton’s all-time try-scoring record, while there is a 100th appearance in the competition for fly-half Brett Connon.

In a meeting of the league’s bottom two, England wing Cadan Murley is back in the Harlequins side as they make six alterations from the team that lost to Sale Sharks.

Murley is the only change in the back division, while there are five in the pack as Sam Riley and Argentina prop Pedro Delgado come into the front row.

Kieran Treadwell and Elliot Williams form the second row and academy player Seb Driscoll is at number seven.

Newcastle: Hodge; Wade, Hearle, Arnold, E Obatoyinbo; Connon, Benitez Cruz; Brocklebank, McGuigan (c), Rewcastle, Hodgson, Baker, Gordon, Christie, Parsons.

Replacements: Fletcher, Connor Hancock, McCallum, Clarke, Mafi, Elliott, Healy, Grayson.

Harlequins: Benson; Anderson, Northmore, Bradley, Murley; Smith, Friday; Hobson, Riley, Delgado, Treadwell, Williams, Cunningham-South, Driscoll, Dombrandt.

Replacements: Staples, Wenger, Streeter, J Green, Kenningham, W Evans, Porter, Kerr.

Exeter are without England winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso for the visit of Prem champions Bath.

The 23-year-old is continuing his HIA protocols after coming off in last week’s Challenge Cup semi-final loss at Ulster.

Olly Woodburn is back from a hamstring injury to replace him and face his former club as he plays at full-back to allow Paul Brown-Bampoe and Campbell Ridl on the wing.

Up front Josh Iosefa-Scott comes into the front row as Exeter play for the first time since club members voted to approve plans for an American takeover of the Sandy Park side.

Bath make nine changes from the side that were beaten at Bordeaux in the Champions Cup semi-final.

Francois van Wyk, Dan Frost and Archie Griffin all come into the front row Ross Molony, Tedd Hill and Sam Underhill return to the back five.

Exeter-bound Will Butt comes in for the injured Louis Hennessey at centre, the fit-again Joe Cokanasiga replaces injured winger Will Muir and Tom de Glanville starts at full-back for Santi Carreras who drops to the bench.

Also on the bench for Bath is Cameron Redpath, who returns after almost a month out.

Exeter: Woodburn; Brown-Bampoe, Slade, Ikitau, Ridl; Skinner, Varney; Sio, Norey, Iosefa-Scott, Jenkins (c), Zambonin, Hooper, Tshiunza, Vintcent.

Replacements: Dweba, Burger, Tchumbadze, Tuima, Worley Brady, Cairns, Haydon-Wood, Hammersley.

Bath: De Glanville; Cokanasiga, Lawrence, Butt, Arundell; Russell, Spencer (c); Van Wyk, Frost, Griffin; Roux, Molony, Hill, Underhill, Barbeary.

Replacements: Tuipulotu, Obano, Du Toit, Ewels, Pepper, Carr-Smith, Carreras, Redpath.

Andrew Aloia, Sophie Hurcom, Adam Lanigan and Brent Pilnick, BBC Sport England