Worcester Warriors kick-off the club's LV= Cup campaign with an all-English line-up against London Wasps at Sixways Stadium on Saturday (kick-off 3pm).
The coaching team of Richard Hill and Phil Davies has named a starting line-up with every player being English qualified - including hooker Chris Fortey who will make his 150th appearance for the Warriors.
"The LV= Cup gives an opportunity for many players within our set-up to feature prominently in the first team and represents a new stimulus within the group," said Forwards Coach Phil Davies.
"Both teams pride themselves on a strong defence. I used to work with Wasps Assistant Coach Rob Hoadley when he was with the Wales Under-20s so know how much of an impact he has had at Adams Park. Likewise Phil Larder has done a fantastic job on our 'D' this season.
"However, both teams will be tested to the full with some real attacking talent on show and we believe Josh Drauniniu and Andy Short can offer us a real threat out wide. It's all set-up to be a very exciting game for the Sixways faithful."
With Wasps having a number of players ruled out through injury, Director of Rugby Dai Young has utilised the club’s on-going partnership and development programme with top-level local clubs to name some leading Championship players in the squad with Mike Powell, Ben Russell and Joe Ajuwa (London Welsh) and Karl Rudzki (London Scottish) all wearing the Wasps colours this weekend.
Young said: “We’ve had a lot of guys ruled out this weekend with various bumps and bruises and we’re also using the opportunity to give a few players who have played non-stop for six weeks a bit of a breather. This game offers a real opportunity for the players who are chomping at the bit to get in the starting team week in week out. The challenge for them is to step-up and show us what they have got. I want to thank London Welsh and London Scottish for allowing us to use some of their top players this weekend. We’re continuing to develop strong partnerships with these clubs which is really important for us, especially with our squad size.”
Warriors: 15.Tom Arscott, 14.Andy Short, 13 Chris Pennell (capt), 12.Alex Crockett, 11 Josh Drauniniu, 10.Joe Carlisle, 9.Ollie Frost, 1.George Porter, 2.Chris Fortey, 3 Oliver Tomaszczyk, 4.Chris Jones, 5.Craig Gillies, 6.Sam Betty, 7.Matt Kvesic, 8 Adam Balding
Replacements: 16.Ollie Hayes, 17.Bruce Douglas, 18.James Currie, 19.Ben Gulliver, 20 Richard Muagututia, 21.Danny Gray, 22.Andy Goode, 23.Mike Penn
London Wasps: 15. Jack Wallace, 14.Alex Cheesman, 13.Elliot Daly, 12.Chris Mayor (capt) 11.Charlie Ingall, 10.Ryan Davis, 9.Jonah Holmes, 1.Jeremy Castex, 2.Tom Lindsay, 3.Simon McIntyre, 4.Ross Filipo, 5.Mike Powell, 6.James Harris, 7.Matt Everard, 8. Joe Burton
Replacements: 16.Nathan Morris, 17.Lewis Theide, 18.Guillermo Roan, 19.Karl Rudzki,
20. Ben Russell, 21.Charlie Davies, 22.Will Robinson, 23.Joe Ajuwa
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