TEAM NEWS | Exeter Chiefs vs Saracens Men (GPR - Rd 1)

Captain Alex Lozowski insists that a trip to Sandy Park on the opening weekend of the new Gallagher Premiership season is exactly the sort of challenge the squad have been waiting for.

No less than four and a half months since lifting the Premiership trophy at Twickenham, The Men in Black begin their title defence with a compelling clash with Exeter Chiefs, live on TNT Sports.

Director of Rugby Mark McCall has made six changes to the matchday 23 that accelerated past Hartpury last weekend, to end the block of Premiership Rugby Cup fixtures with an encouraging 68-10 win.

Tom West returns to start at loosehead prop and is joined in the front-row by Samson Adejimi and Marco Riccioni, the Italian coming straight back in on his return from the Rugby World Cup.

Callum Hunter-Hill and Nick Isiekwe continue their second-row partnership, with the back-row bolstered by the box office return of Theo McFarland, fresh from a brilliant Rugby World Cup campaign with Samoa.

Alex Goode, embarking on his 18^th Premiership season, continues his half-back partnership with Aled Davies, while Olly Hartley will again partner skipper Lozowski in the centres.

Alex Lewington is back on the left wing after missing the Hartpury fixture, with an in-form Rotimi Segun and Tom Parton completing the back three.

On the bench, Andy Christie makes a welcome return to the matchday squad for the first time since April and Charlie Bracken will provide cover at scrum-half, in what are the only other two changes to the replacements.

Lozowski is one of seven players who featured in the side's last visit to Sandy Park; a scintillating 22-20 victory, as Goode kicked the winning points with the last act of the game in October 2022.

And with excitement brewing substantially over the past week, the 30-year-old believes the stage is set for a brilliant fixture first up.

“We’re all really looking forward to the first round of the Premiership,” said Lozowski. “It feels like we’ve been waiting for this game for a long time so there’s been a spring in everyone’s step this week at the training ground.”

“Sandy Park is a great place to play rugby due to the atmosphere and how vocal the Exeter fans are in getting behind their team. We always enjoy going there to play and this weekend it’s exactly the same. As senior players, we’ve not spoken too much about winning or losing. Whilst we know that it would be nice to win, we’ve spoken more about how we want to allow ourselves to get the best out of each other for the 80 minutes.”

Saracens Men's team to play Exeter Chiefs:

1 Tom West

2 Samson Adejimi

3 Marco Riccioni

4 Callum Hunter-Hill

5 Nick Isiekwe

6 Theo McFarland

7 Toby Knight

8 Tom Willis

9 Aled Davies

10 Alex Goode

11 Alex Lewington

12 Olly Hartley

13 Alex Lozowski (c)

14 Rotimi Segun

15 Tom Parton

Replacements:

16 James Hadfield

17 Ralph Adams-Hale

18 Alec Clarey

19 Ollie Stonham

20 Andy Christie

21 Charlie Bracken

22 Manu Vunipola

23 Sean Maitland