TEAM NEWS | Gloucester Rugby v Saracens Men (GPR - Rd 1)

Director of Rugby Mark McCall spoke of his excitement to see the new-look Saracens start their Gallagher Premiership campaign on Saturday against Gloucester Rugby. 

The Men in Black travel to Kingsholm looking to kick off the season in style, with back-to-back home matches at StoneX Stadium to follow over the next fortnight. 

The coaches have named an exciting squad who have all been working towards this date since arriving back for pre-season training in mid July.

Rhys Carre makes his second debut for the club after returning from Cardiff in the summer, and he will have Theo Dan and Marco Riccioni for company in an all-international front-row. 

Maro Itoje will start his first game as Club Captain, with Hugh Tizard alongside him in the second-row. Andy Onyeama-Christie, Toby Knight and Tom Willis start in an energetic back-row. 

Ivan van Zyl and Fergus Burke will get their first taste of Premiership Rugby as a half-back combination, whilst Nick Tompkins and Alex Lozowski start in the midfield. 

Rotimi Segun, Tobias Elliott and Elliot Daly will look to silence the Kingsholm crowd by taking any try-scoring opportunities that come their way. 

On the bench there is a wealth of international experience with the likes of Jamie George, Nick Isiekwe, Ben Earl and Alex Goode all ready to make an impact, as well as another chance for young scrum-half Charlie Bracken to impress. 

Director of Rugby Mark McCall is eagerly anticipating the Cherry and Whites challenge.

“We have really enjoyed the last eight or nine weeks with this new group. There is a freshness to the environment and it feels like we are at the start of something. 

The average age in our squad has dropped considerably and we have lots of new players but every journey starts somewhere. 

This group has great potential and last year proved how open the Premiership is, so we are really looking forward to it.”

Saracens Men team to play Gloucester Rugby:

1 Rhys Carre

2 Theo Dan

3 Marco Riccioni 

4 Maro Itoje (c) 

5 Hugh Tizard 

6 Andy Onyeama-Christie 

7 Toby Knight 

8 Tom Willis 

9 Ivan van Zyl 

10 Fergus Burke 

11 Rotimi Segun 

12 Nick Tompkins 

13 Alex Lozowski 

14 Tobias Elliott 

15 Elliot Daly

Replacements: 

16 Jamie George

17 Sam Crean 

18 Alec Clarey 

19 Harry Wilson 

20 Nick Isiekwe 

21 Ben Earl

22 Charlie Bracken 

23 Alex Goode