The Mob welcome Ealing Trailfinders to The OIney Field tomorrow afternoon and Head Coach Dave Ward making six changes to the team to face the league leaders.
Ward names an unchanged front row with Harrison Courtney at loosehead, Seb Smith at hooker and Callum Norrie at tighthead. Tongan international Justin Matalele makes his home debut alongside Tatoa Auvaa in the engine room. In the back row Ollie Mulalrkey replaces vice-captain Charles Rylands on the openside, with Tino Mapapalangi moving to the blindside this week allowing Nathan Michelow to make his first start of the season at eight.
Efan Jones in partnered by Josh Barton in the half-backs this week in the absence of player-coach Louis Grimoldby. Oscar Wilson returns at outside centre partnering captain Fraser Strachan in midfield, whilst in the back three Chinnor try-scorer Sam Kildunne starts again on the left wing with Tobias Elliot on the right and summer signing Matt Salisbury making his first start at full-back.
Ward names a five:three bench with Harrison Dakin, Richard Barrington and Jevaughn Warren covering the front row whilst Jake Parkinson and Fijian Lekima Ravuvu will cover the back five. Alex Davies is on the bench again with the returning Seva Kava and Joe Heslop who will make his competitive debut.
Ahead of the game, Dave Ward said “we know the challenge facing us on Saturday, Ealing are a very good side and we’ll need to front up and execute our plan to get something from the game. We owe it to our loyal supporters to put in a strong performance”.
Starting XV:
1 Harrison Courtney 2 Seb Smith 3 Callum Norrie 4 Totoa Auvaa 5 Justin Mataele 6 Tino Mapapalangi (vc) 7 Ollie Mullarkey 8 Nathan Michelow 9 Efan Jones 10 Josh Barton 11 Sam Kildunne 12 Fraser Strachan (c) 13 Oscar Wilson 14 Tobias Elliott 15 Matt Salisbury
Replacements:
16 Harrison Dakin 17 Richard Barrington 18 Jevaughn Warren 19 Jake Parkinson 20 Kima Ravuvu 21 Alex Davies 22 Joe Heslop 23 Seva Kava