NEIL Fowkes has named his first XV of the season, as Nottingham Rugby take on Ealing Trailfinders at The Bay on Sunday, 1pm.
He hands Nottingham debuts to 10 players; Jack Stapley, Joe Carpenter, Joe Bedlow, Joe Browning, Tom Curtis, Toby Williams, Jac Price, Like Frost, Kieran Curran and Carl Kirwan.
Nottingham Head Coach Neil Fowkes said: “Ealing have played a good amount of pre-season games and we haven’t played any. They’ve got a settled team that plays week in week and out and we’ve got ten debutants.
“One thing you can always rely on from us is we’ll be tough, well organised and competitive, and that will be no different on the weekend. What better way to kick off the season than against the team that is hoping to be in the promotion push at the end.
“We’ve got nothing to lose. We will go out there and play our game, throw the ball around and put the pressure on Ealing to perform.”
Starting XV:
15 Jack Stapley
14 Joe Carpenter
13 Will Millett
12 Joe Bedlow
11 Joe Browning
10 Tom Curtis
9 Alex Dolly
1 Toby Williams
2 Jake Farnworth
3 Karl Garside
4 Jac Price
5 Luke Frost
6 Kieran Curran
7 Carl Kirwan
8 Jordan Coghlan
Replacements:
16 Aniseko Sio
17 Shaun Evans
18 Harri O’Connor
19 Jack Ramshaw
20 Willie Ryan
21 Josh Poullet
22 Michael Stronge
23 Charlie Thacker