Nottingham Rugby’s first Greene King IPA Championship team of the season has been confirmed.

Head Coach Neil Fowkes makes five changes to the side that were defeated by Cornish Pirates at The Bay last Friday.

In come Luke Cole, Tom Holmes, Josh Poullet, Tommy Matthews and David Williams with Jake Farnworth, Danny Qualter, George Cox, tom Stephenson and Harry Graham all dropping out of the starting XV.

On the squad selection, Fowkes said: “It’s nice to have a few boys back from injuries. Luke Cole had a few niggles in pre-season but he’s come through them well and got two bench appearances in the cup so it’s great to have him back in the squad. Jake Farnworth has played well in those three cup games so it’s nice to have those two firing and be able to bring Jake in off the bench.

“Tom Holmes comes back in to the squad and it’s going to be good to see him back out there, we need his leadership this weekend.

“Poullet comes back in to the back row. He picked up a bit of a knock against Leeds but has recovered from that now so it will be good to see him go and he will give us some impetus off the back of the scrum and on those edges.

“David Williams is back from injury after picking up a knock against Leeds, and didn’t quite make the squad for London Scottish then we felt it was right to give him a couple of weeks rest. He’s back in and we’re all really excited to see what he can do on the wing because we know he’s got a bit of X-Factor.”

Squad to face Ampthill:

1 Aniseko SIO
2 Luke COLE
3 Oisin HEFFERNAN
4 Llewelyn JONES
5 Tom HOLMES (C)
6 James CONNOLLY
7 Will OWEN
8 Josh POULLET
9 Murray MCCONNELL
10 Tommy MATTHEWS
11 Ben FOLEY
12 Luke PETERS
13 Harry STRONG
14 David WILLIAMS
15 Sean SCANLON

Replacements:

16 Jake FARNWORTH
17 Jamie JACK
18 Ben BETTS
19 Cameron JORDAN
20 Sam LEWIS
21 Alex DOLLY
22 Tom STEPHENSON
23 Kyran BUNGAROO

Tommy Matthews has joined Nottingham on loan from Northampton Saints and goes straight in to the starting line-up tomorrow afternoon. Fowkes said: “Tommy Matthews has joined us from Northampton Saints and it’s really great to see that relationship working well. Alex O’Dowd was at the club for the past three years so his new move to Academy Manager at Northampton Saints has really opened up some opportunities there.

“We’re really happy to have Tommy here – he’s a cracking player and played for the Welsh under 18s last year and the Welch 19s over the summer and has played for Northampton in their last four fixtures so we’re really keen to see him go.”