{"id":817775,"date":"2026-10-29T17:20:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T17:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/817775\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T17:20:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T17:20:10","slug":"bristol-bears-v-leicester-tigers-teams-hulking-pair-hand-pat-lam-major-boost-while-england-ace-reaches-landmark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/817775\/","title":{"rendered":"Bristol Bears v Leicester Tigers teams: Hulking pair hand Pat Lam major boost while England ace reaches landmark"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gabriel Oghre and George Kloska return to the starting XV for Bristol Bears<\/a>\u2019 PREM Rugby clash with Leicester Tigers at Ashton Gate on Friday.<\/p>\n

The pair join England and British & Irish Lions loosehead Ellis Genge in the front-row, as director of rugby Pat Lam makes three changes to the side that defeated West Country rivals Exeter Chiefs last weekend.<\/p>\n

Pedro Rubiolo and Joe Batley continue their partnership in the second-row, while Georgian international Luka Ivanishvili comes in at number eight alongside centurions Steven Luatua and skipper Fitz Harding.<\/p>\n

Luatua is set to make his 164th competitive appearance for the club, with Harding leading the Bears<\/a> into a mouth-watering clash between two of the Gallagher PREM<\/a>\u2018s early-season frontrunners.<\/p>\n

In the backline, last weekend\u2019s Player of the Match Harry Randall continues at scrum-half alongside experienced USA international AJ MacGinty, with James Williams and Argentina international Matias Moroni combining in midfield.<\/p>\n

The dangerous back three of Gabriel Ibitoye, Louis Rees-Zammit and Tom Jordan is retained, with Rees-Zammit looking to add to his impressive tally of four tries in his opening four Gallagher PREM appearances.<\/p>\n

Loose Pass: Why the Nations Championship will carry an \u2018asterisk\u2019 while polarising Henry Pollock is becoming a dangerous presence<\/a><\/p>\n

Among the replacements, Academy hooker Tomas Gwilliam provides front-row cover alongside Jake Woolmore, who is set for his 194th competitive appearance for the club, and Lovejoy Chawatama.<\/p>\n

Josh Caulfield, Joe Owen and Ben Grondona offer further forward options, while experienced scrum-half Kieran Marmion and versatile back Jack Bates complete the matchday 23.<\/p>\n

The Friday night encounter forms the centrepiece of Bristol\u2019s Legends Night celebrations, with the Bears set to wear letters instead of numbers on their shirts in a special tribute to the club\u2019s rich history and heritage.<\/p>\n

Tigers team news<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Freddie Steward is set for his 100th PREM start as Leicester Tigers<\/a> travel to Ashton Gate to face Bristol in an intriguing fixture.<\/p>\n

The full-back retains his record of starting in every Gallagher PREM and Investec Champions Cup match this season, and will be coming into the match on a high, having scored the bonus-point-securing try against local rivals Northampton Saints last weekend.<\/p>\n

The forwards remain unchanged from the derby against Saints, with Ollie Chessum captaining the side from the second-row.<\/p>\n

There are three alterations in the backline. Tom Whiteley, Ollie Hassell-Collins and Orlando Bailey all come back into the side, replacing Jack van Poortvliet, Gabriel Hamer-Webb and Will Wand \u2013 all of whom will likely make an appearance from the bench.<\/p>\n

Solomone Kata will make the short trip to outside centre to make room for Bailey to start at 12.<\/p>\n

Among the substitutes is a return from injury for Elliott Stooke. The second-rower joined from Red Hurricanes over the off-season and is set for his first official Tigers appearance.<\/p>\n

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

The teams<\/p>\n

Prediction: Bristol by 3<\/p>\n

Bristol Bears: 15 Tom Jordan, 14 Louis Rees-Zammit, 13 Matias Moroni, 12 James Williams, 11 Gabriel Ibitoye, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Harry Randall, 8 Luka Ivanishvili, 7 Fitz Harding (c), 6 Steven Luatua, 5 Joe Batley, 4 Pedro Rubiolo, 3 George Kloska, 2 Gabriel Oghre, 1 Ellis Genge
Replacements: 16 Tomas Gwilliam, 17 Jake Woolmore, 18 Lovejoy Chawatama, 19 Josh Caulfield, 20 Joe Owen, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Jack Bates, 23 Ben Grondona<\/p>\n

Leicester Tigers: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Solomone Kata, 12 Orlando Bailey, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Billy Searle, 9 Tom Whiteley, 8 Olly Cracknell, 7 Finn Carnduff, 6 Aaron Wainwright, 5 Ollie Chessum (c), 4 Cameron Henderson, 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Jamie Blamire, 1 Archie van der Flier
Replacements: 16 Samiuela Moli, 17 Mako Vunipola, 18 Will Hurd, 19 Elliott Stooke, 20 Joaquin Moro, 21 Jack van Poortvliet, 22 Will Wand, 23 Gabriel Hamer-Webb<\/p>\n

Venue: Ashton Gate
Kick-off: 19:45 GMT
Referee: Luke Pearce
Assistant Referees: Karl Dickson and Jonathan Cook
TMO: Stuart Terheege
How to watch: Live on TNT Sports 1, UHD and HBO Max<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Brian Moore slams Henry Pollock after brawl as \u2018antics\u2019 could have \u2018repercussions\u2019 for Steve Borthwick and England<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gabriel Oghre and George Kloska return to the starting XV for Bristol Bears\u2019 PREM Rugby clash with Leicester…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":817776,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[29207,348,46723,50,21002,5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-817775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-bristol","tag-home-page","tag-leicester-tigers","tag-news","tag-premiership","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=817775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/817776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=817775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=817775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}