The Warriors were on the end of a 60-point beating against Saracens earlier this year, so will hope to turn the tables today in their last Premiership home game of the season
Worcester v Saracens live stream: How to watch from anywhere
Sandwiched between runaway leaders Exeter and long-doomed Saracens, this month has seen the ten remaining Gallagher Premiership clubs split into three distinct chunks: the quartet chasing a semi-final place, the trio settling for Champions Cup qualification, and the final three battling for nothing more than pride in a season of disappointment.
Worcester belong in the latter category, lying ninth ahead of their penultimate game and unable to match the nine wins and 46 points gleaned last season. With a trip to Sale on Sunday concluding their campaign, this evening’s match against a youthful Saracens (kick-off 5.30pm) represents their last realistic chance of a victory in 2020-21. “We want to finish on a high,” says their captain Ted Hill.
Almost complete: how the Premiership table looks ahead of today’s remaining round 21 fixtures
The game at Sixways is a significant one for their wing Perry Humphreys, who makes his first appearance since the spring. He suffered an ankle injury in a training match a week before the season resumed in August and aggravated it in training earlier this month.
Humphreys replaces Tom Howe (knee injury) as one of four changes to the starting XV that won 40-25 at London Irish last Sunday.
Ollie Lawrence, who scored two tries as a replacement that day, starts in place of Francois Venter (hamstring), Billy Searle comes in at fly-half, and Justin Clegg steps in at second-row in place of Graham Kitchener, who is recovering from a stress fracture of the foot.
Humphreys will become the 44th player used by Warriors since the resumption and that number is likely to increase to 46 today. That’s because ex-Bristol lock Joe Batley is set to make his delayed Warriors debut having overcome a foot injury and back-row Marco Mama is also on the bench following a groin injury. Mama’s last game was at Leicester in February.
Welcome return: Worcester’s Perry Humphreys celebrates scoring against Leicester in February (Getty)
Saracens, naturally, have selected a heap of academy players as the club licks its wounds following their agonising Heineken Champions Cup semi-final defeat to Racing.
Ollie Stonham makes his Premiership debut, following one appearance in the Premiership Rugby Cup, and fellow academy team-mates Charlie Watson and Cameron Boon make their maiden league starts. Centre Watson scored on his Sarries debut in September 2019 while lock Boon crossed during the men in black’s recent win over Exeter.
Wing Ali Crossdale returns after a spell on the sidelines and is joined in the back three by academy graduate Elliott Obatoyinbo and 14-try man Rotimi Segun. Obatoyinbo is a late call-up at full-back in place of USA international Will Hooley.
The front row that came on in Paris, Richard Barrington, captain Tom Woolstencroft and Alec Clarey, all come into the pack, as does Callum Hunter-Hill, who wears the six jersey.
On the bench, Academy duo Jon Kpoku and Ethan Benson are in line for their league debuts.
In the reverse fixture at the start of the year, Saracens overwhelmed Worcester 62-5 with a very different-looking side. The match was overshadowed by a serious injury to Worcester lock Michael Fatialofa, who subsequently spent four months in private care recovering from a fractured vertebrae and spinal contusion.
Saracens scored ten tries in the match – watch the highlights here.
Worcester: Melani Nanai; Perry Humphreys, Ollie Lawrence, Ashley Beck, Noah Heward; Billy Searle, Francois Hougaard; Ethan Waller, Niall Annett, Nick Schonert, Anton Bresler, Justin Clegg, Ted Hill (capt), Matt Kvesic, Cornell du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Beck Cutting, 17 Callum Black, 18 Richard Palframan, 19 Joe Batley, 20 Marco Mama, 21 Gareth Simpson, 22 Duncan Weir, 23 Chris Pennell.
Saracens: Elliott Obatoyinbo; Rotimi Segun, Charlie Watson, Juan Pablo Socino, Ali Crossdale; Manu Vunipola, Tom Whiteley; Richard Barrington, Tom Woolstencroft, Alec Clarey, Joel Kpoku, Cameron Boon, Callum Hunter-Hill, Ollie Stonham, Janco Venter.
Replacements: 16 Sam Crean, 17 Sam Wainwright, 18 Josh Ibuanokpe, 19 Jon Kpoku, 20 Ethan Benson, 21 Alex Day, 22 Harry Sloan, 23 Ben Harris.
Young Saracen: Charlie Watson dots down in the Premiership Sevens at the start of this season (Getty)
Here’s how to find a reliable live stream for Worcester v Saracens wherever you are…
How to watch Worcester v Saracens from outside your country
If you’re abroad but still want to watch your local Premiership coverage, like Worcester v Saracens, you can do so by using a VPN – Virtual Private Network.
VPNs allow you to get around any geo-blocking by changing your IP address so you appear in a different location and can watch the same legal Premiership live stream you would at home.
Our friends at TechRadar have tested hundreds of VPN and recommend ExpressVPN, which is easy to use, has strong security features and allows you to watch on several devices at once, including smart TVs and phones, iPads, tablets, PCs and Macs.
Plus, ExpressVPN comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. You can try it out for a month for free or sign up for an annual plan and get three months free.
Worcester v Saracens live stream: How to watch from the UK
Worcester v Saracens, which kicks off at 5.30pm today, will be shown live on BT Sport Extra 4 in the UK. If you don’t have a BT contract but want to watch the match, don’t worry because you can still easily watch it online.
That’s because BT Sport has a contract-free monthly pass that allows you to get instant access to all four of their sport channels for just £25.
That’s great value given they are showing every Premiership match played behind closed doors live and will also be covering the European Champions and Challenge Cup knockout stages. Plus, you can cancel at any time because there’s no contract.
If you’re from the UK but are overseas when Worcester v Saracens takes place, you can get your normal live stream but you’ll need a VPN – see the information above.
Worcester v Saracens live stream: How to watch from the USA
If you live in the States, the official broadcaster of Premiership matches is NBC, with matches streamed on NBC Sports Gold so you can watch them anytime and anywhere.
Worcester v Saracens will kick off at 12.30pm EST and 9.30am on the West Coast.
The NBC Sports Gold Pass for rugby is $79.99 and includes coverage of the Gallagher Premiership, European Champions and Challenge Cups, and Guinness Six Nations.
Worcester v Saracens live stream: How to watch from New Zealand
It’s little wonder that Sky Sport NZ, with ten sports channels, including one dedicated to rugby, is the rights-holder for Premiership matches in New Zealand.
If you want to tune in to Worcester v Saracens from the Land of the Long White Cloud, the match kicks off at 4.30am on Sky Sport NZ 1.
It costs $31.99 a month to add Sky Sport to your Sky Starter pack ($25.99).
Worcester v Saracens live stream: How to watch from South Africa
If you want to keep track of the many South Africans plying their trade in the Premiership, SuperSport shows matches in South Africa.
South Africa is one hour ahead of the UK, so Worcester v Saracens kicks off at 6.30pm on SuperSport Grandstand and SuperSport Rugby.
Various DStv packages are available that give access to SuperSport, ranging from Access, which has the Blitz and Variety 4 channels, to Premium, which includes all 18 sports channels.
We recommend VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:
- Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service)
- Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad
We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
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