CHARLIE Mulchrone has been handed the captaincy as a much-changed Worcester Warriors host Pontypridd in the quarter-finals of the British & Irish Cup tomorrow (Saturday).
The scrum half is among 13 changes to the side which hammered Moseley 50-10 in the Greene King IPA Championship last weekend, with just Andy Symons and Ryan Bower keeping their starting berths.
Ignacio Mieres is given the nod at stand-off while a youthful back-line sees Ben Howard, James Stephenson and Dean Hammond occupy the back three with Ravai Fatiaki joining Symons in the centre.
Experienced duo Dan Sanderson and James Percival team up in the second row behind Bower, hooker Niall Annett and Joe Rees. Mat Gilbert is recalled to the back-row alongside Richard de Carpentier and 18-year-old Huw Taylor as Warriors hunt an 18th straight victory in all competitions.
But their Welsh opponents have also been in good form having won 12 straight games in the Principalicity Premiership and head coach Carl Hogg admitted his side would face a challenge to reach the last four.
“We’re very respectful of Pontypridd who came through their pool stages very successfully and we’ll need to be on the money to get the result,” he said.
“We’ll use the group who have done really well throughout as they’ve got outstanding endeavour and showed great character to come out on top of every contest so far.
“It’s only fair that they get an opportunity to play in a quarter-final.
“We’ve got off to great starts in our last two games where we’ve put teams to the sword and we will need to do the same again this Saturday.”
Warriors’ side to face Pontypridd: Howard, Stephenson, Fatiaki, Symons, Hammond, Mieres, Mulchrone (C), Bower, Annett, Rees, Percival, Sanderson, Taylor, Gilbert, De Carpentier
Replacements: Sowrey, Fainga’anuku, Daniels, Kerry, Bruzulier, Stevens, Humphreys
Caption: Scrum half Charlie Mulchrone has been given the captaincy. Picture by Andy Baldwin.