TEAM NEWS: 34 NAMED IN OPENING-DAY SQUADS

DIRECTOR of Rugby Seb Reynolds has named 34 players for tomorrow’s opening pre-season game against visitors Clifton (3pm).

Summer scrum-half signing Matt Wickham skippers the first-half Blues, while the front row features fellow newbies JJ Wozniak and Sam Stirling.

Harry Bicknell is hooker.

Paddy Jackson and Havant recruit Will Saunders are in the engine room, with Ollie Stirling at blind-side flanker.

Mikey Duda is on the other side of the back row as ex-Bath Academy man Darren Bold completes the pack.

Loughborough University leaver Wickham is joined by fly-half Ross McKay as they look to get the three-quarters flowing.

Isaac Tokura and Theo Pett-Ridge are in midfield, with Berkshire Under 20s speedster David Ajisafe on the left wing.

Bath Uni graduate Oli Sedgwick starts on the right, with the starting line-up completed at full back by last season’s top point-scorer, Mike Cooke.

Legendary props Ant Marris and James Baker are ready to go from the bench, while Seb Burgess and two-time league-winning Colts’ captain Aaron Preston are the other forwards cover.

One of their teammates, Paddy Brown, will look to make an impact at centre, with Epsom College newbie Arthur Garfield covering scrum-half.

Canada Sevens wing Henry Kirwan and full back Connor Burns, another new signing from Miami Sharks, complete the 23-man squad.

Bicknell skippers second-half side

Pete Austin is hooker in a completely different Reds XV for the second half, Marris and Ryan Lomas alongside the Army ace.

The second Clifton summer recruit, Shay Sainsbury, is partnered by Ollie Agar behind them.

And another new face, German international Johnny Ireland, joins Aaron Tull and captain Willo Bicknell in the back row.

Ed Hoadley starts at No. 9 with Darren Atkins outside him.

Continuity from last term is found in the centres where Welsh pair Morgan MacRae and Ellis Jones line-up, Zach Clow on the right wing.

Kirwan starts on the other flank with Burns rounding out the Reds.

Wozniak and Baker are the front-row cover with Jackson, Burgess and Ollie Stirling the other forwards on the bench.

And four more backs could be set for more action in the form of Garfield, Cooke, Pett-Ridge and Sedgwick.

Entry and parking for tomorrow’s game are free with gates open from 12.45pm. Food and drink is on sale.

Rams Blues

(15-9, 1-8) Cooke, Sedgwick, Pett-Ridge, Tokura, Ajisafe, McKay, Wickham ©; Wozniak*, H Bicknell*, S Stirling*, Jackson, Saunders, O Stirling, Duda, Bold

Replacements: Baker*, Marris*, Burgess, Preston, Kirwan, Burns, Brown, Garfield

Rams Reds

(15-9, 1-8) Burns, Clow, Jones, MacRae, Kirwan, Atkins, Hoadley; Marris*, Austin ©*, Lomas*, Sainsbury, Agar, Tull, Ireland, W Bicknell

Replacements: Wozniak*, Baker*, Jackson, Burgess, O Stirling, Pett-Ridge, Sedgwick, Garfield, Cooke