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Preseason 24/25

Jesus we look terrible vs Connacht

Nayacalevu would've been yellow carded, maybe even red carded, twice if this wasn't a preseason - his tackle technique leaves a lot to be desired


Edit: better second half tbf, though not great - the lineout is looking like it's going to be a concern this season (as it was last)
 
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Jesus we look terrible vs Connacht

Nayacalevu would've been yellow carded, maybe even red carded, twice if this wasn't a preseason - his tackle technique leaves a lot to be desired


Edit: better second half tbf, though not great - the lineout is looking like it's going to be a concern this season (as it was last)

Anyone stand out from Connacht?
 
Anyone stand out from Connacht?
Honestly couldn't tell you a single name outside of Joyce and O'Connor tbh - but in general they went well as a team
Midfield was good as was the 10, though the 13 went off with a head injury so note sure how long he'll be out with that - lineout solid, scrums were messy across the board and the referee had no patience for resets so would just penalise at first collapse
Connacht will definitely feel happy with it, especially as I think the commentary (who were very good) were saying it was their first preseason game
 
Anyone see the games? Who looked like a good prospect? I've only seen the results and scorers.
Decent highlights on the Pirates' YouTube account

Some quality handling and coast to coast playing. 2/3 maul tries for Pirates.

Paul Brown-Bampoe is rapid and Will Rigg seemed to shine (albeit at his more comfortable Championship opposition)

Lots to be excited about but to be taken with the obvious fistful of salt.
 
Sale Sharks Men Starting XV:

15. Joe Carpenter, 14. Tom Roebuck, 13. Waisea Nayacelevu, 12. Rob du Preez 11. Tom O'Flaherty, 10. George Ford, 9. Gus Warr, 1. Bevan Rodd 2. Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3. Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 4. Ernst van Rhyn, 5. Hyron Andrews, 6. Tom Curry, 7. Ben Curry (c), 8. Jean-Luc du Preez

Replacements:

16. Ethan Caine, 17. Si McIntyre 18. James Harper, 19. Ben Bamber, 20. Tom Burrow, 21, Sam Dugdale, 22. Rouban Birch, 23. Raffi Quirke, 24. Tom Curtis, 25. Rekeiti Ma'asi-White, 26. Will Addison, 27. Arron Reed, 28. Luke James.


Wouldn't be surprised if that's our starting XV for rd.1
 
Ealing, Saturday 7 September
Is a double header weekend, with 1 squad away to Cardiff, Friday night.

For that one, we're sending

Bath Rugby:
1 Arthur Cordwell
2 Hame Faiva
3 Kieran Verden
4 Will Jeanes
5 Ewan Richards ©
6 Ethan Staddon
7 Thompson Cowan
8 Arthur Green

09 Tom Carr-Smith
10 Ciaran Donoghue
11 Tyler Offiah
12 James Short
13 Louie Hennessey
14 Luke Graham
15 Austin Emens

Replacements: Abdul-Khalik Akenzua Al-Kareem, Rory Crum, Ieuan Davies, Ioan Emanuel, James Linegar (U18), Max Pearce, Max Robson-Smith (guest), Ed Scragg (guest), Jasper Spandler, Mikey Summerfield, Connor Treacey, Jack Woods


Cardiff with
1. Domachowski
2. Belcher
3. Assiratti
4. McNally
5. Williams
6. Botham
7. Thomas
8. Martin

09. Davies
10. De Beer
11. Stephens
12. Grady
13. Hillard
14. Hamer-Webb
15. Winnett

Bench: Hughes, Byrne, Litterick, Thornton, Donnell, Mulder, Sheedy. Bowen, Lawrence, Emmanuel, Lee-Lo, Young


Given the number of ex-Bath players at Cardiff, I'd have preferred to keep our current Welsh youngsters hidden from sight
 
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Sale Sharks v Newcastle Falcons (Saturday, 7pm, Heywood Road)

15 Louis Brown, 14 Jack Metcalf, 13 Oli Spencer, 12 Cameron Hutchison, 11 Alex Hearle, 10 Brett Connon (captain), 9 Sam Stuart; 1 Luan de Bruin, 2 Ollie Fletcher, 3 Murray McCallum, 4 Adam Scott, 5 John Hawkins, 6 Marcus Tiffen, 7 Josh Bainbridge, 8 Freddie Lockwood.

Replacements: 15 Elliott Obatoyinbo, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Connor Doherty, 12 Sammy Arnold, 11 Ben Stevenson, 10 Kieran Wilkinson, 9 James Elliott; 1 Adam Brocklebank, 2 Jamie Blamire, 3 Richard Palframan, 4 John Kelly, 5 Kiran McDonald, 6 Cameron Neild, 7 Tom Gordon, 8 Callum Chick (captain), 16 Bryan Byrne, 17 Mike Rewcastle, 18 Philip van der Walt, 21 Hugh O'Sullivan, 22 Max Pepper, 23 Ollie Leatherbarrow, [blank shirt] Joe Davis.

Referee: Michael Hudson.
 
IMG_5494.jpegTeam for Leinster, only thing of note is Va'Enuku who is a rugby league player on trial. Will be interesting to see if he gets on and how he does.
 
Is a double header weekend, with 1 squad hosting Ealing on Saturday.
For that one, we're putting out

Bath Rugby:
1 Francois van Wyk
2 Tom Dunn
3 Archie Griffin
4 Quinn Roux
5 Charlie Ewels
6 Josh Bayliss
7 Guy Pepper
8 Jaco Coetzee

09 Louis Schreuder
10 Orlando Bailey
11 Ruaridh McConnochie
12 Will Butt
13 Max Ojomoh
14 Joe Cokanasiga
15 Tom de Glanville

Replacements: Niall Annett, Ieuan Davies, Jacques du Plessis, Austin Emens, Louie Hennessey, Ted Hill, Ross Molony, Miles Reid, Billy Sela, Archie Stanley, Kepu Tuipulotu, Jack Woods

A few bench players named in both squads
 
15. Andrew Osborne (2)
14. Tommy O'Brien (35)
13. Liam Turner (29)
12. Charlie Tector (8)
11. Rob Russell (32)
10. Ross Byrne (162)
9. Luke McGrath (212)
1. Jack Boyle (11)
2. Gus McCarthy (1)
3. Thomas Clarkson (41)
4. Brian Deeny (22)
5. Conor O'Tighearnaigh (4)
6. Max Deegan (113)
7. Scott Penny (72)
8. Jack Conan (148) CAPTAIN

Replacements from:
John McKee (27)
Lee Barron (16)
Michael Milne (41)
Rabah Slimani (0)
Rory McGuire (3)
Alan Spicer (0)
Alex Soroka (9)
James Culhane (8)
Will Connors (49)
Cormac Foley (20)
Fintan Gunne (3)
Sam Prendergast (18)
Harry Byrne (68)
Hugh Cooney (0)
Henry McErlean (3)
Aitzol King (1)

Our serious lack of depth at lock is concerning.
 
Screenshot_20240906_153220_Facebook.jpg

Ben hammersly at 13 again and Wimbush at 12 seems odd, hopfully brown-bampoe goes well but not actually seen him play apart from highlight fro. The double header.

Still quite a few missing, still good team
 
Munster: Mike Haley; Liam Coombes, Shane Daly, Seán O'Brien, Thaakir Abrahams; Billy Burns, Jack Oliver; Josh Wycherley, Niall Scannell, Stephen Archer; Gavin Coombes, Fineen Wycherley; Ruadhán Quinn, Alex Kendellen, Jack O'Donoghue (C).

Replacements from: Diarmuid Barron, Scott Buckley, Eoghan Clarke, Jeremy Loughman, John Ryan, Ronan Foxe, Conor Ryan, Jack Daly, Seán Edogbo, Luca Cleary, Tony Butler, Tom Farrell, Bryan Fitzgerald, Gordon Wood, Patrick Campbell.

To the keen eyed, that's Keith Wood's son on the bench. Third generation to play for Munster and the previous two were Lions so..... no pressure. Expect him to walk into the academy next year.

Debuts for Abrahams and Edogbo the younger as well. Oliver getting his first start.

Only saw dribs and drabs, but the overall review of last week seems to be positive largely.
 
View attachment 21302Team for Leinster, only thing of note is Va'Enuku who is a rugby league player on trial. Will be interesting to see if he gets on and how he does.
Theres quite an array of talented young players in that lineup. Saints academy / development team seem to be getting it right!
Im not sure you'll miss Ludlum as much as people think, or Moon, but Lawes is irreplaceable.
 
Chiefs seem to be playing well vs Ospreys(according to Devon live) but throwing away quite a few chances through bad final passes or spilling the ball in contact in slippery conditions.
 
Chiefs seem to be playing well vs Ospreys(according to Devon live) but throwing away quite a few chances through bad final passes or spilling the ball in contact in slippery conditions.
Winning 10 - 7 at 79 min, Ospreys knock on. Ball comes out the back of the scrum some how and ospreys scoop it up and win... come on Chiefs...be better.
 
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