Preseason matches

[TRF_Draggs]

Cardiff Bloos team for Bath:

15. Leigh Halfpenny 14. Alex Cuthbert 13. Cory Allen 12. Rhys Patchell 11. Harry Robinson 10. Jason Tovey 9. Lloyd Williams

8. Andries Pretorius 7. Sam Warburton 6. Rory Watts-Jones 5. Lou Reed 4. Bradley Davies 3. Taufa'ao Filise 2. Andi Kyriacou 1. Nathan Trevett

Substitutes:
Dan Fish, Adam Thomas, Gareth Davies, Tom Williams, Lewis Jones, Luke Hamilton, Thomas Young, Josh Navidi, Robin Copeland, Macauley Cook, Scott Andrews, Rhys Williams, Tom Davies

Very nearly the XV for the first few months of the season. Probably first choice back three and halfbacks. Back row is missing Paterson (through injury?) and the tight five is anybody's guess.

Bath squad:

15. Nick Abendanon; 14. Tom Biggs, 13. Dan Hipkiss, 12. Matt Banahan, 11. Kyle Eastmond; 10. Olly Barkley, 9. Michael Claassens; 1. Paul James, 2. Lee Mears, 3. David Wilson, 4. Stuart Hooper ( c ), 5. Dominic Day, 6. Carl Fearns, 7. Francois Louw, 8. Ben Skirving

Replacements

16. Ross Batty, 17. Nathan Catt, 18. Kane Palma-Newport, 19. Dave Attwood, 20. Will Skuse, 21. Chris Cook, 22. Ollie Devoto, 23. Olly Woodburn, 24. Jack Cuthbert

I'll leave it to a Bath fan to comment on this squad.

[big ginger 8]

Leinster and Sale teams.

SALE SHARKS:
15: Rob Miller
14: Charlie Amesbury
13: Corne Uys
12: Johnny Leota
11: Mark Cueto
10: Danny Cipriani
9: Dwayne Peel
1: Eifion Lewis-Roberts
2: Marc Jones
3: Vadim Cobilas
4: Fraser McKenzie
5: Richie Gray
6: Mark Easter
7: David Seymour CAPTAIN
8: Andy Powell

REPLACEMENTS: Joe Ward, Tony Buckley, Aston Croall, Kearnan Myall, Richie Vernon, Tom Holmes, Will Cliff, Nick Macleod, Sam Tuitupou, Will Addison, Charlie Ingall


LEINSTER:
15: Isa Nacewa
14: Andrew Conway
13: Brendan Macken
12: Noel Reid
11: Fionn Carr
10: Ian Madigan
9: Isaac Boss CAPTAIN
1: Heinke van der Merwe
2: Richardt Strauss
3: Jamie Hagan
4: Tom Denton
5: Devin Toner
6: Dominic Ryan
7: Jordi Murphy
8: Leo Auva'a


REPLACEMENTS:
16: Aaron Dundon
17: Jack McGrath
18: Martin Moore
19: Leo Cullen
20: Ben Marshall
21: John Cooney
22: Collie O'Shea
23: Jordan Coghlan
24: Darren Hudson
25: Jack O'Connell

Is this Buckley's first match against Irish opposition since leaving. I'll let Olyy comment but from my limited knowledge of Sale that looks pretty close to their strongest team. Ours is fairly strong but still missing the internationals of course should be interesting.

[Feicarsinn]

That's essentially the Rabo team from last year. I'd expect us to be competitive at the very least. Also interested in how Hagan goes. He's in much better shape this year by all accounts so he could be up for a stellar second season ala Mike Ross and Stan Wright.

[TRF_Olyy]

Yeah, believe it is.
Apparently he had a great game vs Glasgow (though it was their u8s, pretty much ) so who knows what wonders they've worked on him in pre-season. Glad to see Cobilas getting the start ahead of him though Shame Henry Thomas isn't involved, presume this means his knee's not right yet.

That's round abouts our first XV for the season though (could argue Ward vs Jones, Buckley will probably start at 3, Brady for Amesbury and Addison or Tuitupou for Uys), so hopefully we can get a win - especially as it's the first game at Barton.
Shame that Willis is being rested, bet he'd have loved to have a run out against Leinster, but he played the last two so makes sense to get Will Cliff involved.

Gutted I can't go, especially as I've got my season ticket sitting on my desk.

[Teh Mite]

Saints 35-22 Moseley



Or, Mosely can score at FG so are better then Leinster.





Here, fishy fishy fish fish...

[Feicarsinn]

[Teh Mite]

Caught me a whopper.

[TRF_Olyy]

10 - 10 at FT for Sale/Leinster.
Tries from Conway and Miller, penalties from Reid and Cipriani.

Sounds like I didn't miss much, apart from getting soaked.

[Teh Mite]

Edinburgh 3 vs 1-hundred-Billion Saints


Or, Edinburgh have a worse defence but better attack then Leinster. And a worse both them Moseley.

[Amiga500]

Ulster 24 - Newcastle 20

So-so game - Ulster finished with 13 men and Newcastle scored a try (not converted) to bring them right back into it with a couple of minutes to go.

From an Ulster perspective, I thought both Paddy Jackson and Niall O'Connor had d'oh moments when on - not putting penalties into touch and telegraphing passes...

T'was good result from a largely second string outfit. Big Nick Williams scored a couple of tries carrying 2 or 3 men over the line from a few yard out and Jared Payne had a nice wee grubber and chase for a try in the Memorial corner.

Scrum looked solid, won a couple of penalties, Chris Farrell could be looking at a big year, definitely for Ulster and maybe even Ireland (Keith Earls, you might be better off going to the wing - you ain't gonna be the man replacing BOD).


Aside from that, the £5.50 a burger is too dear - and having a burger van that won't (can't?) sell chips and a chip van that won't (can't?) sell burgers is a bit of a farce. If thats stipulated in contracts, its a little too commercially minded for me.