Premiership 24/25 - Round 15

[TRF_Olyy]

​

 

[The Seeker]

Gloucester over Exeter

 

[IT157]

Gloucester over Exeter

View attachment 23378

Lets hope so!

Would be great if Gloucester made it in the playoffs.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Sale Sharks Starting XV:
15. Joe Carpenter, 14. Tom Roebuck, 13. Rob du Preez (c), 12. Rekeiti Ma'asi-White, 11. Arron Reed, 10. George Ford 9. Gus Warr, 1. Bevan Rodd, 2. Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3. Asher Opoku-Fordjour 4. Ben Bamber, 5. Hyron Andrews, 6. Ernst van Rhyn, 7. Tom Curry, 8. JL du Preez.

Replacements:
16. Tadgh McElroy, 17. Si McIntyre, 18. WillGriff John, 19. Josh Beaumont, 20. Dan du Preez, 21. Sam Dugdale, 22. Raffi Quirke, 23. Tom O'Flaherty.

Not a bad side - Jonny Hill out from a failed HIA last week, Ben Curry out with a weird injury where he's taken a knock directly over a metal plate(?) he has in his leg, the muscle has swollen and is now rubbing on the plate. No risk of real damage or anything, just very painful until the swelling goes down - apparently the surgeon said he's never seen anything like it before.

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

Snip

Who'll move into the centres if one goes down? Roebuck?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Who'll move into the centres if one goes down? Roebuck?

Yeah, can't remember which game it was but he played like 30mins there this season after a 6:2 went wrong

 

[Jimbo]

Feels like Sale vs Sarries is almost a must win for Sale especially, they have a tough run in with Sarries having Newcastle where you'd expect a BP win, are Bath likely to rest players in their final games of pre playoffs or try and continue their momentum?

 

[Ddanno]

Feels like Sale vs Sarries is almost a must win for Sale especially, they have a tough run in with Sarries having Newcastle where you'd expect a BP win, are Bath likely to rest players in their final games of pre playoffs or try and continue their momentum?

Bath are more or less done, I doubt they care about 2 Sale games, they'll win one of their four and that's all they need.

 

[Jimbo]

Bath are more or less done, I doubt they care about 2 Sale games, they'll win one of their four and that's all they need.

my point was more that Sarries final game of the regular season is against Bath, if Bath were to rest heavily and not worry it could make Sales run in even more difficult.

 

[Which Tyler]

For Bath, it's going to be a difficult balancing act between challenging on two fronts, juggling fitness against form and confidence.

A nice problem, but a problem nonetheless.

 

[Ddanno]

my point was more that Sarries final game of the regular season is against Bath, if Bath were to rest heavily and not worry it could make Sales run in even more difficult.

Oh gotcha, well said

 

[Ddanno]

For Bath, it's going to be a difficult balancing act between challenging on two fronts, juggling fitness against form and confidence.

A nice problem, but a problem nonetheless.

Surely have to prioritise the Prem

 

[Which Tyler]

Surely have to prioritise the Prem

If we were "in the hunt" for a SF, then yes.
We should (NB: "should" not "will") secure a home SF this weekend - 5 points from Newcastle at home, and we're uncatchable for 1st place with 3 Prem matches to go. Even if we lose to Newcastle, I think we're already guaranteed a SF of some description.
We're also 1 match away from a European final.

Reaching the European final adds 1 match to our schedule; but we ought to have 3 Prem matches where we can rotate to our heart's content.
Lose the Euro SF, and we've a nice little week off in there to rest up, which makes the balancing act easier; rest away, go hard at home, maybe start the usual benchers in the last round.

The sensible thing to maximise chances in the Prem would be to send the 2nd XV to Edinburgh, and just see how they do; and concentrate on the Prem.
But opportunities in Europe don't come along all that often, and if you find yourself in a SF there, you've kinda got to go for it.


ETA: Also worth noting that injuries are just starting to mount up a bit in the back 5.
Muir, Coka, Harris (and Bailey) all out of the back 3 (and Grace departed)
Lawrence and Ojomoh in the centres, whilst Redpath seems to be held together by K-tape at the moment
Not emergency stations, but something to take account of in terms of managing these last 7 weeks. 1 more injury here though, and we'll be dipping into the academy.

Russell (25) and Stuart (24) are both on course to exceed their 30 matches before the end of the season, let alone summer, which is less than ideal.
I'm sure that England/Lions will get them exempted if they want to.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

 

[Which Tyler]

Sat; 3.00pm
Ref: Craig Maxwell-Keys
TJs: Joe James & Gareth Holsgrove
TMO: Peter Allan

Bath Rugby:
1 Francois van Wyk
2 Niall Annett
3 Will Stuart
4 Quinn Roux
5 Charlie Ewels ©
6 Ted Hill
7 Sam Underhill
8 Alfie Barbeary

09 Tom Carr-Smith
10 Ciaran Donoghue
11 Louie Hennessey
12 Will Butt
13 Cameron Redpath
14 Ruaridh McConnochie
15 Austin Emens

Wrecking Crew:
16 Tom Dunn, 17 Thomas du Toit, 18 Archie Griffin, 19 Josh Bayliss, 20, Guy Pepper, 23 Kepu Tuipulotu
21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Finn Russell

Newcastle Falcons:
15 Louis Brown
14 Alex Hearle
13 Connor Doherty
12 Max Clark
11 Ben Stevenson
10 Brett Connon
09 Sam Stuart

1 Adam Brocklebank
2 Jamie Blamire
3 Richard Palframan
4 John Hawkins
5 Sebastian de Chaves
6 Freddie Lockwood
7 Cameron Neild
8 Callum Chick ©

Replacements:
16 Ollie Fletcher, 17 Micky Rewcastle, 18 Murray McCallum, 19 Oscar Usher, 20 Ollie Leatherbarrow
21 Max Pepper, 22 Oli Spencer, 23 Sammy Arnold


3 hookers
No DeGlanville is a surprise (hope he's not hurt)
Pity we can't give Finn a full rest, but it looks we've run out of backs

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

Kepu coming on at 8 has a very Barbeary 2.0 feel to it

 

[BPM]

These are excellent. JvP seems to have morphed into Shrek.

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

These are excellent. JvP seems to have morphed into Shrek.

Steward looks like he's about to bite into a suspiciously juicy tomato while acting as the ruling Steward of Gondor.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Steward looks like he's about to bite into a suspiciously juicy tomato while acting as the ruling Steward of Gondor.

Thought we had signed Underhill tbh

 

[BPM]

OHC's hair and nails are good too