Premiership Rugby 19/20 - Rd 21

[Ragey Erasmus]

Erm i think they've just turned up!...

Nah but Decent comback

Well wtf do I know? This bloke Watson has been decent for his first game at 15.

 

[BPM]

An excellent comeback. When Banahan scored, I thought it was game over for Bath but clearly they had other ideas!

 

[Scotty]

Bath BP win! One step closer to my prediction all 2nd to 5th all finishing on 69 points.

 

[Which Tyler]

I'm a bit happier now.

On the downside, my dog is seeing off imaginary home invaders, and I'm going to have to wash the sofa's throw

 

[Scotty]

Is it just me or is it wierd thinking for the rest of this round we have almost a week to wait...

 

[FLOBALOB]

Is it just me or is it wierd thinking for the rest of this round we have almost a week to wait...

Nothing much seems weird to me anymore.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

Well wtf do I know? This bloke Watson has been decent for his first game at 15.

Shows promise....

Underhill had some great moments both defensively and ball in hand. Spencer did well again and it was great to see Coka back - he put Spencer away very nicely for the final try.

 

[Which Tyler]

Right, this is how I saw the game (complete with Bath bias), now I've had a chance to calm down a bit. For me, it's a lesson in the importance of momentum, and capitalising when it's with you.

The first 10 minutes or so were all Bath; with a penalty on 9 minutes completely against the run of play.
We were confident, and playing reasonably well, kicking to the corner when we Glos were penalised. Glos only really had their hands on the ball for long enough to box kick before we applied pressure again. Plenty of pressure, but nothing much to show for it on the score board – but that's okay, it's the opening salvos, we're just waiting for it to click.

Minutes 10-20 and Glos played better, but we were still on top in terms of general play – then Harris scores his try, off first phase ball, in one of their few forays into our half. IIRC his try was the first time a Gloucester hand was on the ball inside our 22. IMO – that try was made by Twelvetrees – who sat Matavesi onto his heels, causing a slight disconnect between our centres, and then popped the ball to Evans who exploits that disconnect as Josh has been robbed of his momentum. Right off the training paddock.

From there, there was a definite swing in momentum. Glos confidence went up through the roof as they'd actually earned and achieved something. We looked back on 20 minutes of playing reasonably, but complacently; and saw ourselves 0-10 down on the score board. Our heads dropped, theirs came up. We started to kick more, choosing to go for the posts rather than corner, and trying to turn Banahan in the backfield, but generally finding May or Thorley.
Glos had the momentum for half an hour, but were never truly on top in terms of the play on the pitch – but we were ever more disheartened by the score board.

At 56 minutes, Polledri bursts through on a really intelligent line (that still should have been covered), before some beautiful hands from Harris puts Banahan over. Glos have had about 35 minutes of momentum; they've made hard work of it, never really building pressure, but have put some points on the board. Momentum is with Glos; we're not playing badly, we're just flat, frustrated… imprecise.
Hooper had noted in his mid-match interview that Bath were good in the first and final thirds of the pitch, but had more work to do in the middle third. Commentary team early on has mentioned that Glos are good at scoring long distance tries, but not really in the red zone. Astute.

A couple minutes later, we do that Bath/Exeter thing that we were failing at before the lockdown, but are much better at now – catch and drive from 10-12 metres out. Initially Glos have it covered, but our forward momentum sucks in their blind-side defender; Heinz isn't paying attention (a SH? Appealing to the ref instead of watching the game? Never!); but Spencer and Dunn know exactly what's happened, and peel off to score down the blind side. Thanks Glos - that was perfectly gift-wrapped.

Momentum now swings our way. I don't think we're particularly doing anything different, but the additions of Redpath, Boyce and McNally have tightened up what we're doing – we're concentrating again, working harder, executing better. It's helped that Glos are starting to tire as well; quite possibly with a degree of complacency of their own after the Banahan try. I've not been paying much attention to them – have they been overplaying people over the last 6 weeks?

From there, there's no looking back for Bath – we've swung the momentum, and we're keeping it. Johnny is lucky to stay on the pitch with that trailing leg, but gifts us territory to do what we do. It's still Plan A, we're just doing it better than we had been (and Glos hadn't been letting us in their 22 since earning some confidence).
At 17-20, we're right back in this, and momentum has put our foot on Glos' throat. That belief and trust in our systems, and in each other, that assurance that it's not over until it's over - Never In Doubt – we're building that nicely, not finished, but the foundations are looking strong.

Watson and Underhill make some ground up the field; and we're back to the Bath/Exeter phase play within 5m of the line – complete with lots and lots of illegal-but-never-penalised pre-binding. We know what we're doing, we're comfortable with it now (unlike 12 months ago); and we'll d it as many times as we need to to get across the whitewash. We do fluff our lines a couple of times, but react quickly and assuredly enough not to matter. Eventually it's Boyce dotting it down; and suddenly, we've taken the lead and are chasing a TBP.

Poor restart from Bath, leading to a scrappy exchange of box kicks until Banahan puts the ball down Rhys' throat. Rhys looks to kick to the corner, but sees a bunch of tired Gloucester players there, gives it to Ant who takes the ball left instead. McNally, Coka and Spencer combine brilliantly for the TBP.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Weird.

11-15 is four centres and a fullback (with the fullback on the wing)

 

[EdBirch]

Weird.

11-15 is four centres and a fullback (with the fullback on the wing)

Very strange, are they looking for versatility?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

No idea,
If we want to make the playoffs we need to be going all out the next two games - I could understand benching Yarde because his form has been iffy, but Denny has been decent enough.
With McGuigan injured I could then understand moving Hammersley to wing (our only other options are largely untested academy players - up against someone like Naiyaravoro) - Hammersley is also good under the high ball and Biggar is a great kicker,
But Rohan on the wing? I mean it covers for his dodgy hands, but......yeah, I don't get it

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

No idea,
If we want to make the playoffs we need to be going all out the next two games - I could understand benching Yarde because his form has been iffy, but Denny has been decent enough.
With McGuigan injured I could then understand moving Hammersley to wing (our only other options are largely untested academy players - up against someone like Naiyaravoro) - Hammersley is also good under the high ball and Biggar is a great kicker,
But Rohan on the wing? I mean it covers for his dodgy hands, but......yeah, I don't get it

He did play a reasonable amount of rugby there in his latter Lions years but I don't think he ever performed well there. I guess it's just a case of getting the best players on the pitch regardless of where they're playing. Clearly an idea Diamond likes since he's been playing JLDP at lock all season and puts Oosthuizen on whichever side of the scrum there's a gap that needs filling.

 

[Which Tyler]

Northampton Saints Vs Sale:
15 George Furbank, 14 Matt Proctor, 13 Fraser Dingwall, 12 Rory Hutchinson, 11 Ahsee Tuala, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Alex Mitchell
8 Shaun Adendorff, 7 Lewis Ludlam (c), 6 Courtney Lawes, 5 Api Ratuniyarawa, 4 David Ribbans, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Sam Matavesi, 1 Manny Iyogun
Replacements: 16 James Fish, 17 Alex Seville, 18 Ehren Painter, 19 Nick Isiekwe, 20 Teimana Harrison, 21 Jamie Gibson
22 Henry Taylor, 23 Taqele Naiyaravoro

 

[Which Tyler]

Tuesday., 7.45
15 Matteo Minozzi (15)
14 Zach Kibirige (22)
13 Malakai Fekitoa (20)
12 Jimmy Gopperth (102)
11 Josh Bassett (123)
10 Jacob Umaga (27)
9 Dan Robson (c) (120)
1 Ben Harris (63)
2 Tom Cruse (82)
3 Kieran Brookes (38)
4 Will Rowlands (90)
5 James Gaskell (117)
6 Brad Shields (31)
7 Jack Willis (59)
8 Tom Willis (18)

Replacements
16 Gabriel Oghre (25)
17 Tom West (30)
18 Jeff Toomaga-Allen (18)
19 Tim Cardall (17)
20 Alfie Barbeary (3)
21 Thomas Young (116)
22 Ben Vellacott (6)
23 Michael Le Bourgeois (33)



Harlequins starting XV:
1. Santiago Garcia Botta (22)
2. Scott Baldwin (18)
3. Wilco Louw (2)
4. Dino Lamb (32)
5. Glen Young (18)
6. Chris Robshaw (298) – Captain
7. Will Evans (19)
8. James Chisholm (96)

9. Scott Steele (6)
10. Marcus Smith (85)
11. Aaron Morris (51)
12. Andre Esterhuizen (4)
13. Joe Marchant (91)
14. Chris Ashton (5)
15. Mike Brown (333)

Game Changers:
16. Elia Elia (53)
17. Jordan Els (0)
18 .Simon Kerrod (26)
19. Tevita Cavubati (19)
20. Alex Dombrandt (50)
21. Danny Care (281)
22. Brett Herron (14)
23. James Lang (66)

 

[BPM]

Quins vs. Wasps is tonight, not Tuesday ...

Robshaw's 299th game and last at the (sadly empty) Stoop.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Quins tighthead having a day to forget - scrum getting demolished and he's given 2? 3? penalties away from there too

 

[Not Mike Brown's Sock]

Dombrandt on fire!

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Dombrandt running lines centres would be proud of

 

[Not Mike Brown's Sock]

That's the umaga Smith debate put to bed surely?

 

[Not Mike Brown's Sock]

Hands on his hand. Word of the law that's not a red surely