Premiership Rugby 24/25 - Round 1

[Which Tyler]

First match of the season is a re-run of the last match of last season.
Being a Friday match, I expected a team's up a couple of hours ago - presumably it's 48 hours, not lunchtime 2 days in advance.

Ref: Luke Pearce
TJs: Dan Jones & Jamie Leahy
TMO: Tom Foley

Bath's Preview
Saints' Preview

 

[TRF_Olyy]

​

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Really looking forward to this starting - and my annoyance at another pointless clash is only slightly hindering that (do three on Saturday or two on Sunday, not two on Friday!)
Lot of very good games in there, not beyond the realms of possibility that it's all away wins

Most interested in what Saints and Tigers look like after their off season changes

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

Guessing from the coms and what not saints are going to bench Mitchell and Freeman and Coles. So much for England players being available all season.

Also have a massive injury list at lock and centre so could be a very patch work saints side or players playing against Bath with zero minutes.

 

[Rinkadink]

Falcons seemed to do okay in preseason, I don't think they'll go lossless this season. As a Bristol fan I would like to see our form the tail end of the previous season transferred to this and sustained throughout, but I also know how much Falcons like to throw spanners in our works over the years so I'm not confident. Taking all emotion out of it Bristol should be looking to get a win at absolute minimum if looking to take the ***le at the end of the season.

Elsewhere on the table it will be fascinating to see how Exeter perform and Sale v Quins is a tasty proposition. A number of media predictions I've read put Sarries outside of the top four which I do not agree with and as much as I love Glaws I can't see them winning this one.

 

[Which Tyler]

BATH RUGBY vs NORTHAMPTON SAINTS
Gallagher Premiership, Round 1
Friday 20 September, 2024
Recreation Ground
Kick-off: 7.45pm

Ref: Luke Pearce
TJs: Dan Jones & Jamie Leahy
TMO: Tom Foley

Bath Rugby:
1 Beno Obano
2 Tom Dunn
3 Will Stuart
4 Quinn Roux
5 Charlie Ewels
6 Ted Hill
7 Miles Reid
8 Alfie Barbeary

09 Ben Spencer ©
10 Finn Russell
11 Will Muir
12 Will Butt
13 Ollie Lawrence
14 Joe Cokanasiga
15 Tom de Glanville

16 Niall Annett, 17 Francois van Wyk (debut), 18 Archie Griffin, 19 Jacques du Plessis, 20 Guy Pepper
21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Orlando Bailey, 23 Jaco Coetzee


Northampton:
1 Emmanuel Iyogun
2 Curtis Langdon
3 Trevor Davison
4 Angus Scott-Young
5 Chunya Munga
6 Josh Kemeny
7 Tom Pearson
8 Sam Graham

09 Tom James
10 Fin Smith
11 Ollie Sleightholme
12 Rory Hutchinson
13 Fraser Dingwall
14 James Ramm
15 George Furbank (c)

16 Robbie Smith, 17 Tom West, 18 Luke Green, 19 Callum Hunter-Hill, 20 Juarno Augustus
21 Archie McParland, 22 Toby Thame, 23 Tommy Freeman

 

[Geordie]

Newcastle Falcons v Bristol Bears (Friday, Kingston Park, 7.45pm)

15 Elliott Obatoyinbo,
14 Adam Radwan,
13 Connor Doherty,
12 Sammy Arnold,
11 Ben Stevenson,
10 Brett Connon,
9 Sam Stuart;

1 Adam Brocklebank,
2 Jamie Blamire,
3 Richard Palframan,
4 John Hawkins,
5 Kiran McDonald,
6 Philip van der Walt,
7 Tom Gordon,
8 Callum Chick (captain).

Replacements: 16 Ollie Fletcher, 17 Luan de Bruin, 18 Murray McCallum, 19 Freddie Lockwood, 20 Adam Scott, 21 Joe Davis, 22 Louis Brown, 23 Ben Redshaw.

Not available for selection: Eduardo Bello, Tim Cardall, Sebastian de Chaves, Alex Hearle, Cameron Neild, Pedro Rubiolo, Kieran Wilkinson.

Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe.

 

[Geordie]

Bristol
15 Malins
14 Naulago
13 Van Rensburg
12 Williams
11 Ibitoye
10 Macguinty
9 Randall

1 Genge
2 Thacker
3 Lahiff
4 Dun
5 Batley
6 Luatua
7 Heenan
8 Harding (c)

16 Oghre, 17 Woolmore, 18 Kloska, 19 Caulfield, 20, B. Grondona, 21 Marmion, 22 Jenkins, 23 Lane

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

BATH RUGBY vs NORTHAMPTON SAINTS
Gallagher Premiership, Round 1
Friday 20 September, 2024
Recreation Ground
Kick-off: 7.45pm

Ref: Luke Pearce
TJs: Dan Jones & Jamie Leahy
TMO: Tom Foley

Bath Rugby:
1 Beno Obano
2 Tom Dunn
3 Will Stuart
4 Quinn Roux
5 Charlie Ewels
6 Ted Hill
7 Miles Reid
8 Alfie Barbeary

09 Ben Spencer ©
10 Finn Russell
11 Will Muir
12 Will Butt
13 Ollie Lawrence
14 Joe Cokanasiga
15 Tom de Glanville

16 Niall Annett, 17 Francois van Wyk (debut), 18 Archie Griffin, 19 Jacques du Plessis, 20 Guy Pepper
21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Orlando Bailey, 23 Jaco Coetzee


Northampton:
1 Emmanuel Iyogun
2 Curtis Langdon
3 Trevor Davison
4 Angus Scott-Young
5 Chunya Munga
6 Josh Kemeny
7 Tom Pearson
8 Sam Graham

09 Tom James
10 Fin Smith
11 Ollie Sleightholme
12 Rory Hutchinson
13 Fraser Dingwall
14 James Ramm
15 George Furbank (c)

16 Robbie Smith, 17 Tom West, 18 Luke Green, 19 Callum Hunter-Hill, 20 Juarno Augustus
21 Archie McParland, 22 Toby Thame, 23 Tommy Freeman

I only see a Bath win here. We have loads of players missing, it's a shame we won't get to see a full strength team.

 

[Scotty]

BATH RUGBY vs NORTHAMPTON SAINTS
Gallagher Premiership, Round 1
Friday 20 September, 2024
Recreation Ground
Kick-off: 7.45pm

Ref: Luke Pearce
TJs: Dan Jones & Jamie Leahy
TMO: Tom Foley

Bath Rugby:
1 Beno Obano
2 Tom Dunn
3 Will Stuart
4 Quinn Roux
5 Charlie Ewels
6 Ted Hill
7 Miles Reid
8 Alfie Barbeary

09 Ben Spencer ©
10 Finn Russell
11 Will Muir
12 Will Butt
13 Ollie Lawrence
14 Joe Cokanasiga
15 Tom de Glanville

16 Niall Annett, 17 Francois van Wyk (debut), 18 Archie Griffin, 19 Jacques du Plessis, 20 Guy Pepper
21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Orlando Bailey, 23 Jaco Coetzee


Northampton:
1 Emmanuel Iyogun
2 Curtis Langdon
3 Trevor Davison
4 Angus Scott-Young
5 Chunya Munga
6 Josh Kemeny
7 Tom Pearson
8 Sam Graham

09 Tom James
10 Fin Smith
11 Ollie Sleightholme
12 Rory Hutchinson
13 Fraser Dingwall
14 James Ramm
15 George Furbank (c)

16 Robbie Smith, 17 Tom West, 18 Luke Green, 19 Callum Hunter-Hill, 20 Juarno Augustus
21 Archie McParland, 22 Toby Thame, 23 Tommy Freeman

Bristol
15 Malins
14 Naulago
13 Van Rensburg
12 Williams
11 Ibitoye
10 Macguinty
9 Randall

1 Genge
2 Thacker
3 Lahiff
4 Dun
5 Batley
6 Luatua
7 Heenan
8 Harding (c)

16 Oghre, 17 Woolmore, 18 Kloska, 19 Caulfield, 20, B. Grondona, 21 Marmion, 22 Jenkins, 23 Lane

That Saints pack may struggle vs an experienced Bath pack, whilst a decent bacline if they lose upfront it will be a hard day at the office for Saints.

Also can't see anything other than a good Bristol win. It's a good team.

 

[Geordie]

I expect Bristol should win, but if we can build on some of the good aspects from the Sale friendly then we'll be going in the right direction and thats all the Falcons fans can ask for.

 

[AngloScotsHybrid]

Danny Care is the 4th highest try scorer in premiership rugby history. Nobody would have guessed that.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

21 seasons will do it, I guess!

Be interesting to see how Wade gets on - looked nailed on for the top spot before he went to the NFL. 19 behind atm, probably got 2-3 seasons left to do it in. Likely out of reach but could move up a couple of spots, he was still scoring a few tries out in France

 

[Scotty]

21 seasons will do it, I guess!

Be interesting to see how Wade gets on - looked nailed on for the top spot before he went to the NFL. 19 behind atm, probably got 2-3 seasons left to do it in. Likely out of reach but could move up a couple of spots, he was still scoring a few tries out in France

Doubt out of reach, if it doesn't happen this season, he's a cut price finisher made to make an Impact from the bench, given how long he goes he will almost certainly get it.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Doubt out of reach, if it doesn't happen this season, he's a cut price finisher made to make an Impact from the bench, given how long he goes he will almost certainly get it.

You think he gets 19 this season? He got 3 last season, 5 the one before
His career best is 17, and that was with a 12 team league

Last year's top tryscorer was 14, year before 15

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

You think he gets 19 this season? He got 3 last season, 5 the one before
His career best is 17, and that was with a 12 team league

Last year's top tryscorer was 14, year before 15

Yeah but this year he's playing for Gloucester and they score trys for fun!

Playing for Gloucester = scoring trys and a guaranteed England call up

 

[BPM]

Doubt out of reach, if it doesn't happen this season, he's a cut price finisher made to make an Impact from the bench, given how long he goes he will almost certainly get it.

I think it probably is out of reach TBH. LRZ (at the point he left for NFL) was a better player than today's version of Wade and he wasn't getting in to double figures in a better Gloucester side.

Skivington has also said they plan to revert to their forwards based gameplan (they had a very good maul in 2022/23).

I'd say Wade will be similar to Radwan at Falcons. Scores some worldies and feeds of the scraps to get 6 or 7 a season.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

Yeah but this year he's playing for Gloucester and they score trys for fun!

Playing for Gloucester = scoring trys and a guaranteed England call up

There's a long, slightly tedious, article in the Times about all the stats behind a reimagining of Gloucester's attacking game.

Last year apparently only Newcastle (no kidding) and Sale (sorry, Olyy) had less efficient attacks.

But it's OK as their new game plan is data led, not data driven. Phew.

And in ground breaking developments they've also realised that players' endurance has to improve for a more expansive game. Who'd have thunk it?

All sounds fine on paper. Let's see what it looks like on synthetic grass.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

Livingston has also said they plan to revert to their forwards based gameplan (they had a very good maul in 2022/23).

Not quite what I've just been reading. They want a wider attacking game while not abandoning those traditional forward strengths. I'm sure that behind the scenes the coaches are all joined up.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Sale (sorry, Olyy) had less efficient attacks.

Our attack was absolutely scocking last season, tbf - mental we made the playoffs when you look at our tries scored compared to the teams around us