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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 15/10/2019 09:50 by P G Tips.

Once again our thanks to Mr Frivolous in stepping in whilst PGT is on holiday.

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Officials

Ref: Ian Tempest
Asst Refs: Hamish Smales & Wayne Falla
TMO: Trevor Fisher

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Will be watching through fingers from sanctuary of behind the sofa. Expectations low, hope not much higher

Will be watching through fingers and toes from sanctuary of behind the garage. Expectations extremely low, hope already gone.

(Ok, not quite that bad just yet...but BIG improvement required)

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[Adoptee 19 / 20: The High ball and counter attack meister, Tom Homer]

Shouldn't we see the team before condemning them to a loss? We aren't playing an unbeatable opponent like Exeter.

Apologies - tongue in cheek (mostly).

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[Adoptee 19 / 20: The High ball and counter attack meister, Tom Homer]

Good to see Rhys has been working on his contact skills and unlike Freddie won't be dropping his ball over the line ...

After sitting through last week's unbelievably poor display I won't be wasting any time watching this week.

We've played 3 matches and conceded 10 tries already!! Given that Bath aren't bothering with defence the result seems to be a foregone conclusion.

Surely Hooper must realise that all good teams start with a solid defence?

[quote OutsideBath]After sitting through last week's unbelievably poor display I won't be wasting any time watching this week.

We've played 3 matches and conceded 10 tries already!! Given that Bath aren't bothering with defence the result seems to be a foregone conclusion.

Surely Hooper must realise that all good teams start with a solid defence?[/quote

Each to their own it is your choice to watch or not but please refrain from commenting on the game or the management of same if you can’t be bothered to watch.

Thank you Mr Frivolous for standing in and providing a fresh voice!

Agree re Roko & Levi.

COYB!

PG

I would like to see them go first choice ready for the Bristol game, play them for about 50 minutes and then start the changes.

So I personally would like to see Obano, Batty, Judge, Ewels, Stooke, Williams, Ellis, Mercer, Chudley, Priestland, Brew, Roberts, Willison, Rokoduguni, Homer.

Reps. Boyce, Stuart, Dunn, McNally, Bayliss, Wright, Cook, Burns.

TEAMS Up!

Bath team news

Bath Rugby: 15. George Worboys 14. Will Butt 13. Jackson Willison 12. Jamie Roberts 11. Gabriel Hamer-Webb 10. Alex Davies 9. Ollie Fox 1. Lucas Noguera 2. Ross Batty (c) 3. Will Stuart 4. Levi Douglas 5. Rhys Davies 6. Jack Davies 7. Tom Ellis 8. Nahum Merigan .

Replacements: 16. Jack Walker 17. Will Vaughan 18. Sam Nixon 19. Simone Elrick 20. Elliott Stooke 21. Josh McNally 22. Freddie Burns 23. Max Ojomoh

Well Awp Hoopadder has clearly gone with an exact opposite of your strategy.
Gonna be a bloodBath.

PECK

Crikey., some very young men in there.

I don't recognise too many of the Glos names either, mind you.

Tom Hudson; 14. Jake Morris, 13. Tom Seabrook, 12. Mark Atkinson, 11. Louis Rees-Zammit; 10. Lloyd Evans, 9. Charlie Chapman; 1. Alex Seville, 2. Henry Walker, 3. Ciaran Knight; 4. Harry Butler, 5. Simon Linsell (capt); 6. Jaco Kriel, 7. Josh Gray, 8. Freddie Clarke

Replacements:

Corné Fourie, 17. Val Rapava Ruskin, 18. Jamal Ford-Robinson, 19. Gerbrandt Grobler, 20. Aaron Hinkley, 21. Jack Clement, 22. Stephen Varney, 23. Charlie Sharples

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[Adoptee 19 / 20: The High ball and counter attack meister, Tom Homer]

I agree with awp24975 with his selection policy rather than what we have. Good luck team!

I'm sure we're going to be bottom of our Prem Cup pool anyway (after being bottom of our 7s pool, great start to the season), the club are right to put all their focus on a very tough opening match against Bristol, who'll easily start as favourites.

They have a very young team as well, so will be interesting to watch. I’ve seen a bit of Ciaran Knight and he is gonna be some player. Also if Jake Morris gets anywhere near as good a player as his old man was then they have one hell of a player on their books.

Bit odd to have no scrum half on the bench whatever the standard

Alex Davies plays 9 and 10. The 5 / 2 split is a risk though.

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[Adoptee 19 / 20: The High ball and counter attack meister, Tom Homer]

I suppose it makes sense I had forgotten that Davies can cover both positions, especially as Green is injured that leaves only Will C if recovered from head knock and Cook.

As a club we are light at both half back positions IMO.

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[Adoptee 19 / 20: The High ball and counter attack meister, Tom Homer]

We weren’t light in numbers at least at 9 until Max broke his arm.

Quote:

TG Kesmo
We weren’t light in numbers at least at 9 until Max broke his arm.

Yes that's what I mean - with TDG and MG injured for a while we basically have 2 of each at senior level with AD the cover for both positions, which seems light.

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[Adoptee 19 / 20: The High ball and counter attack meister, Tom Homer]

Looks to me that there has been an informal conversation between the respective coaches, and agreement to field similarly (in)experienced. teams....

Glos said a few days ago that theirs would be young I think. Are Ellis and Roko injured - they won't have had a minute of game time in 4 months by the time the Bris game comes along.

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[Adoptee 19 / 20: The High ball and counter attack meister, Tom Homer]

Ellis is in the starting lineup

Just testing...errr.

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[Adoptee 19 / 20: The High ball and counter attack meister, Tom Homer]

Don't worryI'm always having brainfarts! You're still right about Roko. maybe there's some agreement with the military.

Very young side. Good glos have done the same. Will also be good to see some more senior players get a proper run out before Bristol. Stuart and Ellis with some much needed game time coming off their injuries

“We would have loved for a bit more out of the Leicester game and we have been pretty hard on ourselves.

“But there has been lots of really quality learning moments from all the games.

“It is very much about the performances and the aspects of those which we believe are the building blocks of a strong Premiership team.” Quote Mr Hooper.

Am I reading this correctly? Was I watching the same game last Saturday? Conceeding tries for fun, tackles missed, surrender of ball in contact and poor handling, non existant driving maul, woeful kicking out of hand and still no effective chase (no one since Biggsy), crabbing across field with no go forward and hopeless leadership. Very much deja vue and what has been offer for the last few seasons.

Quote, 'there has been lots of really quality learning moments from all the games.' What? Where? Apart from letting the opposition dictate to us all the time. I am so glad our illustrious D of R thinks we are going in the right direction and learning all the time. Sounds familiar? Haven't we heard these mantras before?

Most think we are delusional when you compare the performances of every other team in the Premiership Cup. Some have even taken it seriously and have gained one over us by developing a winning habit, What is that like?

Also I see we using the Gloucester away game as a training field exercise, the trouble is Glos will be taking it seriously.

Glos by 30 plus points.

I can see the level of my alcohol intake will have to increase and, when in a total stupor, I can hallucinate about a Bath side ruling the league and winning things. Forget the Fever Tree, its neat Naval gin and gulps of Mount Gay interspersed with full bodied red wine and the occasional scrumpy. The availability in the depths of winter of Old Timer might help as well.

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Adopted player 2019/20 Jonathan 'JJ' Joseph.

The Jink Joseph.

Adopted player 2018/19 Adopted player 2018/19 Semesa 'The Rock' Rokoduguni

I try to remain positive and hope to be proved wrong, but amazed that in these 4 games we've seemingly not put out our first choice 15 in any single match. Before the competition started I thought they'd try a few combinations in the first two games, then in the Tigers and Glos games we'd have some continuity of selection ready for Bris away. There doesn't seem to be any real overall plan in terms of selection, but hope to be eating humble pie after the team that's put together at Ashton Gate somehow plays with a fluidity I'm really not expecting.

Quote:

TomReagan
I try to remain positive and hope to be proved wrong, but amazed that in these 4 games we've seemingly not put out our first choice 15 in any single match. Before the competition started I thought they'd try a few combinations in the first two games, then in the Tigers and Glos games we'd have some continuity of selection ready for Bris away. There doesn't seem to be any real overall plan in terms of selection, but hope to be eating humble pie after the team that's put together at Ashton Gate somehow plays with a fluidity I'm really not expecting.

My thoughts precisely. I was impressed by the effort, planning & endeavour that was expressed by quite a few players & others concerning the pre-season. Transferring this onto the pitch was another mater but I thought we would see some clear plan tactically & performance wise. I also expected to see the likely first choice team develop a cohesiveness but that has just not been the case. To some extent that has been messed up by our usual high level of injuries so it’s difficult to know what team can be put out against Bristol. I have to say that so far my initial enthusiasm following the Q & A, poopooed by some, has been dampened. So much depends on how we perform against Bristol but I don’t see how we can suddenly start looking like a top 6 side.

Interesting how the different teams have approached the same situation. Wasps have put out what looks to me as a first team this weekend, with Sale putting out a similarly strong team several times. I guess we find out fairly soon who chose the correct strategy...

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[Adoptee 19 / 20: The High ball and counter attack meister, Tom Homer]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/10/2019 08:50 by BathMatt53.

I can remember when Leicester finished several seasons very strongly, it became almost expected, whilst Bath had shone through most of the seasons and faded towards the end.

It is almost as though Bath consider the season a marathon and don't want to burn out too soon, maybe copy that Leicester way. No evidence of it, just a hunch.

If so a dangerous ploy which with an inexperienced coaching setup could easily go completely haywire.

I hope Bath start with a bang in the league and prove us all wrong.

It's nice giving the young lads a run and gain some experience, but what experience will they be getting? Introducing young players into winning teams, letting them gain experience from older players and getting accustomed to the higher level is all good, but unless there is some clever plan it all looks a bit thrown together at the moment. What will this game tell us? If we lose by 30 points or win by 30 points it is completely irrelevant and is no preparation for the premiership games.

Quote:

warrenball
It's nice giving the young lads a run and gain some experience, but what experience will they be getting? Introducing young players into winning teams, letting them gain experience from older players and getting accustomed to the higher level is all good, but unless there is some clever plan it all looks a bit thrown together at the moment. What will this game tell us? If we lose by 30 points or win by 30 points it is completely irrelevant and is no preparation for the premiership
games.

+1

Not a good start for Bath , fumble gives Glos. 7 points

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Adopted Player 2018/19 Ross Batty
Adopted Player 2019/20 Jack Davies

"AN OUNCE OF ACTION IS WORTH A TON OF THEORY"
FRIEDRICH ENGELS

They look like a team who have just met. Can’t think why. WTF is Hooper trying to achieve here? Either way...off to the pub!

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[Adoptee 19 / 20: The High ball and counter attack meister, Tom Homer]

Slick hands from Glos., with all the attacking, 12 minutes in 12 points down

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Adopted Player 2018/19 Ross Batty
Adopted Player 2019/20 Jack Davies

"AN OUNCE OF ACTION IS WORTH A TON OF THEORY"
FRIEDRICH ENGELS

17 mins in 19 points down ! I really don’t know what Stuart is doing and I don’t think he does either !
Utter shambles, 20 mins in and 24 points down, and don’t say our team is mostly young so is Glos.,

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Adopted Player 2018/19 Ross Batty
Adopted Player 2019/20 Jack Davies

"AN OUNCE OF ACTION IS WORTH A TON OF THEORY"
FRIEDRICH ENGELS

Certainly some learning points to be taken from this game!

I don’t think we have been in Glos., half yet , ok for Stuart to say these CUP games are just pre-season friendlies but this is playing Glos., Like the poor show against Tigers last week , embarrassing to say the least. Sorry Stuart is not the man imo

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Adopted Player 2018/19 Ross Batty
Adopted Player 2019/20 Jack Davies

"AN OUNCE OF ACTION IS WORTH A TON OF THEORY"
FRIEDRICH ENGELS

Set pieces are good but outside that I have zero idea of how this team are trying to play. I have a horrible feeling we could be in for a long season

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"No sprinkles. For every sprinkle I find, I shall kill you."

5 metre line out for score for Bath Batty 7 points !

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Adopted Player 2018/19 Ross Batty
Adopted Player 2019/20 Jack Davies

"AN OUNCE OF ACTION IS WORTH A TON OF THEORY"
FRIEDRICH ENGELS

My optimism for the new season has now completely evaporated. It’s difficult to see how coming from this platform we are going to win a match this season.

Have Bath found a plan B?

Another try!

24 v 12

Can we please start learning from this and realise that we have a pack that can take control of games and earn the right to go wide in the last 20 30 mins of games? If the bludgeon is your best weapon that’s what you use...

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"No sprinkles. For every sprinkle I find, I shall kill you."

Try Bath ! Will Stuart 5 points
Half time 24 - 12.

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Adopted Player 2018/19 Ross Batty
Adopted Player 2019/20 Jack Davies

"AN OUNCE OF ACTION IS WORTH A TON OF THEORY"
FRIEDRICH ENGELS

Quote:

Toast and Marmite
Set pieces are good but outside that I have zero idea of how this team are trying to play. I have a horrible feeling we could be in for a long season

Agree, Oz says we are in for a very tough season and I agree with him as well

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Adopted Player 2018/19 Ross Batty
Adopted Player 2019/20 Jack Davies

"AN OUNCE OF ACTION IS WORTH A TON OF THEORY"
FRIEDRICH ENGELS

No 10 Davis off injured, Freddie Burns on

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Adopted Player 2018/19 Ross Batty
Adopted Player 2019/20 Jack Davies

"AN OUNCE OF ACTION IS WORTH A TON OF THEORY"
FRIEDRICH ENGELS

Burns intercept ! 24 - 19

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Adopted Player 2018/19 Ross Batty
Adopted Player 2019/20 Jack Davies

"AN OUNCE OF ACTION IS WORTH A TON OF THEORY"
FRIEDRICH ENGELS

It’s not the despair, I can stand the despair, it’s the hope I can’t stand...

Jack Walker ! What a turnaround 24 -26

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Adopted Player 2018/19 Ross Batty
Adopted Player 2019/20 Jack Davies

"AN OUNCE OF ACTION IS WORTH A TON OF THEORY"
FRIEDRICH ENGELS

Freddie making a difference, scrum was going well until they changed the front row.

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Adopted Player 2018/19 Ross Batty
Adopted Player 2019/20 Jack Davies

"AN OUNCE OF ACTION IS WORTH A TON OF THEORY"
FRIEDRICH ENGELS

Ollie Fox playing well at 9, finally seen a Bath side with a plan B !!

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Adopted Player 2018/19 Ross Batty
Adopted Player 2019/20 Jack Davies

"AN OUNCE OF ACTION IS WORTH A TON OF THEORY"
FRIEDRICH ENGELS

Ok so that was mental. So 8 man rugby till the flyers come back then!

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"No sprinkles. For every sprinkle I find, I shall kill you."

Ollie Fox MoM !

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Adopted Player 2018/19 Ross Batty
Adopted Player 2019/20 Jack Davies

"AN OUNCE OF ACTION IS WORTH A TON OF THEORY"
FRIEDRICH ENGELS

A few peeps must be choking on humble pie just now!!!

Great game Olly Fox. Freddie changed the game, brilliant from the youngsters! Well played everyone!

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Well done that pack!

Enjoyed that, glad I stuck with it! Dominated Gloucester in the set piece!! Team showed good character, as Hooper has said initial emphasis is on the pack.

Quote:

Bath Hammer
My optimism for the new season has now completely evaporated. It’s difficult to see how coming from this platform we are going to win a match this season.

I take it all back. Hope rules supreme!

What a strange match.

I was thinking in the first half we had done the job of lulling Bristol into a false sense of security. That was some effort in the second half by the forwards to turn it around. The line-out and the maul was very impressive.

My concern is the midfield where there is no creativity at all without Joseph. I thought burns controlled the game well when he came on, but I'm not sure his game suits the players around him

I just wonder if all these posters ridiculing Hooper might care to reconsider, Bath have been poor as a team but in all the games so far the pack has gone well.
Hooper said all along he was going to concentrate on that. I've no idea why he is picking the teams he is but we go into the Prem proper knowing we can win the ball up front.
Whether the current backs can turn possession into points is a bit of an unknown. Whether a defence coach can plug the holes is an unknown as well, but what I do know is Watson, JJ, Rory Mc, joe C will know what to do with that sort of possession and Sam U and Flo will knock a few over in defence.

Would be nice to hear an admission that predictions of a 30 point defeat were totally wrong but that poster goes missing when Bath win!

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Beno Obano Age 25 years, Loosehead prop, 5ft 8ins 18st 12lbs 'Mauls are like Transformers' they change form to become more powerful!

Didn’t see that coming after 20 minutes.

Good to see the academy guys get a run out. It may be some time before one or two of them figure in the firsts again, but all good experience, especially dragging it back from an impossible position.

Crikey - just got back from the pub and saw the score! (I wonder if it’s me that’s the problem - seem to be bad luck...)

Glad they managed to pull it back. Best not try that with Exe or Bris though in the next 2 prem games.

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[Adoptee 19 / 20: The High ball and counter attack meister, Tom Homer]

Just got back from the game and it was just as weird at the ground. Our team looked big and fit but without any real ideas with ball in hand. Just tightened up in the drizzle, turned the screw and choked the life out of Glaws in the end.

I particularly enjoyed the donkey noises from the shed when FB kicked out on the full, followed by their utter silence when he scored his intercept try two minutes later.

Freddie post match
[m.youtube.com]

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Turned out to be a fun night in The Shed! A win not to be sniffed at, and the number of young players would’ve learned a heck of a lot this evening. Should offer a good confidence boost ahead of next Friday.

Injuries a worry again, with Davies (another broken arm?) and Willison (another HIA?) not helping matters.

Douglas could be a real breakout this year. McNally looks a fine player too and the front row combinations we’re putting together look strong. Burns and Roberts showed experience and class in the 2nd half.

All in all, worth the trip, the first 24 minutes aside.

Quote:

dr.bath1865
A win not to be sniffed at, and the number of young players would’ve learned a heck of a lot this evening.

+1

Bizarre match. Haven’t seen anything like that for a while.

Great performance from the pack and Freddie, happy to say he had a great game (couple of his usual nothing kicks apart). Happy with 10 man rugby if it gets results till our backs get back from the World Cup.

Wary of reading too much into it given the start. It’s often the case when teams have the bonus point sealed after 20 minutes they take the foot off. But still, incredible fightback and character shown. That’ll do the players confidence a world of good. I wish we wouldn’t wait till we HAVE to start playing to actually perform though, so often the case these last few years.

Scrum went well throughout. Suspect Stuart will start v Bris.

I found it wonderful listening to Austin Healey trying to worm his way out of a situation of his own making, having written off the whole of Bath's forthcoming season based on the first 20 minutes of the game! I would be the first to admit that I did not see us winning that game BUT I would not be stupid enough to write off the whole season when hardly any of that side would make our 1st xv starting lineup. He hardly ever has a good word to say about us at any time and last night was no exception. At the post match interview, I thought Hooper spoke with clarity and sense. I really hope some people on this board give him more of a chance to grow into his role rather than continually rubbish him and fellow coaches. One result neither makes nor breaks an entire season!

Well played Bath. That win after the first 24 minutes was a huge surprise, but very gratefully received and yes I did get the score wrong. But there again not many predicted or expected the final result.

Still am very concerned on how leaky our defence was early on, and how better more experienced sides will not let us back into the game.

Yes the youngsters will gain from that experience.

I believe Stuart might be the scrummaging tight head we have needed for 2/3 seasons, but am concerned about Willison who appeared to be concussed again.

Thought Ollie Fox looked good as did Freddie {mostly}.

Well done all.

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Adopted player 2019/20 Jonathan 'JJ' Joseph.

The Jink Joseph.

Adopted player 2018/19 Adopted player 2018/19 Semesa 'The Rock' Rokoduguni

Too be fair to Austin I said the same and was about to turn over to watch Masterchef...... I know it wasn’t our first choice team by a long shot, but it wasn’t theirs and some the mistakes we were making were criminal. Some of these mistakes were from the more experienced players, some by youngsters that will learn with game time.

I am one of the few that like Hooper and willing to give it time. I can see the influence that Charteris is having, and there are some positives to look forward to (still don’t understand how Lilley is involved in first team however).

I have to admit that McNally made a big difference and am looking forward to seeing more of him, also thought Walker and Burns made big differences when came on.

Not sure about Austin’s love in with Douglas and MoM award to Fox though. Potential yes, but not been overly impressed by either yet.

Loving the new power game though, and if it means more beautiful catch and drive tries this season and less backs tries then happy to watch this.

Just cut out the silly mistakes and play from the start please. Brilliant result (if not performance) though!

Quote:

ilovebathtime
Certainly some learning points to be taken from this game!

Many for the "supporters" too it seems!

Awp - "I am one of the few that like Hooper and willing to give it time"

I think there are quite a few of us who agree with you on that - just can't be bothered to keep arguing with the regular nay sayers! Hoops was an excellent leader on the pitch and every time I hear him speak I'm convinced those skills are transferable to a coachinf/DoR role. And once we get Hats in after the RWC I think Hoops will be able to turn his focus to the whole game.

Quote:

Awp24975
I am one of the few that like Hooper and willing to give it time. I can see the influence that Charteris is having, and there are some positives to look forward to (still don’t understand how Lilley is involved in first team however).

Think Lills is helping out whilst we await Hats arrival. This is what Hoops said earlier this year.

Quote:

Myself, ably assisted by Girvan and Lills (Mark Lilley) are running the defence we’re putting a huge amount of effort into an aggressive defence which gets off the line and gets the ball back to give us those opportunities to attack.
While Neal is at the World Cup, Mark is working really hard at the scrum. He is putting a lot of effort into the new scrum laws that have come in and putting in our adaptation to that on how we’re going to approach the scrum this year.

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Quote:

Susanne
Awp - "I am one of the few that like Hooper and willing to give it time"
I think there are quite a few of us who agree with you on that - just can't be bothered to keep arguing with the regular nay sayers! Hoops was an excellent leader on the pitch and every time I hear him speak I'm convinced those skills are transferable to a coachinf/DoR role. And once we get Hats in after the RWC I think Hoops will be able to turn his focus to the whole game.

And I thought it was just me and couple of my mates!

Quote:

CoochieCoo

Quote:

Awp24975
I am one of the few that like Hooper and willing to give it time. I can see the influence that Charteris is having, and there are some positives to look forward to (still don’t understand how Lilley is involved in first team however).

Think Lills is helping out whilst we await Hats arrival. This is what Hoops said earlier this year.

Quote:

Myself, ably assisted by Girvan and Lills (Mark Lilley) are running the defence we’re putting a huge amount of effort into an aggressive defence which gets off the line and gets the ball back to give us those opportunities to attack.
While Neal is at the World Cup, Mark is working really hard at the scrum. He is putting a lot of effort into the new scrum laws that have come in and putting in our adaptation to that on how we’re going to approach the scrum this year.

I guessed it was that, and as nice a bloke he is, everytime I’ve bumped into him as a player and now as a coach I wasn’t impressed, but hey let’s wait and see. Hope he proves me wrong.

Always interesting to pop over to Shedweb to read the comments afterwards. They have similar misgivings over lack of game time for their senior players too.

Reading from the start is similar to listening to commentators who call the result after 20 minutes....

Very surprised that Ollie Fox was MotM. First 25 minutes he was very poor I thought. Slow delivery and box kicks far too deep giving easy attack back. But he did improve considerably as game turned our way

Accept he is in squad for his potential so hope he develops as coaches anticipate but he is some distance off premiership level

Some of his passes were horrible too - sucked the life out of several phases.

Watching the game knowing the result meant I could be fairly sanguine. It was exactly what you’d expect from us - a mixed bag, reflecting a mixed bag of young players and some random combos. Not sure it indicated anything good or bad about what the season holds. However, it’s a long, long season, and it makes perfect sense to hold key players back and see which Academy players look ready to step up.

Shame that Willison continues to be a bit anonymous - you’d have thought he might stand out in a game like that.

The phrase "a wins a win" is apt, esp Away at Glaws.

Highlights

[m.youtube.com]

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