Bath could hardly have a tougher start to the season than Saturday’s trip to Sandy Park. This may be a tie in a minor competition to keep domestic rugby in fans minds during the opening rounds of the World Cup, and neither side will be at full strength, but Bath’s record away to Exeter has been poor for some years. Stuart Hooper has already said that the club will treat the Premiership Rugby Club like the pre season friendlies of previous years. The result though will still matter.
This will be the first test of the Hooper playing philosophy, so a strong showing is vital to set the tone for the coming season. Bath will be missing the services of Underhill, Louw, Joseph, Cokanasiga, McConnochie and Watson on World Cup duty (plus Jamie Roberts doing TV punditry) but Exeter are similarly handicapped. Their absentees are Cowan-Dickie, Francis, White, Slade, Nowell and Hogg. Where the Chiefs should have the edge is in the strength in depth of their squad and the ability of all their players to “stick to script” and sustain the high intensity, disciplined and patient pressure game to build scores.
With the stated intention to rotate the squad through the four games of the tournament, predicting selection for the match is risky. I do hope that Hooper chooses as strong a squad as possible, while also taking the chance to induct some of the new signings. We know that Matt Garvey, Taulupe Faletau, Will Stuart, Henry Thomas and Darren Atkins are still recovering from injury, so Bath must face this match shorn of most of their wide strike power and threadbare at tight head prop.
Scary the start may be, but the players should relish the chance to show their best against one of the best. The tight five in particular will be key to providing the strong forward platform Hooper seeks. The loose forwards –probably Ellis, Bayliss and Mercer, will need to be at the top of their game too – to combat Exeter’s driving and rucking game and to force turnovers. Behind them, fans will be hoping for a more decisive approach than last season with less aimless kicking, swifter distribution and the aggressive running all the backs are capable of. Brew and Rokodoguni are experienced and lethal finishers: the rest of the team must get them early ball, in space, to take the game to the opposition.
In a sense, with the World Cup launching this weekend and the Premiership start another month away, Saturday is something of a “phoney war” "Everything we’re doing” Hooper has said “is building up to putting the best team out against Bristol and beyond.” To do that, a strong showing- win or lose- is needed for squad confidence, especially after a disappointing showing at the Premiership Sevens.
Last season Bath began by flattering to deceive. A promising thrashing of Scarlets in the final friendly gave way to a lame last minute defeat at Ashton Gate that set a frustrating tone for the campaign. This year fans (and I believe the coaching team also) will want to see Bath compete from start to finish. That must begin on Saturday.
Was thinking how good our back-row looked - which it does - but so does theirs! In fact, that Exe teamsheet could quite easily be fielded on a regular GP Saturday and you wouldn't bat an eyelid. Irrespective of the aim for this set of games, it will be a genuine indicator of whether we've made any progress in pre-season.
I'm a bit baffled by this selection. Delighted to see some of the young prospects get a game but surely we want some first timers to get a run out too?
Is it a need to balance the first XV pre season practice with a recognition that these are the only games we can play the youngsters in outside the Prem so it is now or never?
Ok this is an opportunity to give the kids a go - see who steps up and what they have to offer. I think we may see a slightly more experienced side for the home games building up for the prem next month. But the team we have to field in the premiership needs to play together or it will just be pre season Mk. II when we actually start.
ballsout There's 4 games before the Prem starts, the team will get stronger as we go. Still, that's ridiculously callow.
Quite, and you would also think that someone like Mike Williams could have added some valuable experience to that side rather than running out for a single match at Leeds.
15. Max Bodilly
14. Olly Woodburn
13. Tom Wyatt
12. Tom Hendrickson
11. James Short
10. Gareth Steenson (capt)
9. Sam Maunder
1. Billy Keast
2. Jack Innard
3. Marcus Street
4. Jannes Kirsten
5. Stan South
6. Josh Caulfield
7. James McRae
8. Rus Tuima
Replacements
16. Jordon Poole
17. Danny Southworth
18. Alfie Petch
19. Cory Teague
20. Lewis Pearson
21. Joe Snow
22. Harvey Skinner
23. Barrie Karea
Very excited that we have the first team of the season up!
And the whole point of this competition is to develop the youngsters - we've really seen players step up in these circumstances before and I think we will again. How will our home grown talent develop otherwise?
Susanne And the whole point of this competition is to develop the youngsters - we've really seen players step up in these circumstances before and I think we will again. How will our home grown talent develop otherwise?
Not convinced they will learn anything by getting thrashed though. Could have done with a little more experience in the starting line up to keep the score a little closer.
Susanne Very excited that we have the first team of the season up!
And the whole point of this competition is to develop the youngsters - we've really seen players step up in these circumstances before and I think we will again. How will our home grown talent develop otherwise?
My only concern is the general lack of experience in the squad as a good number in the 23 were playing u18s stuff last year, and whilst they were pretty successful at that level, it’s a big step against a more experienced Chiefs side. There’s not huge benefit gained in chasing people and ball around the park, as we’ve done at 1st team level a few times recently at Sandy Park.
A good experience for the young players? Hopefully if they remember what the last 17 weeks has been about, in the face of battle!
Just don't give Exeter the ball at every opportunity please like first teams have done in the past, give them 60+% possession and we'll get absolutely thrashed.
Regrettably I can only see a big 50 point win for Exeter and our youngsters, as enthusiatic and keen as they are, will not learn much or gain much confidence from a tonking.
Really do think this is a continuance of last season's selection for games we thought we couldn't hope to win, like Sarries away. IMO not a good philosophy or start by Mr Hooper.
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Yes Dorset Boy they are. Street is an absolute animal at tight head, the match for any in the Prem, and Keast has a number of Prem replacement experiences, as has Caulfield. Woodburn and Short are top class finishers as is Bodilly. The one to look at is the number 8, Rus Tuima, who is tipped to be the next and better Billy Vunapola. They are fielding a massive pack.
Sam Maunder at 9 is the younger brother of Jack and I have been told is rated far higher than his older brother, in particular by the man who taught him at Blundells. The bench replacement for 9 is Joe Snow who is potentially better than either Maunder and is built like Mike Phillips of Wales and Lions fame.
We will be lucky to get away with under 50 point beating.
I am thankful I am going to a family wedding (in Devon) to miss the carnage and save me a kings' ransom in beer from ridiculous bets on Bath winning., as in the past!!!
Adopted player 2020/21 Beno 'the Transformer' Obano
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Bathovalballer Yes Dorset Boy they are. Street is an absolute animal at tight head, the match for any in the Prem, and Keast has a number of Prem replacement experiences, as has Caulfield. Woodburn and Short are top class finishers as is Bodilly. The one to look at is the number 8, Rus Tuima, who is tipped to be the next and better Billy Vunapola. They are fielding a massive pack.
Sam Maunder at 9 is the younger brother of Jack and I have been told is rated far higher than his older brother, in particular by the man who taught him at Blundells. The bench replacement for 9 is Joe Snow who is potentially better than either Maunder and is built like Mike Phillips of Wales and Lions fame.
We will be lucky to get away with under 50 point beating.
I am thankful I am going to a family wedding (in Devon) to miss the carnage and save me a kings' ransom in beer from ridiculous bets on Bath winning., as in the past!!!
Not really sure why our lads are bothering to turn up then!
Where both teams are depleted by injury, illness or national call up do clubs get together to agree the number of first team players that will compete in the match.
It can't be coincidence that both sides are similar in complement.
Sam Harris
Opinion is based on assumptions, whereas fact is based on observation or research.
They just seem to put a few hints out before in their PR things SW. I mean, look at the team that Sale are putting out this weekend - it the best they can put on the pitch isn’t it?
Starting XV: 15. Simon Hammersley, 14. Denny Solomona, 13. Sam James, 12. Rohan Janse Van Rensburg, 11. Chris Ashton, 10. Rob du Preez, 9. Gus Warr; 1. Ross Harrison, 2. Rob Webber, 3. Jake Cooper-Woolley, 4. Josh Beaumont (Captain), 5. James Phillips, 6. Jean-Luc du Preez, 7. Ben Curry, 8. Daniel du Preez.
Replacements:16. Akker van der Merwe, 17. Bevan Rodd, 18. Will-Griff John, 19. Bryn Evans, 20. Matt Postlethwaite, 21. Embrose Papier, 22. Luke James, 23. Byron McGuigan
At the STH event Hoops said he’d field our strongest side for the home premiership cup games, so by implication not so much for the away games. This squad reflects that. He’s trying to manage the squad through a tricky WC period of
Jury’s out. Let’s see...
Poor from Bath , falling off tackles and no real penetration, scrum poor, looking like a big loss coming, still Stuart will have all answers! Sorry excuses.
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"AN OUNCE OF ACTION IS WORTH A TON OF THEORY"
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"AN OUNCE OF ACTION IS WORTH A TON OF THEORY"
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BathMatt53 Much much too easy for Exeter. Bath look like they have just met each other. Men against boys.
Perhaps we didn’t have a coach pre-season
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"AN OUNCE OF ACTION IS WORTH A TON OF THEORY"
FRIEDRICH ENGELS
Adopted Player 2018/19 Ross Batty
Adopted Player 2019/20 Jack Davies
Adopted Player 2020/21 Cam Redpath
Adopted Player 2021/22 Darren Atkins
Adopted Player 2022/23 Gabriel Hamer-Webb
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"AN OUNCE OF ACTION IS WORTH A TON OF THEORY"
FRIEDRICH ENGELS
Davis, Willison (who’s looking massive) and young forwards look good. Tom deG doesn’t look out of place.
Kicking (shock) is poor. What’s worrying me though is how obvious our attacking structure is. I’m presuming it’ll be our prem structure too and it looks extremely easy to figure out...
Adopted Player 2018/19 Ross Batty
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Adopted Player 2021/22 Darren Atkins
Adopted Player 2022/23 Gabriel Hamer-Webb
Adopted Player 2023/24 Tom Carr-Smith
"AN OUNCE OF ACTION IS WORTH A TON OF THEORY"
FRIEDRICH ENGELS
Adopted Player 2018/19 Ross Batty
Adopted Player 2019/20 Jack Davies
Adopted Player 2020/21 Cam Redpath
Adopted Player 2021/22 Darren Atkins
Adopted Player 2022/23 Gabriel Hamer-Webb
Adopted Player 2023/24 Tom Carr-Smith
"AN OUNCE OF ACTION IS WORTH A TON OF THEORY"
FRIEDRICH ENGELS
Feel positive after that. Individual errors cost us in terms of the result but enjoyed the correction of problematic areas for second half and good showing of many of the youngsters.Defensive structure looked ok overall .
Scrum and line out looked better in second half. Batty steadied the ship so not a cricket score at all in fact we won the second half 14-7. Looked a bit like the first game of the season unsurprisingly with many errors but something to build on.
Pretty solid effort considering how outgunned we were.
I was more interested in shape and style than anything as I think very few of the guys are gonna be in our first 23 of the season. I really liked our willingness to go wide and fast. Cook is a really good scrumhalf if his main function is get the ball out the ruck and that helped in attack and going wide to Levi Davis led to the tries.
Defensively conceding 3 tries off first phase from inside balls is a concern but that's a clear thing to fix and missed tackles and organisation should improve with the experience back. Same with the scrum and line out. Obviously I'd love our 4th string props to be dominant but it's not the end of the world if they're not.
But the areas of the pitch we played in it was probably more even than a 14 point margin and that's pretty heartening
BathMatt53 Much much too easy for Exeter. Bath look like they have just met each other. Men against boys.
It literally was men against boys. What was it, 7 of our teenagers making their debuts today.
J
Yep, I wasn’t using it as a figure of speech. They did really well, but as Spongey says they were outgunned - they have the skills and desire but not the physical side yet, which will come. Positives IMO were a nice range of passing from TDG and great contributions from Levi on the wing. They must be buzzing tonight having made their first appearance for Bath 1st team and rightly so. I would love to see some of those individuals in a physically stronger / more experienced team, I’m sure they would do well.
The biggest compliment I can pay the lads is that I’m glad I made the long trip to Devon for a pre season friendly. Very encouraging. Of course, we didn’t win, but I thought we were really competitive throughout in a game that, on paper, should’ve been a mile beyond us.
I liked the systems, the tactics, the attitude. All put a real shift in but, for me, Douglas, Cook, Willison, and our young back 3 were superb.
Build on this performance and we’ll be in a good place. Our squad certainly looks like it’s got depth now.
So milking the STH rah rah session a bit more...
Hoops did say we’d be fielding strong teams for the home legs, so by implication not away. The team selection was consistent with that.
I didn’t see it, so In terms of the “work ons” how did we rate?
Set piece (esp line out)?
Work rate in defence and breakdown?
S&C, anyone looking fitter?
Discipline?
Thanks
D
[quote GrumpyDave]So milking the STH rah rah session a bit more...
Hoops did say we’d be fielding strong teams for the home legs, so by implication not away. The team selection was consistent with that.
I didn’t see it, so In terms of the “work ons” how did we rate?
Set piece (esp line out)?
Work rate in defence and breakdown?
S&C, anyone looking fitter?
Discipline?
Thanks
Set piece was a game of two halves. Scrum was pretty poor in first half but early sub of Batty and Cordwell transformed it. Making subs when you need to not by the clock is a step forward in my book. The line out was also improved but still needs work.
Fitness looked good we were much stronger in the second half and kept running and our level of physicality didn’t drop off too badly.
Defence line speed was good but some of the newbies did tend to jump out of the line they need to curb this or we will ship tries. You need to only jump out when you have a chance of intercepting or making a tackle. Otherwise it’s just giving them a gap. The ref provided the gap for their first try in a similar fashion. Kicking was a bit of an issue with direction and distance The ideas were good the execution not so.
Overall looked a bit rusty but given it was a development team, not at all disheartening.
When Vaughan went off (and others) the scrum improved. Vaughan looked to be having trouble with his shoulder. I hope that was not the injury that kept him out so long last season.
B4thB4ck Pleased that the predicted 50 point drubbing didn't materialise....
+1
Pleased for those that made their debut, hopefully they are proud of that achievement but equally unhappy/frustrated/angry etc that they were on the losing side.
Sounds like quite an encouraging start. Sandy Park can be a bit of a bearbit, and if there's a cross wind from up the estuary an added element of interest!!
But, incidentally, I thought this match and a following Prem match was going to be televised - as sure it was shown on BTTv schedule, but then nothing happened. Other sports were shown on the appropr channels. Is this me going doolally, or was there a change at the last few hours?
annie blackthorn Sounds like quite an encouraging start. Sandy Park can be a bit of a bearbit, and if there's a cross wind from up the estuary an added element of interest!!
But, incidentally, I thought this match and a following Prem match was going to be televised - as sure it was shown on BTTv schedule, but then nothing happened. Other sports were shown on the appropr channels. Is this me going doolally, or was there a change at the last few hours?
May be me but I've looked in vain to see if games are scheduled for them to appear 20 minutes before kick off. So I can empathise.
Sam Harris
Opinion is based on assumptions, whereas fact is based on observation or research.
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I was really pleased that Chris Cook had a pretty good game overall. Generally quick to the breakdown and in second half there a definite zip to the pass but he really does need to work on those box kicks. Nearly all were way too long
Was definitely on BT sport..... thought Chris Cook played well and was impressed with Jack Davies at six. Also think Nahum Merigan shows some huge potential.
We didn’t win but never thought we would. I liked the way that things that were going wrong improved after the half time break. Lots to work on but also lots to be positive about.
Will be interesting to see what happens next game with a stronger team selected.
It'll be interesting to see how strong this Saturday's XV is. I was hugely impressed by a number of the young lads this week, making up what was essentially a 3rd XV. One game only but it looks like the squad now has some real depth.
So if this Saturday is going to be a 2nd XV, it might look something like... Obano, Batty, Judge, Stooke, McNally, Ellis, Bayliss, Mercer, Green, Priestland, Brew, Clarke Wright, Davis, Homer.
It should be first choice these next two weeks with a bit of rotation, then send a second team to Gloucester. Time for the first choice players to play.
Thanks for the helpful comments on the BT TV issue - not sure what happened there as I checked every BT channel at the time. Maybe its a blip (brain fuzz). I record the in the week world cup games - too much time being spent watching telly otherwise.
Awp24975 Was definitely on BT sport..... thought Chris Cook played well and was impressed with Jack Davies at six. Also think Nahum Merigan shows some huge potential.
We didn’t win but never thought we would. I liked the way that things that were going wrong improved after the half time break. Lots to work on but also lots to be positive about.
Will be interesting to see what happens next game with a stronger team selected.
Chris Cook did play well but he did miss a walk in 7 pointer from our 5 metre scrum around 55 minutes when he stuck to play called and didn't see the big hole between their scrum and first defender but we did score that great try made by Davis soon enough after
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