PROPS Nick Auterac Owen Franks Karl Garside Paul Hill Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi Emmanuel Iyogun* Ehren Painter Ed Prowse* Alex Waller Francois van Wyk
HOOKERS Callum Burns* James Fish Mikey Haywood Jack Hughes* Samson Ma’asi Reece Marshall Sam Matavesi
LOCKS & LOOSE FORWARDS Shaun Adendorff Lewis Bean Alex Coles Teimana Harrison Nick Isiekwe (season-long loan, starting 1 August) Courtney Lawes Lewis Ludlam Alex Moon Ollie Newman* Api Ratuniyarawa David Ribbans Kayde Sylvester* JJ Tonks* Tui Uru* Tom Wood
SCRUM-HALVES Tom James Alex Mitchell Henry Taylor Connor Tupai
FLY HALVES Dan Biggar James Grayson Tommy Mathews*
CENTRES Reuben Bird-Tulloch* Fraser Dingwall Piers Francis Ethan Grayson* Rory Hutchinson Tom Litchfield* Matt Proctor
WINGERS Tom Collins Josh Gillespie* Dani Long-Martinez* Taqele Naiyaravoro Ryan Olowofela Ollie Sleightholme
FULL-BACKS Tommy Freeman* George Furbank Harry Mallinder Ahsee Tuala
There are obviously positions where we could add top-level talent, but overall this looks pretty balanced to me. And in particular in the covid context.
The one position where we appear to be stock-piling is hooker. Having 7 hookers (including senior academy) seems out of proportion compared to tighthead & loosehead prop, where we have 5 for each (again including senior academy). Would assume that number will come down by at least one at the end of the 2020/21 season.
I know what you mean about Hookers but the Academy boys will not be expected to play in the 1st team and we know very well how easy it is to be down to 5th Choice hooker. Hopefully we will see some of these guys helping out down at Bedford but if the worst happens we seem to have enough cover :-)
A bit o/t, but it's interesting that viewing this site through the corporate network, I never see the body of any articles - all I see in MarchinIn's initial post is "What do you think? You can have your say by posting below."
The forums appear properly.
I wonder if the body of an article is be wrapped in something that makes it look like an advert, and therefore gets blocked?
We haven’t heard if Samson is still in a recovery phase or ready to play yet and of course Sam has been seen in the 7 shirt for the Wanderers following on the tradition ala Matti Williams and Dave Ward.
There’s only 4 that aren’t senior academy:
Wood, Ludlum, Harrison, Adendorff
You then have 3 senior academy players in
Tonks, Newman’s and Uru
But still quite light in numbers
For me it is the centres that feels light and we have had a mix of injuries there before leaving things risky in the past. My guess is Mallinder will play a vital utility back role this year playing a mix of fullback, centre and 10 roles depending on injuries. This will be another year of bringing even more youth into the team.
Any body think the centres is a little light. During internationals we could lose Hutchinson, Dingwall and possibly Francis. For an area of strength I am now a little concerned.
Another guess is with all the reductions in cap and salaries we must be close to the cap with the current squad ... so unless there is injury cover required or somebody leaves that might pretty much be it for this/next season.
If Dingers, Hutch and Francis are away with international duty, we still have Harry and Proctor who are more than capable. Big things are expected from Bird Tollouch and I would imagine that if push came to shove, Biggar could play 12.
Saint Stokey If Dingers, Hutch and Francis are away with international duty, we still have Harry and Proctor who are more than capable. Big things are expected from Bird Tollouch and I would imagine that if push came to shove, Biggar could play 12.
If Dingers, Hutch and Francis are away with international duty you would assume Harry and Biggar would be and potentially Mitchell.
Theoretically you could have Ace at 15 if he isn’t require to cover a wing position and Harry at 12. Biggar could move to 12 but often we don’t select a 10 on the bench when he starts.
Also is it something you’ve seen from Bird-Tulloch or something that someone has said that makes you expect big things? To be honest I don’t expect more from him than any of the others we signed at a similar time like Garside, Bean or Olowofela.
Sorry, totally forgot about Biggar being with the Welsh squad.
To be honest, I haven't seen much from him. I believe he got injured relatively early on but I did read that he won the Blaikstone Challenge, taking the title off Biggar.
As for expecting big things, I remember the Sarries board being rather upset that he was leaving and if he's been offered a place over Strachan, then the coaches must see something in him.
I'm not sure what Mallinders international chances will be. He's not going to get in a 10 with Ford and Farrell around. Smith at Quins, Umaga at Wasps and hopefully Grayson appear to be the future . Fullback seems to be nailed on for Daly, Watson or Furbank. He's not an international wing; there are too many specialist options currently. The only way I can see Harry getting in is at Centre but over who?
I guess, if we're really unlucky, we could see an English back line of:
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