Bristol v L.Irish,

[jimKRFC]

Bristol:
15. Charles Piutau (66 apps), 14. Luke Morahan (100 apps), 13. Piers O'Conor (110 apps), 12. Sam Bedlow (49 apps), 11. Rich Lane (7 apps); 10. AJ MacGinty (2 apps), 9. Harry Randall (87 apps); 1. Ellis Genge (24 apps), 2. Will Capon (61 apps), 3. Kyle Sinckler (34 apps), 4. Ed Holmes (87 apps), 5. Joe Joyce (153 apps), 6. Chris Vui (94 apps), 7. Jake Heenan (c) (67 apps), 8. Magnus Bradbury (2 apps).

Subs: 16. Harry Thacker (76 apps), 17. Jake Woolmore (109 apps), 18. Max Lahiff (42 apps), 19. John Hawkins (36 apps), 20. Dan Thomas (110 apps), 21. Andy Uren (137 apps), 22. Callum Sheedy (134 apps), 23. Henry Purdy (41 apps).

London Irish:
15 Henry Arundell, 14 Will Joseph, 13 Curtis Rona, 12 Benhard van Rensburg, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Ben White, 1 Will Goodrick-Clarke, 2 Isaac Miller, 3 Oliver Hoskins, 4 Api Ratuniyarawa, 5 Rob Simmons, 6 Matt Rogerson (c), 7 Tom Pearson, 8 Chandler Cunningham-South.

Replacements:
16 Joseph Vajner, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Lovejoy Chawatama, 19 Josh Caulfield, 20 Ben Donnell, 21 Caolan Englefield, 22 James Stokes, 23 Ben Loader.

Not sure how Irish have been playing, but a scrappy start so far from Bristol, but it's usually pretty high scoring between the two!

Like the Bris front row, and Vui in the back row adds weight and grunt to the 2nd row. Good to see Thacker & DT back in the side and looking forward to seeing how Adge goes at 10.

[Margin_Walker]

Probably the strongest line up LI can field.

Hoskins and WGC both returning from injury at the same time certainly helps for this one. Injury crisis at hooker, so down to 4th and 5th choice there.

Cunningham-South is the 3rd 8 tried in three games, whilst we wait for Fa'aso'o to recover from injury. Only 19, but he's got the physicality for it if his ball handling can hold up (it didn't for the U20s in the summer).

Backline is very much first choice though (arguably excluding Rowe, who's out long term), so will hopefully get a bit of space to work in.

No idea which LI will turn up, which is part of the fun. Games we play against Bristol are rarely boring though.

[Mellsblue]

Good to see the EQP back three player who took the league by storm last year get a start. Henry Arundell is also starting…

[Margin_Walker]

Ha.

Oval Insights from the Prem sight for this one. These have been a decent addition to their match previews:

https://www.premiershiprugby.com/match- ... -3#preview

- Bristol Bears have the highest rate of gainline success in the Premiership (66%).
Last weekend, the Bears carried for the fewest metres of any side playing in round two (278).
- Bristol Bears won 14 turnovers against Wasps in round two, the most of any side so far this season in a single match. Their total of 18 turnovers in the opening two Premiership rounds is the highest in the league.
- So far in the 2022/23 Premiership, Bristol Bears have missed more tackles than any other team, slipping off 48 defensive hits. Chris Vui alone has missed six, as many as any other player in the league.

- Despite losing to Northampton Saints in their fixture in the second round, London Irish have scored the most tries in the Premiership so far (ten). They were similarly prolific in the opening two rounds of the 2021/22 season, scoring nine tries.
- London Irish’s discipline was a thorn in their side last weekend. They conceded 16 penalties in round two, more than any other team, three of which were for tackling opposition players off the ball.
- The Exiles have made more metres from their maul than any other side in the Premiership so far (75) but are yet to score a try from a maul in the 2022/23 season.
- Henry Arundell has made an electric start to the season, carrying the ball this weekend for a remarkable 231 metres. To contextualise this, the most metres gained by a player in the 2021/22 Premiership season was 195 (Josh Hodge vs Northampton).

[fivepointer]

Jeff Rees sidelined. Disappointing.

These 2 usually serve up an entertaining game. If Bristol continue to miss tackles, they might be made to pay by an attack that is full of threat.

[fivepointer]

40-36 with 11 tries. Sounds like a fun afternoon.

[Mellsblue]

I’d buy a season ticket.

[Margin_Walker]

Another incredibly loose (and fun to watch) game between the two teams. And not one the defence coaches will look back upon fondly.

Bristol pack were on top in the first half. Genge especially put in a pretty monstrous performance both in the set piece and the loose. Randall also ran things well from the base and caused LI problems including a sharply taken try and a break that led to a yellow for a high tackle.

Game went back and forth a bit with Bristol mostly in front, but LI could have won it in the end after going multiple phases from their own 22 to deep into the Bristol half, before a knock on finished it. Bristol deserved winners on balance.

For LI Arundell will probably take any headlines, but Pearson was great on the openside. Relentless throughout both with and without the ball.

[Puja]

I would like to take a moment to point out that Arundell just isn't right.

https://youtu.be/Io_IZL6BcOI


I've only seen the highlights, so it's impossible to judge his overall game, but he's solely responsible for three of the four Irish tries with ridiculous quality play and I don't think there's another player in the league that gets a try out of the second one. Maybe Radwan can also accelerate fast enough to get away from Randall in that situation, but it'd be questionable considering he takes the ball going the other direction. His leg strength is madness - comparable to Robinson.

He still needs careful handling mentally and there's no doubt that the English system will result in him getting a horrendous injury that'll destroy his pace and development, but Jesus H Christ is it ever enjoyable watching this lad go right now.

Puja

[FKAS]

The kid's a serious talent. So much pace and strength in contact. If he'd come through a couple of years ago he'd have been a cert for the shirt but now England suddenly hard multiple options at FB. Freeman was dangerous for Saints, Furbank was excellent and Steward imperious (and grabbed a hattrick). I've not seen how Malins and Daly got on.

[Margin_Walker]

Yeah, he's something else.

We've all seen players start with a bang and then never live up to the early promise, so that may well happen here. At the moment though I don't think I've ever enjoyed watching a player with ball in hand more.

He seems pretty driven, so hopefully he makes the most of the start he's had and manages to get somewhere near his ceiling. Realistically he's fighting for a wing spot for England at the moment.

[Mr Mwenda]

I just find myself wondering why on earth whoever puts together the highlights thinks we only want to see a replay of the run in for the first try, not Arundell's skill. And then also watch Jackson kick a straightforward penalty...

[jimKRFC]

I just find myself wondering why on earth whoever puts together the highlights thinks we only want to see a replay of the run in for the first try, not Arundell's skill. And then also watch Jackson kick a straightforward penalty...

On the subject of Arundell - I found out today he's my barbers future brother-in-law, and he's not as good as his older brother was (who had to stop playing due to a back injury).

[Puja]

I just find myself wondering why on earth whoever puts together the highlights thinks we only want to see a replay of the run in for the first try, not Arundell's skill. And then also watch Jackson kick a straightforward penalty...

Same. Watching someone a replay of someone running over and touching the ball down is the weirdest choice for highlights. It's not like we're connoisseurs of unopposed groundings who want to absorb every detail in slow motion.

Puja