RugbyRebels

Timbo wrote:Bit of a shocker, Johnny Williams has been diagnosed with testicular cancer...

Wow. That is a shocker.

On the plus side, there are a few sportsmen who’ve had it and come back to playing. Alan Stubbs the ex Bolton and Celtic player for example.

Scrumhead wrote:

Timbo wrote:Bit of a shocker, Johnny Williams has been diagnosed with testicular cancer...

Wow. That is a shocker.

On the plus side, there are a few sportsmen who’ve had it and come back to playing. Alan Stubbs the ex Bolton and Celtic player for example.

Aaron Cruden, too.

Mathew Rees, too. By the sounds of things he’s on the road to recovery. I just hope the chemo hasn’t affected that glorious head of hair.

Darren Dawiduik also

Premiership Cup should be interesting given it’s the last game before the season kicks off next week.

Quins and Saracens have named strong sides but the rest have mainly gone mix and match.

I’m not sure if Alex Mitchell is injured or not, but it’s good to see Henry Taylor getting game time with Saints.

Scrumhead wrote:Premiership Cup should be interesting given it’s the last game before the season kicks off next week.

Quins and Saracens have named strong sides but the rest have mainly gone mix and match.

I’m not sure if Alex Mitchell is injured or not, but it’s good to see Henry Taylor getting game time with Saints.

Tyrese Johnson-Fisher https://www.rugbypass.com/news/tyrese-j ... tol-bears/

On the bench for bristol.

Scrumhead wrote: I’m not sure if Alex Mitchell is injured or not, but it’s good to see Henry Taylor getting game time with Saints.

Big fan. One of the Sarries DR’s that looked absolute class whilst at Bedford. I’d say, of those I’ve seen, only Kruis has performed better.

Taylor was very good last week against Saracens. I think Mitchell must be injured as he didnt feature last week and isnt in the squad for this weekends game.

Let’s hope Taylor is a late-ish bloomer. We could do with as many good a scrum halves as possible emerging post RWC.

Mitchell is injured from the knee injury he picked up in Baba’s game. Think he’s due back reasonably early on in the season though.

Exeter looked ominously good in the Premiership Cup. It’s hard to know how they’ll lineup in the back row, but today looked like more or less their side for next week, unless Devoto is fit. Vermeulen and Kirsten looked to have immediately settled in to the Exeter system.

Tyrese Johnson-Fisher came on for Bristol in the last 20. Made a couple of decent breaks but didn’t look as fast as I expected and he really didn’t look like he knew what he was doing in defence (stood around pointing a lot and looking lost). In a surprising act of mercy, Exeter didn’t really target him but had they done so, I think they would have made hay on his wing.

He's definitely raw but not quick? He makes this lot look like they are running in treacle.

Clearly he’s fast, but I was expecting him to look quicker than Jonny May and I’m not sure he did. He had two decent breaks and on the second one he got scragged when I expected him to be gone.

Obviously very limited evidence at the moment, so hopefully he learns quickly and gets enough of the ball to make the most out of his pace.

Rees Zammit looked every bit as fast as Jonny May last night, so much gas, and only 20 I think.

Gloskarlos wrote:Rees Zammit looked every bit as fast as Jonny May last night, so much gas, and only 20 I think.

Welsh though isn't he?

Yes, born in Glamorgan, thought he had a choice with English heritage too but I’m struggling to find that now....

Edit, just found the article where he pledges his future to Wales...... so yes, as you were.

Maybe he’s just a lot more rapid with the ball than without? It varies massively. Fortunately May is still super fast when he’s got the ball not just chasing.

Watching Glasgow vs Cardiff just now it was interesting to see Ollie Robinson the best player on the park and right awarded MOTM, even in a losing side. It’s a totally different level and I would bet my house on him never bothering the England selectors but for some reason felt it worth mentioning.

I think I played against him once and even at that level didn’t seem anything special, so I guess I was just surprised.

To be fair, he’s got nothing but positive reviews since being down in Cardiff.

I always think it’s strange when an English player has had to leave for an opportunity given the number of deeply average foreigners we’ve had in the Premiership.

Robinson looked quite handy here too.

I accept that Ollie Robinson is a good, solid player, but I find him annoying to watch. On a good day, with the right ref he’s absolutely lethal at the breakdown, but when he gets a ref that doesn’t like competition at the ruck he seems completely incapable of moderating his game and I’ve seen him get pinged off the park often.

Scrumhead wrote:To be fair, he’s got nothing but positive reviews since being down in Cardiff.

I always think it’s strange when an English player has had to leave for an opportunity given the number of deeply average foreigners we’ve had in the Premiership.

Olly Robinson in Cardiff seems very similar to Olly Robinson at Bristol - useful player, good to have in the squad, never going to trouble the first XV at a top side. I don't think he's so much "had to leave for an opportunity due to deeply average foreigners" as he is "is deeply average himself and found a decent opportunity at another average side."

Puja

I think Robinson can be good on his day, but I’m not suggesting he’s a particularly above average player.

He did move to Wales to have a better chance of starting though after, ironically losing his place to a Welshman!

TBF to Ollie Robinson he was really good at Bristol and the supporters would have loved him to stay. However, after his Dad was sacked he was never likely to stay...

So, just to confirm, we've got Underhill, TCurry, BillyV, and Ludlam all under 26. And we've also got BCurry and JWillis who we know are excellent. And this weekend Earl and Hill were superb, along with Sam Simmonds and Dombrandt.

Anyone remember when we were so short of back row that we played locks there?

Puja

Puja wrote:So, just to confirm, we've got Underhill, TCurry, BillyV, and Ludlam all under 26. And we've also got BCurry and JWillis who we know are excellent. And this weekend Earl and Hill were superb, along with Sam Simmonds and Dombrandt.

Anyone remember when we were so short of back row that we played locks there?

Puja

It’s mad thinking a couple of those guys are barely ever going to get a look in.