RugbyRebels

BATH RUGBY SIDE TO FACE SCARLETS
15. Anthony Watson, 14. Joe Cokanasiga, 13. Jonathan Joseph, 12. Cameron Redpath, 11. Ruaridh McConnochie, 10. Josh Matavesi, 9. Ben Spencer; 1. Beno Obano, 2. Tom Dunn, 3. Will Stuart, 4. Josh McNally, 5. Charlie Ewels (C), 6. Mike Williams, 7. Sam Underhill, 8. Taulupe Faletau

REPLACEMENTS
16. Jack Walker, 17. Juan Schoeman, 18. Christian Judge, 19. Elliott Stooke, 20. Josh Bayliss, 21. Zach Mercer, 22. Will Chudley, 23. Semesa Rokoduguni

SCARLETS SIDE TO FACE BATH RUGBY

15. Leigh Halfpenny; 14. Ryan Conbeer, 13. Tyler Morgan, 12. Steff Hughes (c), 11. Steff Evans; 10. Dan Jones, 9. Gareth Davies; 1. Wyn Jones, 2. Ryan Elias, 3. Samson Lee, 4. Jake Ball, 5. Sam Lousi, 6. Blade Thomson, 7. Jac Morgan, 8. Sione Kalamafoni

REPLACEMENTS

Reps: 16. Marc Jones, 17. Rob Evans, 18. Javan Sebastian, 19. Morgan Jones, 20. Josh Macleod, 21. Kieran Hardy, 22. Angus O’Brien, 23. Jonathan Davies.

Front row battle could be a good 'un.

That really should be an excellent Bath team.

I wonder if these two teams respect the tradition of playing for the “rag doll” that is attached to one of the posts for the duration of the game?

Banquo wrote:That really should be an excellent Bath team.

Agreed. It should be a trophy challenging side. Though why you'd play Mike Williams is beyond me, but I say that as a Tigers fan having watching him be at best average for us.

francoisfou wrote:I wonder if these two teams respect the tradition of playing for the “rag doll” that is attached to one of the posts for the duration of the game?

We usually do

Epaminondas Pules wrote: Agreed. It should be a trophy challenging side. Though why you'd play Mike Williams is beyond me, but I say that as a Tigers fan having watching him be at best average for us.

TBH both Williams and McNally have been much better for Bath than anyone really expected them to be. I'd still pick Ellis and Stools over them personally, but they're far from obvious preferences.

As for the team playing to the sum ofnits parts - post-lockdown, we showed what we can do. Unfortunately post-restart we've shown the other side of that coin.
Here's hoping that Coka can find some form this time around

Make a break, give away a penalty through isolation. Happens so often, it's almost a bad thing to make an "unplanned" break.

Nice try from bath.

Not very smart from Bath in the second half tbf

Very frustrating from Bath. Poor control and lack of patience at the end when they could have snuck a win.

How can good distributors and runners like Redpath and Joseph get so little ball, while the 2 wingers who pose different threats hardly get a pass?

This group of players should be better.

Sounded like Steff Evens had a game. Doesn't get a look in for Wales these days, but still a dangerous playing going forward.

Buggaluggs wrote:Sounded like Steff Evens had a game. Doesn't get a look in for Wales these days, but still a dangerous playing going forward.

He did. Was a constant nuisance all game.

My life how frustrating are Bath. Talk about being less than the sum of your parts. Some cracking play and then terrible individual decisions. Mercer being a prime example. Some truly outstanding play and then some awful decisions.

As it is pertinent to the other thread I though Redpath was very good. He looks like an international to me.

Terrible mullet on Evans, mind.

Mercer looked very impressive

Epaminondas Pules wrote:My life how frustrating are Bath. Talk about being less than the sum of your parts. Some cracking play and then terrible individual decisions. Mercer being a prime example. Some truly outstanding play and then some awful decisions.

As it is pertinent to the other thread I though Redpath was very good. He looks like an international to me.

Plus persisting with a maul that was being stuffed, not doing something to shore up the right side, where Coka was all over the place in defence, and not supporting players into contact with accurate clearing. They lacked leadership imo.

Redpath did look good, in fact in attack they all looked decent.

Bath are in a strange place. They really looked like something had started to click at the end of last season and now they look like a different team.

Mercer and Underhill were the two best players on the park IMO.

A few strange decisions. Spencer was short, but surely the Scarlets plays coming in at the side (it wasn’t over the try line) and/or playing the ball on the floor should have meant a penalty to Bath, not the end of the game. I’m also amazed that Davies got away with the ‘tackle’ on Watson. He basically turned his back to crash in to Watson’s legs. Not a ‘tackle’ in any reasonable terms and I thought there was a possibility of a yellow card and a penalty try.

Faletau has for a long time been one of my favourite players. His all-round skills at 8 are quite special. However, I thought Mercer demonstrated why a mobile, rampaging 8 is the way forward.

Thought Halfpenny was class. He’d probably be my Lions test 15 as things stand.