RugbyRebels

Newcastle Falcons team v Harlequins (Saturday, 3pm, Kingston Park Stadium)

15 Alex Tait, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Ben Stevenson, 12 Pete Lucock, 11 Nathan Earle, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Josh Barton; 1 Phil Brantingham, 2 George McGuigan, 3 Trevor Davison, 4 Greg Peterson, 5 Sebastian de Chaves, 6 Sean Robinson, 7 Jamie Blamire, 8 Will Welch (captain).

Replacements: 16 Charlie Maddison, 17 Logovi'i Mulipola, 18 Mark Tampin, 19 George Merrick, 20 Tom Marshall, 21 Cameron Nordli-Kelemeti, 22 Tian Schoeman, 23 George Wacokecoke.

Not available for selection: Adam Brocklebank, Callum Chick, Jeremy Civil, Connor Collett, Luke Coulston, Matthew Dalton, Matt Deehan, Mark Dormer, Carl Fearns, Gary Graham, Louie Johnson, Freddie Lockwood, Matias Moroni, Chidera Obonna, Matias Orlando, Tom Penny, Guy Pepper, Vereimi Qorowale, Charlie Smith, Sam Stuart, Philip van der Walt, Michael Young.

Harlequins: 15 Tyrone Green, 14 Nick David, 13 Luke Northmore, 12 Lennox Anyanwu, 11 Cadan Murley, 10 Tommy Allan, 9 Lewis Gjaltema; 1 Joe Marler, 2 George Head, 3 Wilco Louw, 4 George Hammond, 5 Irne Herbst, 6 Jack Kenningham, 7 Tom Lawday, 8 Alex Dombrandt (captain).

Replacements: 16 Jack Walker, 17 Simon Kerrod, 18 Will Collier, 19 Dino Lamb, 20 Will Evans, 21 Jack Stafford, 22 Will Edwards, 23 Joe Marchant.

Referee: Luke Pearce.

Brantingham starting! Great to see!

Falcons have a ridiculous number of players unavailable.

Anyanwu might be worth keeping an eye on and i've a feeling Hammond will press on this season.

Epaminondas Pules wrote:Brantingham starting! Great to see!

I’d have thought this was one of those weird combo things for Kenningham and Dombrandt if you didn’t hate him so much.

Is he a prospect then? Fairly mixed teams from both sides.

fivepointer wrote:Falcons have a ridiculous number of players unavailable.

Anyanwu might be worth keeping an eye on and i've a feeling Hammond will press on this season.

Hammond is a proper lineout lock with a good work rate and surprisingly good skills. A few years back, I felt he was a better prospect than Tizard and I still think that may end up being the case. Tizard made the breakthrough quicker because he was more physically ready with a naturally bulkier frame. Hammond was a beanpole who has needed to put on some size. He seems to have done that so I think he could make a real breakthrough this season.

Epaminondas Pules wrote:Brantingham starting! Great to see!

Yes. Although starting against Louw is quite a tough ask.

Scrumhead wrote:Hammond was a beanpole who has needed to put on some size. He seems to have done that so I think he could make a real breakthrough this season.

Don’t you dare hide this prediction in a match thread. Put it on the predictions thread so Puja can call you out on it in 10 months.

To be fair, I did consider Hammond for the predictions thread but I went for Harper as I’d so confidently championed him last season.

Scrumhead wrote:To be fair, I did consider Hammond for the predictions thread but I went for Harper as I’d so confidently championed him last season.

Just do like I've done for PCokanasiga and just keep picking him until he comes good!

Puja

I just noticed that Blamire is playing at 7. I assume that’s due to the massive list of injured/unavailable players, but still …

I was going to say it’s not really going to help his chances of an England recall, but knowing Eddie, perhaps versatility may actually be to his benefit.

Falcons have got three good hookers fit but are struggling for backrows. Makes sense to move one of the hookers into the backrow as they are all mobile. Get your best available players into the 23 somehow. Robinson at 6 is a hugely underrated lock not sure he's quite mobile enough to play flanker against a side as mobile as Quins but he might help hinder the Quins lineout which was a real threat last season.

Yeah - the injuries to Chick, Fearns, Graham, Collet and Pepper explain the weird back row made up of a lock at 6, a hooker at 7 and a flanker not known for carrying at 8.

I agree on Robinson - he’s a very good player and a capable 6, but much better at lock. IIRC, most of Blamire’s early appearances for Falcons where at 6, albeit that was in the Championship.

I would have gone for Kenningham and Evans rather than Lawday, but even as it is, we should expect to boss the breakdown.

I’m also surprised they’re not starting Nordli-Kelemeti. I thought he was one of their best players at the end of last season.

Matson did call Lawday Quins unsung hero so maybe not a surprise he's in the side. Odd that Lawday will wear 7 and Kenningham 6 mind.

The Falcons scrum half Barton was the best of the three scrum halfs that played against Tigers in pre season. Plays with a high tempo and had decent skills. He's been playing regularly on the Championship with London Scottish and then Coventry so has a fair bit of first team experience for a 24 year old. As I understand it from Cov fans he likes to spark a quick counter attack so turnover ball is dangerous with him around.

It’s not that I don’t rate Lawday. He’s been reliably very good for us and I totally get why Matson has described him as our ‘unsung hero’. My comment was based upon the fact that we’ve been running with Kenningham and Evans in preseason and this could have been a good game for them to make hay at the breakdown.

I agree on the numbers though. Lawday is definitely not a 7. Kenningham is known as ‘baby Robshaw’ and like his predecessor, he is a 6.5. He’s just a very good all rounder with a brilliant engine, a good breakdown game and effective carrying as well as being a good lineout forward. I think he’s probably better suited to 6 if push comes to shove.

Mikey Brown wrote:

Epaminondas Pules wrote:Brantingham starting! Great to see!

I’d have thought this was one of those weird combo things for Kenningham and Dombrandt if you didn’t hate him so much.

Is he a prospect then? Fairly mixed teams from both sides.

Certainly is. He and Fin Baxter were superb through the age groups. Mind starting against Louw is going to be a baptism!

Epaminondas Pules wrote:

Mikey Brown wrote:

Epaminondas Pules wrote:Brantingham starting! Great to see!

I’d have thought this was one of those weird combo things for Kenningham and Dombrandt if you didn’t hate him so much.

Is he a prospect then? Fairly mixed teams from both sides.

Certainly is. He and Fin Baxter were superb through the age groups. Mind starting against Louw is going to be a baptism!

Might not go well for him today but it's a learning opportunity in the long run. Iyogen had a rough start at Saints, I think his second game was against Dan Cole, he battled away (obviously came out second best) and is turning into a handy loosehead now. No point hiding away from the big name scrummager, got to face them at some point. Every prop gets shoved back during their career.

Well, just looked at the score a few times during the game, and that seems a typical Quins performance...

Score changed hand like 10 times, and it ends up almost 100 points shared, lol.

I watched it on PRTV. Both sides were a bit of a mess with lots of errors. Fun enough to watch with a couple of good tries, but neither side will be happy with their performances.

A BP win on the road and 6 tries sounds a lot better than it actually was.

Early contender for try of the season:



Puja