Bath Vs Tigers

[FKAS]

Bath Rugby: 15 Jamie Shillcock, 14 Will Butt, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Ollie Lawrence, 11 Matt Gallagher, 10 Orlando Bailey, 9 Ben Spencer ©; 1 Valeriy Morozov, 2 Niall Annett, 3 D’Arcy Rae, 4 Fergus Lee-Warner, 5 Quinn Roux, 6 Ted Hill, 7 Miles Reid, 8 Richard de Carpentier

Impact players: 16 Tom Dunn, 17 Arthur Cordwell, 18 Johannes Jonker, 19 Tom Ellis, 20 Josh Bayliss, 21 Max Green, 22 Cameron Redpath, 23 Wesley White

STARTING XV:
15 Anthony Watson [3]
14 Chris Ashton [17]
13 Harry Potter [46]
12 Matt Scott [51]
11 Nemani Nadolo [41]
10 Freddie Burns [108]
9 Richard Wigglesworth (vc) [39]
1 James Cronin [6]
2 Charlie Clare [58]
3 Dan Cole (vc) [296]
4 Harry Wells [162]
5 Calum Green [95]
6 George Martin [44]
7 Hanro Liebenberg (c) [65]
8 Olly Cracknell [6]

REPLACEMENTS:
16 Tom Cowan-Dickie [9]
17 Francois van Wyk [22]
18 Will Hurd [12]
19 Eli Snyman [23]
20 Sean Jansen [7]
21 Sam Edwards [7] **
22 Charlie Atkinson *
23 Phil Cokanasiga [5]

Julián Montoya (Argentina), Joe Heyes, Jack van Poortvliet, Guy Porter, Freddie Steward and Ben Youngs (England), Kini Murimurivalu (Fiji), Nephi Leatigaga (Samoa), Jasper Wiese (South Africa) and Tommy Reffell (Wales) are unavailable for selection while on international duty.


Tigers still short on fit centres. Big pack but might struggle at the breakdown. Bath get halfback reinforcements at a particularly inconvenient time for Tigers.

I'm somewhat surprised to see Redpath on the bench, have I missed something and are Scotland not playing this weekend?

[Banquo]

Like Lawrence and JJ as a combo in theory.

[fivepointer]

Really like Bath's 9/10/12 & 13 combination. Plus, i'm a big fan of both Hill and Reid at flanker. Add in Shillcock at FB and Bath are looking pretty handy.
Redpath surplus to requirement for Scotland, who play NZ on Sunday.

[Peej]

At a purely club level I think I'd rather see Redpath and Lawrence, mind

[Puja]

Bathcester Warriors turning out this week. It's an even more impressive team on paper than they usually put out but, with it being a wet Friday night game, that pack might get bullied out of the game. Didn't even know Lee-Warner could play lock!

Hugely disappointed at PhilC not being given a start even when we're so denuded of centres. There must be something about him that Borthwick doesn't like (and I do trust his judgement), but I was so excited when we signed him and it's so sad that we don't seem to want him.

Puja

[Mikey Brown]

Bath Rugby: 15 Jamie Shillcock, 14 Will Butt, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Ollie Lawrence, 11 Matt Gallagher, 10 Orlando Bailey, 9 Ben Spencer ©; 1 Valeriy Morozov, 2 Niall Annett, 3 D’Arcy Rae, 4 Fergus Lee-Warner, 5 Quinn Roux, 6 Ted Hill, 7 Miles Reid, 8 Richard de Carpentier

Impact players: 16 Tom Dunn, 17 Arthur Cordwell, 18 Johannes Jonker, 19 Tom Ellis, 20 Josh Bayliss, 21 Max Green, 22 Cameron Redpath, 23 Wesley White

STARTING XV:
15 Anthony Watson [3]
14 Chris Ashton [17]
13 Harry Potter [46]
12 Matt Scott [51]
11 Nemani Nadolo [41]
10 Freddie Burns [108]
9 Richard Wigglesworth (vc) [39]
1 James Cronin [6]
2 Charlie Clare [58]
3 Dan Cole (vc) [296]
4 Harry Wells [162]
5 Calum Green [95]
6 George Martin [44]
7 Hanro Liebenberg (c) [65]
8 Olly Cracknell [6]

REPLACEMENTS:
16 Tom Cowan-Dickie [9]
17 Francois van Wyk [22]
18 Will Hurd [12]
19 Eli Snyman [23]
20 Sean Jansen [7]
21 Sam Edwards [7] **
22 Charlie Atkinson *
23 Phil Cokanasiga [5]

Julián Montoya (Argentina), Joe Heyes, Jack van Poortvliet, Guy Porter, Freddie Steward and Ben Youngs (England), Kini Murimurivalu (Fiji), Nephi Leatigaga (Samoa), Jasper Wiese (South Africa) and Tommy Reffell (Wales) are unavailable for selection while on international duty.


Tigers still short on fit centres. Big pack but might struggle at the breakdown. Bath get halfback reinforcements at a particularly inconvenient time for Tigers.

I'm somewhat surprised to see Redpath on the bench, have I missed something and are Scotland not playing this weekend?

Yes I think you missed the incident where Gregor Townsend took a severe blow to the head.

[FKAS]

Bathcester Warriors turning out this week. It's an even more impressive team on paper than they usually put out but, with it being a wet Friday night game, that pack might get bullied out of the game. Didn't even know Lee-Warner could play lock!

Hugely disappointed at PhilC not being given a start even when we're so denuded of centres. There must be something about him that Borthwick doesn't like (and I do trust his judgement), but I was so excited when we signed him and it's so sad that we don't seem to want him.

Puja

If he didn't like him he'd be on loan at Notts all season. Borthwick has talked him up in interviews where he said that all the coaches were picking him as their player of pre season. He's just maybe a bit raw for the type of defence that Borthwick wants to run. He's a player in expecting to come good second half of the season.

Mikey, that did make me laugh but I thought it was just Fin that Townsend can't stand.

[Mikey Brown]

The focus is on Russell but Townsend has been infuriating as selector/manager for quite a while now.

[Timbo]

Bath’s mid season shopping spree has made them a lot stronger.

[FKAS]

The focus is on Russell but Townsend has been infuriating as selector/manager for quite a while now.

That tends to get levelled at all international managers when they aren't winning.

[Which Tyler]

That tends to get levelled at all international managers when they aren't winning.

Or when they are, TBF


Delighted to have a pair of actual halfbacks back; disappointed by the lack of actual locks available... and the 6:2 bench

[Mikey Brown]

The focus is on Russell but Townsend has been infuriating as selector/manager for quite a while now.

That tends to get levelled at all international managers when they aren't winning.

I mean sure, to a degree. I could go in to detail but I’m pretty certain nobody is interested.

[Which Tyler]

Will be looking to exploit Watson's positional ignorance at the back today

[twitchy]

Lawrence looking far too exciting for eng duty.

[FKAS]

Tigers look more physical but they also look rusty having had two weeks off and then a friendly last weekend. Discipline has been shonky so far.

[FKAS]

This is also a lot more ball in hand from both sides that I expected.

[Which Tyler]

Shanked locks like that is what happens when you put a winger at FB

[FKAS]

We might see a change in the second half with Atkinson or Burns at 15. I'm more concerned by the winger at 13, Potter was very good Vs Bath but he's not having a great game today so far.

[Which Tyler]

I'm more concerned by the winger at 13,

If it helps, we've got a 13 at wing

[FKAS]

You've got a proper fullback though, Shillcock having a cracking game at the minute. His kicking game getting you out of trouble a fair bit.

[FKAS]

That's not an attempt to catch he's a very lucky boy there.

[FKAS]

Potter's tough night continues with a certain try going begging.

[FKAS]

And it gets even worse for Potter. He's having a stinker tonight.

[Which Tyler]

You've got a proper fullback though, Shillcock having a cracking game at the minute. His kicking game getting you out of trouble a fair bit.

He's not shanked one yet - unlike Watson about 30 seconds before I made the comment

[Oakboy]

How good is Shillcock?