Northampton vs Bath

[Puja]

15 George Furbank (c)
14 Tommy Freeman
13 Fraser Dingwall
12 Rory Hutchinson
11 George Hendy
10 Fin Smith
9 Tom James

1 Alex Waller
2 Curtis Langdon
3 Elliot Millar Mills
4 Alex Moon
5 Alex Coles
6 Angus Scott-Young
7 Tom Pearson
8 Lewis Ludlam

Replacements:
16 Tom Cruse
17 Ethan Waller
18 Paul Hill
19 Chunya Munga
20 Sam Graham
21 Archie McParland
22 Ollie Sleightholme
23 Tom Seabrook


Bath Rugby: 15 Tom de Glanville, 14 Ruaridh McConnochie, 13 Max Ojomoh, 12 Cameron Redpath, 11 Will Muir, 10 Orlando Bailey, 9 Louis Schreuder; 1 Beno Obano, 2 Niall Annett, 3 Thomas du Toit, 4 Josh McNally, 5 Fergus Lee-Warner, 6 Miles Reid ©, 7 Sam Underhill, 8 Jaco Coetzee.

Replacements: 16 Tom Dunn, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Charlie Ewels, 20 Alfie Barbeary, 21 Ben Spencer, 22 Sam Harris, 23 Louie Hennessey.

[Which Tyler]

Good to see some actual squad rotation - and to see it absent of injuries, and from relatively early in the season. Hopefully now that Stuart is back, we can see some rotation with the props as well.

I was (and am) concerned about throwing the RWC players straight into the mix, as they've not had a break since May (Underhill aside), but a lot happier about it seeing a squad like that.

Good to see my nom. for breakthrough player on the bench (though I went with the wrong guy having A] thought Ollie Hartley was ineligible, and B] forgot that Bath only have 2 experienced hookers, so should have gone for Stewart as Bath's breakthrough).

Hopefully, the battle of the young FHs will be a belter - though it looks like it's going to be down to game management, rather than creating/exploiting half chances.

[Oakboy]

Good to see some actual squad rotation - and to see it absent of injuries, and from relatively early in the season. Hopefully now that Stuart is back, we can see some rotation with the props as well.

I was (and am) concerned about throwing the RWC players straight into the mix, as they've not had a break since May (Underhill aside), but a lot happier about it seeing a squad like that.

Good to see my nom. for breakthrough player on the bench (though I went with the wrong guy having A] thought Ollie Hartley was ineligible, and B] forgot that Bath only have 2 experienced hookers, so should have gone for Stewart as Bath's breakthrough).

Hopefully, the battle of the young FHs will be a belter - though it looks like it's going to be down to game management, rather than creating/exploiting half chances.

WT, what is a sensible rest quota out of 52 weeks? Might an international agreement on all professional players work? Something on the lines of 9 weeks off in any calendar year with minimum break sessions of 3 weeks? There has to be some sort of specific quota that has to be adhered to, IMO.

[Which Tyler]

I have no idea, other than "it's complicated" and "it depends"

Should be easier with the reduced size Prem though.

It'll be about balancing an individual's resilience, mental drain, physical accumulation of knocks, resting actual but minor injuries, along with planned introduction of young players, and enough game-time for 2nd choice players.

AllO do know is that I can't me a single head coach who actually walks the walk on squad rotation for the purposes of player welfare.

[Which Tyler]

11 point swing there.

Bailey times out his penalty kick, Schreuder thinks the ball is out of the resulting scrum, Northampton try (great line by Pearson) off the resulting ineout.


You just can't afford to compound mistakes like that!

[Which Tyler]

First half at Franklin's is scrappy as hell.

Neither really able to apply much pressure, in attack or defence. A couple of good plays apiece leading to a couple of tries apiece, but... only that last try of the half looks like it's actually made (by thing an extra defender into the ruck, creating an overlap wide).
Rather unusually, all 4 tries started well outside the 22. Bath once put a few phases together inside Saints' 22 before spoiling the ball, but that's been the only real threat posed by either side.

Bath especially are finding new and interesting ways of committing offences - plus side of that, I guess, is that were still a way off a card for persistent offending.

Beyond that, Saints probably a bit stronger up front, Bath doing a bit better a bit wider. Game is just waiting for someone to take control, go out, and win the thing - Suspect Spencer off the bench might be key from my Bath bias.