[ledzepsfr]

AS gets his excuses/fears in before the game.

https://www.rugbypass.com/news/sanderso ... -continue/

[SSR]

All justified.
Best I am hoping for is not an embarassing beating. We shall see if Forshaw has improved
our defence against big/fast wingers yet.
PS
Why is the site dragging its feet again ?

[Olyy]

I mean....yeah, valid
They put 62 on Saracens last week, and Saracens didn't even look that bad in the first half - it's going to take an absolutely monumental effort to make it a competitive game

[AndaleManito]

AS gets his excuses/fears in before the game.

https://www.rugbypass.com/news/sanderso ... -continue/

I know Alex is being somewhat realistic, but does seem a bit doom and gloom already... for all the mindset etc talk, seems just wrong to be going into a top flight game voicing that you're half expecting to lose.

[Olyy]

Starting XV:
15. Joe Carpenter, 14. Tom Roebuck, 13. Rob du Preez, 12. Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, 11. Arron Reed, 10. George Ford, 9. Raffi Quirke; 1. Bevan Rodd, 2. Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3. James Harper, 4. Ernst van Rhyn ©, 5. Ben Bamber, 6. Sam Dugdale, 7. Nathan Jibulu, 8. Jacques Vermeulen.

Replacements:
16. Ethan Caine, 17. Ralph McEachran, 18. Tye Raymont, 19. Dan du Preez, 20. Jos Gilmore, 21. Gus Warr, 22. Marius Louw, 23. Tom O’Flaherty.


Was going to say "Well it's the best we can put out" until I got to that backrow!
No lock cover on the bench (or pitch) as well

[Olyy]

Heavy rotation for Bath's starting XV:
Bath Rugby: 1 Scott Kirk, 2 Dan Frost, 3 Vilikesa Sela, 4 Will Jeanes, 5 Ross Molony, 6 Ted Hill, 7 Ethan Staddon, 8 Miles Reid (c), 9 Tom Carr-Smith, 10 Santi Carreras, 11 Will Muir, 12 Cameron Redpath, 13 Louie Hennessey, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 15 Tom de Glanville

Replacements: 16 Kepueli Tuipulotu, 17 Beno Obano, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Charlie Ewels, 20 Ewan Richards, 21 Bernard van der Linde, 22 Chris Harris, 23 Alfie Barbeary



Disparity between benches is....a lot!
Barbeary vs DDP late on will be interesting - AB will have a point to prove

[SSR]

I assume that if all is going well we put TOF onto the pitch to let them score a few tries ?

[AndaleManito]

Starting XV:
15. Joe Carpenter, 14. Tom Roebuck, 13. Rob du Preez, 12. Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, 11. Arron Reed, 10. George Ford, 9. Raffi Quirke; 1. Bevan Rodd, 2. Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3. James Harper, 4. Ernst van Rhyn ©, 5. Ben Bamber, 6. Sam Dugdale, 7. Nathan Jibulu, 8. Jacques Vermeulen.

Replacements:
16. Ethan Caine, 17. Ralph McEachran, 18. Tye Raymont, 19. Dan du Preez, 20. Jos Gilmore, 21. Gus Warr, 22. Marius Louw, 23. Tom O’Flaherty.

Jibulu at 7 is interesting

Do we really have no other backrow cover?

Was going to say "Well it's the best we can put out" until I got to that backrow!
No lock cover on the bench (or pitch) as well

[DavenportSharky]

Sale Sharks v Bath Rugby
Referee: Luke Pearce (168th game)
ARs: Andrew Jackson & Jamie Leahy
TMO: Peter Allan

[Dave L]

Hope I’m wrong but I’m in the ground now and it looks like a tiny crowd. Bad vibes already…

[Olyy]

Reed out, TOF starting - not sure who is on the bench, offy socials still showing the old teamsheet, only noticed because the shot in the dressing room showed TOF in the 11 shirt

[Olyy]

This is dire stuff

[ejndavid95]

Caine & Warr on as we gain a 7pt lead

Caine & Warr errors lead to a Bath try to level it up.

Superb substitutions!

[Olyy]

Caine is not up to this level

[Bennett2392]

You can’t help but laugh at how bad we are at times

[Surbiton_Shark]

66 mins - all square. Ford just hoofs it in the air….

They are now in our 22

We never ever ever ever learn

[Surbiton_Shark]

And from that….they score by keeping the ball

8 mins to go. What’s the betting we kick it away at least twice more

[ejndavid95]

Gameplan for this 2nd half ALWAYS needed to be ball in hand. Kicking it back to them with the strong wind at their backs is asking for trouble.

But we've just kept lumping it up in the air & even brought Gus on to do it some more! Mind blowing.

[Surbiton_Shark]

Not getting our coins worth out of George. Such a conservative kick to the corner and then to lose it in contact….

[ejndavid95]

Not getting our coins worth out of George. Such a conservative kick to the corner and then to lose it in contact….

And then fire it at a bloke not expecting the ball to complete the loss...

[Olyy]

Bench killed us,

Two big negatives from Ford at the end there


We played OK for like 30 minutes against Baths 3rds - is that an improvement?
I find myself struggling to care

[Surbiton_Shark]

Real shame for anyone making the effort to attend. Fans deserve a lot more

We miss the Curry twins so much with pace and passion across the pitch

What I’m hugely concerned is what will change next season. Same coaching staff and despite some signings losing quirke who is about our only spark is worrying, if Ford is our creative general in charge of our attack - god help us

Roebuck looked to be the only player / back who was desperate to make a difference

[HerefordShark]

I'll not going to go too hard at Ford given how he's played the last few years, but that was not the best 5 minutes of his career. Hopefully it's just a bit of rustiness - he's not played for 5 weeks - and will be back up to speed for next week.

[Bronzbronx]

Real shame for anyone making the effort to attend. Fans deserve a lot more

We miss the Curry twins so much with pace and passion across the pitch

What I’m hugely concerned is what will change next season. Same coaching staff and despite some signings losing quirke who is about our only spark is worrying, if Ford is our creative general in charge of our attack - god help us

Roebuck looked to be the only player / back who was desperate to make a difference

The weather was torrential when myself and bro were due to set off to the game we decided to just watch it on tv Don't know if it's the gaps between home games or just that we not had a good season, it just feels different like I'm not too bothered atm

[LJK]

Don't think many of us would have expected 2 points out of playing an even much changed Bath side .......a poor piece of comms. from the normally good Luke Pierce arguably cost the game, but yes poor from Ford right at the end too.
In the pre match interview Roebuck said the team talk was get off to a good start, but it was almost all Bath in the first quarter. Talking of Roebuck...there is a lot of criticism on here about TOF's defence. I think Roebucks is equally questionable far too often.
Don't see what moving Jibulu to the back row did either.
Anyway 2 points achieved and hopefully some confidence for next week v Quins. A few weeks back that like a very winnable fixture, but they may have turned their corner at the game v Bristol yesterday, so not so sure now..

[SSR]

I did not see the match ( thank you son ) but kept a check of the score on Beeb.
Quote from match report on the Offy ...

Barbeary dived over a cluster of players to give Bath the win.

Legally or not ? I have lost track of when it is legal.

[RinTin]

I did not see the match ( thank you son ) but kept a check of the score on Beeb.
Quote from match report on the Offy ...

Barbeary dived over a cluster of players to give Bath the win.

Legally or not ? I have lost track of when it is legal.

Not what happened at all - he stepped back in on Raymont when picking and going. It was next to the ruck. Perfectly legal.

[Major Bloodnok]

I did not see the match ( thank you son ) but kept a check of the score on Beeb.
Quote from match report on the Offy ...

Barbeary dived over a cluster of players to give Bath the win.

Legally or not ? I have lost track of when it is legal.

You're allowed to dive over someone in the act of scoring a try.

[Lord Elpus]

Real shame for anyone making the effort to attend. Fans deserve a lot more

We miss the Curry twins so much with pace and passion across the pitch

What I’m hugely concerned is what will change next season. Same coaching staff and despite some signings losing quirke who is about our only spark is worrying, if Ford is our creative general in charge of our attack - god help us

Roebuck looked to be the only player / back who was desperate to make a difference

I'll be surprised - nay shocked - if Joe Ford is still coaching SS next season.

[Clutch]

Why. Attack slightly better than last year. Deserves a crack with new players and Sanderson not holding us back.
Plus we aren’t gonna annoy our star fly half!!

[Halifaxshark]

My issue with the stop start season is not knowing where players are, if they are injured etc. Where was Tom Burrow, we could have done with a lock off the bench.