AP 2014/15 A league

Thought that the A league that kicks off tonite was probably worthy of a thread of its own. Rather like the LV= Cup, the A league gives a reasonable indication of squad depth and academy talent. I'm guessing that it will be in its usual format, with the 12 AP teams split into a north and south league

BRAVES SIDE TO FACE SARACENS STORM

1 Brett Sturgess
2 Greg Bateman
3 Alex Brown
4 Ed Holmes
5 Jerry Sexton
6 Joel Conlon
7 Sam Simmonds
8 Sam Skinner (capt)
9 Pat Phibbs
10 Laurence May
11 Adam Hughes
12 Tom Hendrickson
13 Max Bodilly
14 Alex Wilcockson
15 Charlie Wick

REPLACEMENTS

16 Jack Innard
17 Kieron Davies
18 Jack Stanley
19 Matt Eliet
20 Harry Ledger
21 Stu Townsend
22 Tom Holdsworth
23 Fred Gabbitas

Jerry Sexton continues his trial, with Pat Phibbs joining him to see if he has recovered from the injury he picked up with Irish at the beginning of last season (with a view to filling the void created by Dave Lewis's injury). A couple of youngster to watch out for: the entire backrow of double U20 JWC winner, Joel Conlon, and the two Sams, Simmonds and Skinner; also the centre pairing of Bodilly and Hendrickson which is highly thought of by the Chiefs coaching group

Away to Sarries Storm as an opening fixture - doesn't get much tougher

Owen Williams captains the Leicester Tigers Development XV in the opening game of the Premiership 'A' league season at Welford Road this evening (7pm).Newcastle Falcons are the opponents, just two days after travelling to Tigers for the opening fixture in the Aviva Premiership campaign.

Williams leads the team from fly-half. Neil Briggs is the senior member of the forward pack, and he is joined by Riccardo Brugnara and Tiziano Pasquali in the front row. Charlie Beckett, who captained England Under-18s in South Africa this summer is included in the back row alongside Development squad duo Will Owen and Ed Milne.Oli Bryant and Rhys Williams, who both played in the Premiership Sevens this summer, start in the backline and George Tresidder, captain of the team that won the Premiership Sevens Bowl, starts at scrum-half.

Entry is free to season ticket holders on production of your season ticket card. For all other supporters, please pay at the ticket office on your way to the turnstiles (adults £5, juniors £1).

Leicester Tigers Development (v Newcastle Falcons Development, Welford Road, Monday 7pm)

15 Oli Bryant 14 Rhys Williams13 Charlie Thacker12 Javiah Pohe 11 Paolo Odogwu10 Owen Williams (c) 9 George Tresidder1 Riccardo Brugnara2 Neil Briggs3 Tiziano Pasquali4 Joe Maksymiw5 Matthew Hubbart6 Charlie Beckett7 Will Owen8 Ed Milne

Replacements:16 Harry Thacker17 Aniseko Sio18 Dan Hogan19 Luke Joseph20 Oliver Povoas21 George Prince22 Reuben Norville23 Gift Sankoh

Original team announcement saw Sam Harrison as captain with Tresidder on bench. i can only guess they sent Harrison to the barbers.

I hope it's not another injury for Harrison he had a rough time last season and if he doesn't get firing soon then he'll be struggling to have any chance at making an impact and forcing his way past Mele.

Good to see Bryant getting some game time. Another talented youngster who was beset with injuries last season. He looked bright in the sevens tournament and I hope he gets a bit of time calling the shots at ten.

Newcastle Falcons


15 Lee Smith, 14 Sean Brown, 13 Jamie Helleur, 12 Andy Tuilagi, 11 Danny Barnes, 10 Rory Clegg, 9 Andy Davies; 1 Eric Fry, 2 Rob Hawkins (c), 3 Scott Wilson, 4 Glen Young, 5 Will Witty, 6 Dan Temm, 7 Andy Saull, 8 Brian Tuilagi


Replacements: 16 David Nelson, 17 Jake Ellwood, 18 Mark Irving, 19 Ian Billington, 20 Conrad Gleeson, 21 Dan Taylor, 22 Tom Catterick, 23 Tom Penny

 When was the last time a team had more Tuilaigis on the field than us?

The opposition for :

Saracens Storm starting XV;
15. Ben Ransom; 14. Mike Ellery, 13. Tim Streather, 12. Nick Tompkins, 11. Jack Wilson, 10. Nils Mordt, 9. Ben Spencer; 1. Billy Moss, 2. Phil Thiel, 3, Biyi Alo, 4. Maro Itoje , 5. Hayden Smith, 6. Matt Hankin, 7. Jacques Burger, 8. Ernst Joubert.

Back row looks scary - Sireli Naqeveluki's knackered knees were probably deemed too fragile for the Allianz Park surface, otherwise his flanker conversion experiment would have been well tested. The Exe youngsters will have a great learning experience, though.

Irish A currently 12-0 up against Welsh.

Tigers got trashed cant remember the score.

Falcons dominated the scrum, but then it was pretty much a Tigers academy team.

Andy T was abrasive an there was a huge hit on him can't remember by who.

Glaws lose to a last minute penalty. At least the margin of defeat wasn't astronomical this time!

Briggs was the only player in the squad over the age of 22. I think it was two pate Falcons tries that put a shine on what was a game where they had control throughout.

Should be a good bit if experience for the youngsters and allow Williams to get some much needed game time.

Exeter braved a perfect storm from Sarries, 50 - 24 in the end.

Well, they do say you learn more from a defeat than a win - Exe will put out stronger A teams as the seniors' injuries clear up, but that may have been the most valuable game of the season for the future of Exeter Rugby.

Nice win 5 tries to 2 for Quins vs Wasps. Apparently (I regret I didn't see it) Botica put in some lovely kick throughs for Walker and Big Chis to score and Baby Chis ran 2 in from the back of the scrum and 1 mauled over the line for his trick of hats

Apparently Irish 34 - Welsh 8

5 tries for us against Welsh I believe. Bit of a mixture of a team for us, with 5 first team players, Hagan, Mayhew, Cross, Allinson and Dorrian, a few academy players, some AASE lads and a couple of players borrowed from Dorking.

Quite a few Chiefs returning from injury or being given a run out in tonite's A squad game vs London Welsh:

15 Jack Arnott
14 Jack Nowell
13 Max Bodilly
12 Adam Hughes
11 Fetu’u Vainikolo
10 Ceri Sweeney
9 Pat Phibbs
1 Brett Sturgess
2 Elvis Taione
3 Alex Brown
4 Sam Skinner
5 Will Carrick-Smith
6 Sireli Naqelevuki
7 James Scaysbrook
8 Don Armand

16 Greg Bateman
17 Jack Stanley
18 Kieran Davies
19 Jerry Sexton
20 Joel Conlon
21 Stuart Townsend
22 Tom James
23 Laurence May

That is a strong side for Exeter!

SirBurger wrote:That is a strong side for Exeter!

Indeed

How did young Will Carrick Smoth get on? Is he one to watch or is he just size? 6'11 and nearly 22 stone...he's a big fella!

We had a defences optional game against Wasps last night.  Finished 40-36 to them, with both teams scoring 6 tries each I believe!

didnt want to get their shirts dirty by tackling eh...

Certainly appeared that way.

Ah well on the plus side...it would have been an entertaining evening watching some attacking rugby and having a beer.

Bath United beat Quins A 24-8 last night. Two surprisingly strong sides considering. Devoto played at 10 and looked pretty rusty by all accounts. I hope we take the A league relatively seriously again this year, I think having a strong squad and giving the LV/academy players something to really push for is great for team morale. Glad to hear the first team were there to support too.

GeordieFalcon wrote:How did young Will Carrick Smoth get on? Is he one to watch or is he just size? 6'11 and nearly 22 stone...he's a big fella!

Big Will is a bit of an enigma. He was OK last night, nothing outstanding but it was a game that lacked fluidity - Exe were under pressure in the scrum, though. I've been watching him for 2 or 3 years now, and seen him throw himself about, scoring tries in LV, try saving corner flag tackle, but he doesn't seem to kick on.

Story is that he's still been growing so he's continually getting used to his body (code for ungainly?). He's with the Pirates this season, and if he gets a good run with them, he'll be worth watching. I get the feeling this is a make or break season for him, though.

15 John Hargreaves
14 Paolo Odogwu
13 Gift Sankoh
12 Javiah Pohe
11 Rhys Williams
10 Oli Bryant (c)
9 George Prince
1 Owen Hills
2 Jake Farnworth
3 Dan Hogan
4 Joe Maksymiw
5 Dave Lyons
6 Ed Milne
7 Will Owen
8 Laurence Pearce

Replacements
16 Gareth Turner
17 Henry Sands
18 Guido Cambareri
19 Charlie Beckett
20 Will Foden
21 Bruno Bravo
22 Charlie Thacker
23 Will Sutton


Pearce playing we be the main one to watch and a few loaned players from Coventry, Scottish and Doncaster.

Tonight will see round three of the Aviva A league as London Irish ‘A’ take on Saracens Storm at Hazelwood (Kick-off 7.30 pm).

Admission to the game will be £5. Please note that there will be limited parking available which will be allocated on a first come first served basis at a cost of £5. Alternatively there is Sunbury Park car park (TW16 6RA), located a 5 minute walk from the ground, which is free from 6 pm. However, we do encourage that supporters, where appropriate, use other modes of transport.

The bar and restaurant will be open from 6 pm with hot food available.

Please contact the London Commercial office for disabled parking on 01932 750 100.

London Irish A

1. Jamie Hagan; 2. Jimmy Stevens; 3. Geoff Cross; 4. Nic Rouse; 5. Toby Salmon; 6. Ollie Curry; 7. Conor Gilsenan; 8. Armond Roux; 9. Darren Allinson; 10. Myles Dorrian (Captain); 11. James Copsey; 12. Guy Armitage; 13. Tom Fowlie; 14. Ross Neal; 15. Matt Noble

Replacement: 16. Mike Mayhew; 17. Tom Smallbone; 18. Richard Palframan; 19. Theo Vukasinovic; 20. Luke Frost; 21. Connor Murphy; 22. Harry Lightfoot-Brown; 23. Callum Watson

Saracens Storm name side to face Irish

Saracens Storm have named their team for tonight’s Premiership ‘A’ League fixture away to London Irish, kick-off 19h30.

USA Eagles hooker Phil Thiel (pictured) starts for Saracens Storm, in a front row that includes England U20s JWC winner Biyi Alo.

Maro Itoje captains the side from lock, with Nick De Jager returning to action at N0.8.

In the backs, Max Wilkins partners Nick Tompkins in the midfield, whilst Mike Ellery takes his place on the wing.

Saracens Storm team;

15. Ben Ransom; 14. Jack Wilson, 13. Nick Tompkins, 12. Max Wilkins, 11. Mike Ellery; 10. Nils Mordt, 9. Ben Spencer; 1. Tom Williams, 2. Phil Thiel, 3. Biyi Alo, 4. Maro Itoje (c), 5. Kennet O’Neill, 6. Hayden Thompson-Stringer, 7. Matt Hankin, 8. Nick De Jager.

Replacements; 16. Antonio Harris, 17. Ben Featherstone, 18. Jack Culverhouse, 19. Torran Macdougall, 20. Don Barrell, 21. Tom Whiteley, 22. Tom Griffiths, 23. George Perkins.

Falcons 'A' Game Tonight at Sale

1. Alex Rogers
2. Rob Hawkins
3. Oliver Tomaszczyk
4. Glenn Young
5. Will Witty
6. Brian Tuilagi
7. Andy Saull (c)
8. Richard Mayhew

9. Dan Taylor
10. Rory Clegg

11. Alex Tait
12. Jamie Helleur
13. Tom Penny
14. Danny Barnes
15. Lee Smith

Replacements 16. David Nelson, 17. Eric Fry, 18. Mark Irving, 19. Dan Temm, 20. Joe Craggs, 21. James Christie, 22. Craig Willis, 23. Sean Brown.

Got smashed by Welsh, also lost both Chisholms, Merrick and Clifford to injuries. Not a good a league game!

I do sometimes question the value of these games.  We too picked up injuries last night and finished up with back row containing Ross Neal (academy centre), Connor Murphy (academy scrum half) and Armand Roux (guesting for us from Dorking).

Not sure what exactly we learn from that if I'm honest.

Unlike the important Premier games....we're walkng the A league games...need to switch that form around. Win the Prem games!

Our combination of Academy lads and players borrowed from Championship/Natiuonal League clubs was smashed by Worcester Cavaliers.

Another bright display from Bryant for us. Good to here he managed to conjure something up as during the kicking. Things are looking good at ten. Just that injury list...

As the season stands the A league seems pointless, perhaps if it was academy only it'd be ok. But otherwise it's just breaking valuable squad players.

Catch 22 situation. Need to get squad players some game time but doing that you risk injuries.