Challenge Cup Round Two

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Bath Rugby vs Bristol Rugby
The Rec
Light Cloud, 13 degrees, 11mph Easterly Winds

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Bath Rugby
Manager – CJB

01. Stephen Kitcshoff	09. Maxine Machenaud
02. Mikey Haywood	10. Finn Russell
03. Scott Wilson
04. Charlie Ewers	11. Lolagi Visnia
05. Mitch Lees	12. Sam Hill
06. Arno Botha	13. George Moala
07. Liam Gill	14. Andrew Kellaway
08. Josh Beaumont	15. Cheslin Kolbe

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16. Ellis Genge 17. Rory Best 18. Nepo Laulala 19. Will Skelton 20. Toby Faletau 21. Richard Wigglesworth 22. Jack Debrenczeni 23. Liam Williams

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Bristol Team 
Manager: CJ

01. Loni Uhila	09. Tomas Cubelli
02. Rob Buchanan	10. Jimmy Gopperth (c,k)
03. James Johnston
04. Sam Carter	11. Rene Ranger
05. Kearnan Myall	12. Piers Francis
06. John Barclay	13. Nick Tompkins
07. Josh Van der Flier	14. Charlie Sharples
08. Victor Vito (c)	15. Chris Pennell

:-
16. David Kilcoyne 17. Manuel Montoya  18. Mike Ross 19. Luke Charteris 20  Carl Fearns, 21. Ben Spencer, 22. Christian Lealifiano 23. Digby Ioane

Tactics:

Attributes:

Attacking:
1) Breakdown - Clearing: Ensuring the possession is clean and quick with quick support to the breakdown
2)  Phase Attack: Attacks build momentum until an opportunity arises. 
Defending:
1) Breakdown - Slowing up ball: The defenders can get over the ball to slow it up and prevent the attack from building momentum and allowing your defence to set. 
2) Breakdown - Organised Ruck defence: with guards and body guards set, allowing the rest of the line to set off them.

Tactics:

Hard focus at the breakdown as usual. Barclay and VDF working together as Fetchers in tandem against a Bath pack who are excellent on the floor but a tad lacking in heft, so the powerful clearing out from our backrow and supporting packs players, who have powerful clearers like Uhila, JJ, Vito, Buchanan and Der Flier, is perfect for these opponents. As such, today we will do a lot of counter rucking to disrupt their ball and look to bully their backrow out of the game giving our flankers a free table and our backs loads of quick ball.

Attack:

Keep up incessant phases, building slow ball with carries and simple pop plays off 9-10 and keeping the phases going faster and faster until the defence stretches and snaps. Francis is a second playmaker and Cubelli always happy to snipe. Both to give options (esp as our forwards handle quite well) and to be in immediate support to clear out, we will look to have forwards in the backline.

Our back up approach will see us flood Russell's channel with players like VDF, Uhila and Ranger, draw in the fringe players, backrow or Hill to help him physically then follow up with quick plays to take advantage of those drawn men (eg switch blind if we draw the ruck guards or chip wide to Tompkins and Sharples if we force the defence narrow).

Defence: 

Aggressive fringe defence and blitz, knowing Machenaud's pass isn't his greatest strength so piling pressure on him and Russell especially in their 22- Russell will be pressurised by the passing, and we can then try to force a poor kick,isolation turnover, rushed pass or charge down. 9 sweeping.

Lineout:

Beaumont especially strong here so don't compete in the air, but rather mark them on the ground, looking to engage Beaumont early especially and kill the maul. On our own ball, we will mix up the receiver a lot with several targets but no obvious single target

Scrum: use a platform to get the ball out quickly to run

Kicking: Gopperth to take all points on offer, and kick high for possession rather than territory with an aggressive chase.

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Gloucester Rugby vs Benetton Rugby
Kingsholm Stadium
Light Cloud, 13 degrees, 11mph Easterly Winds

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Gloucester 
Manager – Matt

01. Coenie Oosthuizen	09. Dan Robson
02. Luke Cowan-Dickie	10. Danny Cipriani (k)
03. Juan Figallo
04. Elliott Stooke	11. Hallam Amos
05. Sam Dickinson	12. Matt Toomua
06. Willem Alberts	13. Juan De Jongh
07. Julian Salvi	14. Chris Walker
08. Ross Moriarty	15. Warwick Gelant

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Subs: 16. Tendai 'Beast' Mtawarira, 17. Joe Grey, 18. Uini Atonio, 19. Eben Etzebeth, 20. Tom Croft, 21. Justin Phillips, 22. Sam Davies, 23. Will Addison

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Benetton Rugby

01. Alberto de Marchi	09. Tito Tebaldi
02. Ornel Gega	10. Ian McKinley
03. Simone Ferrari
04. Filippo Gerosa	11. David Odiete
05. Marco Fuser	12. Alberto Sgarbi
06. Francesco Minto	13. Tommaso Benvenuti
07. Marco Lazzaroni	14. Michael Tagicakibau
08. Braam Steyn	15. Luke McLean

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Replacements: 16 Davide Giazzon, 17 Matteo Zanusso, 18 Tiziano Pasquali, 19 Roberto Santamaria, 20 Dean Budd, 21 Giorgio Bronzini, 22 Tommy Allan, 23 Andrea Pratichetti

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Leicester Tigers vs Brive
Welford Road
Light Cloud, 13 degrees, 10mph South Easterly Winds

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Leicester Tigers
Manager – Fluxy

01. Max Lahiff	09. Francois Hougaard
02. Dave Ward	10. Freddie Burns (k)
03. Atu Moli
04. Steve Mafi	11. Henry Purdy
05. Dominic Bird	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Sam Jones	13. Damien Penaud
07. Hienrich Brussow	14. Alex Cuthbert
08. Liam Messam	15. Kurtley Beale

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Subs: 16. Julien Marchand 17. Mikheil Nariashvili 18. Lasha Tibadze 19. Pascal Pape 20. Don Armand 21. Antoine Dupont 22. James Lang 23. Ben Teo'o

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Brive

01. Vivien Devisme	09. Vasil Lobzhanidze
02. Guillaume Ribes	10. Thomas Laranjeira
03. Damien Jourdain
04. Wilhelm Steenkamp	11. Guillaume Namy
05. Johan Snyman	12. Christopher Tuatara
06. William Whetton	13. Arnaud Mignardi
07. Fabien Sanconnie	14. Elia Radikedike
08. Petrus Hauman	15. Benjamin Lapeyre

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Replacements: 16 Francois Da Ros, 17 Damien Lavergne, 18 Soso Bekoshvili, 19 Jan Uys, 20 Péniami Narisia, 21 Jean-Baptiste Pejoine, 22 Taku Ngwenya, 23 Sevanaia Galala

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Edinburgh Rugby vs Worcester Warriors
Murrayfield Stadium
Light Cloud, 13 degrees, 9mph South Easterly Winds

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Edinburgh

01. Allan Dell	09. Sam Hidalgo-Clyne
02. Stuart McInally	10. Jason Tovey
03. Murray McCallum
04. Fraser McKenzie	11. Michael Allen
05. Ben Toolis	12. Junior Rasolea
06. Viliame Mata	13. Sasa Tofilau
07. John Hardie	14. Alexander Northam
08. Nasi Manu	15. Rory Scholes

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Replacements: 16 Neil Cochrane, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Jack Cosgrove, 19 Lewis Carmichael, 20 Vili Fihaki, 21 Nathan Fowles, 22 Blair Kinghorn, 23 Glenn Bryce

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Worcester Warriors
Manager - Prop

01. Val Ruskin	09. Rory Kockott
02. Ken Owens	10. Owen Williams (k)
03. Henry Thomas
04. Leone Nakawara	11. Adam Thompstone
05. Tom Savage	12. David Havili
06. Mike Williams	13. Huw Jones
07. Sam Warburton ©	14. Sergeal Petersen
08. Ben Morgan	15. Jarrad Payne

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16. Ross Batty 17. Luca Paz 18. Will Collier 19. Yohann Maestri 20. Warren Whitely 21. Gareth Davies 22. Dan Biggar 23. Jonah Placid

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Exeter Chiefs vs Grenoble
Sandy Park
Light Cloud, 13 degrees, 15mph Easterly Winds

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Exeter Chiefs

Manager – StNick

01. Nathan Catt	09. Chris Cook
02. Jack Yeandle	10. Camille Lopez(k)
03. Kyle Sinckler
04. Jake Ball	11. Andrew Trimble
05. Juandre Kruger	12. Stuart McCloskey
06. Brad Shields	13. George Pisi
07. Teimana Harrison	14. Olly Woodburn
08. Fritz Lee	15. Maxime Medard

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16 Tom Youngs,  17 Thomas Domingo, 18 Harry Williams, 19 Courtney Lawes, 20 Dave Ewers, 21 Nic White, 22 Colin Slade, 23 JP Pietersen

Phase Attack: Attacks build momentum until an opportunity arises.
Territorial Kicking: Looking to pin back sides and kick for open spaces or touch.

Breakdown - Slowing up ball: The defenders can get over the ball to slow it up and prevent the attack from building momentum and allowing your defence to set.
Chop Tackle: Tacklers look to get low and chop down attackers before gaining momentum or metres over the gain line.

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Grenoble

01. Alexandre Dardet	09. Lilian Saseras
02. Loick Jammes	10. Gilles Bosch
03. Walter Desmaison
04. Ben Hand	11. Edward Dratai Sawailau
05. Mickael Capelli	12. Tino Nemani
06. Jonathan Best	13. Xavier Mignot
07. Kevin Kornath	14. Sisa Ledua Waqa
08. Fabien Alexandre	15. Bastien Guillemin

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Replacements: 16 Etienne Fourcade, 17 Dylan Jacquot, 18 Ali Oz, 19 Steven Giroud, 20 Loic Baradel, 21 Jeremy Valencot, 22 David Mele, 23 Pierre Mignot

Bristol Team 
Manager: CJ

01. Loni Uhila	09. Tomas Cubelli
02. Rob Buchanan	10. Jimmy Gopperth (c,k)
03. James Johnston
04. Sam Carter	11. Rene Ranger
05. Kearnan Myall	12. Piers Francis
06. John Barclay	13. Nick Tompkins
07. Josh Van der Flier	14. Charlie Sharples
08. Victor Vito (c)	15. Chris Pennell

:-
16. David Kilcoyne 17. Manuel Montoya  18. Mike Ross 19. Luke Charteris 20  Carl Fearns, 21. Ben Spencer, 22. Christian Lealifiano 23. Digby Ioane

Tactics:

Attributes:

Attacking:
1) Breakdown - Clearing: Ensuring the possession is clean and quick with quick support to the breakdown
2)  Phase Attack: Attacks build momentum until an opportunity arises. 
Defending:
1) Breakdown - Slowing up ball: The defenders can get over the ball to slow it up and prevent the attack from building momentum and allowing your defence to set. 
2) Breakdown - Organised Ruck defence: with guards and body guards set, allowing the rest of the line to set off them.

Tactics:

Hard focus at the breakdown as usual. Barclay and VDF working together as Fetchers in tandem against a Bath pack who are excellent on the floor but a tad lacking in heft, so the powerful clearing out from our backrow and supporting packs players, who have powerful clearers like Uhila, JJ, Vito, Buchanan and Der Flier, is perfect for these opponents. As such, today we will do a lot of counter rucking to disrupt their ball and look to bully their backrow out of the game giving our flankers a free table and our backs loads of quick ball.

Attack:

Keep up incessant phases, building slow ball with carries and simple pop plays off 9-10 and keeping the phases going faster and faster until the defence stretches and snaps. Francis is a second playmaker and Cubelli always happy to snipe. Both to give options (esp as our forwards handle quite well) and to be in immediate support to clear out, we will look to have forwards in the backline.

Our back up approach will see us flood Russell's channel with players like VDF, Uhila and Ranger, draw in the fringe players, backrow or Hill to help him physically then follow up with quick plays to take advantage of those drawn men (eg switch blind if we draw the ruck guards or chip wide to Tompkins and Sharples if we force the defence narrow).

Defence: 

Aggressive fringe defence and blitz, knowing Machenaud's pass isn't his greatest strength so piling pressure on him and Russell especially in their 22- Russell will be pressurised by the passing, and we can then try to force a poor kick,isolation turnover, rushed pass or charge down. 9 sweeping.

Lineout:

Beaumont especially strong here so don't compete in the air, but rather mark them on the ground, looking to engage Beaumont early especially and kill the maul. On our own ball, we will mix up the receiver a lot with several targets but no obvious single target

Scrum: use a platform to get the ball out quickly to run

Kicking: Gopperth to take all points on offer, and kick high for possession rather than territory with an aggressive chase.

Manager – StNick

01. Nathan Catt	09. Chris Cook
02. Jack Yeandle	10. Camille Lopez(k)
03. Kyle Sinckler
04. Jake Ball	11. Andrew Trimble
05. Juandre Kruger	12. Stuart McCloskey
06. Brad Shields	13. George Pisi
07. Teimana Harrison	14. Olly Woodburn
08. Fritz Lee	15. Maxime Medard

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16 Tom Youngs,  17 Thomas Domingo, 18 Harry Williams, 19 Courtney Lawes, 20 Dave Ewers, 21 Nic White, 22 Colin Slade, 23 JP Pietersen

Phase Attack: Attacks build momentum until an opportunity arises.
Territorial Kicking: Looking to pin back sides and kick for open spaces or touch.

Breakdown - Slowing up ball: The defenders can get over the ball to slow it up and prevent the attack from building momentum and allowing your defence to set.
Chop Tackle: Tacklers look to get low and chop down attackers before gaining momentum or metres over the gain line.

Worcester Warriors
Manager - Prop

01. Val Ruskin	09. Rory Kockott
02. Ken Owens	10. Owen Williams (k)
03. Henry Thomas
04. Leone Nakawara	11. Adam Thompstone
05. Tom Savage	12. David Havili
06. Mike Williams	13. Huw Jones
07. Sam Warburton ©	14. Sergeal Petersen
08. Ben Morgan	15. Jarrad Payne

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16. Ross Batty 17. Luca Paz 18. Will Collier 19. Yohann Maestri 20. Warren Whitely 21. Gareth Davies 22. Dan Biggar 23. Jonah Placid

Mark

Bath Rugby
Manager – CJB

01. Stephen Kirchhoff	09. Maxine Machenaud
02. Mikey Haywood	10. Finn Russell
03. Scott Wilson
04. Charlie Ewers	11. Lolagi Visnia
05. Mitch Lees	12. Sam Hill
06. Arno Botha	13. George Moala
07. Liam Gill	14. Andrew Kellaway
08. Josh Beaumont	15. Cheslin Kolbe

16. Ellis Genge 17. Rory Best 18. Nepo Laulala 19. Will Skelton 20. Toby Falateu 21. Richard Wigglesworth 22. Jack Debrenczeni 23. Liam Williams

Gloucester 
Manager – Matt

01. Coenie Oosthuizen	09. Dan Robson
02. Luke Cowan-Dickie	10. Danny Cipriani (k)
03. Juan Figallo
04. Elliott Stooke	11. Hallam Amos
05. Sam Dickinson	12. Matt Toomua
06. Willem Alberts	13. Juan De Jongh
07. Julian Salvi	14. Chris Walker
08. Ross Moriarty	15. Warwick Gelant

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Subs: 16. Tendai 'Beast' Mtawarira, 17. Joe Grey, 18. Uini Atonio, 19. Eben Etzebeth, 20. Tom Croft, 21. Justin Phillips, 22. Sam Davies, 23. Will Addison

Round Two Results:

Bath Rugby 25 - 28 Bristol Rugby
Gloucester Rugby 64 - 7 Benetton Rugby
Leicester Tigers 41 - 15 Brive
Edinburgh Rugby 21 - 32 Worcester Warriors
Exeter Chiefs 43 - 14 Grenoble

Bath Rugby 20 - 24 Bristol Rugby
Front 5 can be quite an even battle, personally I prefer the back row balance of Bristol but Beaumont is bringing some good form in. At the moment on form the half backs go to Bristol and centres pretty close with Bristol maybe having more danger out wide. Bristol bringing in great breakdown tactics and confirms why they have selected the pack, this will get them a great win away from home.

Bath Rugby 27 - 24 Bristol Rugby

Bath Rugby 22 - 22 Bristol Rugby
Really can't separate here Bristol take backrow with excellent form but lose the centres. Elsewhere every match up is even and bench similarly. Simply can't separate 

Bath Rugby 27 - 29 Bristol Rugby
Wilson not playing for at least a year gives Bristol the scrum by default. After that, it possibly just sides to the home side in a tightly fought pack battle. Some good matchups in the backline, but Bristol just have enough to take this one. 

Bath Rugby 24 - 27 Bristol Rugby
Always give a few points advantage to the side with tactics and Bristols (as always are spot on). Could be a real challenger for the Challenge Cup. Gopperth's form a really big boost. 

Bath Rugby 23 - 26 Bristol Rugby
Both sides pretty evenly matched, but think Bristol have a harder edge in their front 5 with a couple of youngsters in the Bath pack. Clear game plan from Bristol really helps, and can see how they'll use the multiple playmakers. Bristol get a big road win

Bath Rugby 30 - 22 Bristol Rugby
Looking through the sides see a breakdown edge for Bristol but otherwise fairly even. The big swing here is tactics. Bristol set up well as always and against a disorganised Bath side pick up the away win.

Bath Rugby 21 - 27 Bristol Rugby
Bristol are much more prepared for this game, especially in a heated West Country derby. CJ gets the most out of his back line and the bench to get the maximum effect and in turn the result to match, to put his head in charge of the pool.

Gloucester Rugby 52 - 9 Benetton Treviso
Glos too strong all over, not familiar with their 15 though.

Gloucester Rugby 44 - 7 Benetton Treviso

Gloucester Rugby 50 - 3 Treviso
Much prefer this set up in the Gloucester backrow. With that as well, Glpucester dominate the Treviso pack. They could put out pretty much any backline and score a ton, but with Gloucester's top HBs and the control in the centres, they are rampant.

Gloucester Rugby 52 - 9 Benetton
Routine win, no need for much detail. 

Gloucester Rugby 70 - 10 Benetton
Easy - 9,10,12 will tear away team apart.

Gloucester 72 - 10 Benetton
Gloucester have plenty of quality on the pitch, and the Italians just have no hope against a side from our league at even half strength

Gloucester 64 - 5 Benetton

Gloucester Rugby 75 - 5 Benetton
A walk in the park pretty much for the Cherry & Whites. Benetton work hard to get a try, but never look like threatening.

Leicester Tigers 44-12 Brive
Brive not travelling well at all. Can see Tigers pack being too dominant for them to keep up with.

Leicester Tigers 37 - 10 Brive

Leicester Tigers 35 - 11 Brive
At home it's a mismatch for most sides from our league in this comp. better players in most positions and home advantage means a standard win.

Leicester Tigers 36 - 12 Brive
Tigers have a lot more work in their pack, and dominate the breakdown. I actually really like the Hougard/Burns combo. More hit and miss wider out but the bench is exciting and Brive don't have the players, despite a few good players, to really test them 

Leicester Tigers 38 - 22 Brive
Brive are decent but not the greatest travelling side. Tigers set out well and will take a good win.

Leicester Tigers 32 - 14 Brive
Strong Tigers team and Brive not the best travellers - bp home win. 

Leicester Tigers 35 - 23 Brive
Brive have the pack to test Leicester, but I'd expect the Tigers to dominate the second half after wearing them down, and the backs will cut loose

Leicester Tigers 35 - 17 Brive

Edinburgh Rugby 20 - 20 Worcester Warriors

Edinburgh Rugby 20 - 29 Worcester Warriors
Harder away win but Edinburgh are not the force of old key positions taken by wuss and they get the win 

Edinburgh Rugby 11 - 28 Worcester Warriors
Edinburgh solid in the front row But won't really get an advantage. They also have an exciting backrow but Worcester's balance there is great and they should win the breakdown and gainline battle. With controlling halfbacks and some class in Payne and Jones, Worcester are well ahead

Edinburgh Rugby 27 - 32 Worcester Warriors
Tough trip for Worcester but they've went quite strong in the pack and it pays off. Not sure about the Wuss midfield but looking good enough for the win outside of that. 

Edinburgh Rugby 32 - 35 Worcester Warriors
Hard game to predict after Edinburghs performance yesterday, but Warriors are better than Quins and can certainly get a victory. Both teams capable of scoring a lot of tries too. 

Edinburgh Rugby 19 - 30 Worcester Warriors
This isn't the strongest Edinburgh side, and the Wuss team have plenty of power and pace in the side to breach a weakened Scots side to come away with an away win

Edinburgh Rugby 18 - 25 Worcester Warriors

Edinburgh Rugby 20 - 25 Worcester Warriors
Edinburgh are worth their lead at half time in this fixture, but the quality of Prop's bench changes the game and brings them back to victory in this close affair.

Exeter Chiefs 38 - 10 Grenoble
Chiefs too strong here at home, like the look of their backline-a good balance of experience and youth.

Exeter Chiefs 48 - 7 Grenoble
What else can you say apart from a rout and that Exeter better in every position

Exeter Chiefs 34 - 8 Grenoble
The Chiefs pack excel in the loose and really add a dimension to their attack. Pisi a weaklink in the backs but otherwise they are well on top, with Lopez-McCloskey a really complimentary 10-12 combo.  Overall, Chiefs like most of the AP sides are just a long way ahead, especially their backrow

Exeter Chiefs 46 - 20 Grenoble
Another pretty routine win with Exeter looking strong and way too much for the traveling side. 

Exeter Chiefs 30 - 13 Grenoble
Another BP for an AP side. Impact from the bench will really stretch out the margin on the scoreboard too. 

Exeter Chiefs 37 - 17 Grenoble
Grenoble are one of the weaker French sides, and up against a solid Exeter win they'll struggle to have much impact, comfortable home win

Exeter Chiefs 30 - 18 Grenoble

Exeter Chiefs 45 - 20 Grenoble
Chiefs have too much quality for the travelling frenchmen, however they won't have it all their own way, as the boys from Grenoble will ship the ball around and exploit some holes in the Chiefs defence.

Thanks guys

Fluxy wrote:Bath Rugby 20 - 24 Bristol Rugby
Front 5 can be quite an even battle, personally I prefer the back row balance of Bristol but Beaumont is bringing some good form in. At the moment on form the half backs go to Bristol and centres pretty close with Bristol maybe having more danger out wide. Bristol bringing in great breakdown tactics and confirms why they have selected the pack, this will get them a great win away from home.

Bath Rugby 27 - 24 Bristol Rugby

Bath Rugby 22 - 22 Bristol Rugby
Really can't separate here Bristol take backrow with excellent form but lose the centres. Elsewhere every match up is even and bench similarly. Simply can't separate 

Bath Rugby 27 - 29 Bristol Rugby
Wilson not playing for at least a year gives Bristol the scrum by default. After that, it possibly just sides to the home side in a tightly fought pack battle. Some good matchups in the backline, but Bristol just have enough to take this one. 

Bath Rugby 24 - 27 Bristol Rugby
Always give a few points advantage to the side with tactics and Bristols (as always are spot on). Could be a real challenger for the Challenge Cup. Gopperth's form a really big boost. 

Bath Rugby 23 - 26 Bristol Rugby
Both sides pretty evenly matched, but think Bristol have a harder edge in their front 5 with a couple of youngsters in the Bath pack. Clear game plan from Bristol really helps, and can see how they'll use the multiple playmakers. Bristol get a big road win

Bath Rugby 30 - 22 Bristol Rugby
Looking through the sides see a breakdown edge for Bristol but otherwise fairly even. The big swing here is tactics. Bristol set up well as always and against a disorganised Bath side pick up the away win.

Bath Rugby 21 - 27 Bristol Rugby
Bristol are much more prepared for this game, especially in a heated West Country derby. CJ gets the most out of his back line and the bench to get the maximum effect and in turn the result to match, to put his head in charge of the pool.

The penultimate one, the scores and description don't seem to add up!

Away from the sheet mate, will have to look tomorrow as I'm away from work and laptops today.