Pre Season Friendlies

First topic message reminder :

Seeing as most teams are now begging their pre-season training, does anyone have news of any pre-season fixtures?

5th August
Bristol 19 V 33 Harlequins - Saturday 5th August
http://www.bristolrugby.co.uk/news/report-bristol-rugby-19-33-harlequins/


11th/12 August
Bristol 31 V 34 Bath - Weekend Of 11th August
http://www.bristolrugby.co.uk/news/report-bristol-rugby-31-34-bath-rugby/

Ospreys 14 V 21 Leicester - Friday 11th August (Bridgend)
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-match-reports/ospreys-14-21-leicester-tigers-13466978

Montpellier 40 v 15 Dragons - Friday 11th August
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-match-reports/montpellier-40-15-dragons-welsh-13466843

USA Perpignan 42 V 32 Leinster Rugby – Friday 11th August
http://www.leinsterrugby.ie/perpignan-42-leinster-32/

Northampton 71 v 21 Dragons - Saturday 12th August
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-match-reports/northampton-saints-71-21-dragons-13469008

Scarlets 82 V 12 Scarlets Premiership Select - Saturday 12th August
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/scarlets-82-premiership-select-xv-13469331

Newcastle 31 V 8 Nottingham - Sarurday 12th August
http://www.newcastlefalcons.co.uk/news/match/falcons-49-nottingham-19

Newcastle 49 V 19 Doncaster - Saturday 12th August
http://www.newcastlefalcons.co.uk/news/match/newcastle-falcons-31-doncaster-knights-8

Sale 31 V 14 Castre - Saturday 12th August
http://www.salesharks.com/news/5322.php#.WZGaZVGGOUl


17th-19th August
Northampton V Nottingham - Thursday 17th August
Ulster Rugby V Wasps - Thursday 17th August
Ospreys V Bath - Weekend of 18th August
Leicester V Treviso - Friday 18th August
Leinster Rugby V Gloucester Rugby – Friday 18th August
Bristol V Scarlets - Saturday 19th August
Exeter Cheifs V Dragons - Saturday 19th August
London Scottish v Cardiff Blues - Saturday 19th August
Glasgow V Northampton - Saturday 19th August
Newcastle V Rotherham - Saturday 19th August

23rd - 26th August
Wasps V Connacht Rugby – Wednesday 23 August
Leicester V Ospreys - Friday 25th August.
Northampton V Ulster  - Friday 25th August
Cardiff Blues v Exeter Chiefs - Friday 25th August
Gloucester Rugby V  Scarlets - Friday 25th August
Leinster Rugby V Bath Rugby – Friday 25th August
Dragons V Glasgow - Friday 25th August
Edinburgh V Newcastle - Friday 25th August
Connacht V Bristol - Staurday 26th August
Doncaster V Newcastle - Saturday 26th August


Not sure what is going on with midweek fixtures though seems pretty weird.

(I'll update this as and when Fixtures are known, and results come in)

The Scarlets have a tough game tonight in my opinion. Not sure if they'll beat Gloucester.

Brilliant start by Manu, certainly looks hungry

May gets his first try for tigers, he's certainly the type of player we need. Gives another play option with his speed

Ospreys line out going well, kicking far too much ball though

Gloucester are winning 7-0 against the Scarlets. Two very good teams here. Very hard to call who will win. Maybe it'll be a draw.

Our backs so far have been 1000% times better than last season. Just hope its a really improvement and it's not because we are against a 2nds ospreys team

May in again

nathan wrote:Our backs so far have been 1000% times better than last season. Just hope its a really improvement and it's not because we are against a 2nds ospreys team

Looks like a strong Ospreys side to me.

Ospreys: D. Evans; K. Giles, C. Allen, O. Watkin, J. Hassler; J. Hook, T. Habberfield (capt); P. James, S. Parry, M. Fia, B. Davies, R. Thornton, R. McCusker, D. Baker, O. Cracknell.

Thanks, sorry don't know enough about the ospreys team.
Tamua in for a try

You'd hope the Ospreys have a few key players to come in to that team because they've taken a first half humping by the looks of the online updates. Nearly half time and 26-0.

It wasn't pretty Sam, about the only plus for them is they didn't lose a line out on their own throw.

Been happy with our backs being able to actually catch the ball

45 minutes in and our first knock on. Goes to show the improvement in the basics

Ospreys with their first try, good run in.

Yellow card for tigers and then another try for ospreys. Clearly not a straight throw in though

Errors starting to set in now for tigers

[quote="nathan"]Errors starting to set in now for tigers[/quote

Nathan in the first half, our 3 went off and Rhodri Jones came on, did the 3 come back on? How did our scrum do after that?

40-14 final score. Looks like Ospreys rallied a little on the second half before Tigers reserves resrablished their advantage.

Glos 40-21 scarlets. Glos concede a few tries late on bit seemed like a good performance with purdy and thrush doing well from sounds of it.

That on the back of a win vs hartpury earlier in the day.

Alarm bells should be ringing for Welsh teams as it seems we're miles off the pace.

international198 wrote:

nathan wrote:Our backs so far have been 1000% times better than last season. Just hope its a really improvement and it's not because we are against a 2nds ospreys team

Looks like a strong Ospreys side to me.

Ospreys: D. Evans; K. Giles, C. Allen, O. Watkin, J. Hassler; J. Hook, T. Habberfield (capt); P. James, S. Parry, M. Fia, B. Davies, R. Thornton, R. McCusker, D. Baker, O. Cracknell.

Not sure it's that strong. Only a few first chose players there I think. Still, not nice to be whooped like that. Should have done better.

Tigers line up was;

Genge, Youngs, Mulipola 
Barrow, Kitchener 
Williams, Kalamafoni, Hamilton 
Youngs, Ford
Toomua, Manu 
Brady, TV, May

12 of our first choice 15. We couldn't be much stronger the three missing are Cole (enforced Lions rest) and Thompstone and BOC (injured).

Wayne, didn't see if he was on/off but they started to lose at scrum time

Griff wrote:

international198 wrote:

nathan wrote:Our backs so far have been 1000% times better than last season. Just hope its a really improvement and it's not because we are against a 2nds ospreys team

Looks like a strong Ospreys side to me.

Ospreys: D. Evans; K. Giles, C. Allen, O. Watkin, J. Hassler; J. Hook, T. Habberfield (capt); P. James, S. Parry, M. Fia, B. Davies, R. Thornton, R. McCusker, D. Baker, O. Cracknell.

Not sure it's that strong. Only a few first chose players there I think. Still, not nice to be whooped like that. Should have done better.

Griff, yes I would have expected better as well, there are a good half a dozen in there that are not first choice but the majority would be in our best 23, and that doesn't include Allen and Hook who we've only just signed. About the only consolation I can take from that, is that the last time we played a 3 game pre-season and lost the lot, we started the following season IIRC with 7 straight wins, but definitely don't expect that this season.

nathan wrote:Wayne, didn't see if he was on/off but they started to lose at scrum time

Cheers Nathan a couple of Os fans that were there, have posted that he walked off and hope he is not too bad, the problem for us is that we have 3 Non Wales Qualified (NWQ) tight heads on our books out of a quota of 8 NWQ allowed, and they are the first 3 choices, which is a ridiculous state of affairs and none are 100% fit, and then we have the said Rhodri Jones who is really a loose head being played there, when he hasn't been able to cut the mustard at that position with the Scarlets and Wales.

Isn't Mujati a LH?

mikey_dragon wrote:Isn't Mujati a LH?

No

wayne wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:Isn't Mujati a LH?

No

Correct, I just had to think about it. Has he played LH for you or did I imagine that? That's some lousy luck to have had all 3 injured but something doesn't seem right with the coaching. Maybe it will come good in a few weeks. It will definitely get better when AWJ, Tips, Webb, Biggar come back in.

mikey_dragon wrote:

wayne wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:Isn't Mujati a LH?

No

Correct, I just had to think about it. Has he played LH for you or did I imagine that? That's some lousy luck to have had all 3 injured but something doesn't seem right with the coaching. Maybe it will come good in a few weeks. It will definitely get better when AWJ, Tips, Webb, Biggar come back in.

Mikey, it is not lousy luck to have 3 NWQ, T/Hs. Fia will be able to play for Wales at the end of this season (think). A NWQ, should either be first choice or first choice when a established Welsh International goes to camp. If all 3 are available 1 will not be in the first team squad, another example is the NWQ for Brendon Leonard, when at best he is 3rd choice behind Webb and Habberfield, he has been very poor IMO. Not sure how long he has left on his contract but I and many others don't want it extended, with Aubrey and Reuben Morgan Williams coming through, both former Wales U20 scrum halves he will not be needed.

As for your point about our 4 Lions coming back, it is not only them, Fonotia and 23 fillers like Baldwin or Otten, King, Lydiate and Beck who is out injured again would seriously improve the 23.

wayne wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:

wayne wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:Isn't Mujati a LH?

No

Correct, I just had to think about it. Has he played LH for you or did I imagine that? That's some lousy luck to have had all 3 injured but something doesn't seem right with the coaching. Maybe it will come good in a few weeks. It will definitely get better when AWJ, Tips, Webb, Biggar come back in.

Mikey, it is not lousy luck to have 3 NWQ, T/Hs. Fia will be able to play for Wales at the end of this season (think). A NWQ, should either be first choice or first choice when a established Welsh International goes to camp. If all 3 are available 1 will not be in the first team squad, another example is the NWQ for Brendon Leonard, when at best he is 3rd choice behind Webb and Habberfield, he has been very poor IMO. Not sure how long he has left on his contract but I and many others don't want it extended, with Aubrey and Reuben Morgan Williams coming through, both former Wales U20 scrum halves he will not be needed.

As for your point about our 4 Lions coming back, it is not only them, Fonotia and 23 fillers like Baldwin or Otten, King, Lydiate and Beck who is out injured again would seriously improve the 23.  

No but it's lousy luck to have all 3 injured. The results (including end of last year) might indicate a coaching issue. Strange as for most of last season Ospreys looked really good. As for Leonard I wouldn't mind him at Dragons if it meant we could offload Knoyle, but that's only if Jon Evans couldn't make it back to us.

A 1st 2nd string bath inc at least 2 lions went down to a 2nd 3rd and academy leinster. 2 centres making debut. Back row was 19 20 and 21 years old.

Leinster were 17 0 up at one point before bath came back to 25 17.

http://www.leinsterrugby.ie/report-leinster-25-bath-17/?FixGuid=17LB0537

Toomua is a rock in defence

Welly wrote:Toomua is a rock in defence

I imagine that Tuilaigi playing alongside a '2nd five-eight' is quite a good midfield. Good that Ford has a babysitter at club level now too.

mikey_dragon wrote:

Welly wrote:Toomua is a rock in defence

I imagine that Tuilaigi playing alongside a '2nd five-eight' is quite a good midfield. Good that Ford has a babysitter at club level now too.

Ford won't ever be a big tackler but he's brave and he makes his tackles. He doesn't make dominant tackles but he brings them down which is all you can ask given his diminutive size. 

What he does ball in hand makes up for it.

St John The Enforcer wrote:A 1st 2nd string bath inc at least 2 lions went down to a 2nd 3rd and academy leinster. 2 centres making debut. Back row was 19 20 and 21 years old.

Leinster were 17 0 up at one point before bath came back to 25 17.

http://www.leinsterrugby.ie/report-leinster-25-bath-17/?FixGuid=17LB0537

Yes, a deep bench in Dublin.

Similarly, the Glasgow 2nds, 3rds and Academy kids managed to stick 6 tries on the Dragons away from home - Dragons 23 - 40 Glasgow:

George Carlin wrote:

St John The Enforcer wrote:A 1st 2nd string bath inc at least 2 lions went down to a 2nd 3rd and academy leinster. 2 centres making debut. Back row was 19 20 and 21 years old.

Leinster were 17 0 up at one point before bath came back to 25 17.

http://www.leinsterrugby.ie/report-leinster-25-bath-17/?FixGuid=17LB0537

Yes, a deep bench in Dublin.

Similarly, the Glasgow 2nds, 3rds and Academy kids managed to stick 6 tries on the Dragons away from home - Dragons 23 - 40 Glasgow:

We're just lulling you all into a false sense of security! You'll see.

Griff wrote:

George Carlin wrote:

St John The Enforcer wrote:A 1st 2nd string bath inc at least 2 lions went down to a 2nd 3rd and academy leinster. 2 centres making debut. Back row was 19 20 and 21 years old.

Leinster were 17 0 up at one point before bath came back to 25 17.

http://www.leinsterrugby.ie/report-leinster-25-bath-17/?FixGuid=17LB0537

Yes, a deep bench in Dublin.

Similarly, the Glasgow 2nds, 3rds and Academy kids managed to stick 6 tries on the Dragons away from home - Dragons 23 - 40 Glasgow:

We're just lulling you all into a false sense of security! You'll see.

formerly known as Sam wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:

Welly wrote:Toomua is a rock in defence

I imagine that Tuilaigi playing alongside a '2nd five-eight' is quite a good midfield. Good that Ford has a babysitter at club level now too.

Ford won't ever be a big tackler but he's brave and he makes his tackles. He doesn't make dominant tackles but he brings them down which is all you can ask given his diminutive size. 

What he does ball in hand makes up for it.

Yeah I agree, he's a good little player. Size doesn't stop Rhys Webb being a physical tackler .

Looking back at the Tigers team I think I might have underestimated them; they're a top 4 finish for sure.

formerly known as Sam wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:

Welly wrote:Toomua is a rock in defence

I imagine that Tuilaigi playing alongside a '2nd five-eight' is quite a good midfield. Good that Ford has a babysitter at club level now too.

Ford won't ever be a big tackler but he's brave and he makes his tackles. He doesn't make dominant tackles but he brings them down which is all you can ask given his diminutive size. 

What he does ball in hand makes up for it.

Ross Ford made a tackle. Where ? When? Why ? You will be saying he hooked the ball at a scrum once What sorcery is this ? You will be saying he failed to make a Scotland squad next?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge7K3pXzGZ0

try by toomua was a thing of beauty.

international198 wrote:Gloucester are winning 7-0 against the Scarlets. Two very good teams here. Very hard to call who will win. Maybe it'll be a draw.

It's like Bill McLaren's still with us.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:

international198 wrote:Gloucester are winning 7-0 against the Scarlets. Two very good teams here. Very hard to call who will win. Maybe it'll be a draw.

It's like Bill McLaren's still with us.

Harsh but obviously also .

A few Saints youngsters putting their hands up this pre-season.