Gallagher Premiership 2019/20 pt 2

by **LondonTiger** Sat 5 Sep 2020 - 14:18

First topic message reminder :

https://www.606v2.com/t69144-gallagher-premiership-2019-20

by king_carlos Mon 14 Sep 2020 - 12:33

No 7&1/2 wrote:Lol. Yes I'm sure Saracens will be thanking their lucky stars they've finally been caught!

Their players might secretly be thinking that but their finances certainly wont be. Massive fine, a year in the Championship and then another year at least (and likely at most I'll admit...) out of the Champions Cup is a lot of lost revenue for a club whose finances weren't in the best place anyway.

As a comparison. Tigers in no way should want to win the Challenge Cup from a playing perspective. There would be nothing for Tigers to gain on the field by going away to Leinster or Racing, shipping 50 points next season. It would represent a boost in revenue that the clubs will be direly hoping for if this admittedly poor Tigers side can scrape a win out of the Challenge Cup when every other side in the quarter finals except Castres are already qualified for the Champions Cup through their respective leagues.

by PhilBB Mon 14 Sep 2020 - 13:29

king_carlos wrote:
No 7&1/2 wrote:Lol. Yes I'm sure Saracens will be thanking their lucky stars they've finally been caught!

Their players might secretly be thinking that but their finances certainly wont be. Massive fine, a year in the Championship and then another year at least (and likely at most I'll admit...) out of the Champions Cup is a lot of lost revenue for a club whose finances weren't in the best place anyway.

As a comparison. Tigers in no way should want to win the Challenge Cup from a playing perspective. There would be nothing for Tigers to gain on the field by going away to Leinster or Racing, shipping 50 points next season. It would represent a boost in revenue that the clubs will be direly hoping for if this admittedly poor Tigers side can scrape a win out of the Challenge Cup when every other side in the quarter finals except Castres are already qualified for the Champions Cup through their respective leagues.

Their finances were absolutely fine. That's how they were able to break the salary cap.

by Duty281 Mon 14 Sep 2020 - 20:25

Gloucester have had two dozen phases of possession in the Quins 22. Quins have had no phases in the Gloucs 22. Quins have conceded more penalties, had less possession and territory and had a man in the bin.

But Quins lead 21-3 after 35 minutes. Bizarre game!

by Heaf Mon 14 Sep 2020 - 20:37

Yes Glaws have been having a shocker - and the officials haven't been much better ...

by Duty281 Mon 14 Sep 2020 - 21:43

Well Quins won 28-15 in the end. One of the strangest rugby games I've ever seen. Do think the officials should have been stricter on Quins' cynicism, and perhaps a second YC wouldn't have gone amiss.

by mikey_dragon Mon 14 Sep 2020 - 21:51

Wasps have a good lead but tough run-in over the next to game. Bristol could probably get 10 points from their remaining games. It’s going down to the wire for sure.

by Heaf Mon 14 Sep 2020 - 21:54

Indeed, I reckon Glaws would have gone over from one of the rolling mauls in the 1st half if Quins hadn't constantly infringed, and they conned the officials more than once ... having said that their handling tonight was dreadful.

by mikey_dragon Mon 14 Sep 2020 - 22:59

Cippers had a shocker. It was like watching his Rebels highlights reel.

by Heaf Tue 15 Sep 2020 - 12:05

Yep looked like he'd had a few before kick-off Smile

by mikey_dragon Tue 15 Sep 2020 - 12:19

Reminds me of Hook. When he was good he was one of the best players on the pitch; but when he was bad, boy was he ever bad.

by No 7&1/2 Tue 15 Sep 2020 - 12:53

Given how loosely cips and Gloucester played it was nice to see so much control by smith. Really starting to stamp authority on games.

by Geordie Tue 15 Sep 2020 - 12:57

Saracens have some cracking young kids coming through dont they.

A nice season in the champs to get blooded, and come back up to mix in with their big guns...and they could be stronger than ever.

by TightHEAD Tue 22 Sep 2020 - 21:50

Beautiful win by Bath, play awful for 60mins let the opposition think they have it in the bag and BOOOOOM!

IT'S BATH TIME

Dunn got England and Lions hooker.

by king_carlos Tue 29 Sep 2020 - 14:04

Bristol Bears: 15. Ioan Lloyd; 14. Niyi Adeolokun, 13. Piers O’Conor, 12. Sam Bedlow, 11. Alapati Leiua; 10. Callum Sheedy, 9. Andy Uren; 1. Yann Thomas, 2. Bryan Byrne, 3. Kyle Sinckler, 4. Dave Attwood, 5. Joe Joyce, 6. Steven Luatua (c), 7. Dan Thomas, 8. Nathan Hughes.

Replacements: 16. Harry Thacker, 17. Max Lahiff, 18. Jake Woolmore, 19. Ed Holmes, 20. Jake Heenan, 21. Harry Randall, 22. Harry Ascherl, 23. Semi Radradra.

15 Freddie Steward (vc)

14 Harry Potter

13 Dan Kelly

12 George Worth

11 Harry Simmons

10 Zack Henry

9 Ben White (vc)

1 Facundo Gigena

2 Jake Kerr

3 Joe Heyes

4 Cameron Henderson

5 Blake Enever

6 Ollie Chessum

7 Luke Wallace (vc)

8 Thom Smith (c)

REPLACEMENTS

16 Shalva Mamukashvili

17 Ryan Bower

18 Nephi Leatigaga

19 Sam Lewis

20 Jordan Coghlan

21 Jack Van Poortvliet

22 Johnny McPhillips

23 David Williams

by **LondonTiger** Tue 29 Sep 2020 - 14:23

Interesting that Bristol have selected a fair few guys who started against Bordeaux-Begles.

by TightHEAD Fri 2 Oct 2020 - 14:53

I guess Sale are out now with multiple covid infections. Not how I would want Bath to get a semi final spot.

by No 7&1/2 Sat 3 Oct 2020 - 18:14

You'll be pleased to find out its been postponed until Wednesday then. Northampton who have a number of positive tests have forfeited and a 20 0 win goes to Gloucester.

by TightHEAD Sun 4 Oct 2020 - 16:54

See ya Sarries. CHEATS. Good riddance.

by No 7&1/2 Sun 4 Oct 2020 - 17:48

There but for the grace of the other clubs eh.

Ouch. Just finished watching the game. No wonder you're salty.

by mikey_dragon Sun 4 Oct 2020 - 21:42

Rowlands and Young were good for Wasps again.

What’s the deal with how the play offs work? Is it Bath who could get bumped out of the top 4 by Sale?

by No 7&1/2 Sun 4 Oct 2020 - 22:09

by mikey_dragon Mon 5 Oct 2020 - 10:24

They have improved a lot under Hooper who's done very well considering he doesn't have a lot of coaching experience.

by king_carlos Mon 5 Oct 2020 - 11:16

mikey_dragon wrote:They have improved a lot under Hooper who's done very well considering he doesn't have a lot of coaching experience.

Neal Hatley has a really important addition for them. He's a top forwards coach.

Ben Spencer and Cam Redpath are good additions too. Their squad has a fair few outgoings with most of them not big losses - Louw was a Bath stalwart but his playing time had decreased due to injuries.

Surely Spencer will be in the England squads once Jones can select players from all 12 clubs.

by formerly known as Sam Mon 5 Oct 2020 - 11:17

mikey_dragon wrote:They have improved a lot under Hooper who's done very well considering he doesn't have a lot of coaching experience.

They struggled under Hooper initially wasn't until Neal Hatley returned that they started to really improve. Very astute move to bring him back as he's a good scrum coach and when you add that to Hooper's lineout knowledge suddenly you've got a platform to work from in a team that could already attack (Girvan Dempsey as backs/attack coach doesn't hurt either I'm sure). Hatley I think is now head coach with Hooper DOR. A combination that seems to be working for them. Wouldn't be surprised if they announce a signing or two before next season though.

by king_carlos Mon 5 Oct 2020 - 11:59

Luke Charteris is running the Bath lineout now, though Hooper will have input given his expertise there.

Specialist lineout coaches are becoming more common now it's such an important part of the game. Parling started his coaching career there.

Borthwick and Rowntree both touring with the Lions in NZ seemed a move in that direction as well. I wouldn't be surprised if a coach such as Parling is involved in the 2021 tours back room staff.

by mikey_dragon Mon 5 Oct 2020 - 22:40

Ah I wasn’t aware of Neil Hatley, I don’t know much about him but that seems like a good combo - both English too. That’s a good place for Charteris to be learning in, Wales will surely need that sort of expertise.

by Heaf Mon 5 Oct 2020 - 23:08

London Irish never should have let Neil Hatley go Sad

by king_carlos Tue 6 Oct 2020 - 10:07

Heaf wrote:London Irish never should have let Neil Hatley go

When sides get relegated or are consistently in relegation scraps we often discuss the risk of losing talented players but not talented coaches. The focus is usually on senior coaches getting the chop as a result of relegation - which sometimes is a good thing for the club in the long term. Talented assistant and academy coaches often move on though if they think being with a stable Premiership club will assist their coaching career long term.

Given the decade that Hatley spent at LI as a player and the academy doing very well with him managing it he may not have moved on with Booth.

by **LondonTiger** Tue 6 Oct 2020 - 10:24

Suggestions that Worcester have threatened to boycott the game with Sale tomorrow if it is not called off. Absolute omnishambles and clusterf**k by PRL (and Sale). Seems crazy that Saints cannot play as they have players self isolating due to playing against Sale, yet so far Sale players who train every day with teh same players do not.

by king_carlos Tue 6 Oct 2020 - 10:40

LondonTiger wrote:Suggestions that Worcester have threatened to boycott the game with Sale tomorrow if it is not called off. Absolute omnishambles and clusterf**k by PRL (and Sale). Seems crazy that Saints cannot play as they have players self isolating due to playing against Sale, yet so far Sale players who train every day with teh same players do not.

The Torygraph report that the infections spreading have been traced to a p*** up after withing the PRC wont help Sales case either.

by Brendan Tue 6 Oct 2020 - 11:14

I know there is alot on the line for Sale compared to Saints but surely there was a plan/rule in place for any team who had covid issues. If Sales game was postponed then Saints should have been. It's not like either Saints or Quinn's had anything on until November anyway.

If they don't have a rule in place it's very poor planning.

Alot of people have mentioned that Saints couldn't fulfil the fixture and Sale said they could. Then Sale should have played. If Worcester refused give them the walk over which I think is 4pts before Sunday. I am sure Bath would take legal action if it's done now as it changes the rules.

Right thing might be have Sale and Worcester draw.

by king_carlos Tue 6 Oct 2020 - 11:30

The rule in place is that the side unable to field a team forfeit by my understanding. As happened with Saints. Due to this game deciding what happens with the play-offs it seems feet are being dragged though.

An omnishambles as LT says.

If Sale miss out on the play-offs through this then presumably Diamond will go on a war path. At the best of times he has a temper to make Cockers seem like Mary Poppins.

by Brendan Tue 6 Oct 2020 - 14:10

king_carlos wrote:The rule in place is that the side unable to field a team forfeit by my understanding. As happened with Saints. Due to this game deciding what happens with the play-offs it seems feet are being dragged though.

An omnishambles as LT says.

If Sale miss out on the play-offs through this then presumably Diamond will go on a war path. At the best of times he has a temper to make Cockers seem like Mary Poppins.

Sale Definately seem to know what they are doing such as everyone renewing contracts right before the cap changed.

PRL kicking the decision down the road made it much more complicated. If the game doesn't get played on Wednedsday what do they do then. Moving the game to Wednesday means if Sale get through they play the playoff either they play Exter 3/4 days later or Wasps during next week.

by MichaelT Wed 7 Oct 2020 - 10:45

Sale forfeited the game. Bath through.

What a farce.

by TightHEAD Wed 7 Oct 2020 - 10:48

C'mon Bath, a well deserved thrashing at Exeter coming up.

by king_carlos Wed 7 Oct 2020 - 11:08

1.Hepburn
2.Cowan-Dickie
3.Williams
4.Hill
5.Gray
6.Vermuelen
7.Armand
8.Simmonds

9.Maunder
10.Simmonds

11.O'Flaherty
12.Whitten
13.Slade
14.Nowell
15.Hogg

16.Yeandle
17.Moon
18.Francis
19.Skinner
20.Ewers
21.Hidalgo-Clyne
22.Steenson
23.Devoto

Surely that side will take the title but the Wasps vs Bristol game is going to be a fun/fascinating one to watch. I'd back Bristol but expect it to be a close fought and open game.

by Recwatcher16 Wed 7 Oct 2020 - 12:02

In a lot of ways it is a disappointing way to progress into the knockout stage for Bath. That close loss against wasps with uncontested scrums was a key point in the campaign. Some of the fixtures with 2/3rds squad players has been a factor too.
Bath did beat Sale home and away this season but you have to feel sorry for them on these circumstances.

Sandy Park wont hold any fears for Bath but they will have no doubt about what they will need to do to gain parity and any hope of a victory. I am amazed Bath still have a fully fit squad to choose from, so they have chance and that second half against Saracens last week will be a useful reminder of what needs to happen.
The other semi final is anyone's guess....

by **LondonTiger** Fri 9 Oct 2020 - 13:17

Exeter Chiefs: 15. Stuart Hogg, 14. Olly Woodburn, 13. Henry Slade, 12. Ollie Devoto, 11. Tom O’Flaherty, 10. Joe Simmonds (capt), 9. Jack Maunder; 1. Alec Hepburn, 2. Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3. Harry Williams, 4. Jonny Gray, 5. Jonny Hill, 6. Dave Ewers, 7. Jacques Vermeulen, 8. Sam Simmonds

Replacements: 16. Jack Yeandle, 17. Ben Moon, 18. Tomas Francis, 19. Sam Skinner, 20. Jannes Kirsten, 21. Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 22. Gareth Steenson, 23. Ian Whitten

by **LondonTiger** Fri 9 Oct 2020 - 13:18

Bath Rugby: 15. Anthony Watson, 14. Ruaridh McConnochie, 13. Jonathan Joseph, 12. Cameron Redpath, 11. Joe Cokanasiga, 10. Rhys Priestland, 9. Ben Spencer; 1. Beno Obano, 2. Tom Dunn, 3. Will Stuart, 4. Josh McNally, 5. Charlie Ewels (C), 6. Tom Ellis, 7. Sam Underhill, 8. Taulupe Faletau

Replacements: 16. Jack Walker, 17. Lewis Boyce, 18. Christian Judge, 19. Elliott Stooke, 20. Miles Reid, 21. Will Chudley, 22. Josh Matavesi, 23. Tom de Glanville

by **LondonTiger** Fri 9 Oct 2020 - 13:19

Big Joe makes his first start for Bath in over a year.

by **LondonTiger** Fri 9 Oct 2020 - 13:19

Wasps: 15. Matteo Minozzi, 14. Zach Kibirige, 13. Malakai Fekitoa, 12. Jimmy Gopperth, 11. Josh Bassett, 10. Jacob Umaga, 9. Dan Robson; 1. Simon McIntyre, 2. Tommy Taylor, 3. Kieran Brookes, 4. Joe Launchbury (c), 5. Will Rowlands, 6. Jack Willis, 7. Thomas Young, 8. Brad Shields

Replacements: 16. Gabriel Oghre, 17. Tom West, 18. Biyi Alo, 19. James Gaskell, 20. Alfie Barbeary, 21. Tom Willis, 22. Ben Vellacott, 23. Michael Le Bourgeois

by **LondonTiger** Fri 9 Oct 2020 - 13:21

Bristol Bears: 15. Max Malins; 14. Luke Morahan, 13. Semi Radradra, 12. Siale Piutau, 11. Piers O’Conor; 10. Callum Sheedy, 9. Andy Uren; 1. Jake Woolmore, 2. Harry Thacker, 3. John Afoa, 4. Joe Joyce, 5. Chris Vui, 6. Steve Luatua (c), 7. Ben Earl, 8. Nathan Hughes.

Replacements: 16. George Kloska, 17. Yann Thomas, 18. Kyle Sinckler, 19. Ed Holmes, 20. Dan Thomas, 21. Harry Randall, 22. Sam Bedlow, 23. Alapati Leiua.

by No 7&1/2 Fri 9 Oct 2020 - 13:22

Should be a couple of cracking games. I think it's going to be exeter wasps in the final.

by **LondonTiger** Fri 9 Oct 2020 - 13:22

While Chiefs seem to have gone full strength concentrating on one game at a time, Bears are juggling their squad with one eye also on the Challenge Cup Final.

by **LondonTiger** Fri 9 Oct 2020 - 13:23

No 7&1/2 wrote:Should be a couple of cracking games. I think it's going to be exeter wasps in the final.

I hope it is Exeter v Bristol - but mainly due to my antipathy towards Wasps.

by Mr Bounce Fri 9 Oct 2020 - 13:28

There are cracking line ups for all 4 sides in the semis. I'm a Wasps fan, and can see it being a fairly close game with the Bears. I'd like to see us come out on top, but you never know.

Exeter - Bath is also mouthwatering. I am going to stick my neck out and say there's going to be an upset. Don't know why, just a feeling. Having said that, of course Exeter will now win by 25 points!! laughing

by MichaelT Fri 9 Oct 2020 - 13:37

The benefit of no Saracens is it could be any of these teams winning the league, if they were there you would expect them to win it again. Exeter rightly favourites, but that team will probably have to play 3 weeks in a row so could play a factor.

All 4 teams littered with in-form players. Hopefully 2 great games.

by No 7&1/2 Fri 9 Oct 2020 - 13:46

LondonTiger wrote:
No 7&1/2 wrote:Should be a couple of cracking games. I think it's going to be exeter wasps in the final.

I hope it is Exeter v Bristol - but mainly due to my antipathy towards Wasps.

Ah the beauty of not having a flying fig of who wins! Bristol wasps should be a great game though. Promises to be some great battles. The 2 open sides and scrum halfs alone playing for england spots.

by No 7&1/2 Fri 9 Oct 2020 - 13:49

MichaelT wrote:The benefit of no Saracens is it could be any of these teams winning the league, if they were there you would expect them to win it again. Exeter rightly favourites, but that team will probably have to play 3 weeks in a row so could play a factor.

All 4 teams littered with in-form players. Hopefully 2 great games.

Couldn't see saracens current team troubling the final personally. They still have a v good first team but with a huge drop off. You saw in europe how they were very reliant in the first team staying on the pitch for a long time, just don't think they'd come through 2 tough games so quickly.

by king_carlos Fri 9 Oct 2020 - 14:21

I'm delighted that Cam Redpath is getting starts at 12 in that Bath backline. He's a cracking talent.

Bath will need their international to standout if they are going to trouble Chiefs too much.

Looks like a cracking weekend of rugby!

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