Prem Round 6

A lot of changes and 20-23 year olds in the Saints team to face the Bears tomorrow. 4 just on the bench.

Good to see Alex Coles back and hopefully fit again, I like the look of that scrum, a lot of mobility but also bulk through the tight 5

BRISTOL BEARS vs NORTHAMPTON SAINTS
Gallagher Premiership, Round 6
Friday 25 October, 2024
Kick-off: 7.45pm

15 George Hendy
14 James Ramm
13 Tom Litchfield
12 Rory Hutchinson
11 Tom Seabrook
10 George Makepeace-Cubitt – Saint #2095
9 Tom James

1 Tom West
2 Curtis Langdon
3 Elliot Millar Mills
4 Temo Mayanavanua
5 Alex Coles (c)
6 Josh Kemeny
7 Tom Pearson
8 Henry Pollock

Replacements:
16 Craig Wright
17 Emmanuel Iyogun
18 Luke Green
19 Gavin Thornbury
20 Angus Scott-Young
21 Archie McParland
22 Charlie Savala
23 Jake Garside

BRISTOL BEARS TEAM TO FACE SAINTS:
15 Rich Lane, 14 Jack Bates, 13 Kalaveti Ravouvou, 12 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 11 Gabriel Ibitoye, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Kieran Marmion; 1 Jake Woolmore, 2 Gabriel Oghre, 3 Max Lahiff, 4 James Dun, 5 Joe Batley, 6 Steven Luatua, 7 Benjamin Grondona, 8 Fitz Harding (c).
Replacements: 16 Harry Thacker, 17 Yann Thomas, 18 George Kloska, 19 Joe Owen, 20 Jake Heenan, 21 Sam Wolstenholme, 22 Sam Worsley, 23 Benjamin Elizalde.

Good to see Harry Thacker back.

Odd that Saints are backing young GMC over the far more experienced and still only 24 Savala. Going to be interesting to see what the young lad can do at 10 up against AJ MacGinty who's nearly old enough to be his dad.

Saracens Men team to play Leicester Tigers:

1 Eroni Mawi
2 Kapeli Pifeleti
3 Marco Riccioni
4 Theo McFarland
5 Hugh Tizard
6 Juan Martin Gonzalez
7 Toby Knight
8 Tom Willis
9 Ivan van Zyl (c)
10 Alex Goode
11 Rotimi Segun
12 Nick Tompkins
13 Lucio Cinti
14 Tobias Elliott
15 Tom Parton

Replacements:

16 James Hadfield
17 Phil Brantingham
18 Alec Clarey
19 Harry Wilson
20 Nathan Michelow
21 Gareth Simpson
22 Josh Hallett
23 Tim Swiel

STARTING XV

15 Mike Brown [28]
14 Anthony Watson [21]
13 Izaia Perese [3]
12 Joseph Woodward [12]
11 Ollie Hassell-Collins [27]
10 Handré Pollard [35]
9 Tom Whiteley [30]
1 Nicky Smith [5]
2 Julián Montoya [61]
3 Joe Heyes [145]
4 Harry Wells [204]
5 Tom Manz [7]
6 Hanro Liebenberg [112]
7 Tommy Reffell [119]
8 Olly Cracknell [47]

REPLACEMENTS

16 Charlie Clare [100]
17 James Cronin [38]
18 Will Hurd [42]
19 Côme Joussain [3]
20 Matt Rogerson [17]
21 Ben Youngs [318]
22 Jamie Shillcock [30]
23 Will Wand [3]

Isn't there supposed to be limits on NEQ players in matchday squads? I count 8 NEQ starting for Sarries and 7 for Tigers

lostinwales wrote:Isn't there supposed to be limits on NEQ players in matchday squads? I count 8 NEQ starting for Sarries and 7 for Tigers

It always used to be an average over the season, to allow for injuries and international call ups. I'd imagine since the best EQPs in the country will all be in England training, the clubs might get a pass on this weekend anyway.

lostinwales wrote:Isn't there supposed to be limits on NEQ players in matchday squads? I count 8 NEQ starting for Sarries and 7 for Tigers

Perese, Pollard, Smith, Montoya, Reffell, Hurd, Joussain and Cronin. For Tigers. Possibly Liebenburg to, can't remember where he is in terms of qualification or not.

Reffell and Hurd were both Tigers academy mind.

Under the supposed changes that haven't been confirmed yet I don't think there's supposed to be 15 EQ players in every match day squad. Previously there limits of two "foreign" players but the various laws around employment generally made that a joke.

Sarries are providing Dan, George, Itoje, Isiekwe, Earl and Daly to England.

Tigers are providing Cole, Martin, Chessum, JvP and Steward.

Poorfour wrote:

lostinwales wrote:Isn't there supposed to be limits on NEQ players in matchday squads? I count 8 NEQ starting for Sarries and 7 for Tigers

It always used to be an average over the season, to allow for injuries and international call ups. I'd imagine since the best EQPs in the country will all be in England training, the clubs might get a pass on this weekend anyway.

Here is a three year old announcement from the Premiership regarding the 'future' of the game from that standpoint.  It is also the best info I could find, so far:
From August 2024, the intention is to move to a position where there is a mandatory England Qualified Players (EQPs) system under which Premiership clubs must have a minimum of 15 EQPs in each match-day squad and the end of the foreign player rule to provide better England player development opportunities while giving greater flexibility for Premiership clubs to select non-EQP players of any nationality. There is further work to do to agree the detail of this subject to a new Professional Game Agreement (PGA) and introduction into regulation.

This even references the need to move on from the 'foreign player rules' since they had more holes than swiss cheese.  No mention I could find that this was formally activated or not.

Some drama yesterday evening with Sarries and Tigers knocking lumps out of each other and scoring tries freely. Tigers snatching a win for the first time in six and a half years away at Sarries. The Chieka train still rumbling on.

Tom Willis again to the fore in that game, even if he did cough up a knock on to end the game whilst getting absolutely snotted by Cracknell (might not be thanking the halfback for that pass). Not sure what more needs to do to get Borthwick's attention. Similar with Heyes as well who was all action.

Sarries a bit unlucky with the late changes and I thought that would spoil the match, but it turned out to be another great contest with one team pulling out a lead only to be hauled in for a close finish ... you can't say the prem hasn't been entertaining this year.

Seems a funny old season so far, with some teams just misfiring. The Premiership sides showed up reasonably well in Europe last year. At this rate, it will be surprise if we get two semi-finalists again.

Rugby Fan wrote:Seems a funny old season so far, with some teams just misfiring. The Premiership sides showed up reasonably well in Europe last year. At this rate, it will be surprise if we get two semi-finalists again.

Most squads have seen an unusual level of upheaval with lots of players leaving due to the salary cap - and some teams have started the season with injury crises. A lot will depend on how quickly they settle down and get some consistency in selection.

Poorfour wrote:

Rugby Fan wrote:Seems a funny old season so far, with some teams just misfiring. The Premiership sides showed up reasonably well in Europe last year. At this rate, it will be surprise if we get two semi-finalists again.

Most squads have seen an unusual level of upheaval with lots of players leaving due to the salary cap - and some teams have started the season with injury crises. A lot will depend on how quickly they settle down and get some consistency in selection.

After a few successful under 20 seasons we are seeing quite a few promotions of younger players into squads as well. They are replacing experienced players in squads so we're seeing less consistency but also more creativity and players taking more chances. Been a fun season so far.