View From The 22

T'other lot

Bath Rugby: 15. Tom de Glanville, 14. Anthony Watson, 13. Max Clark, 12. Cameron Redpath, 11. Will Muir, 10. Rhys Priestland, 9. Will Chudley; 1. Juan Schoeman, 2. Jacques du Toit, 3. Henry Thomas, 4. Will Spencer, 5. Charlie Ewels ©, 6. Josh Bayliss, 7. Sam Underhill, 8. Zach Mercer

Replacements: 16. Tom Doughty, 17. Jamie Bhatti, 18. Christian Judge, 19. Josh McNally, 20. Taulupe Faletau, 21. Ben Spencer, 22. Orlando Bailey, 23. Joe Cokanasiga

Bath have got a fancy dancy team announcement video thingy that I can't link to properly

Great to see Ben back!

Happy enough with the side - shame to see Ashman drop out all together after another great cameo last week. I would've given serious consideration to starting him tbh - I think he's earned a shot.

Shame there's no Rohan - I thought they said he was only absent before because of the plastic pitch? But he's not been seen since

Disappointing to see Josh out again - hopefully it's just a rolled/twisted ankle and just need a weeks rest and he'll be back firing again shortly, and nothing more sinister

No WGJ again - hopefully he's back soon, we'll need him for the playoff run - however I'm very excited to see Harper get some more game time

That's a crazy stat! He still feels brand new!

Now played more games for Sale than any other club in his career

Hi Everyone - Not sure what the protocols for introductions are but here goes. I'm new to this forum but have been a spectator for quite a while. Have been following the Sharks since 2005 when I played rugby in Singapore. It's been the best of times and the worst of times but am glad we're going in the right direction again.

On the game Vs Bath, no surprise that both teams have gone full strength (almost). Good to see Ben Curry back for the season run in and glad that they chose not to risk Tuilagi for this game with Exeter, Quins and Bristol to come.

C'mon you !!

Bit surprised and disappointed that we don't see JP Du Preez on the teamsheet - he's been a lineout banker when he's played. Whether he starts or comes off the bench I don't mind, but the option would have been nice.

Muir must be some talent to be keeping the likes of Cokansiga, Rokoduguni and McConnochie out of the team.

Basilbullneck wrote: ↑

Thu May 13, 2021 1:08 pm

Bit surprised and disappointed that we don't see JP Du Preez on the teamsheet ]

He's wearing 5 isn't he?

Welcome to the message board, London Shark. Keep posting!

Basilbullneck wrote: ↑

Thu May 13, 2021 1:08 pm

Muir must be some talent to be keeping the likes of Cokansiga, Rokoduguni and McConnochie out of the team.

Muir has been playing really well, to be fair to him
I believe McConnochie is injured and Cokanasiga hasn't hit anywhere near his pre-RWC form since coming back from injury

Average age of the bench: 22.
Ross Harrison the old man at 28

Thanks for the numbers John, I was thinking that it was a very youthful looking bench.

Welcome @London shark, looking forward to a new voice/keyboard on many topics. There really isn't much around here by way of protocol, jump in and say what you think.

Re-Friday night, 30 points up, try bonus secured before half time with a second half in cruise control would make a refreshing change.

Is a very good Bath team on paper. But that's their biggest problem isn't, being good on paper.

Bath’s front row must be the weak point, whereas it’s normally a strength, so hopefully we can get some joy in that area. I’m a little surprised not to see Val involved for that reason.

Only 2 real lineout options with DDP not involved, but with JP we should be ok.

Real shame that we have Rohan/Manu out at the same time and Josh B/Lood ditto.

Probably a bit underwhelmed for some reason and always nervous against Bath though pleased Spencer isn't starting - I remember him leading them to a win at our place.

One of those we should win but you just never know with Bath - I'm fairly sure they won't be shy at long passes out to the wing to cut out our rush defence so glad we've got our first choice wingers out as positioning will be key.

Really nice to see Ben Curry back - Dan having a well deserved rest.

We need this win to make life easier for ourselves.....but we rarely do so!

Hard to imagine Harrison being the old man of the side!

Also welcome London Shark - I'm also now in these parts - very fond memories of pubs in Singapore from my work there.....Muddy Murphy's springs to mind.......

Elgar wrote: ↑

Thu May 13, 2021 1:19 pm

Basilbullneck wrote: ↑

Thu May 13, 2021 1:08 pm

Bit surprised and disappointed that we don't see JP Du Preez on the teamsheet ]

He's wearing 5 isn't he?

Doh, brainfart time! Too many players with the same surname!

I thought we might have signed a 5th Du Preez and I'd missed the memo.

Not won at the Rec for 7 years apparently, and they’ve not exactly been great over that period.

Not a happy ground for us.

Conversely our home record to Bristol and Quins is excellent, so not all on this game, but any kind of win would be very welcome.

Van Cannonball wrote: ↑

Thu May 13, 2021 6:17 pm

Not won at the Rec for 7 years apparently, and they’ve not exactly been great over that period.

Not a happy ground for us.

Conversely our home record to Bristol and Quins is excellent, so not all on this game, but any kind of win would be very welcome.

Think that was the ten minute scrum in the muddy corner game

poyntonshark wrote: ↑

Thu May 13, 2021 2:31 pm

Re-Friday night, 30 points up, try bonus secured before half time with a second half in cruise control would make a refreshing change.

Can I have some of whatever he's been drinking?

Major Bloodnok wrote: ↑

Thu May 13, 2021 8:00 pm

poyntonshark wrote: ↑

Thu May 13, 2021 2:31 pm

Re-Friday night, 30 points up, try bonus secured before half time with a second half in cruise control would make a refreshing change.

Can I have some of whatever he's been drinking?

It would be nice if Poynters could specify which team is 30pts up

Thekeg wrote: ↑

Thu May 13, 2021 7:58 pm

Van Cannonball wrote: ↑

Thu May 13, 2021 6:17 pm

Not won at the Rec for 7 years apparently, and they’ve not exactly been great over that period.

Not a happy ground for us.

Conversely our home record to Bristol and Quins is excellent, so not all on this game, but any kind of win would be very welcome.

Think that was the ten minute scrum in the muddy corner game

Wasn't that about 150 scrums in 10 minutes, all 150 of which we <ahem..> 'lost our footing in the slippery conditions', every time.

Yareet wrote: ↑

Thu May 13, 2021 8:48 pm

Major Bloodnok wrote: ↑

Thu May 13, 2021 8:00 pm

poyntonshark wrote: ↑

Thu May 13, 2021 2:31 pm

Re-Friday night, 30 points up, try bonus secured before half time with a second half in cruise control would make a refreshing change.

Can I have some of whatever he's been drinking?

It would be nice if Poynters could specify which team is 30pts up

Oh ye of little faith.

Major. FYI. Mostly Guinness this week, with a few 'small' Jack and Cokes.

poyntonshark wrote: ↑

Fri May 14, 2021 2:00 am

Thekeg wrote: ↑

Thu May 13, 2021 7:58 pm

Van Cannonball wrote: ↑

Thu May 13, 2021 6:17 pm

Not won at the Rec for 7 years apparently, and they’ve not exactly been great over that period.

Not a happy ground for us.

Conversely our home record to Bristol and Quins is excellent, so not all on this game, but any kind of win would be very welcome.

Think that was the ten minute scrum in the muddy corner game

Wasn't that about 150 scrums in 10 minutes, all 150 of which we <ahem..> 'lost our footing in the slippery conditions', every time.

If a doctor ever tells me I've got 80mins left to live I'll crack that game on - feels like it went on for bloody ever!

https://www.rugbypass.com/news/worlds-t ... -for-bath/


Tall order for Bath? Let’s all hope so

And Henry Thomas was playing ironically if I’m not mistaken?

How do you play ironically ?

Penalised for a scrum pushover penalty try hopefully!...

Ref wouldn’t give a pen try cause we kept dropping it before it got going. It was brilliant cheating by us.

I think in fairness the ref was sympathetic to the state of the pitch giving way. Too many refs too keen to given pens off scrums IMO.

Nah. Pretty sure @Clutch is right. We dropped immediately the ball was in, couldn't be penalised as Bath were never going forwards. We should have had a yellow card or two though.

We did. Thomas was binned definitely.

Clutch wrote: ↑

Fri May 14, 2021 7:03 pm

We did. Thomas was binned definitely.

Was he eventually binned for not engaging/refusing to engage/delaying the engage - rather than repeatedly dropping the scrum ?

WAKEY, WAKEY.

Forward pass?!

Absolute joke how forward that was

Made by the timing of the pass.
7:0

I thought it was just me, looked miles forward, but not even a murmur from anyone else.

Bath always play well vs us and we always play poorly vs them
Grim omens so far

Thats more like it. Danger of a rugby match breaking out here.

There was some bloody nice rugby in that!
Though it was a knock on from Sam but must've missed

Awesome

Take that come back.

7:7 another Du Preez try

Wasn't that the very definition of a seatbelt tackle on faf?

Ffs. What’s going on with our centres’ defence? At fault for both.

Shocking tackling

Akker missed the tackle for the second.

Anyone got a clue what Dallaglio is talking about, cos I don't think he has. He thinks we got a scrum penalty on our favour because we pushed early????

Going to be a long night if Faf doesn’t improve his accuracy of pass

Going to be one of those nights.

If we keep giving pens away at this rate, we'll have 4 yellows again.