[StalyShark]

Ashman on for Ben, Roebuck for Yarde and Birch for JP.

[Olyy]

Ashman, Reed and Denny on

Ashman in the backrow (though doesn't really matter with scrums uncontested)
Neild at 8

[Olyy]

Roebuck at 15

[StalyShark]

Langdon on too but no idea who for!

[Olyy]

Langdon on too but no idea who for!

On for Rohan, maybe?
I've very much lost track

Edit: Nope Rohan is still there in the huddle,
Don't recognise the #21

[StalyShark]

Curtis too it looks like now.

Who is our massive coach? The latest league one whose name I can’t remember? Unit.

[StalyShark]

Phillips in a bad way. All we need with no Lood, x2 du Preez and Postlethwaite. Up on feet at least.

Btw the Italian for line speed is line speed.

[Olyy]

Think Philips might be missing a few teeth after that

[chris1850]

Stream froze for 10 mins. Why are we on uncontested scrums?

[Olyy]

Stream froze for 10 mins. Why are we on uncontested scrums?

Think both Treviso looseheads went off injured

[StalyShark]

Stream froze for 10 mins. Why are we on uncontested scrums?

Think both Treviso looseheads went off injured

Starting one couldn’t handle Schonert. Didn’t see another.

[Bronzbronx]

Curtis too it looks like now.

Who is our massive coach? The latest league one whose name I can’t remember? Unit.

Jamie Langley maybe

[chris1850]

Who's our Tom Wood lookalike at 20?

[Olyy]

Stream froze for 10 mins. Why are we on uncontested scrums?

Think both Treviso looseheads went off injured

Starting one couldn’t handle Schonert. Didn’t see another.

No 17 went off very early in the second half after a lengthy injury break


While it's disappointing not to see Carpenter at fullback it is interesting to see Roebuck is considered an option there,
Not sure what his boot is like but he's good under the high ball and is pretty tall as well, which helps for competing there

[StalyShark]

Who's our Tom Wood lookalike at 20?

Rouban Birch. Was released this time last year and must be back in training at least.

[chris1850]

Ah. Yes. Thanks

[StalyShark]

McIntyre, Carpenter and Thomas have had a nice weekend away.

[Flumpty]

Thank you to the Club for setting the Livestream up with Benetton - twas a very pleasant way to spend 100+ minutes.

[Flumpty]

Did we get 4 hookers on the pitch at the same time ?

Taylor, Ashman, Nield and Langdon - if so, can a scrum with 4 hookers officially be called a brothel ?

[Olyy]

Very impressed with the livestream,
Best quality I've seen of any this pre season, multiple camera angles, good direction etc


Weird old game, as most preseasons are, but good to get the lungs working and blood pumping through the legs
Would've liked to have seen McIntyre on, especially as Ross came back on in the 2nd

Lineout a big worry in the first half, I reckon TT will start next week as he took all the lineouts in the second half even with Langdon and Ashman on
Though, if it were me, I'd start Langdon

[dinogyro]

Who's our Tom Wood lookalike at 20?

Rouban Birch. Was released this time last year and must be back in training at least.

He looks very good. Keen to get in the action and looks around to see what is happening.

[DaveAitch]

0-0 then?

[Olyy]

0-0 then?

19 - 28
Tries by Hammo, Quirke, Neild and Langdon
3 conversions from Wilko and one from Curtis

[chris1850]

My wife tried Google Translate on the commentary at one point. This was the result:

"Come on, we will find the sent I speak and we made it we have the life to show the beautiful things the photos of the grandmother who is great helps the healthy competition and it is true. Then so many new companions would always compare with the clothes."

[DavenportSharky]

Akker is in danger of not being in the 23. The 2 targets he seemed to prefer last year were JP and Cobus- the 2 who he could not find tonight. Why does he not throw to the front when he struggles??

[Clutch]

He does usually. Not much point in doing so in a friendly I guess. No excuse for poor darts with JP playing

[PappjeShark]

Re Birch, did I see something on Twitter the other day that he was one of a few players dual registered and due to spend time playing with Coventry (the real one that is, not our old boy network)?

And with Dugdale returning last season, it strikes me that we’re unwinding some of the bonfire of the Academy that seemed to follow after the season before last and which seemed to be affected by the combination of covid whacking the economics and the revision of all the first -team contracts (can’t recall precisely what drove the latter). Though whatever the reason, great for both players and club if they’re back in the fold and looking promising.

Any thoughts on Denny playing 15? Saw a bit of chat about that on Twitter last night.

[Olyy]

AJ starting for USA this weekend, which is great to see

Any thoughts on Denny playing 15? Saw a bit of chat about that on Twitter last night.

Fairly sure it was Roebuck at 15
Denny was coming in field looking for the ball a lot but did seem to be on the right wing

[StalyShark]

Akker is in danger of not being in the 23. The 2 targets he seemed to prefer last year were JP and Cobus- the 2 who he could not find tonight. Why does he not throw to the front when he struggles??

Can see Akker being used at 6, Jono looks like he’ll be playing 8 for now, especially now Postlethwaite seems injured and Beaumont will probably have to go into the seconds.

Not sure these two games told us much about the starting team for next week. Why did RdP not play? Injured? Out of favour? No idea.

Here’s my guess:

Rodd
Taylor
Schonert
JP
Wiese
Nield
Ben
Jono
Raffi
RdP
Yarde
Manu
Sam
Byron
Luke


Langdon
Harrison
Ford if not Coenie
Phillips if not concust. Birch? Bit of a problem
Akker
Cliff
Wilkinson
Rohan

[Olyy]

I reckon Ben will play 6, even when Dugdale went off last night Ben stayed at blindside
My guess is a Ben/Dugdale/Ross backrow being our first choice atm

My guess at Axes team (not necessarily who I'd pick), presuming Beaumont is out:

Rodd, Akker, Schoenert
Wiese, JP
Ben, Dugdale, Ross
Raffi, RdP
Yarde, Rohan, Manu, Byron
Hammersley

Taylor, Harrison, Oosthuizen, Philips (Postlethwaite if injured), Neild, Cliff, Wilkinson, Reed (maybe Denny)

[Clutch]

You could be right but I’d expect Neild to start.

[Olyy]

You could be right but I’d expect Neild to start.

I wouldn't be surprised at that, and would be my choice too - just not sure if they'd throw him in for a start when he's been out injured for a while

[45jumper]

Any particular stand-outs last night? How did the young lads do at 10?

[dinogyro]

Not a young-un, but I thought Will did very well. His kicking was much more controlled and got some good height which enabled a bit of a chase, even though we still seem a bit poor at that.

Will isn't the running attacking threat of Raffi or Faff, but it would still be worth him starting, I think.

It was all a bit difficult to tell what was going on with all the players coming on/off and not having an English commentary (come back Ugo?).

The second half combo seems to work better together, although with the uncontested scrums it's hard to judge accurately.

[Olyy]

Any particular stand-outs last night? How did the young lads do at 10?

Schoenert was a real standout - if he brings that scrummaging form to the prem then he's worth his weight in gold
Got a cut on his eyebrow that kept requiring stoppage (not sure if he got it in last week's game - seemed to be leaking almost instantly this game), hopefully we can get that properly stitched up for this weekend

As mentioned earlier on the thread: JPdP has added some bulk to his frame, and looks a better player for it. I did have concerns about him in the tight, before, but he played very well and was part of a completely dominant scrum

Dugdale better than I remember at the ruck, won a few penalties/turnovers

Wilkinson was good but not standout - don't remember him doing anything wrong, and he nailed his kicks
Looked composed, and has a nice miss pass in his arsenal

Between the uncontested scrums and a million substitutions it's hard to really get a feel for how players played in the second half

[Flumpty]

& a Mention In Dispatches for Arron Reed. He really put himself about and was a real PITA to the receiving Benetton players in the kick chase.

[eBike]

Any news on Philips ?

He appeared to be in some distress immediately after the incident and clearly took one hell of a blow to the jaw. Fingers crossed that he's OK.

[Flumpty]

Any news on Philips ?

He appeared to be in some distress immediately after the incident and clearly took one hell of a blow to the jaw. Fingers crossed that he's OK.

I always think that Philips is like the Terminator - but last night he looked like he'd really taken a hard knock. I hope that the Postman is going to be OK

[Thekeg]

Not a young-un, but I thought Will did very well. His kicking was much more controlled and got some good height which enabled a bit of a chase, even though we still seem a bit poor at that.

Will isn't the running attacking threat of Raffi or Faff, but it would still be worth him starting, I think.

It was all a bit difficult to tell what was going on with all the players coming on/off and not having an English commentary (come back Ugo?).

The second half combo seems to work better together, although with the uncontested scrums it's hard to judge accurately.

Thought he kicked really well in that second half

[Thekeg]

Any news on Philips ?

He appeared to be in some distress immediately after the incident and clearly took one hell of a blow to the jaw. Fingers crossed that he's OK.

There was a lot of blood, looked like a loss of teeth or he’d bitten his tongue rather than a break

[PappjeShark]

AJ starting for USA this weekend, which is great to see

Any thoughts on Denny playing 15? Saw a bit of chat about that on Twitter last night.

Fairly sure it was Roebuck at 15
Denny was coming in field looking for the ball a lot but did seem to be on the right wing

Cheers Olyy, I wasn’t watching and was picking up on Twitter scraps so was maybe conjecture rather than him actually playing there.

[Olyy]

Jono confirmed as club captain for the season,
Not that surprised - the other options are Tom and Faf (based on last seasons captaincy selections), neither of whom are available for a while/won't be available for international periods