[Olyy]

Sale Sharks Starting XV:  
15. Joe Carpenter, 14. Tom Roebuck 13. Rob du Preez ©, 12. Manu Tuilagi, 11. Arron Reed, 10. George Ford, 9. Gus Warr, 1. Bevan Rodd, 2. Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3. James Harper, 4. Cobus Wiese, 5. Josh Beaumont, 6. Ernst van Rhyn, 7. Sam Dugdale, 8. JL du Preez.  

Replacements:  
16. Tommy Taylor, 17. Si McIntyre, 18. Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 19. Ben Bamber, 20. Hyron Andrews, 21. Raffi Quirke, 22. Sam James, 23. Tom O’Flaherty.


No Schonert and no Curry are two big big blows,
Not keen on RdP at 13 but was inevitable with Ford back - Ford starting is a bit of a surprise, though imagine he's keen to play against an old club, hopefully he can bring his recent England form to the table

As strong as we can put out, realistically - though my pessimistic prediction is a fairly comfortable Bath win

[Olyy]

Bath Rugby:
1 Beno Obano, 2 Tom Dunn, 3 Thomas du Toit, 4 Quinn Roux, 5 Charlie Ewels, 6 Ted Hill, 7 Sam Underhill, 8 Alfie Barbeary, 9 Ben Spencer (c), 10 Finn Russell, 11 Will Muir, 12 Cameron Redpath, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 15 Matt Gallagher

Replacements: 16 Niall Annett, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 Archie Griffin, 19 Elliott Stooke, 20 Miles Reid, 21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Orlando Bailey, 23 Jaco Coetzee

[RugbyMarvel]

Harper at 3 and lack of Curry’s does worry me somewhat. Sense a beating coming.

Creevy, Schonert, Hill, T Curry, B Curry, D Du Preez are some big hitters who we could have done with!

[DavenportSharky]

Bath Rugby v Sale Sharks
Referee: Adam Leal (35th Premiership game)
ARs: Tom Foley & Greg Macdonald
TMO: Dean Richards

[LJK]

Come on guys...lets have some positivity...... 3 or 4 players back who either did play (well) or would have played for England, plus stalwarts like Wiese, JLDP and SiMac, and Roebuck on the wing. Not saying this is going to be easy win at all, but hopefully we can make a tight game of it.

[Alex]

That is a strong bath team, especially that back row!

[Surbiton_Shark]

Good to have some grunt back for us. My hopes for a positive result dipped somewhat without Ben C then I saw the Bath team - their back row will be handy

I genuinely forgot creevey played for us until someone mentioned it above

Safe travels for anyone going to the game

[dinogyro]

I hope Creevy stays with us. He reminds me of Akker a bit with his ability to get over the line at close range.

Sunday is going to be a very nervous watch!

[Lord Elpus]

Is Creevy injured?

[Olyy]

Defence poor in the midfield so far

[Altishark2222]

TMO asleep - definite forward pass for Bath try!

[Olyy]

Great line from Manu, and even better pass from Ford

Look what happens when we go quick ball and don't box kick in the 22!

[Olyy]

Far from perfect, but unrecognisable from the last however many games

Encouraging signs

[Alex]

Few interesting calls by the ref... or lack of calls.

Seems like we've grown into the game as the half has gone on

[45jumper]

The ref not on our side - the non-call of the forward pass particularly egregious and Quinn Roux allowed to turn over the ball whilst on his knees. LCD pinged for playing the ball in a ruck although a Bath player just lost it in contact.
That being said there's been a fair amount to he encouraged by. Attack looks sharper, just lacking a bit of quality in certain areas.

[Olyy]

How have they missed that?!

After that clip of the TMO saying he doesn't want to award a penalty because Healy had spotted it, it really feels like they're doing the same today

[Beardedshark]

Annoying try to. Concede after losing too important line outs. Again!

[Olyy]

Great slap on from RdP, always love seeing Dugdale score

Ford's kicking is absolutely spot on today, that conversion couldn't have been more perfect

[StalyShark]

Can we have Forshaw back please?

[Olyy]

Midfield defence has been so bad, think three tries directly from massive gaps left open

[Olyy]

Benches were huge momentum changers,
Disappointing to come away with nothing but it's what I expected pre-game so ho hum

Still, some encouraging signs in the first half, back three and Ford all played well

[Streatham Shark]

Really disappointing after having been in touch for so much of the game. Think that's the season done now.

[45jumper]

Sanderson needs to ask some very, very tough questions. We look under prepared and crumble when the going gets tough. The defence has been poor ever since Langley took it over. Our forwards rarely punch above their weight.
If our training is primarily focused on attack - as Sanderson claims - then Deacon just isn't up to it. Some nice play but we didn't get a bonus point and our 'attack' has been pitiful all season.
Top four is gone. Time to make some hard choices, Axe.

[RinTin]

Game of what ifs really. What if Reed hadn’t stumbled when he was about to score? What if the Ref had done his job and noticed 2 forward passes directly leading to tries? What if Carpenter had trusted Manu to make the inside tackle for Lawrence’s try?

I believe we still would have lost, we simply weren’t as good as Bath today. But those 2 bonus points should have been ours. Top 4 now seems a bridge too far.

Quick word on that epic Roebuck finish, the effort of Ernst around the park, Bevan showing up well and the goal kicking of George.

[LJK]

What happened there.? 24 all with 20 mins to go and the game very even. Raffi comes on and speeds the delivery up, Taylor gets his throws right after 2 misses from LCD, the much vaunted Asher O- F is on and others and yet we crumble to get nothing . Yes I know there were missed calls against Bath by the ref. but we were still in with a chance until the last quarter. Don't get it at all!

[Lord Elpus]

Bath/Wasps/Wariors 3 club bench stronger than ours. Officials were incredibly lax on forward passes.

[The Back Row]

Sanderson needs to ask some very, very tough questions. We look under prepared and crumble when the going gets tough. The defence has been poor ever since Langley took it over. Our forwards rarely punch above their weight.
If our training is primarily focused on attack - as Sanderson claims - then Deacon just isn't up to it. Some nice play but we didn't get a bonus point and our 'attack' has been pitiful all season.
Top four is gone. Time to make some hard choices, Axe.

Questions need to be asked OF Sanderson, not BY him.

[dinogyro]

I actually don't think the performance was that bad. A few things 50/50 our way would have changed it. Bath at home, who are a very strong side.

But okay, we didn't win and that's what we were there for, so what exactly should be the questions we are asking of Sanderson? Is it the big question, are you going? If it is who would be better, given the resources and injuries we have?

Please take this in the spirit it is intended, to have a discussion, not an argument.

[Surbiton_Shark]

Just in from being at the game - some thoughts

The scoreline was kinda expected although I was happy Bath didn't get a 4 try BP after 20 mins which was feared before hand...and after 5 mins

We were in it till the last 20-25 - the two lost lineouts....RDP jumping off-side for a pen....and we barely saw the ball and they just utterly overpowered us.

Pleased to see Ford playing much flatter and we actually looked OK ball in hand.

The scrum held up very well with our starting props (was worried about Harper)

Weise/JLDP made a clear difference having some proper grunt out there

I've been Sale for a long time - not really seen a Sale side being so passive tackling especially in the opening 20 mins - they just seemed to stroll through us at times

We know this anyhow and can't do much about it - without a Curry on the pitch our jackaling threat is literally nothing especially when LCD went off

Reed - great pace - just makes mistakes that he shouldn't - if ToF is fit I'd start him with Roebuck

RDP again - just makes mistakes he didn't use to - one example - we had a nice opportunity (one of the few in the second half) - both Quirke/Ford threw absolute bullet passes out and RDP threw his pass to ground and stopped the entire attack

Warr......runover in the tackle are twice - ponderous with decision making/passing at times - wish Quirke would start.

Season is basically done now - would like to see Curtis get gametime and more of the youngsters to have an opportunity.

Final one - I watched a video of Dimes chatting before the friendly match against us - straight to the point with clear direction - so refreshing compared what comes out with our existing DoR

[Oh Danny Boy]

I actually don't think the performance was that bad. A few things 50/50 our way would have changed it. Bath at home, who are a very strong side.

But okay, we didn't win and that's what we were there for, so what exactly should be the questions we are asking of Sanderson? Is it the big question, are you going? If it is who would be better, given the resources and injuries we have?

Please take this in the spirit it is intended, to have a discussion, not an argument.

The big questions for me are around the coaching team going into next season. The number of new signings etc look very promising so it's down to Alex & Co. to mould the new-looking team into a winning force.

Do we need a new attack coach? Does Deacon add any innovation to our attack anymore?

Will our defence turn out to be a bit more robust than this season?

Mind gym jibes aside, there have been several times this season when the team, as individuals and as a collective have just let their heads drop. Do we need a skills coach to drill them into doing the basics no matter how the score board looks?