Bristol vs Saints, Saturday 29th

[jimKRFC]

Bristol:
15. Piers O’Conor; 14. Luke Morahan, 13. Will Hurrell, 12. Siale Piutau, 11. Alapati Leiua; 10. Ian Madigan, 9. Andy Uren; 1. Yann Thomas, 2. Harry Thacker, 3. John Afoa, 4. Ed Holmes, 5. Joe Latta, 6. Steve Luatua (c), 7. George Smith, 8. Jack Lam.

Replacements: 16. Nick Fenton-Wells, 17. Jake Woolmore, 18. Jake Armstrong, 19. Joe Joyce, 20. Nick Haining, 21. Nic Stirzaker, 22. Callum Sheedy, 23. Zane Kirchner.

Saints:
15 Ahsee Tuala, 14 Tom Collins, 13 Luther Burrell, 12 Piers Francis, 11 Taqele Naiyaravoro, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Cobus Reinach
1 Alex Waller (co-captain), 2 Dylan Hartley (co-captain), 3 Ehren Painter, 4 David Ribbans, 5 Courtney Lawes, 6 Jamie Gibson
7 Lewis Ludlam, 8 Teimana Harrison

Replacements:
16 Mike Haywood, 17 Francois Van Wyk, 18 Ben Franks, 19 Api Ratuniyarawa, 20 Mitch Eadie, 21 Alex Mitchell, 22 Andrew Kellaway
23 Harry Mallinder

[Scrumhead]

Pleased to see Ludlam keep his place.

Saints need a win but Bristol have shown that they’re very competitive at Ashton Gate. Tricky one to call.

[Adam_P]

Was hoping Brussow would be back to face off against Smith. Ludlam had a good game last week so hoping he can build on that.

We need to see more involvement from Naiyaravoro.

[Scrumhead]

Gibson, Ludlam and Harrison looks to be a far better balanced back row than when Haskell and Brussow are on the flanks.

Brussow hasn’t been much cop so far IMO.

[fivepointer]

Another game Bris will have targeted. At home they are going to pick up ones and this game looks very winnable to me.

Interested in Painter'as development and its good - at last - to see Ludlam getting some starts.

[Tigersman]

Bristol are excellent in the loose and open play, but they could really struggle in the winter if Lam thinks that they can still play like this during it.

[Adam_P]

Entertaining game, good open play from both sides. I think once Saints click they will play some really exciting rugby under Boyd - just don't quite have the polished skills to execute it accurately just yet. Naiyaravoro was much more involved on the ball today.

[jimKRFC]

Defence was optional today, hopefully just a blip and a much better performance comes next week. The disallowed try is a bit of a pain (ref said no, tmo said yes). But more points than some below us so could be worse.

Need Sale to keep losing though!

[Shiny]

Defence was optional today, hopefully just a blip and a much better performance comes next week. The disallowed try is a bit of a pain (ref said no, tmo said yes). But more points than some below us so could be worse.

Need Sale to keep losing though!

Yeah, it’s not often I will be cheering Tigers on but tomorrow may see it happen.

[Scrumhead]

How did Ludlam go? I saw his try but how was the rest of his performance?

[jimKRFC]

How did Ludlam go? I saw his try but how was the rest of his performance?

Didnt pay much attention to the Saints players to be honest!

More annoyed about the disallowed try having seen replays. Uren is clearly not held and there was a knock kn in the Waller try. Could prove costly in the long term if we dont start getting decisions we should.

[fivepointer]

Uren was denied a perfectly good try. He was never held in the tackle. How the match officials came to that verdict after repeated viewings astonishes me.
Overall a really good game, with some strong performances on both sides and some excellent tries.
Bris showing real tenacity in scoring at the end.

[twitchy]

Quality game but who the hell decided that saints should be not wearing their normal kit? So confusing at times.

[Puja]

Quality game but who the hell decided that saints should be not wearing their normal kit? So confusing at times.

I *HATE* the current trend that teams wear their away kit even when there's no clash. I realise they've got merchandise to sell, but teams should have pride in their colours, not doff them at any and every opportunity.

Puja

[Scrumhead]

Agreed. The less I see of Quins’ horrific like green away kit the better. It’s not like any other team exactly clashes with our quarters.