Bath v Sale Friday night

[fivepointer]

Bath: de Glanville, Watson, Clark, Redpath, Muir, Priestland, Chudley; Schoeman, du Toit, Thomas, Spencer, Ewels, Bayliss, Underhill, Mercer.

Replacements: Doughty, Bhatti, Judge, McNally, Faletau, Spencer, Bailey, Cokanasiga.

Sale: Hammersley, McGuigan, S. James, Hill, Yarde, MacGinty, de Klerk, Rodd, van de Merwe, Oosthuizen, Phillips, JP. du Preez, Wiese, T Curry, JL. du Preez.

Replacements: Langdon, Harrison, Harper, Neild, B. Curry, Quirke, Wilkinson, Doherty.

Ben Curry back. Good to see.

[Which Tyler]

Really not confident seeing those teams sheets.
Bath are struggling up front, and we've got our 3rd choice front row out...

[Which Tyler]

Terrible clear out by Du Tout.
Completely ineffective, except to hurt himself

[FKAS]

Bath have found a way to fix their scrum and to do it they've simply removed all three of their England capped front row

Dickson really is an awful ref. This game keeps threatening to break out and go from a good game to an exceptional one but then sir just steps in, in time to stop it.

Bath with a two man advantage, pressure is on to finish the game in this period. They just need to remain calm and methodical.

[Which Tyler]

Calm and methodical?
Oh bugger!

[FKAS]

Yeah they shat the bed with that though Sale were excellent at running down the clock with only 13 men Vs Tigers as well.

Little bit lucky for Ewels there, at the start of the season that's a red card. Sale manage not to balls up a training ground rolling maul try.

[Mikey Brown]

Felt like Bath turned down a handful of kicks at goal in the last half an hour. Hadn’t Priestland been kicking at some insane percentage this season?

It’s really difficult to like anyone who plays for Sale, even the Currys seem like arseholes when they’re surrounded by that lot.

[Oakboy]

I don't get to see much of Langdon but everything I do see is impressive. Even coming on latish and hitting jumpers accurately is creditworthy when under pressure.

[Which Tyler]

Between Bath, Sale and the officials, I'm not sure who had the worst second half.

[FKAS]

Between Bath, Sale and the officials, I'm not sure who had the worst second half.

Yet it was an entertaining game despite all parties trying to make a mess of things. Are Sale on for some sort of yellow card record? They must be getting that way with three tonight, a couple Vs Tigers. Imagine what they'd achieve of they kept a full complement for the full 80. Sanderson must be pulling his hair out.

[Puja]

Fair play to the young Bath hooker though. First ever game having been fifth choice a few weeks ago, having to come off the bench early, and I think he hit every lineout.

Puja

[fivepointer]

Doughty did fine. Bath's FR resources are being sorely tested. Tom Curry was outstanding for Sale and Langdon again looked good off the bench.

[Scrumhead]

Yep. In a straight comparison between Curry and Underhill, there really was no competition. Curry won hands down. He was an absolute menace at the breakdown as well as being an effective and willing carrier.

Underhill was fairly anonymous in a game that arguably should have suited him. I would have thought he would have enjoyed the physical challenge of taking out Sale’s big runners and taking on Curry at the breakdown, but I don’t recall him doing anything of note.

[Puja]

Yep. In a straight comparison between Curry and Underhill, there really was no competition. Curry won hands down. He was an absolute menace at the breakdown as well as being an effective and willing carrier.

Underhill was fairly anonymous in a game that arguably should have suited him. I would have thought he would have enjoyed the physical challenge of taking out Sale’s big runners and taking on Curry at the breakdown, but I don’t recall him doing anything of note.

Agreed that Curry was a class apart, but Underhill was very active in defence and shut down a lot of Sale attacks.

Puja

[Scrumhead]

Oh I’m not saying he didn’t do his job, but I think it was a 6 out of 10 performance and Curry seemed to offer so much more than just solid defence.

On another note, Bevan Rodd really seemed to get schooled in the scrum and didn’t get particularly involved elsewhere. I still think he has loads of potential and is one we should ensure is captured for England, but last night showed why the A side might be his current level rather than the senior squad right now.

[Which Tyler]

One thing "of note" that Underhill did was to mount a successful maul defence, single handed.

[fivepointer]

Oh I’m not saying he didn’t do his job, but I think it was a 6 out of 10 performance and Curry seemed to offer so much more than just solid defence.

On another note, Bevan Rodd really seemed to get schooled in the scrum and didn’t get particularly involved elsewhere. I still think he has loads of potential and is one we should ensure is captured for England, but last night showed why the A side might be his current level rather than the senior squad right now.

Thought the penalty decisions against Rodd could easily have gone the other way. Not at all sure Dickson got some of those right.
He is just 20 and doing remarkably well to be a regular Premiership starter. Agree that the A game is where we should be looking to get him involved with England.

[FKAS]

Oh I’m not saying he didn’t do his job, but I think it was a 6 out of 10 performance and Curry seemed to offer so much more than just solid defence.

On another note, Bevan Rodd really seemed to get schooled in the scrum and didn’t get particularly involved elsewhere. I still think he has loads of potential and is one we should ensure is captured for England, but last night showed why the A side might be his current level rather than the senior squad right now.

Thought the penalty decisions against Rodd could easily have gone the other way. Not at all sure Dickson got some of those right.
He is just 20 and doing remarkably well to be a regular Premiership starter. Agree that the A game is where we should be looking to get him involved with England.

Yeah I think Rodd learned a bit about showing the referee what he wants to see is as important as scrumming well. Thomas is not known for his power at the set piece but he showed Dickson what he wanted to see and made sure that it was in Dickson's mind that Rodd was struggling. Most 20 year old props learn that in the A league but Rodd has been playing so well he's learning up against a former England international in the first team.

I'd still take him as third choice in the summer squad. Get him a few weeks working with Proudfoot. It'll help his development.