LI vs Bristol, Sat, 30th (3pm KO)

[jimKRFC]

LI:
5 Tom Parton, 14 James Stokes, 13 Curtis Rona, 12 Benhard van Rensburg, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Nick Phipps, 1 Will Goodrick-Clarke, 2 Mike Willemse, 3 Ollie Hoskins, 4 Steve Mafi, 5 Rob Simmons, 6 Matt Rogerson (c), 7 Isaac Curtis-Harris, 8 Albert Tuisue.

Replacements: 16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Allan Dell, 18 Marcel van der Merwe, 19 George Nott, 20 Jack Cooke, 21 Ben White, 22 Terrence Hepetema, 23 Kyle Rowe.

Bristol:
15. Charles Piutau (50 apps); 14. Luke Morahan (83 apps), 13. Jack Bates (8 apps), 12. Piers O’Conor (86 apps), 11. Toby Fricker (18 apps), 10. Callum Sheedy (112 apps), 9. Andy Uren (118 apps); 1. Yann Thomas (73 apps), 2. Jake Kerr (7 apps), 3. John Afoa (72 caps), 4. Dave Attwood (co-capt) (61 apps), 5. Joe Joyce (129 apps), 6. Sam Jeffries (35 apps), 7. Jake Heenan (co-capt) (58 apps), 8. Fitz Harding (12 apps).

Subs: 16. Harry Thacker (57 apps), 17. Max Lahiff (32 apps), 18. Jake Armstrong (20 apps), 19. John Hawkins (21 apps), 20. Dan Thomas (91 apps), 21. Tom Whiteley (1 app), 22. Ioan Lloyd (46 apps), 23. Alapati Leiua (86 apps).

Referee: Matthew Carley (109th Premiership game).
Assistant referees: Adam Leal and Wayne Falla.
TMO: Craig Maxwell-Keys.
Citing Officer: John Byett.

A nailed on home win here I think.

[fivepointer]

Bristol's week off might have helped them reset. Good to see Bates retained and Harding continue in the BR. Afoa back is a welcome boost.

Irish are playing well and this game surely has a few tries in it.

[fivepointer]

Sounds a very enjoyable game. 5 tries each. Bris coming out on top.

[jimKRFC]

Good game for the neutral, 4 yellows and loads of tries.

A much better performance from Bristol with the guys coming into the side all doing well. Harding had another good game and Hughes is going to struggle to shift him. Whitely looking like good cover for Randell as well, so hopefully we'll not be flogging Uren to death this season (like the last time England broke RAndell).

Ref did ok, but thinks Puitau's yellow was pretty harsh as he clearly went with two hands and the ball didn't seem to go forward. Uren's yellow just looks wrong. he's not part of the tackle, he's behind the back foot (Morahan), and come through the gate...

[Spiffy]

Poor old Irish. They always seem to play well but end up losing tight games. They have 1 win this season (though it was a good one away to Exeter.) Can't be good for their player advancement. I'm sure players like Haskell-Collins and Loader could easily be on the radar for international squad selection if they were playing for more successful teams and not habitual losers.

[jimKRFC]

https://www.premiershiprugby.com/watch/ ... rs-round-7

[Scrumhead]

Poor old Irish. They always seem to play well but end up losing tight games. They have 1 win this season (though it was a good one away to Exeter.) Can't be good for their player advancement. I'm sure players like Haskell-Collins and Loader could easily be on the radar for international squad selection if they were playing for more successful teams and not habitual losers.

Not really. I don’t think club favouritism is that much of a factor these days.

Ollie Lawrence has mostly managed to get in to the England squad playing for a Worcester side that are (and have been) quite a lot worse than Irish.

Hassell-Collins and Loader should be closer to the squad than they appear to be, but along with Parton (who has been called up before) they’re the only players from Irish that are in the conversation. Most of the rest aren’t eligible or aren’t quite good enough.