Bristol vs Irish - Friday night

[Puja]

Bristol Bears team to face London Irish at Ashton Gate Stadium on Friday, February 11th (7.45pm KO):

15. Henry Purdy (34 apps); 14. Siva Naulago (13 apps), 13. Semi Radradra (29 apps), 12. Piers O’Conor (95 apps), 11. Alapati Leiua (91 apps); 10. Ioan Lloyd (55 apps), 9. Tom Whiteley (6 apps); 1. Yann Thomas (81 apps), 2. Harry Thacker (65 apps), 3. Max Lahiff (37 apps), 4. Chris Vui (81 apps), 5. Joe Joyce (139 apps), 6. Steven Luatua (c) (88 caps), 7. Sam Jeffries (41 apps), 8. Fitz Harding (22 apps).

System players: 16. Jake Kerr (13 apps), 17. Jake Woolmore (96 apps), 18. Ashley Challenger (2 apps), 19. John Hawkins (30 apps), 20. Jake Heenan (64 apps), 21. Theo Strang (2 apps), 22. Tiff Eden (16 apps), 23. Antoine Frisch (5 apps).

Unavailable: Kyle Sinckler, John Afoa, Harry Randall, Andy Uren, Callum Sheedy, Sam Bedlow, Toby Fricker, Charles Piutau, Luke Morahan.



London Irish: 15 Henry Arundell, 14 James Stokes, 13 Benhard van Rensburg, 12 Terrence Hepetema, 11 Ben Loader, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Nick Phipps (c), 1 Will Goodrick-Clarke, 2 Agustin Creevy, 3 Ollie Hoskins, 4 Rob Simmons, 5 Adam Coleman, 6 Olly Cracknell, 7 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 8 Sean O’Brien.

Replacements: 16 Mike Willemse, 17 Facundo Gigena, 18 Marcel van der Merwe, 19 George Nott, 20 Tom Pearson, 21 Hugh O’Sullivan, 22 Curtis Rona, 23 Kyle Rowe.

[Puja]

Henry Arundell straight from dominating the U20s game to starting for Irish, ahead of Curtis Rona and Kyle Rowe. Be very interested to see how he gets on. Strong looking Bristol side though.

Puja

[p/d]

I don’t really follow LI, but how old is Phipps now!!

[fivepointer]

Irish definitely a bit off key last week. Chance to make amends though Bristol have found a bit of form but are short at THP and SH. This one will give us tries.
Great chance for Arundell to step up.

[Scrumhead]

Agreed. This could be a good game.

I’m looking forward to seeing Arundell. I’m surprised OHC has been left out after being released from England duty.

[Banquo]

Henry Arundell straight from dominating the U20s game to starting for Irish, ahead of Curtis Rona and Kyle Rowe. Be very interested to see how he gets on. Strong looking Bristol side though.

Puja

? Rona is a centre. Is Parton crocked?

[Puja]

Henry Arundell straight from dominating the U20s game to starting for Irish, ahead of Curtis Rona and Kyle Rowe. Be very interested to see how he gets on. Strong looking Bristol side though.

Puja

? Rona is a centre. Is Parton crocked?

Rona is a winger as well and Stokes has been Irish's full-back of late so it would make a lot of sense if they didn't have faith in Arundell.

I would assume Parton's crocked - haven't seen anything of him since he had that lightning start to the season and the try scoring charts read 1) Dolly, 2) Parton

Puja

[jimKRFC]

Irish definitely a bit off key last week. Chance to make amends though Bristol have found a bit of form but are short at THP and SH. This one will give us tries.
Great chance for Arundell to step up.

Short at full back as well! Side would look a lot better with Morahan & Puitau there. Whitely has been going well so not too worried about him - no idea about Strang though.

Always an ln exciting game & fingers crossed we can keep the momentum going. Good to see Lloyd at 10 as well - can't see it being a kick fest.

[Peej]

Stokes has looked pretty useful too, to be fair.

Will be interesting to see how Irish bounce back after a poor performance last week. Is Matt Rogerson getting a rest?

[Banquo]

Henry Arundell straight from dominating the U20s game to starting for Irish, ahead of Curtis Rona and Kyle Rowe. Be very interested to see how he gets on. Strong looking Bristol side though.

Puja

? Rona is a centre. Is Parton crocked?

Rona is a winger as well and Stokes has been Irish's full-back of late so it would make a lot of sense if they didn't have faith in Arundell.

I would assume Parton's crocked - haven't seen anything of him since he had that lightning start to the season and the try scoring charts read 1) Dolly, 2) Parton

Puja

I've only ever seen Rona at 13- he's very good there imo.

[Puja]

? Rona is a centre. Is Parton crocked?

Rona is a winger as well and Stokes has been Irish's full-back of late so it would make a lot of sense if they didn't have faith in Arundell.

I would assume Parton's crocked - haven't seen anything of him since he had that lightning start to the season and the try scoring charts read 1) Dolly, 2) Parton

Puja

I've only ever seen Rona at 13- he's very good there imo.

Fair enough - he's played mostly 13 for Irish over the paast couple of seasons tbf, but when he came across from Australia he was mainly a winger (that's where his caps were earned, IIRC) and it was a surprise that Irish had him at centre.

Moot point though - it's good that they've got the faith in Arundell to step up is the main thought.

Puja

[Banquo]

Rona is a winger as well and Stokes has been Irish's full-back of late so it would make a lot of sense if they didn't have faith in Arundell.

I would assume Parton's crocked - haven't seen anything of him since he had that lightning start to the season and the try scoring charts read 1) Dolly, 2) Parton

Puja

I've only ever seen Rona at 13- he's very good there imo.

Fair enough - he's played mostly 13 for Irish over the paast couple of seasons tbf, but when he came across from Australia he was mainly a winger (that's where his caps were earned, IIRC) and it was a surprise that Irish had him at centre.

Moot point though - it's good that they've got the faith in Arundell to step up is the main thought.

Puja

He'd have been a good centre for us to have tbf...a low bar atm

[p/d]

Score line suggests a cracker. Arundell doing the full 80 but not a try scorer

[FKAS]

Anyone see it and comment on how Arundell got on against senior opposition, still a fire cracker?

[fivepointer]

Only saw the highlights. Red card obviously had an impact but Bris will be very disappointed with some of the tries they conceded.
Good to see Loader back looking quite lively.