Bath vs Saints - Sat 3pm

[Puja]

Bath: De Glanville; Rokoduguni, Joseph, Clark, Muir; Cipriani, Spencer; Morozov, Dunn, Stuart, Williams, Ewels (capt), Bayliss, Reid, Faletau

Replacements: Du Toit, Cordwell, Rae, Richards, Coetzee, Simpson, Bailey, Cokanasiga

Northampton: Freeman; Sleightholme, Proctor, Hutchinson, Collins; Furbank, Mitchell; Waller, Matavesi, Hill, Coles, Ratuniyarawa, Ludlam (capt), Harrison, Augustus

Replacements: Haywood, Iyogun, Carey, Moon, Nansen, James, Grayson, Francis

[Peej]

Apparently Saints haven't won at the Rec for a decade? But it's hard to see them not taking this.

[Banquo]

Apparently Saints haven't won at the Rec for a decade? But it's hard to see them not taking this.

Missing Lawes and Biggar though.

[Scrumhead]

They can look quite good with Furbank at 10 from an attacking POV. I think they’ll miss Dingwall a bit more TBH.

[Banquo]

They can look quite good with Furbank at 10 from an attacking POV. I think they’ll miss Dingwall a bit more TBH.

He's a good stand in stand off. Grayson must be miffed every time this happens tho. They will miss Fraser in defence especially, just will hope Proctor can stay on the park! (and Sleightholme!)

[Puja]

They can look quite good with Furbank at 10 from an attacking POV. I think they’ll miss Dingwall a bit more TBH.

He's a good stand in stand off. Grayson must be miffed every time this happens tho. They will miss Fraser in defence especially, just will hope Proctor can stay on the park! (and Sleightholme!)

Wouldn't blame Grayson if he did go - can't be fun being a young player hoping to get a chance to prove yourself when the first choice is out and then being pushed to third choice fly-half by a fullback (mind, Manu Vunipola puts up with it too, so what do I know).

I do actually quite rate Furbank at 10 though. He's looked very comfortable there every time I've seen him play and he has got the skills for it.

Big game for Northampton this. Gloucester losing last means that a win here and an Exeter loss will see them into the top 4 with a game in hand.

Puja

[FKAS]

They can look quite good with Furbank at 10 from an attacking POV. I think they’ll miss Dingwall a bit more TBH.

He's a good stand in stand off. Grayson must be miffed every time this happens tho. They will miss Fraser in defence especially, just will hope Proctor can stay on the park! (and Sleightholme!)

Wouldn't blame Grayson if he did go - can't be fun being a young player hoping to get a chance to prove yourself when the first choice is out and then being pushed to third choice fly-half by a fullback (mind, Manu Vunipola puts up with it too, so what do I know).

I do actually quite rate Furbank at 10 though. He's looked very comfortable there every time I've seen him play and he has got the skills for it.

Big game for Northampton this. Gloucester losing last means that a win here and an Exeter loss will see them into the top 4 with a game in hand.

Puja

Grayson is 23, Vunipola 21. Grayson is about to hit mid twenties and is third choice and not getting much game time. Five starts and three sub appearances in the Prem this season so far. All during international periods previously. Suspect he may have to move on at the end of the season.

[Puja]

He's a good stand in stand off. Grayson must be miffed every time this happens tho. They will miss Fraser in defence especially, just will hope Proctor can stay on the park! (and Sleightholme!)

Wouldn't blame Grayson if he did go - can't be fun being a young player hoping to get a chance to prove yourself when the first choice is out and then being pushed to third choice fly-half by a fullback (mind, Manu Vunipola puts up with it too, so what do I know).

I do actually quite rate Furbank at 10 though. He's looked very comfortable there every time I've seen him play and he has got the skills for it.

Big game for Northampton this. Gloucester losing last means that a win here and an Exeter loss will see them into the top 4 with a game in hand.

Puja

Grayson is 23, Vunipola 21. Grayson is about to hit mid twenties and is third choice and not getting much game time. Five starts and three sub appearances in the Prem this season so far. All during international periods previously. Suspect he may have to move on at the end of the season.

Thing is, I don't know Saints are wrong about him - I just don't know if he's good enough.

Despite rumour having it that that connection's cooled off, I still think a move to Newcastle would be ideal. They need him after losing Haydon-Wood and it'd be good for him to be somewhere he can be first choice.

Puja

[Banquo]

He's a good stand in stand off. Grayson must be miffed every time this happens tho. They will miss Fraser in defence especially, just will hope Proctor can stay on the park! (and Sleightholme!)

Wouldn't blame Grayson if he did go - can't be fun being a young player hoping to get a chance to prove yourself when the first choice is out and then being pushed to third choice fly-half by a fullback (mind, Manu Vunipola puts up with it too, so what do I know).

I do actually quite rate Furbank at 10 though. He's looked very comfortable there every time I've seen him play and he has got the skills for it.

Big game for Northampton this. Gloucester losing last means that a win here and an Exeter loss will see them into the top 4 with a game in hand.

Puja

Grayson is 23, Vunipola 21. Grayson is about to hit mid twenties and is third choice and not getting much game time. Five starts and three sub appearances in the Prem this season so far. All during international periods previously. Suspect he may have to move on at the end of the season.

Had this chat before. TBH Grayson makes some real howlers in between good play.

[Banquo]

They can look quite good with Furbank at 10 from an attacking POV. I think they’ll miss Dingwall a bit more TBH.

He's a good stand in stand off. Grayson must be miffed every time this happens tho. They will miss Fraser in defence especially, just will hope Proctor can stay on the park! (and Sleightholme!)

Wouldn't blame Grayson if he did go - can't be fun being a young player hoping to get a chance to prove yourself when the first choice is out and then being pushed to third choice fly-half by a fullback (mind, Manu Vunipola puts up with it too, so what do I know).

I do actually quite rate Furbank at 10 though. He's looked very comfortable there every time I've seen him play and he has got the skills for it.

Big game for Northampton this. Gloucester losing last means that a win here and an Exeter loss will see them into the top 4 with a game in hand.

Puja

Furbank is a decent 10, and frankly looks better suited to 10 at the higher levels.

[Scrumhead]

Wouldn't blame Grayson if he did go - can't be fun being a young player hoping to get a chance to prove yourself when the first choice is out and then being pushed to third choice fly-half by a fullback (mind, Manu Vunipola puts up with it too, so what do I know).

I do actually quite rate Furbank at 10 though. He's looked very comfortable there every time I've seen him play and he has got the skills for it.

Big game for Northampton this. Gloucester losing last means that a win here and an Exeter loss will see them into the top 4 with a game in hand.

Puja

Grayson is 23, Vunipola 21. Grayson is about to hit mid twenties and is third choice and not getting much game time. Five starts and three sub appearances in the Prem this season so far. All during international periods previously. Suspect he may have to move on at the end of the season.

Had this chat before. TBH Grayson makes some real howlers in between good play.

He does. Although I wonder if he’d be able to iron those out with more regular game time? When he was playing more, he was definitely less error prone.

If he did go to Newcastle and established himself as first choice I think he’d turn out to be fairly decent.

Equally, I agree with Puja’s point that Saints might simply be aiming higher than ‘fairly decent’.

[Adam_P]

He's a good stand in stand off. Grayson must be miffed every time this happens tho. They will miss Fraser in defence especially, just will hope Proctor can stay on the park! (and Sleightholme!)

Wouldn't blame Grayson if he did go - can't be fun being a young player hoping to get a chance to prove yourself when the first choice is out and then being pushed to third choice fly-half by a fullback (mind, Manu Vunipola puts up with it too, so what do I know).

I do actually quite rate Furbank at 10 though. He's looked very comfortable there every time I've seen him play and he has got the skills for it.

Big game for Northampton this. Gloucester losing last means that a win here and an Exeter loss will see them into the top 4 with a game in hand.

Puja

Furbank is a decent 10, and frankly looks better suited to 10 at the higher levels.

Plus it frees up the 15 shirt for Freeman and Hendy, both of whom are or will be better 15s than Furbank

[Adam_P]

Joseph has had a very good first half, some lovely kicks going in. Saints aren't at the races, which is classic Saints now that the top 4 has opened up a bit again.

[fivepointer]

Saints turned that one around. 4 tries in last 10 minutes, i think.

[Adam_P]

Yeah we made hard work of that. First half and the early part of the 2nd half was poor.

Iyogun once again showed why he should be starting ahead of Waller. Waller typically ineffective, and when Manny came on the scrum was dominant.

[switchskier]

Didn't see the game but Bath notably faded against Edinburgh last week. Think they really need to look at their conditioning.

[I R Geech]

Didn't see the game but Bath notably faded against Edinburgh last week. Think they really need to look at their conditioning.

More to do with stupid unnecessary substitutions, but Farleigh House has made them soft

[Banquo]

Yeah we made hard work of that. First half and the early part of the 2nd half was poor.

Iyogun once again showed why he should be starting ahead of Waller. Waller typically ineffective, and when Manny came on the scrum was dominant.

How did Freeman go?

[Adam_P]

Freeman had a decent game, ran a lovely line to score a try. My pick of the young guns yesterday was Coles - he had a great game at lock (which is good because Api was very much off the boil and gave away a few stupid pens)

[Banquo]

Freeman had a decent game, ran a lovely line to score a try. My pick of the young guns yesterday was Coles - he had a great game at lock (which is good because Api was very much off the boil and gave away a few stupid pens)

Yep Coles has really come on this year, also looked very handy at 6.

[Adam_P]

15 tackles none missed for Coles

[Mellsblue]

That’s quite a shift at the coleface.

[jimKRFC]

Saints turned that one around. 4 tries in last 10 minutes, i think.

Hughes clearly taught Bath the Bristol final 15min plan!

[Banquo]

That’s quite a shift at the coleface.

or shaft

[Timbo]

That’s quite a shift at the coleface.

or shaft

That’s brutal.