RugbyRebels

Worcester

15 Chris Pennell
14 Bryce Heem
13 Francois Venter
12 Ryan Mills
11 Josh Adams
10 Duncan Weir
9 Francois Hougaard
1 Callum Black
2 Niall Annett
3 Nick Schonert
4 Anton Bresler
5 Darren Barry
6 Alafoti Faosiliva
7 Sam Lewis
8 GJ van Velze (C)

Replacements
16 Joe Taufete’e
17 Ryan Bower
18 Simon Kerrod
19 Andrew Kitchener
20 Cornell du Preez
21 Jonny Arr
22 Jono Lance
23 Ashley Beck


Wasps
15 Rob Miller
14 Christian Wade
13 Elliot Daly
12 Juan De Jongh
11 Josh Bassett
10 Billy Searle
9 Dan Robson
1 Ben Harris
2 Tom Cruse
3 Will Stuart
4 Joe Launchbury (c)
5 Will Rowlands
6 Nizaam Carr
7 Joe Atkinson
8 Nathan Hughes



16 Tommy Taylor
17 Zurabi Zhvania
18 Kieran Brookes
19 Charlie Matthews
20 Ashley Johnson
21 Joe Simpson
22 Gaby Lovobalavu
23 Marcus Watson

Interesting pick from Wasps in some places. Matthews appears to have leapfrogged Gaskell and Myall, Will Stuart is keeping out the far more experienced Brookes, and Joe Atkinson has impressed in pre-season to earn the 7 shirt.

Can't really see Warriors winning this, but our backline looks decent, and their team isn't 100% there

A winning start could be a great way of avoiding the drop!

If Hougaard can control things, and Weir has a good game, then maybe!

Surprised to see Tommy T and Watson starting on the bench. Are they coming back from injury?


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Tommy missed virtually all of last season after injuring his knee. Cruse stepped up and really delivered.

I think the Mills/Venter partnership could be real good, and things might get sticky for Wasps up front. I'm not hugely confident about bagging a win.

Something I should probably know, but don't… where's Singleton?
(It's great to see Annett back though)

Renniks wrote:Something I should probably know, but don't… where's Singleton?
(It's great to see Annett back though)

A question that's pushing me into changes to my fantasy rugby team as we speak....

Atkinson has an interesting history -
the flanker who joined Wasps from London Scottish for the 2018/19 season, has in recent seasons built a reputation as one of the Championship’s best openside flankers. Atkinson’s senior rugby career began at Loughborough University where he played a key role in their promotion from National Two to National One and also enjoyed success in the BUSA competition.
A fine 2012/13 season, in which he was the Students’ leading try scorer in English rugby’s third tier, brought Atkinson to the attention of Championship outfit Cornish Pirates. Atkinson, who has been capped by England at age group and students levels, subsequently spent three seasons in Penzance prior to joining London Scottish for the 2016/17 campaign. His try-scoring form continued during his spell with the Exiles, where he claimed 11 touchdowns from 50 appearances and was named as players’ player-of-the-season at the end of his final season at the Richmond Athletic Ground.

Delighted to see Stuart starting. Could be a breakthrough season for him.

Tricky opener for Wasps. At home, i think Worcs will be competitive and minus Cips and LeRoux (albeit temporarily) Wasps dont look to have the attacking flair from last season.

Wasps look fairly beatable IMO.
Worcester Backline looks a lot better now they have a decent 10 and not much between the forwards.

Carr will be the game winner though IMO.

That front row is either going to be very impressive, or a car crash.

Harris was 3rd/4th choice at Falcons a couple of seasons ago, Cruse was in the championship 2 seasons ago, and Stuart is only 22/23 and on his first senior contract, Stuart does excite me though. Seemingly good in the scrum, huge engine, and eager carrier.

Looks like a quasi friendly team picked by Wasps with a bit of cavalry on the bench. Some dictation by injuries and/or not yet firing on all cylinders from the odd player? I'll be relieved if Wasps win this one. Stuart looks the business but Worsc are a quality scrummaging unit.

Tigersman wrote:Wasps look fairly beatable IMO.
Worcester Backline looks a lot better now they have a decent 10 and not much between the forwards.

Carr will be the game winner though IMO.

Agree with most of that. I’d actually say both Weir and Lance are both decent 10s. I’d have had them the other way around but perhaps Weir is a bit fresher given Lance is coming off the back of a full SR season.

Carr was excellent in his loan spell and is a potential match winner, but I actually fancy Worcester to pull off a home win.

I confidently expect us to completely spoon this and hand Worcester a shambles of a win. Very worried that for all the big names, the chemistry won’t be there.

I'm quite confident myself. Think Searle will have a great game.

And that is why people think Wade is too small for England

1 point win for Wasps. Worcs had a drop goal to win it at the end.

Good come back by Wasps.

Was very much a potential banana skin.

After Hughes comically stepped out of play too early to gift Worcester possession right at the death.

Sounds fairly average from Wasps. Oh well, it's only Exeter next week

Only away win so far...

We blew several chances and i think atkinson had to have scored that (surely ar should have seen, if not what was he looking at?).

Sloppy at times, stuttering in attack too, but job done.

Still, after seeing Exeter I'm not hopeful about next week. We could really do with Willis back. Le Roux would make a big difference as well i think.

Raggs wrote:That front row is either going to be very impressive, or a car crash.

Harris was 3rd/4th choice at Falcons a couple of seasons ago, Cruse was in the championship 2 seasons ago, and Stuart is only 22/23 and on his first senior contract, Stuart does excite me though. Seemingly good in the scrum, huge engine, and eager carrier.

Will Stuart is currently the top scorer from the Round 1 points on the Fantasy Rugby. Given that the stats are based upon Opta data, it looks as though he has a very good game.

Maybe JCW being unavailable could be the springboard he needed to make the breakthrough.

Scrumhead wrote:

Raggs wrote:That front row is either going to be very impressive, or a car crash.

Harris was 3rd/4th choice at Falcons a couple of seasons ago, Cruse was in the championship 2 seasons ago, and Stuart is only 22/23 and on his first senior contract, Stuart does excite me though. Seemingly good in the scrum, huge engine, and eager carrier.

Will Stuart is currently the top scorer from the Round 1 points on the Fantasy Rugby. Given that the stats are based upon Opta data, it looks as though he has a very good game.

Maybe JCW being unavailable could be the springboard he needed to make the breakthrough.

I was close to putting him as captain, but at least it was a starter.

Stuart got star man rating in Rugby Paper report. Accepting TRP isnt always that reliable, its still a decent effort from a THP who played 50 odd minutes. This lad is really one to watch.

I've not seen the match yet but it would explain why Dai hasn't been desperate to rush out and sign a top quality TH in the last couple of years.

Stuart has been impressing in the championship from the games i saw on youtube. I wasn't expecting him to start ahead of Brookes though. Would need to do ruck marks to get an idea of if he's doing his fair share (albeit tightheads tend to be the lowest anyway), from just what I saw he was alright.

I would say I feel a bit for Brookes.

But really he should never have left Falcons really.