Sarries vs Bristol

[jimKRFC]

Saracens side to face Bristol at Allianz Park on Saturday 8th September (15H00 KO):

FORWARDS: Mako Vunipola (145), Jamie George (197), Vincent Koch (40), Maro Itoje (95), Nick Isiekwe (36), Mike Rhodes (70), Jackson Wray (202), Sione Vailanu (5).

BACKS: Ben Spencer (132), Owen Farrell (175), Alex Lewington (1), Brad Barritt (224), Alex Lozowski (61), Matt Gallagher (17), Alex Goode (262).

REPLACEMENTS: Christopher Tolofua (18), Richard Barrington (137), Titi Lamositele (52), Will Skelton (26), Billy Vunipola (85), Richard Wigglesworth (211), Nick Tompkins (70), Liam Williams (16).

Bristol team:
15. Piers O’Conor; 14. Luke Morahan, 13. Will Hurrell, 12. Siale Piutau, 11. Alapati Leiua; 10. Callum Sheedy, 9. Andy Uren; 1. Jordan Lay, 2. Harry Thacker, 3. Lewis Thiede, 4. Ed Holmes, 5. Joe Latta, 6. Steve Luatua (c), 7. George Smith, 8. Jack Lam.

Replacements: 16. Shaun Malton, 17. Jake Woolmore, 18. John Afoa, 19. Joe Joyce, 20. Nick Haining, 21. Harry Randall, 22. Ian Madigan, 23. Tom Pincus.

Bristol to well to get a bonus point I think. A few changes from last week and hopefully Randell will get a decent run out as we'd expecting very little from this one.

[TheNomad]

That is a piss takingly good match day 23 for Sarries

Tight 5 in particular

[Tigersman]

Looks like Bristol are not prioritising this game...

[Puja]

I'm not sure that Vailanu isn't a flat-track bully, but even if he is, he's unlikely to get many flatter tracks than this. He should have fun.

Puja

[fivepointer]

Not hard to call this one....

Think its pretty smart of Bris to rest and rotate a bit. They need their best XV available for those games where they have a realistic chance of getting something.

[Tigersman]

Not hard to call this one....

Think its pretty smart of Bris to rest and rotate a bit. They need their best XV available for those games where they have a realistic chance of getting something.

Maybe but I have rarely seen it work.

[Puja]

Not hard to call this one....

Think its pretty smart of Bris to rest and rotate a bit. They need their best XV available for those games where they have a realistic chance of getting something.

Maybe but I have rarely seen it work.

They've got the advantage of having the first win under their belt though. Regardless of how this weekend goes, they are unlikely to be bottom of the table, looking to catch up, and so it's unlikely to have too big of an impact on their confidence.

Puja

[Scrumhead]

True. At least if they lose (as expected) they can say ‘it wasn’t our first choice XV’.

I think Lay, Thacker and Theide are in for a rough ride though.

[Renniks]

Good to see Billy on the bench too!

[jimKRFC]

Good to see Billy on the bench too!

Lets hope he stays there!

[jimKRFC]

Sarries 13 - 18 Bristol at half time. Following on twitter so no idea if it reflects performance.

[Tigersman]

Sarries 13 - 18 Bristol at half time. Following on twitter so no idea if it reflects performance.

Looking at the BET365 half time highlights Bristol look good.

[twitchy]

I am stunned at this score.

[Epaminondas Pules]

George Smith red card. Shoulder to the head. Billy comes on and scores from a scrum pickup. 18 v 18 now.

[Renniks]

Sarries ran away with it a bit after the red card…

For me - No malice in the shoulder, just got the angle a bit wrong - but red card needed to be shown…

Billy looked decent for his first half back

[jimKRFC]

Finished 44 - 23, about the expected score so not shocked.

For the red cars, people watching on rugbypass saying most angles show head-head but one looks like shoulder-head. Haven't seen it so can't say.

[jimKRFC]

George Smith cleared and free to play, very good news for us!

[Raggs]

That'll be interesting to read.

I'd love to know the difference between this hit, that clearly hits the head (whether it's head to head or shoulder), from a rising tackle position, and the one that Gaby Lovobalavu picked up 3 weeks for, when only the citing officer felt there was anything wrong.

[fivepointer]

Well, yes.
How many players who get a red card then go on and receive no additional punishment?

[Raggs]

Well, yes.
How many players who get a red card then go on and receive no additional punishment?

Not many I don't think, maybe double yellows of course, but a straight red is normally because it's instantly a citing offence anyway. I can only think of ones where the card itself was overturned.

[jimKRFC]

Jackson Wray came and defended George, which supposedly made a big difference. If I was cynic I might think that Bristol asked Sarries to do it in return for not citing Will Skeltons shoulder to the head of Hurrell while trapped in a ruck.....

[fivepointer]

I'm sure it did. And I'm sure there was no malice in the challenge, despite it being a very poor one. And i'm sure that George is a thoroughly good bloke, but really you have to wonder - again - about the lack of consistency with these judgements.

[Raggs]

It's the lack of consistency that's a kicker. Especially when Wasps seems to be one of those sides getting the worse end of the stick when it comes to the RFU.

[Mikey Brown]

Jackson Wray came and defended George, which supposedly made a big difference. If I was cynic I might think that Bristol asked Sarries to do it in return for not citing Will Skeltons shoulder to the head of Hurrell while trapped in a ruck.....

Skelton has form for that shit and I feel like he never gets called for it. It's a shame not to see him pick up a ban.

[jimKRFC]

but really you have to wonder - again - about the lack of consistency with these judgements.

The panel had a few ex-Bris on it which may have helped (Ollie Kohn, Mark Regan MBE (you have to add that or he comes and has word and then he won't shut up) and Mike Rafter).