RugbyRebels

Exeter side:
15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Tom O’Flaherty, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Sam Hill, 11 Alex Cuthbert, 10 Joe Simmonds, 9 Nic White
1 Alec Hepburn, 2 Jack Yeandle (capt), 3 Harry Williams, 4 Jannes Kirsten, 5 Jonny Hill, 6 Jacques Vermeulen, 7 Matt Kvesic, 8 Sam Simmonds

replacements; 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Billy Keast, 18 Marcus Street, 19 Sean Lonsdale, 20 Don Armand, 21 Jack Maunder, 22 Gareth Steenson
23 Jack Nowell

Bristol side:
15. Charles Piutau; 14. Luke Morahan, 13. Will Hurrell, 12. Siale Piutau, 11. Piers O’Conor; 10. Callum Sheedy, 9. Harry Randall;
1. Jake Woolmore, 2. Harry Thacker, 3. John Afoa, 4. Dave Attwood, 5. Chris Vui, 6. Steven Luatua (c), 7. Jake Heenan, 8. Nathan Hughes.

Replacements: 16. Will Capon, 17. Yann Thomas, 18. Lewis Thiede, 19. Ed Holmes, 20. Dan Thomas, 21. Andy Uren, 22. Ioan Lloyd, 23. Toby Fricker.

Hard to see anything other than a home win. Hopefully dry and no catapillers....

Sunday Jim.....

Forward battle should be interesting.

Will Capon is one of my players to watch this season. Hope he gets a decent run out.

fivepointer wrote:Sunday Jim.....

oops...

fivepointer wrote: Forward battle should be interesting.

Will Capon is one of my players to watch this season. Hope he gets a decent run out.

It is going to be a slog isn't it.... the Bristol backs are the biggest ones we have I think!
Hopefully Capon and Lloyd both get good run outs, really want to see Lloyd at 10 for a bit.

Slade, LCD and Nowell, seriously? I'd have thought better of Exeter and Baxter than this

Tbf, Nowell has just returned from a very restful 2 month holiday in Japan.

It's not just the physical side though, mentally this could be a stupidly long season when counting back to warmup camps for the WC. I really am surprised, send 'em to a beach with perhaps some videos to review on what the strategy plans are for the seasons so when they do return to camp you shave some time off them coming up to speed

Mentally they may just want to get on the pitch to get last weekend out of their systems. I do agree, though, that, on the face of it, it seems a bit soon.

I'm sure they do want to get out there, but sometimes players need to be protected from themselves.

Maybe Exeter are planning to send them away at some point for a few weeks, or maybe they stay and complete the season. Quite possible we don't notice the impacts until next season, when in theory I'll not care as much with players chasing jamboree spots

Digby wrote:I'm sure they do want to get out there, but sometimes players need to be protected from themselves.

Agreed.
Same goes for Singleton and Spencer at Castle Grim.

Obviously, of them all, Spencer is the least affected he's only really got jetleg to overcome; whilst the rest of the non-Exeter lot were essentially non-combatants, and get to sit on the bench to start with. But they will still have had the mental and emotional toil of all the training, and being part of the loss.

Exe know what they are doing guys.

Nowell and Slade would have missed big chunks of the training workload through injury. I’d guess that they are both pretty fresh and good to go right now.

I am looking forward to watching Jonny Hill. The guy was ridiculed by a few on here a while back which I never understood. He is making steady progress, he's put on bulk and he's now one of the best locks in the country, IMO.

It's good to see Armand back on the bench.

Oakboy wrote:I am looking forward to watching Jonny Hill. The guy was ridiculed by a few on here a while back which I never understood. He is making steady progress, he's put on bulk and he's now one of the best locks in the country, IMO.

He was?

Or is this "ridiculed" in the same way that "people don't rate Nowell" by having him as 3rd choice for 2 spots?

Which Tyler wrote:

Oakboy wrote:I am looking forward to watching Jonny Hill. The guy was ridiculed by a few on here a while back which I never understood. He is making steady progress, he's put on bulk and he's now one of the best locks in the country, IMO.

He was?

Or is this "ridiculed" in the same way that "people don't rate Nowell" by having him as 3rd choice for 2 spots?

I said taking him to SA was a worry and that something terrible, given our depth at lock, must have happened if he turns out for England.

twitchy wrote:Exe know what they are doing guys.

Indeed. Hardly mentally or physically ‘stressing’ for any of those 3. Slade probably keen to show he is a centre not a bloody makeshift 15

I’ve come to realise that I generally disagree with Oakboy, but I with him on Hill.

He has definitely bulked up and has the work rate and athleticism to make it at test level IMO. I wouldn’t choose him ahead of the current crop of locks and Ewels, but I’d have him ahead of Isiekwe at the moment (who hasn’t really made as much of his early promise as I expected).

Mellsblue wrote:

Which Tyler wrote:

Oakboy wrote:I am looking forward to watching Jonny Hill. The guy was ridiculed by a few on here a while back which I never understood. He is making steady progress, he's put on bulk and he's now one of the best locks in the country, IMO.

He was?

Or is this "ridiculed" in the same way that "people don't rate Nowell" by having him as 3rd choice for 2 spots?

I said taking him to SA was a worry and that something terrible, given our depth at lock, must have happened if he turns out for England.

I thought it was his rug that was ridiculed. Actually that is fact

Mellsblue wrote:

Which Tyler wrote:

Oakboy wrote:I am looking forward to watching Jonny Hill. The guy was ridiculed by a few on here a while back which I never understood. He is making steady progress, he's put on bulk and he's now one of the best locks in the country, IMO.

He was?

Or is this "ridiculed" in the same way that "people don't rate Nowell" by having him as 3rd choice for 2 spots?

I said taking him to SA was a worry and that something terrible, given our depth at lock, must have happened if he turns out for England.

Sorry, 'ridiculed' was a daft word to use. Allow for my age, please. 'Not rated' would be more accurate perhaps. What do you both think of him now?

Might he feature in Japan with Isiekwe, for example, on the assumption that Itoje, Lawes and Kruis will be rested?

Rug? Do you mean the peroxide hair Hill had that Chris Robshaw is now sporting? That definitely was worthy of ridicule.

Scrumhead wrote:Rug? Do you mean the peroxide hair Hill had that Chris Robshaw is now sporting? That definitely was worthy of ridicule.

That’s the one!!! Dear Old Chris looked a tad uncomfortable with his new look.

p/d wrote:

Scrumhead wrote:Rug? Do you mean the peroxide hair Hill had that Chris Robshaw is now sporting? That definitely was worthy of ridicule.

That’s the one!!! Dear Old Chris looked a tad uncomfortable with his new look.

Poor bloke. You just know that Mrs Robshaw had persuaded him she should be in charge of his new look. That says, his chino and blazer/sports jacket game is normally spot on.

Scrumhead wrote:I’ve come to realise that I generally disagree with Oakboy, but I with him on Hill.

He has definitely bulked up and has the work rate and athleticism to make it at test level IMO. I wouldn’t choose him ahead of the current crop of locks and Ewels, but I’d have him ahead of Isiekwe at the moment (who hasn’t really made as much of his early promise as I expected).

I'd agree. I think Hill has developed into a very reliable and effective all round lock. He's below our top 5, but then so is Isiekwe who was clearly promoted far too early.

The lock i would like to see involved with England is Ribbans at Saints.

Mellsblue wrote:

p/d wrote:

Scrumhead wrote:Rug? Do you mean the peroxide hair Hill had that Chris Robshaw is now sporting? That definitely was worthy of ridicule.

That’s the one!!! Dear Old Chris looked a tad uncomfortable with his new look.

Poor bloke. You just know that Mrs Robshaw had persuaded him she should be in charge of his new look. That says, his chino and blazer/sports jacket game is normally spot on.

No doubt about it. His effortless ability to pair the humble chino with a blazer has made wearers of the more conservative pin stripe,or the ‘I’m still young Boss’ jean. reconsider their attire

fivepointer wrote:

Scrumhead wrote:I’ve come to realise that I generally disagree with Oakboy, but I with him on Hill.

He has definitely bulked up and has the work rate and athleticism to make it at test level IMO. I wouldn’t choose him ahead of the current crop of locks and Ewels, but I’d have him ahead of Isiekwe at the moment (who hasn’t really made as much of his early promise as I expected).

I'd agree. I think Hill has developed into a very reliable and effective all round lock. He's below our top 5, but then so is Isiekwe who was clearly promoted far too early.

The lock i would like to see involved with England is Ribbans at Saints.

A South African?