Wasps v Bristol, semi final - 1.30pm Saturday

[jimKRFC]

Bristol teams up;
15. Max Malins; 14. Luke Morahan, 13. Semi Radradra, 12. Siale Piutau, 11. Piers O’Conor; 10. Callum Sheedy, 9. Andy Uren; 1. Jake Woolmore, 2. Harry Thacker, 3. John Afoa, 4. Joe Joyce, 5. Chris Vui, 6. Steven Luatua (c), 7. Ben Earl, 8. Nathan Hughes.

Subs: 16. George Kloska, 17. Yann Thomas, 18. Kyle Sinckler, 19. Ed Holmes, 20. Dan Thomas, 21. Harry Randall, 22. Sam Bedlow, 23. Alapati Leiua.

[jimKRFC]

Wasp;
15 Matteo Minozzi (17)
14 Zach Kibirige (24)
13 Malakai Fekitoa (22)
12 Jimmy Gopperth (104)
11 Josh Bassett (125)
10 Jacob Umaga (29)
9 Dan Robson (122)
1 Simon McIntyre (171)
2 Tommy Taylor (69)
3 Kieran Brookes (40)
4 Joe Launchbury (c) (150)
5 Will Rowlands (92)
6 Jack Willis (60)
7 Thomas Young (118)
8 Brad Shields (33)

Replacements:
16 Gabriel Oghre (27)
17 Tom West (32)
18 Biyi Alo (14)
19 James Gaskell (119)
20 Alfie Barbeary (5)
21 Tom Willis (20)
22 Ben Vellacott (7)
23 Michael Le Bourgeois (34)

[Raggs]

Wasps going 6/2 split again. A potentially risky move.

No C Piutau, but to be honest, Malins may scare me more...

[TheNomad]

Quite a hard one to call. I reckon Wasps will shade it

[Peej]

Curious what neutrals think. As a Wasps fan I swing from optimism to depurate pessimism hourly

[Raggs]

Curious what neutrals think. As a Wasps fan I swing from optimism to depurate pessimism hourly

I have roughly half hour swings to optimism, but pessimism lasting about an hour...

[Scrumhead]

Hard to say. No Byrne or Capon on the bench is a bit of a worry for Bristol if Thacker goes down injured.

I could see this one going down to the wire which is where the 6-2 split might swing it.

[Mellsblue]

As a neutral, this is definitely the one to watch. Looking forward to it.

[fivepointer]

Very hard to call this one. Both sides in form, capable of tremendous attacking play and high scoring, with loads of good players playing well. Maybe the Bris bench is a touch stronger but its going to be a close run thing.

Given where Wasps were at the turn of the year, and where Bris have come from, it will be some achievement for either of them to get to the final.

[jimKRFC]

I'm not concerned about Kloska being on the bench, there's very little between him and Capon, shows that if you're good enough then Pat will stick you in the side over brought in players (Bryne).

If Bristol don't get off to a good start, or let Wasps get a few early scores, then we'll struggle but hard to pick a winner. Hopefully we wont be talking about the refs decisions being critical.

[Mikey Brown]

I can't put my finger on why but the idea of Elliot Daly watching Wasps win the Premiership as he prepares for a season of relegation seems really funny to me. Not that I think anyone can beat Exeter.

[padprop]

Wasps pack shading it for me, backs a much of muchness, although Robson is on unbelievable form at the moment, may be enough to shade that battle.

No Piatua is a loss, but as previously said, Malins caused wasps alot of problems last month.

[padprop]

Arguably the best defensive 13 in the league vs the best offensive 13, expecting fireworks

[Peej]

Interesting that Uren has been picked over Randall for this.

Fekitoa versus Radradra will be interesting!

[Puja]

I can't put my finger on why but the idea of Elliot Daly watching Wasps win the Premiership as he prepares for a season of relegation seems really funny to me. Not that I think anyone can beat Exeter.

You're not wrong.

Very hard to pick a winner here. Interesting rhat Afoa is starting ahead of Sinckler - anyone know the rationale for that?

Puja

[padprop]

Wasps scrum has been pretty dominant last couple of weeks and Afoa is an absolute rock on the tighthead. Although I imagine its more down to minutes played. It will undoubtably be close at 50 minutes so I could see the rationale of bringing on a high energy front rower then.

[jimKRFC]

Afoa is solid at the set peice but can also act as a play maker:

[twitchy]

As a neutral, this is definitely the one to watch. Looking forward to it.

They are one after the other so we can watch both thankfully.

[Mellsblue]

As a neutral, this is definitely the one to watch. Looking forward to it.

They are one after the other so we can watch both thankfully.

Speak for yourself. I have my dad visiting and demanding kids. I reckon I can con them into entertaining each other for one match but two will almost certainly be an impossibility.

[Banquo]

Fekitoa v Radrada is some battle, and the back rows are both pretty exciting. Interesting to see how Hughes handles himself.

[Oakboy]

I'm surprised that Sinckler is not an automatic starter. Why would you not want him doing most of the 80?

[Scrumhead]

I think padprop is correct - Afoa is possibly seen as a better scrummager than Sinckler, so against a Wasps scrum that is going well, Lam has opted for set-piece security.

I think Wasps will take it, but I could easily see it going the other way. Either way, I anticipate a high scoring, end-to-end game that is good to watch.

I’m actually pretty glad the games fell as they did as we have a contrast of styles between Wasps and Bristol’s attacking, expansive rugby and the more forwards oriented approach of Exeter and Bath. Should be two cracking games.

[Banquo]

Sinckler is a more than decent scrummager too. Probably more like Afoa couldn’t go more than 50 mins, so should Sinckler start and go off very early.....

[Mikey Brown]

Just imagining the absurd situation they play it right up to the line with Afoa’s minutes and then Sinkler gets an injury. Who’s issue is it at that point? Face a sanction? Contested scrums? Why am I even asking this? What am I doing with my life?

[morepork]

When is this on my Engrish chums?