Bath v Newcastle

[Which Tyler]

Saturday, 12.30pm
The Rec, live on BT Sport Extra
Ref: Craig Maxwell-Keys
TJs: Philip Watters & Robert Warburton
TMO: David Rose


Bath:

15. Tom de Glanville
14. Ruaridh McConnochie
13. Cameron Redpath
12. Josh Matavesi
11. Joe Cokanasiga
10. Rhys Priestland
9. Ben Spencer

1. Lewis Boyce
2. Jack Walker
3. Henry Thomas
4. Josh McNally (C)
5. Will Spencer
6. Mike Williams
7. Miles Reid
8. Zach Mercer

16. Ross Batty, 17. Juan Schoeman, 18. Christian Judge, 19. Charlie Ewels, 20. Josh Bayliss
21. Will Chudley, 22. Max Clark, 23. Semesa Rokoduguni


Newcastle:

15 Tom Penny
14 Adam Radwan
13 Luther Burrell
12 Toby Flood
11 Ben Stevenson
10 Brett Connon
9 Michael Young (c)

1 Trevor Davison
2 George McGuigan
3 Logovi’i Mulipola
4 Greg Peterson
5 Marco Fuser
6 Sean Robinson
7 Connor Collett
8 Gary Graham

16 Jamie Blamire, 17 Adam Brocklebank, 18 Mark Tampin, 19 Rob Farrar, 20 Josh Basham
21 Sam Stuart, 22 Joel Hodgson, 23 Pete Lucock

[Peej]

off I think it could be a tough season for Newcastle

[Puja]

Henry Thomas?!

Puja

[fivepointer]

Thats a strong looking Bath side considering the players not available. Stay fit Henry Thomas, stay fit.....

Newcastle look an even weaker side than when they were relegated. We all want them to be competitive so lets hope they can be greater than the sum of their parts.

[Mikey Brown]

Flood and Burrell in the centres. Wow. Didn’t realise Flood was still playing.

[Puja]

Flood and Burrell in the centres. Wow. Didn’t realise Flood was still playing.

Exactly the same reaction as me.

Puja

[Banquo]

Ouch. Shame Coka isn’t with England tho, and MCConnachie.

[Oakboy]

Ouch. Shame Coka isn’t with England tho, and MCConnachie.

Do you like the three centres business ahead of picking one of these two in the starting XV?

[Banquo]

Ouch. Shame Coka isn’t with England tho, and MCConnachie.

Do you like the three centres business ahead of picking one of these two in the starting XV?

No. It’s interesting but unnecessary at this point- and could be replicated easily in any case by picking Daley on the wing, as he should be- though you would miss his attacking from fb (though as we have stopped using that it’s moot)

[Mellsblue]

Ouch. Shame Coka isn’t with England tho, and MCConnachie.

Do you like the three centres business ahead of picking one of these two in the starting XV?

No. It’s interesting but unnecessary at this point- and could be replicated easily in any case by picking Daley on the wing, as he should be- though you would miss his attacking from fb (though as we have stopped using that it’s moot)

Ha, yeah, this crossed my mind last night. Why have a play making 15 when your gameplan is based on kicking until the oppo makes a mistake. Surely it is better to have a runner at 15 in this scenario.

[Oakboy]

Do you like the three centres business ahead of picking one of these two in the starting XV?

No. It’s interesting but unnecessary at this point- and could be replicated easily in any case by picking Daley on the wing, as he should be- though you would miss his attacking from fb (though as we have stopped using that it’s moot)

Ha, yeah, this crossed my mind last night. Why have a play making 15 when your gameplan is based on kicking until the oppo makes a mistake. Surely it is better to have a runner at 15 in this scenario.

I know I'm just considered a 'knock-Jones merchant' but is this not yet another case of him being indecisive? All along, it should have been Ford or Farrell but he has wasted dozens of games levering both in rather than looking for a genuine 12. He seems a ditherer over back row and SH selection. He messes about with FBs (remember Brown on the wing FFS). Now, he is pissing about with Joseph as nominally a winger. Why not pick Malins at FB and put Daly on the wing? etc. etc. I just think Jones is shot. He runs out of ideas - it's as simple as that.

[Mellsblue]

No. It’s interesting but unnecessary at this point- and could be replicated easily in any case by picking Daley on the wing, as he should be- though you would miss his attacking from fb (though as we have stopped using that it’s moot)

Ha, yeah, this crossed my mind last night. Why have a play making 15 when your gameplan is based on kicking until the oppo makes a mistake. Surely it is better to have a runner at 15 in this scenario.

I know I'm just considered a 'knock-Jones merchant' but is this not yet another case of him being indecisive? All along, it should have been Ford or Farrell but he has wasted dozens of games levering both in rather than looking for a genuine 12. He seems a ditherer over back row and SH selection. He messes about with FBs (remember Brown on the wing FFS). Now, he is pissing about with Joseph as nominally a winger. Why not pick Malins at FB and put Daly on the wing? etc. etc. I just think Jones is shot. He runs out of ideas - it's as simple as that.

I’d say he’s very decisive. Luther Burrell will tell you that.
He’s a bloody good coach that makes different decisions to those which some of the RR ‘cognoscenti’ might make. There is a very large grey area you can land in by questioning his decisions whilst not thinking he should be sacked.

[Which Tyler]

Interesting take on the obstruction law for Newcastle's try.
Youngs blatantly in front of Graham, and completely blocks Rhys's tackle as if it's US football.
But apparently, that's fine as there were other tacklers available, so the obstruction doesn't matter?

[Which Tyler]

Good try by Graham at the end, tap and go followed by a pick and go. Really impressive ground made from the tap.

I feel this 1st half has been about Bath errors and rust - you can tell which team is on their 3rd match.
Of course, that may just be my bias

[Which Tyler]

If that's the regulations, they need a tinkering (or I need to accept being against player safety for once)


The tackle was fine, but there may have been an accidental clash of head as they impact the ground. So we'll start with a red card, and look for mitigation. The fact that the tackle was legal isn't enough mitigation.


Now if the call was that the initial tackle was too high, then... okay, but otherwise, there has to be an allowance that sometimes, shit happens and it's no-one's fault

[Raggs]

Just watching from 60 minutes, loving the handling from Newcastle forwards in their pods, changing the point of attack really well, varying it nicely and making good yards.

[Scrumhead]

I didn’t catch the first half, but Newcastle have impressed my in this second half. Good value for their lead.

[Which Tyler]

Well played Newcastle - better team on the day, and a well deserved win

[Raggs]

From the 20 minutes I saw Newcastle looked good. Tigers better hope that they improve their performances, because if they act the same way as they did last season, they're in serious trouble.

[fivepointer]

That was a turn up.
Newcastle the better side and good winners. They had poise, control and patience. Their set piece was reliable, their defence sound and their workrate top notch. They should be well pleased.
Bath were sluggish throughout. Not a good start for them.

[Banquo]

Ouch. Shame Coka isn’t with England tho, and MCConnachie.

Not ouch, except for Bath. That’s about as disappointing start as possible.

[FKAS]

If that's the regulations, they need a tinkering (or I need to accept being against player safety for once)


The tackle was fine, but there may have been an accidental clash of head as they impact the ground. So we'll start with a red card, and look for mitigation. The fact that the tackle was legal isn't enough mitigation.


Now if the call was that the initial tackle was too high, then... okay, but otherwise, there has to be an allowance that sometimes, shit happens and it's no-one's fault

The Ewels tackle? He makes no attempt to lower the height of his tackle. Lazy technique leads to head on head collision as part of the initial impact. Should have been red, he was a very lucky boy to get yellow. Exactly the type of poor quality tackling world rugby is trying the get rid of.

No idea what Bath's game plan was today. They flitted between throwing the ball around to then trying the power game. Power game went pretty much nowhere, probably due to the impact of international call ups. When the backs attacked they looked threatening but as soon as they made and error they'd lose confidence and go conservative for a spell again. Just wasn't cohesive, Newcastle on the other hand clearly knew exactly how they wanted to play and should have won by a more comfortable margin and would have done had Connon got his kicking boots on.