Bath vs Newcastle

[Which Tyler]

SATURDAY 25 SEPTEMBER; 3.00
The Recreation Ground
Ref: Craig Maxwell-Keys
TJs: Dean Richards and John Meredith
TMO: David Rose

Bath:
15 Tom de Glanville*
14 Semesa Rokoduguni(*)
13 Jonathan Joseph
12 Max Ojomoh*
11 Will Muir(*)
10 Orlando Bailey*
9 Ollie Fox*

1 Juan Schoeman
2 Tom Dunn*
3 Johannes Jonker
4 Mike Williams
5 Charlie Ewels* (c)
6 Miles Reid*
7 Sam Underhill
8 Josh Bayliss*

16 Jacques du Toit, 17 Beno Obano*, 18 D’Arcy Rae, 19 Tom Ellis*, 20 Jaco Coetzee
21 Max Green, 22 Will Butt*, 23 Max Clark*


Newcastle:
15 Tom Penny
14 Adam Radwan
13 Ben Stevenson
12 Pete Lucock
11 Iwan Stephens
10 Will Haydon-Wood
9 Louis Schreuder

1 Adam Brocklebank
2 George McGuigan
3 Richard Palframan
4 Greg Peterson
5 Sean Robinson
6 Philip van der Walt
7 Will Welch (c)
8 Carl Fearns
Replacements

16 Jamie Blamire, 17 Kyle Cooper, 18 Mark Tampin, 19 Marco Fuser, 20 Gary Graham
21 Cameron Nordli-Kelemeti, 22 Brett Connon, 23 George Wacokecoke



Seems a bit mean to make Deano run touch...
* denotes Bath academy products; (*) denotes first senior professional XVs contract for Bath.
6 first choice starters
5 second choice starters
4 third choice starters
1.87th choice starting XV

[fivepointer]

Good test for the young Bath h/b's. Fox may be getting a decent run of games with Spencer's injury.

Newcastle's young 10, Haydon-Wood, set to make his first Prem start.

[FKAS]

I'm sure England's new backs coach will have this game earmarked as one to review in detail. Some interesting EQ talents on show, most notably both 10s from England under 20s. The entire Bath backline is all EQ and quite potent whilst Falcons 11/13/14 all put in some eye catching moments last weekend.

[fivepointer]

Good win for Falcons with tries from Radwan and Stephens.

[Which Tyler]

Watching Bath Newcastle, and I'm up to half time.

So far, it's a dire match.
Newcastle scrum has Bath's on toast, on the Bath THP side - which is the story of the game.
3 very well taken tries for Newcastle, Radwan scores with a 3 on 2 overlap, Bayliss moves wide and early to cover, leaving Ojomo moving sideways whilst Radwan goes forwards, simplest of steps sees him through, and over the line. These things happen when there's a man over in attack.
Stevens converts on the blindside off a ruck, Bath have 3 and 9 defending 9 and 11, both defenders watch the SH (and presumably Fox not fully trusting Jonker) and crab in,Fox goes too far far infield, Stevens rides the outside shoulder, tucks his feet in and stays infield. Mistake by Fox, but well seen by Stevens and Schreuder
Then a training ground move off the lineout, SH takes the ball and runs wide, passes inside to his McGuigan who wanders through a massive hole at the back of the lineout maul. Training ground move, so well played by the coaching staff.

Otherwise, Bath looking good for 3-4 phases with the ball, before spilling it forwards => Newcastle scrum => Newcastle penalty => Bath defend the line-out reasonably well => Newcastle scrum.
Rinse & Repeat



ETA: Second half better than the first - but Newcastle had enough of a lead that they didn't have to do anything but play territory; which was more than enough.
MOjo best player on the pitch, even though his team were well beaten.

Both teams with poor discipline, but Newcastle did better on that front - almost certainly down to being under less pressure. Ball looked impossible to handle in that first half.

[FKAS]

Very good victory for Falcons but they'll be disappointed not to get the fourth try and the TBP.

Not a great start by Bath to the season. Anyone know when Will Stuart is back?

[Which Tyler]

Anyone know when Will Stuart is back?

Just started full training, so possibly next week (Bristol), but probably more sensible to save him for the following match after our first bye (So Sarries on the 17th)

Really need him too, Jonker just doesn't seem up to it in the tight - which is supposed to be his USP.
ETA: Or it could, of course, be our strategy of lightweight locks to give us mobility around the park that's letting us down. IF he's not getting the shove from behind, then there's only so much he can do.

[fivepointer]

Pleased to hear that Ojomoh had a good game.
Brocklebank and Palfreman are hardly renowned as heavy duty scrummagers. If they can get on top of you then that really isnt a good sign.
Lewis Boyce seems to have been out a long time. Is he due back soon?

[FKAS]

Anyone know when Will Stuart is back?

Just started full training, so possibly next week (Bristol), but probably more sensible to save him for the following match after our first bye (So Sarries on the 17th)

Really need him too, Jonker just doesn't seem up to it in the tight - which is supposed to be his USP.
ETA: Or it could, of course, be our strategy of lightweight locks to give us mobility around the park that's letting us down. IF he's not getting the shove from behind, then there's only so much he can do.

Ewels should be providing a decent shove but Williams is lock sized but has had a career on the flank suggesting he's maybe not that good at scrum time. McInally has a fair bit of bulk in that department so he is going to be a loss there.

[Which Tyler]

Lewis Boyce seems to have been out a long time. Is he due back soon?

We heard he was training and ready for the pre-season match; but he didn't even travel to Cardiff and hasn't appeared since.
Can only assume he's suffered a flare-up or possibly a different injury, once training again.

Ewels should be providing a decent shove but Williams is lock sized but has had a career on the flank suggesting he's maybe not that good at scrum time. McInally has a fair bit of bulk in that department so he is going to be a loss there.

I'm no expert in tight 5 stuff, but Ewels has always been a mobile lock rather than a bulky bugger. Though as a specialist lock, he should know how best to apply the bulk he does have.
McNally was always a lock/backrow, but who we've had almost exclusively as a lock at Bath. He's got the bulk, and is okay at applying it, but is more....mobile-for-his-size.
This is likely to be Williams first season as a lock, rather than a backrower who covers. He may have the bulk, but he doesn't have that depth of experience to apply it properly.
Spencer is the only bruiser we have at lock - and he's not exactly renowned for being fit to play

[FKAS]

Spencer, I'd completely forgotten about him. He career could have been significantly more if he could keep his body in one piece. He's definitely a bruiser.

Last season Bath's scrum worked really well with the combination of Obano, Dunn, Stuart, McInally and Ewels. When one or more of that front row started going missing towards the end of the season issues started it seemed.

[TheNomad]

Ojomoh looks good. Bath just don’t seem to have enough ballast.

Still think they should be better than they are

[Raggs]

Watching this now. Bath are pretty awful... Falcons haven't done a lot to be 3-20 up.

EDIT - Just finished it. No need to reassess my original statement at all, they were awful.