Gloucester v Sale Sun 3pm

[fivepointer]

Gloucester Rugby: 15 Santi Carreras, 14 Alex Hearle, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Seb Atkinson, 11 Ollie Thorley, 10 Charlie Atkinson, 9 Caolan Englefield, 1 Jamal Ford-Robinson, 2 George McGuigan, 3 Kirill Gotovtsev, 4 Freddie Clarke, 5 Matias Alemanno, 6 Ruan Ackermann 7 Lewis Ludlow (C), 8 Zach Mercer

Replacements: 16 Seb Blake, 17 Harry Elrington, 18 Ciaran Knight, 19 Albert Tuisue, 20 Jack Clement, 21 Stephen Varney, 22 Max Llewellyn, 23 Josh Hathaway

Sale Sharks: 15 Joe Carpenter, 14 Telusa Veainu, 13 Sam James, 12 Sam Bedlow, 11 Arron Reed, 10 Rob du Preez, 9 Gus Warr, 1 Si McIntyre, 2 Agustin Creevy, 3 James Harper, 4 Cobus Wiese, 5 Josh Beaumont, 6 Ernst van Rhyn, 7 Sam Dugdale, 8 Dan du Preez. 

Replacements: 16 Tommy Taylor, 17 Tumy Onasanya, 18 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 19 Ben Bamber, 20 Rouban Birch, 21 Nye Thomas, 22 Tom Curtis, 23 Rekeiti Ma’asi-White.

[FKAS]

That's a young bench for Sale outside of Taylor.

Glaws have got some impact to come off their bench and look like they should be stronger though the scrum might be an issue.

Good to see Charlie Atkinson starting, hopefully he has more luck in with Glaws than he did at Tigers.

[Puja]

Great to see Atkinson getting a go. Hope he absolutely tears it up (and not just for the fun of the Atkinson/Atkinson axis).

Think this could be Gloucester's chance to start a come-back. Sale look weak with injuries and internationals and Glaws's luck has got to turn some time.

Puja

[Scrumhead]

Hastings sounds like he’ll be out for a while so you’d think Charlie Atkinson should get a decent run of games. Nice gap between fixtures for him to settle in too.

[twitchy]

Thorley.

[p/d]

The great thing about this game is the BBC have Tom Curry on the bench

[Puja]

Veainu's having an absolute nightmare. Drops a pass on his own line which leads to Dugdale kicking it out from an offside position and getting yellow-carded. Glaws score a try from the resulting penalty. He then drops a high ball, which leads to another Gloucester try (possibly assisted by Dugdale still being off the pitch). He's now just sliced a touch-finder and Glaws have scored their bonus point try from the resulting lineout.

CAtkinson scoring his first try for his new club. Good for him!

Can't say that SAtkinson's been demonstrating any of the "How is he not playing for England" form that some of the posters have apparently been seeing. Nothing terrible, but nothing outstanding either.

Puja

[Epaminondas Pules]

Apart from Atkinson making the break and then out the back offload for C Atkinsons try maybe.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Apart from Atkinson making the break and then out the back offload for C Atkinsons try maybe.

And then the half break and out the back offload to Harris for the Carreras almost try. And marshalling that whole attack.

[p/d]

Apart from Atkinson making the break and then out the back offload for C Atkinsons try maybe.

And then the half break and out the back offload to Harris for the Carreras almost try. And marshalling that whole attack.

If only he could add the hitch kick then people might notice him.

[Puja]

Apart from Atkinson making the break and then out the back offload for C Atkinsons try maybe.

Are you talking about the final pass for the try? If so, that's a classic example of what I so often see when people rave about SAtkinson - competent play being held up as something extraordinary because we're so desperate to find a high quality 12. I mean, it was good play, but more something I'd be appalled if a Prem 12 couldn't execute rather than something worth exulting over.

I will take a moment to note that I really like him as a player - I think he's got massive potential and will likely play for England in the future; I'm only pushing back on "he's the form 12 and it's a condemnation of Stone Barbearyhater that he's not in the England squad".

Puja

[Epaminondas Pules]

He didn’t make the final pass. Atkinson made the initial break before offloading out the back to Harris.

Hard to judge someone if you’re watching the wrong player

[fivepointer]

Atkinson did some nice things. He's got a really well rounded passing and offloading game, and a defence that is trustworthy. I like him a lot and think hes a player England could do well to encourage. An A team outing seems a natural progression.

Got to feel a bit for Sale. They are hurting badly with injuries, copping 2 more today, and seem to have very low confidence. The break has probably come at a very good time for them to regroup.

[16th man]

Atkinson did some nice things. He's got a really well rounded passing and offloading game, and a defence that is trustworthy. I like him a lot and think hes a player England could do well to encourage. An A team outing seems a natural progression.

Got to feel a bit for Sale. They are hurting badly with injuries, copping 2 more today, and seem to have very low confidence. The break has probably come at a very good time for them to regroup.

We were bare bones enough, then Hill pinging his knee last week really has us struggling in the pack, whilst some of the backs are showing their rawness. Not helped when the guy you've signed to be an experienced head does what Veainu did today.

[Puja]

Atkinson did some nice things. He's got a really well rounded passing and offloading game, and a defence that is trustworthy. I like him a lot and think hes a player England could do well to encourage. An A team outing seems a natural progression.

See, this is where I am as well.

Puja