Pre season line ups offer opportunities

By Duncan Wood
August 13 2002

Peter Thorburn's first two team selections make pretty interesting reading although you can only draw so many conclusions. However, you can't accuse him of not giving everyone a chance to impress.

The teams named for the games against Munster and Connacht are as follows:

Lee Best, Phil Christophers, Tom Luke, Martin Shaw, Brendon Daniel, Shane Drahm, Paul Hodgson, Ross Beattie (c), Michael Lipman, Chris Morgan, Garath Archer, Andrew Sheridan, Emiliano Bergamaschi, Neil McCarthy, Darren Crompton.

and

Jon Clarke, Miles Johnson, David Rees, Duncan Hayward, Jamie Williams, Matt Carrington, Pete Richards, Matt Salter, Rhys Oakley, Craig Short, Ben Sturnham (c), Scott Morgan, Richard Skuse, Saul Nelson, Tim Payne.

Obviously lots of interesting combinations in those two teams and it's worth remembering that Alex Brown, Felipe Contepomi, Agustin Pichot and Julian White are not being considered for selection.

In the team that lost 31-10 to Munster with tries from Lee Best and Brenson Daniel, there were two brand new names in the centre. Martin Shaw is a close season capture from Sale whilst Tom Luke is a highly rated signing from the Bath Academy. Makes a change for us to poach one of theirs!

Paul Hodgson got a first senior start and Shane Drahm had an early chance to stake a claim for the fly half jersey.

In the pack, the front five was pretty strong although the first choice selection may look slightly different. The back row is intriguing though with two specialist opensides named in Lipman and Morgan alongside the skipper, Ross Beattie.

The team for Wednesday's game versus Connacht is similarly interesting. Jon Clarke has played for England U19s and scored quite a few tries for the U21s last season. Miles Johnson has spent the last two summers on trial and will be itching to make an impression.

The back row seems to lack a specialist openside although Craig Short has played a lot of rugby there and it's good to see Matt Salter making a comeback after his serious neck injury.

Ben Sturnham and Scott Morgan both show their versatilty by playing 2nd row when they've both played a lot of rugby at number eight. The front row has a fairly youthful look with Saul Nelson easily the most experienced.

It's probably more about the performances than the results at this stage with so many kay players not taking part and so many experiments taking place.

However, it is a really god opportunity for some fringe players to stake a claim and who know who will give Peter Thorburn food for thought.

We can safely assume that David Rees and Duncan Hayward have never played in the centre together and Peter Richards plays his first competitive game for Bristol.