A League Semi Tonight

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015:01:13:13:18:35 by Powick Eastander.

If I'm lucky I'll make that last 10 minutes, still might try in any case. Looks like a strong Cavaliers team and a good chance of a final.

Looks like the strongest genuine 2nd team we can put out

JP

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And you guys were moaning at the idea of Bath putting out an OTT strong team. Good luck in the final, maybe play a few kids to keep up appearances.

Looking forward to it.

Replacement fly half seems to be from Newport, Shropshire but not academy age.

[www.newportsaloprufc.co.uk]

He has played previously for the cavaliers

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" SEMPER BELLATOR "

Balls out, only 2 are 1st XV AND THOSE 2 are not regulars

It is a genuine 2nd team

JP

# TOGETHER
" SEMPER BELLATOR "

Good luck in the final,Sarries are like you and don't play their kids.i shall not be going now.total joke.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015:01:05:14:45:11 by Bri.

FC

Should have looked more closely, First internet search came up with the link I posted. Seems he's with Birmingham University.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015:01:05:14:46:47 by ARFC Warrior.

Quote:

Faithful_City
Balls out, only 2 are 1st XV AND THOSE 2 are not regulars
It is a genuine 2nd team

JP

What are you on about? Your own offy site says that every player has played in the first team. Gilbert, Senatore, De Carpentier, Percival, Fainga'anuku, Mieres, Drauniniu, Grove and Stephenson aren't first team players?

As Bri says, what a joke.

I agree Ballsout it's embarrassing for them.

They all have played for Warriors, but currently are not first choice. Some might argue a few of them should be first choice but at best a couple of them might be on the bench for the next Warriors game.

Given how many players we've used this season, it would be hard to name a team which doesn't feature guys who've played for the first team this season.

Just to point out, we are in the Championship and not sitting second in the Premiership!!

Wondered why we were winning games this season.

Our is nearly a under 21 side all but a couple of third choices.

And you haven't played Burgess, Roko, Devoto or Stringer in any A league game this season then??

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Coming Back from Injuries yes and Devoto 21. I believe and Burgess is learning the game.thankfully we are developing our kids.

Max Stelling is a lot younger than Fatiaki or Grove and would fit the supposed age criteria but he is arguably ahead of both regards 1st team selection so damned if you do damned if you don't. Senatore at 8 raised an eyebrow for me as Huw Taylor has been playing there but he himself is only 19 and played very little since returning from injury. We could have played our 5th choice lock I suppose but he is now at London Welsh !!!
A bit rich for Bath to suggest we are abusing our resources. Nice opportunity for Sisi to take a look round his future club:-)

We have been able to play most of our squad, including the academy lads, in 1st team fixtures this season. B&I Cup and a Games for those up and coming and not 1st choice.

So yes most have played 1st team this season but given our squad ave age is 25ish and in the front row probably even lower (despite Creevy and Ofa) it's not just the A league we have been able to use to develop our youngsters of whom there are quite a few.

Warriors Rugby Supporters Club

I can see why this would be a shock to some Bath fans. When you compare the side they are putting out tonight to the side they put out in the last A league game this must be a mighty come down.

We are very lucky that this season we have combined our "1st team squad" and academy squad for selection in all competitions. I would bet that 6 or 7 of the 23 have played no more than once in the 1st team this season and a similar number would be officially considered academy players. At the last count we have used 45+ players in the Championship and B&I Cup games this season so there is a high chance the A league team will comprise players from those games.

This is NOT an academy league it is a 2nd team league. One joy of not being in the premiership is that we can use academy players in all competitions not just this league.

I remember last season we put out a load of boys against a bunch of burly Leicester men. We lost 32-0 if I remember rightly.

Youngsters benefit from playing in winning teams, not in whipping boy teams. It doesn't do the confidence any good and doesn't teach them how to win games.

We have a few younger players out tonight, but let's remember DR needs to show the board that his vision works, and winning the A league looks good next time he's in the board room.

BRI and Ballsout
I hate to say it but apart from Gilbert this is our second team.
Start with FlyHalf - currently we only have 2 flyhalfs as Tif is injuried, another has had to go to Oz for personal reasons, 3rd who was brought in is also injuried. Thus you had Lamb who is 1st choice or Mieres or the guy that plays in the under 17s.
ScrumHalf - we have 3 key scrumhalfs, Arr looks to be 1st choice, with JBB and Mulchrome on bench or play for B&I Cup. The 4th is long term injuried.
Although last year,Offa, Percy, Grove, JD and Ravi all played in the 1st team, this year apart from B&I Cup they have not been picked apart from a few times on bench.
That includes Stepehnespn who has only played in B&I Cup.

Dean Ryan has used the first 1/2 of year to play around with the team, thus most of the 2nd team and Accademy have played for the 1st team.
Gilbert I think is a real 1st player, believe he has been played due to a bit of history.

Some of you clearly don't seem to realise that the A League isn't for "second choice" senior players. It's for academy players. 14 of your starting XV are senior players with plenty of Premiership experience. Embarrassing but try and enjoy your win...

Ballsout, as others have said, current England internationals are academy players?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015:01:05:18:52:01 by Emphursis.

No the 11 academy players in our XV are academy players. Nice of you guys to throw a token one in...

Quote:

ballsout
No the 11 academy players in our XV are academy players. Nice of you guys to throw a token one in...

Shut up you baby.

Ballsout it is you who needs to listen, IT IS NOT AN ACADEMY LEAGUE!!

It is "A" Team

Bath United
Worcester Cavaliers
Northampton Wanderers

JP

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Ballsout, shame you didn't play all Academy players as it was your "senior" players that let themselves down with discipline!!

Bath supporter--didn't you put out your best available team then?Actually you put out a well drilled ,very strong pack and overall off loaded and played very well. Pity to sound as though you have been cheated in some way.This was our present second side and some may move up--just as some of your team would had your first team not been so very strong.

Guys - don't feed the troll. You all should know better.

Cheltenham is often called the Gateway to the Cotswolds...

In the same way Gloucester is the Asda of the Malverns. - Jack Dee

Well i went,just got back our kids played brilliant for 45 minutes but the international class and weight advantage told in the end.Really enjoyed it and Bath youngsters should be proud of themselves,good luck next week.

Bri, glad you enjoyed it. Hope to see you in the "proper" league next season!

BRI,
Thanks for that, really glad to hear it. Have always had a fondness for Bath and was surprised by some of the accusation that somehow we had cheated.
I thought Bath played great, your scrum looked very good...in fact very good and if that is your Accademy side then we have a lot to fear i a few years.
I thoguht the red card was a bit harsh, but thought you played the ref well most of the game avoiding potential binning for pulling down the maul. It's a shame for the player as I believe that will go against him in the future. Hope if you appeal he gets off.

Worcester deserved the win but I thought it was a great game of rugby,I've read the red was for a tip tackle but also heard pitch side it was a punch so not sure?

Is there any news of how Gordas is? He wasn't carried off until around 15 minutes after the end of the game!

Du skal ikke tro at du er bedre end os!

The referee appeared to signal a tip tackle.

Deja vu? I've seen it all before

Bath played blydi well it has to be said.

Cheltenham is often called the Gateway to the Cotswolds...

In the same way Gloucester is the Asda of the Malverns. - Jack Dee

One thing I noted was the performance of Alex Grove. He did some decent positional kicking and produced the cross field kick for Senatore's try. Is he responding to losing his first team position by adding an extra dimension to his game?

HunkyWarrior,
I know it's easy to see a game and miss a lot, that's why I love watching the video summary a couple of days later. So maybe I missed the good things he did.
I thought the cross kick was good, no excellent. But thought of the 2 Centers Fatiaki had the better game.
I don't know what has happened to Grove this season, because last year he had good games, average games, and some terrible games, but so did the whole team apart from Pennell. But this year I have only seen at best average. i don't think on current form he is 1st team and think he needs to prove himself a lot more.
But then again it's easy to miss things Nd maybe I have.

LiveInHope - I agree that he is not first team material at the moment and would much rather have Stelling. I've also got a niggling doubt at the back of my mind that I may be guilty of some bad identification of who was kicking.

HunkyWarrior
I know what you mean, you see a very different game at the match and I find i focus on what I like. Afterward on the way home you discover everyone else has watched a differmt game.
But Grove and JD are a mystery to me, as for parts of last year and all of this year they just don't look like the player they were 2 years ago and neither is that old.

Where Grove lets himself down at times, is his pass decision making. He failed to release Stevenson on the wing for an overlap (albeit we ended up scoring anyway) and passed to the touchline on the other side. He was excellent in defence last night, which is an area where we are weaker without him. Overall I thought he had a good game.

Did anyone one else notice the mix-ups/missunderstandings with the backline last night? On a few occasions Mieres was left looking confused at who he should be passing to, not sure if it was him or his outside backs that were causing it.

Overall, well played to the team.

The biggest mix up with last night was our defense against Baths rest starts. Both locks could not decide how to take the ball and there was no blockers for the jumpers and often the jumpers seemed to prefer the ball to come to them, rather than go to it.
Bath stole it at least twice and the other times the jumper (who did not jump) got thumped as he had no support.

Would also love to know what was going wrong in the scrum.
Apparently that was a light, young, inexperienced Bath pack and on the whole we were pushed all round the place.

Poor officiating of the scrum was the problem.
Worcester coaches were right in the ear of the assistant ref and 4th official towards the end of the 1st half.
Ref stayed on the Bath tight head side of the scrum in the 2nd half, irrespective on put in, so must have got their point across!

But we won nearly every scrum in the second half and even won with 7 in the pack?Neil Hatley our scrum coach was also talking to the officials.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015:01:06:20:51:16 by Bri.

Quote:

Premiership Rugby
Bath's Micky Young was shown a red card in the second half for a tip tackle but coach Neal Hatley claims his team's performance in the competition as a whole means the future is bright at the Rec.
"We had three or four late withdrawals in terms of Semesa Rokoduguni, Ollie Devoto and a few other high-profile players who would have brought stability," said Hatley.

"It's an unbelievably young United side and I couldn't be more proud and more pleased. Will Homer has been absolutely outstanding for the last three or four weeks.

"Max Northcote-Green, Tom Dunn, Kane Palma-Newport, Charlie Ewels… all of these young guys are 19 or 20 years old playing against a very experienced side with a few internationals.

So the only reason we appeared to have such a strong team compared to Bath United is that their high profile players pulled out - they were selected though and bang goes the "it's a development / academy league" claims on this thread and Twitter.

Though I am not sure how accurate this is from Hatley as he does state that Kane, a 24 year old prop is 19/20...

Prem Rugby Link

And the hooker is 22 - poetic licence, me thinks!

Ballsout has been silent since on of Baths posters wrote this..

Quote:

BO, the Bath side who won last year: Abendanon (Devoto 48), Lane, Clark, Henson, Biggs, Heathcote, Young (Cook 57), Beech, Dunn, Palma-Newport (c), Ewels, Caldwell, Ellis, Gilbert (Jamieson 37-47), Skuse

I had forgotten Bath won the A League last season.. A few with Prem experience in there

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At the risk of bringing it to my own board, I'm slightly confused why the Warriors are taking flak here, rather than my own Saracens.

I had originally come over to say we're looking forward to seeing you on Monday! (and hope that we don't continue our record of tripping up against you)

We look forward to seeing you too and do hope we trip you up

Warriors Rugby Supporters Club

How unsporting of you!

Of course, we can always mutter that we have to come to you - how did you finangle "most tries" rather than "most league points" as the deciding factor?

Hahaha.. them's the rules it would appear... Your tries were more evenly spread to get more try bonuses but we managed to score more shock horror!

Warriors Rugby Supporters Club

Shame we couldn't counter-finangle getting them to count tries in the SF.

Don't suppose there's any chance of the A-league final being televised?