Bath Preview

By Web Team
August 16 2003

The Celtic Warriors play the first ever home game on Sunday against English opposition Bath. For all the info on the squads for both teams read on.

Celtic Warriors vs. Bath

Sunday 17th August 2003

Sardis Road

Kick Off 3.00pm

 

    This coming Sunday sees the Celtic Warriors play the first home game since their arrival on the rugby scene. Coach Lynn Howells is forced to go into the game without his international stars but he looks likely to employ a similar team selection as he did last weekend when the Warriors played their first ever game as a regional outfit against London Welsh. On that particular occasion the Warriors ran out comfortable winners by 20 points to 5 although Howells will expect a more difficult contest against Bath.

 

   New Bath coach John Connelly will be in a similar position to Howells as he will be without a whole host of stars including Iain Balshaw, Mike Tindall and Kevin Maggs for the trip across to Sardis Road but he has also indicated that he will treat the game in the same way as Howells as both coaches look to establish the ideal partnerships in various positions ready for the start of the new season. We are still unsure as to how Howells will change his teams throughout the game but Connelly will field two separate teams - one team will play out the first half with a completely different 15 taking over for the second half.

    

    Jonathan Humphries looks set to captain the Bath team (for the first half) with David Barnes taking over in the second half and England coach, Clive Woodward is expected to be in the Sardis Road crowd to watch the performance of Mike Catt before deciding on whether to draft him into the England squad for the World Cup. Another interesting name in the Bath squad is former Ponty favourite Duncan Bell who will make a quick return to Sardis Road after leaving Ponty in the summer to play for his home club.

 

The Bath squad reads:

 

Forwards: David Flatman, David Barnes, Jonathan Humphreys, Lee Mears, Christian Balshen, Duncan Bell, Matt Stevens, James Hudson, Rob Fidler, Andy Beattie, Wayne Sprangle, James Scaysbrook, Michael Lipman, Chris Goodman, Isaac Feaunati.

Backs: Martyn Wood, Ross Blake, Mike Catt, Simon Whatling, Olly Barkley, Robbie Kydd, Alex Crockett, Andrew Higgins, Brendon Daniel, Joe Mbu, Pat Johnson, Lee Best, Gareth Knox, Matt Perry.

 

The Celtic Warriors squad for the Bath game looks set to remain unchanged from that which defeated London Welsh as Howells looks to give the short term cover players another opportunity to show what they can do. The unconfirmed squad reads:

 

Backs: Gareth Cull, Matthew Nuttall, Aisea Havili, Gareth Wyatt, Emyr Lewis, Richard Fussell, Jon Bryant, David Bishop, Shaun James, Anthony Carter, Dafydd James, Neil Jenkins, Lee Thomas, Paul Jones, Tommy Walsh,

Forwards: Phil Booth, Gerald Cox, Geraint Morris, Chris Horsman, Martin Jones, Andrew Joy, Matthew Rees, Duane Goodfield, Nathan Budgett, Deiniol Jones, Ryan Jones, Ian Evans, Nick Kelly, Mark Lewis, Cory Harris, John Edwards, Chris Davies, Richard Bryan (c),

PLEASE NOTE THAT SEASON TICKETS ARE NOT VALID FOR THIS GAME - THERE WILL BE AN ENTRANCE CHARGE OF £5.00