Friendly v Bath in Donnybrook

[Ruckedtobits]

Just scanning the Bath site and viewed match reports on their two away game victories against Leeds Carnegie (14-20) and Scarlets (17-32)thus far.

Their Squad against Scarlets is a good reminder of what's in store this weekend:
15. Homer;14. Williams; 13. Joseph; 12. Clark; 11. Banahan; 10. Priestland; 9. Fotuali'i; 1. Auterac; 2. Dunn; 3. Thomas; 4. Attwood; 5. Ewels; 6. Denton; 7. Mercer (c); 8. Faleteau.
Bench: Batty, Catt, Palmer-Newport, Charteris, Garvey, Ellis, Sisi,, Homer, Ford, Watson & Davies.

Not too many "Academy-youngsters" in that lot and more like a decent Tour Party a la Ba-Bas. Fasten your seat-belts and lets hope Leo & Girv have explained fully what's required from here on in - kill or be killed!

[cormac]

this game is in Donnybrook, not the RDS

[simonokeeffe]

Bath going for 3 away pre season games, we have 3 home ones, strange

[riocard911]

Bath going for 3 away pre season games, we have 3 home ones, strange

Maybe they think goin out on the road is good for squad bonding?.....

[simonokeeffe]

Bath going for 3 away pre season games, we have 3 home ones, strange

Maybe they think goin out on the road is good for squad bonding?.....

Their history of squad bonding is in A class of its own and not to be sniffed at, if you can read between the lines on that

That and they keep signing Welsh players

This game should be a good trial by fire for the younger players

[Dirk Stickler]

Given the horror show of a season they had last year and the fact that there's new management in place, maybe they figured it'd be best to go away together.

Really looking forward to this game now.

Anyone know if we'll see Gibson-Park at some stage, or is he getting a break?

[offshorerules]

I have always assumed that the two teams coaches put their heads together and decide what sort of selections they are going to make to ensure a decent match.

[rdsblue]

Given the horror show of a season they had last year and the fact that there's new management in place, maybe they figured it'd be best to go away together.

Really looking forward to this game now.

Anyone know if we'll see Gibson-Park at some stage, or is he getting a break?

Can't see why JG-P needs a break he never played more than 20 minutes in any of the Canes' games. Most weeks he only got about 12 minutes as they liked to keep Perenara on as long as possible especially if the games were tight. Gibson-Park should be very fresh as he's now had a couple of weeks since the Super final.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

He'll get plenty of time off during the season as well.

[simonokeeffe]

He'll get plenty of time off during the season as well.

International windows and normal rotation or do you mean riding pine?

[LeRouxIsPHat]

He'll get plenty of time off during the season as well.

International windows and normal rotation or do you mean riding pine?

Yeah international breaks.

[simonokeeffe]

He'll get plenty of time off during the season as well.

International windows and normal rotation or do you mean riding pine?

Yeah international breaks.

Gotcha. Think he could for us, and McGrath as a gatekeeper/end of level boss
Was wondering if we'll see our fringe/squad Ireland players for this one but thats really only Cronin, rest are all rehabbing or had busy tours

[arsebiscuits1]

Any chance of some of the seniors getting a run out for this or are they still on break? Wouldn't mind seeing Cronin, Toner, Heaslip, McGrath, Rossy (metaphorically ), Kearneys et al stretch their legs a bit.

Don't get me wrong I love seeing the young fellas get games, but we've a tough start to the new season and would put my mind at ease knowing our first team isn't starting totally cold

[offshorerules]

Any chance of some of the seniors getting a run out for this or are they still on break? Wouldn't mind seeing Cronin, Toner, Heaslip, McGrath, Rossy (metaphorically ), Kearneys et al stretch their legs a bit.

Don't get me wrong I love seeing the young fellas get games, but we've a tough start to the new season and would put my mind at ease knowing our first team isn't starting totally cold

Was thinking much the same.

[cormac]

Any chance of some of the seniors getting a run out for this or are they still on break? Wouldn't mind seeing Cronin, Toner, Heaslip, McGrath, Rossy (metaphorically ), Kearneys et al stretch their legs a bit.

Don't get me wrong I love seeing the young fellas get games, but we've a tough start to the new season and would put my mind at ease knowing our first team isn't starting totally cold

I would think Cronin is the only one of that group who is even remotely likely to feature this weekend or even against Treviso. We could be very light on experience at prop for the start of the season. Probably one of the reasons why the likes of Porter and Abdeladze have been getting gametime in the friendlies so far.

Don't think we'll see the likes of Heaslip, Toner or Jack McGrath until game 3 or 4 of the season.

[Gearzbox2]

Think I heard somewhere internationals have a staggered return to play varying on gametime...
Pretty sure the minimum return is first league game which the likes of Cronin, Ruddock if fit might come back for????
Rest all had a bit of game time on tour....would be nice to get them back ASAP to get into the splaying structure and avoid the slow start like last year post WC

[cormac]

Think I heard somewhere internationals have a staggered return to play varying on gametime...
Pretty sure the minimum return is first league game which the likes of Cronin, Ruddock if fit might come back for????
Rest all had a bit of game time on tour....would be nice to get them back ASAP to get into the splaying structure and avoid the slow start like last year post WC

Don't think our preparation for the first ECC game this season will be as bad as last year. We never got a chance last season to play the first-choice side before the home game against Wasps with most of the players who'd been to the RWC either featuring in the away game v Treviso or at home to the Scarlets but not in both. At the very least I'd expect us to be picking a first choice outfit for the home game v Munster the week before the Castres game and, barring injured players, we'll probably have a full deck to play with by the fourth game (Cardiff at home) of the season. There's also the factor that last season the internationals had been away at Camp Joe for a couple of months and were coming back to a new coaching regime at Leinster. Neither of those should be an issue this year.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Honestly thought that our biggest problem in that first Wasps game was Madigan playing 15. He was absolutely dreadful. For all the other factors that went into that collapse, a proper fullback would have had us right in the game IMO.

[cormac]

Honestly thought that our biggest problem in that first Wasps game was Madigan playing 15. He was absolutely dreadful. For all the other factors that went into that collapse, a proper fullback would have had us right in the game IMO.

I'd say his performance increased the margin of defeat rather than it being the main reason for the loss. We were a clueless rabble that day. We never looked like scoring a try, while if they'd had a bit more belief they'd have gotten the four-try bonus point.

[riocard911]

Think I heard somewhere internationals have a staggered return to play varying on gametime...
Pretty sure the minimum return is first league game which the likes of Cronin, Ruddock if fit might come back for????
Rest all had a bit of game time on tour....would be nice to get them back ASAP to get into the splaying structure and avoid the slow start like last year post WC

Considering the bad foot we got off to against Glasgow away at the start of the 2014/2015 season - after which IMO everything essentially went downhill - I think we should put out our absolutely strongest possible team against the Warriors in order to try and win that match and put down a marker for the rest of the season.