Bath
PRE-SEASON SERIES - MUNSTER RUGBY v BATH
Coombes: sure starter?
By shipwrecked
September 9 2025
Match 2 - Away - Virgin Media Park - Fri 12 Sep - 19:00 In the second of the preseason matches Bath travel to Southwest Ireland to the province of Munster to play at the Virgin Media stadium.Match 1 was a 47-14 win to Bath with a starting XV packed with academy and even U18 players. Henry Arundell picked up 2 tries with Donoghue kicking all his conversions even when wide out. Bernard van de Linde looked lively at 9 but it was forward power that sealed it for Bath.We are expecting these preseason starters to get stronger as we progress through this preseason series and rumour has it that Ollie Lawrence might even make a comeback cameo!
The make-up of the squad is still restricted due to rest and recuperation needs and some of last year’s long-term injuries are not yet fully resolved. Sam Harris still may have a while before return it seems (an ACL can take a year to recover). However, he should take comfort in the fact that Cam Redpath has had 2 ACL reconstructions and still rips defences apart. The actual makeup of the starting XV will be fluid with multiple changes during the game as coaches test combinations, last season’s corresponding fixture had a starting XV and 24 bench replacements!
Munster Rugby finished 6th in the United Rugby Championship last year as Leinster topped the table and claimed the title, defeating the Bulls 32–7 in the final.
This fixture is becoming a bit of regular though the 2019/20 fixture was cancelled through Covid. Last year’s game at the Rec ended up with Bath edging the fixture 24-21.
Munster opened the scoring through a John Hodnett try converted by Billy Burns on debut before Austin Emens went over for Bath in the 13th minute converted by Orlando Bailey, (now at Leicester Tigers).
Jasper Spandler benefited from a Gavin Coombes yellow card to crash over in typical style from a Bath rolling maul and It was in this fixture that Tyler Offiah raced over for his debut score with Finn Russell adding the extras. This put the hosts 24-21 up which ended up being the final score. Shay McCarthy, and Diarmuid Barron were the other Munster scorers.
Our starting backs that day were: 9 Louis Schreuder, 10 Orlando Bailey, 11 Ruaridh McConnochie, 12 Will Butt, 13 James Short, 14 Austin Emens, 15 Ciaran Donoghue.
Only Butt, Emens and Donoghue remain at the club 12 months later as Bath continues to evolve under Van Graan. James Short, centre that day will feature in a different preview.
One does wonder though if Ciaran Donoghue had the slightest inkling that day of how his season would end up!
Munster Rugby – A bit about our hosts.
Prior to the renaissance of Bath rugby, a mention of Irish rugby would probably bring to mind the province of Leinster who seem to dominate the news. Nowadays mention an Irish province to Bath fans and the province that springs to mind is that of Munster. Simply because our most successful era of modern times has been engineered by Johan van Graan the former Munster coach.
Visitors to County Cork can expect warm and hospitable experience characterized by genuine, hearty service and some excellent luxury hotels.
Visitors to Munster Rugby can expect a traditional game based on a powerful pack playing 10-man rugby.
When Stuart Hooper departed Bath JvG took the concept of a powerful pack and fused it with open attacking rugby that was the existing hallmark of our club in the amateur era.
Now Munster Rugby seem to be following suit as they have appointed a new southern hemisphere coach in Clayton McMillan, formerly of the Chiefs. He has a more open playing philosophy than Munster rugby are used to. He replaces Graham Rowntree who is rumoured to be in line to become head coach at Urayasu D-Rocks in Japan.
All this makes for an intriguing pre-season game where Munster will be experimenting with a new style of play while JVG will be reacquainting himself with those that remain from his former tenure.
Whilst we are well aware of our own treble exploits, we shouldn’t forget Munster won the URC in 2023 under Graham Rowntree. They beat the defending champions, Stormers 19–14 to claim their fourth domestic title. They also had some notable success last season beating La Rochelle in the Champions Cup before defeat in the semi-final of the URC, unfortunately that season was hampered by injury.
The tried and tested halves Connor Murray and JJ Hanrahan should now be replaced by Craig Casey and Jack Crowley and the backs are also now supplemented by Dan Kelly, a recent acquisition from Leicester Tigers at centre who has been capped by England.
As previously mentioned, both teams are affected by mandatory rest periods following the Lions Australia tour. Munster will be without Lions player of the tournament Tadhg Beirne. However, Munster have added to their squad recently with new talent like Lee Barron, at hooker and Michael Milne a 26-year-old loosehead prop. Conor Ryan (22) a big second row moves up from the academy and the preseason game looks as good a time as any to give them their senior debut. Gavin Coombes, once rumoured to have been destined to follow JvG to Bath will surely feature and cause us no end of concern, still only 27 I suspect he might still be of interest to those at Farleigh House in the future.
This fixture almost seems to be the friendliest of preseason friendlies give the connection between the two clubs but let’s not be deceived, Munster with their head coach Clayton McMillan will simply ignore recent history and will be going all out for the win.
Digg
Delicious
Facebook
Reddit
Stumbleupon
09/09/2025 08:26
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2025:09:15:08:12:10 by P G Tips.
Quote:@Hydor18
Apparently we have sent a big old squad out to Munster for the weekend’s match. It’d be interesting to know if Lee Blackett has gone with them or if he’s being kept at home until his future is determined.
He's definitely out in Ireland, he popped up on some of the players' socials enjoying a round of golf near Cork.
I would be surprised if Blackett left so suddenly....
Just one quibble. When was any rugby match a friendly?
Quote:@Hydor18
Apparently we have sent a big old squad out to Munster for the weekend’s match. It’d be interesting to know if Lee Blackett has gone with them or if he’s being kept at home until his future is determined.
They went to Ireland on Sunday for a pre-season training camp so presumably all fit players are potentially in the mix
This is a picture of Gavin Coombes at last years preseason v Munster.
This is the announced team for that game.
There is clearly something wrong with the picture of Gavin Coombes, spot the mistake and correct it!
N.B. BM53 is banned as he provided the answer!
Tom de Glanville - Adopted player 2024-5
Quote:BucksBBandW
That's never Miles Reid wearing the 8 shirt.
Correct but that’s not the only mistake and who is it?
Tom de Glanville - Adopted player 2024-5
[www.munsterrugby.ie]
The game will be live-streamed exclusively on Access Munster, sign up here:[accessmunster.ie]
Looks like it might require a €6 fee for a months access.
Bath Rugby Starting XV: 1 Scott Kirk, 2 Jasper Spandler, 3 Kieran Verden, 4 Harvey Cuckson, 5 Ewan Richards ©, 6 Ethan Staddon, 7 George Timmins, 8 Arthur Green, 9 Tom Carr-Smith, 10 Ciaran Donoghue, 11 Charlie Griffin, 12 Will Butt, 13 Louie Hennessey, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 15 Austin Emens
Bath Rugby replacements (in alphabetical order): Henry Arundell, Jaco Coetzee, Tom de Glanville, Tom Dunn, Chris Harris, Ollie Lawrence, Ross Molony, Miles Reid, Quinn Roux, Mikey Summerfield, Bernard van der Linde, Francois van Wyk
PG
[24/25 adoptee: Francois van Wyk]
Acl/general knee carnage in late April? Back playing mid Sept!
Achilles snap mid to late feb? Back playing mid Sept.
Gives me hope for sam harris who I think did his acl a few months before jaco?
Tom de Glanville - Adopted player 2024-5
Surprised no mentions of the actual game on here
We started with essentially an Academy team with a sprinkling of more experienced players and struggled in the first 30 with the weather and with Munster’s aggressive physicality. That said, if it wasn’t for a penalty reversal caused by a George Timmins’ rush of blood to the head (he needs to sort out his discipline) which resulted in a Munster try, then we might have finished the first period with just a 7 point deficit.
We then proceeded to go 28-7 down before the much more experienced side got a grip and brought us back level. The final try is a thing of beauty, started by a classic bit of play by Ollie Lawrence.
Positives were Ollie, Arundell and good games from Ciaran Donoghue and TC-S. TdG also played well, showing talent as a 10 both in playmaking and goal kicking for a period!
Negatives - the scrum was a bit of a worry at times but got something like parity at the end. Worryingly Jaco Coetzee and TdG both took hard knocks. Jaco’s looked like a knee.
Overall JvG will probably be happy that the squad got a good workout against an aggressive, very physical Munster side. J P Ferreira will doubtless have some notes for this week, But yet again, we were hard to beat and resilient for the full 90 miniutes.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025:09:13:08:38:54 by Devonport Lad.
Emens, Coka, Hennessey, Butt, Griffin, Donghue, Carr-Smith, Kirk, Spandler, Verden, Cuckson, Richards, Staddon, Timmins, Green.
Second period: De Glanville, Coka, Harris, Butt, Arundell, Donoghue, Carr-Smith (subbed Ban der Linde), Van Wyk, Dunn, Summerfield, Roux, Moloney, Staddon, Timmins, Reid
Third period: Arundell, De Glanville, Lawrence, Harris, Griffin (sub Emens), Donoghue (sub Carr-smith in the last minute), Van Der Linde, Van Wyk, Dunn, Summerfield (sub Verden), Roux, Moloney, Staddon, Reid, Coetzee
Score P1: Munster 14 - Bath 0
Score P2: Munster 0 - Bath 7 ( Reid. / Donoghue)
Score P3: Munster 14 - Bath 21 (Arundell / De Glanville, Van Wyk / Donoghue, Van der Linde / Donoghue
Final score, a very friendly 28 all.
The format was interesting, particularly when half way through the middle period, the whole Munster team was swapped out, which also marked the time the teams swapped ends.
Rain was very heavy at times. Which made play a bit of a lottery. Some poor discipline with both of Bath’s teams. Generally, kicking was good, though Donogue did kick one penalty dead in blustery conditions. Donoghue also went off before the end looking a lttle ragged.
We saw a few other Bath supporters, but mostly a large (nearly full) stadium of Munster supporters.
A couple of points to note: the local park and ride (a five minute walk) was free to match goers (take note Bristol!)
Secondly, Munster run out to the Toreador song from Carmen (stand up and fight) which made a welcome change from (not so) sweet cazza.
I assume Donoghue's raggedness was the conditions he has got a lot of rugby ahead of him in the next few weeks, Van der Linde getting decent game time!
Quote:dcsh
Some highlights here [youtu.be]
Thanks, Arundell looks more physical of late scored one and made one yesterday, I think he will become a Rec favourite.
Agree that he will be a rec favourite and interesting he got some time at 15.
More Bath headlines
- LEARNINGS FOR NEXT SEASON. SEASON REVIEW CONTINUED.
- World Rugby Junior World Championship 2026 Preview
- FAILURE, FRUSTRATION OR FLATLINE? 2026 SEASON REVIEW
- "IT'S IN OUR HANDS”...BATH V EXETER.
- NOW OR NEVER: BATH V LEICESTER
- BOUNCEBACKABILITY: EXETER CHIEFS V BATH RUGBY
- LE HANDICAP? BORDEAUX v BATH ECC SEMI FINAL
- “MAY YOUR CHOICES REFLECT YOUR HOPES NOT YOUR FEARS”.
- EYES BACK ON THE OTHER PRIZE! BATH v HARLEQUINS
Bath latest threads
- O/T Postcards from the Past No 4 – Naples 2010
- Injury latest on forgotten Bath Rugby wrecking ball Jaco Coetzee
- OT / Prostate
- OT - Fox wins the Open at Birkdale
- O/T Postcards from the Past No 3 Théoule-sur-Mer – May 2017
- OT/ Site advertising
- Will Roue Signed ahead of the 2026/27 season
- Bath Rugby's confirmed 2026/27 incoming signings and outgoings
- 2026/27 PREM Rugby Cup fixtures confirmed
- O/T Postcards from the Past No2 Cordoba 2015