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What about the rest of the DR's??

It is the same as every season, they will appear next week against Saracens. Can't play everyone, no Tupai either.

Wonder if we may see Burns play on the wing a little this season like the Alex Page and Karl Dickson combo we had to always guarantee quick ball from the rucks.

Oh and no a Staff or Currie, what's happened to them? You never know with M.R.A.D as he does tend to tinker with the team quite a bit, personally I'd play him at 9.

Pontypridd 14 - 66 Blues

[www.ponty.net]

Few DR's this week again. Unless some are playing for Sarries, lol

Good side, think we can win this. Now that would be a start to the season.

15 Sean Maitland

14 Chris Ashton

13 Marcelo Bosch

12 Nick Tompkins

11 Mike Ellery

10 Alex Lozowski

9 Ben Spencer

1 Richard Barrington

2 Schalk Brits (c)

3 Juan Figallo

4 Jim Hamilton

5 Mark Flanagan

6 Michael Rhodes

7 Joel Conlon

8 Jackson Wray

Replacements
16 Scott Spurling

17 Ralph Adams-Hale

18 Petrus Du Plessis

19 Nick Isiekwe

20 Ben Earl

21 Henry Taylor

22 George Perkins

23 Tom Griffiths

Samu Vunisa*

Max Malins*

Matt Gallagher*

Jack Nay*

Billy Walker*

*blank numbers



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016:08:18:21:00:14 by TryBlues.

Easy Peasy.........

Blues finish the first half in front, after conceding the first score to Saracens..........(Nothing new there)....

Second half Saracens make ten changes......and thrash us by thirty points.........(Nothing new there either).......

Enjoy the spectacle guys........

Quote:

Jonathan Wilcox
Oh and no a Staff or Currie, what's happened to them? You never know with M.R.A.D as he does tend to tinker with the team quite a bit, personally I'd play him at 9.

I've never seen Mr Rayer play at scrum half so I will have to take your word for it.

So most of the DR's are on the Sarries bench. Interesting.....,

Red Eagle, he'd struggle now bending down to take the ball. Too many of Nos's pies, lol

Not a bad result considering. Wonder how London Irish would have done? COYB

Very good d

Well won the second half. Like the look of Jason Hill.

Man of the match? CP3O for me. Very lively for a prop. Scrummaging held up very well, I thought. A bit of catching practice needed all round though!

Cp30, lol

Regarding the lack of DR players on Blues starting squad, my understanding is that Sarries first team players that had a grand time in Australia are embargoed from playing (player welfare) and until they are unembargoed Sarries have precedence on use of DR players, thus playing for Sarries.

Blues gave a good account of themselves that made for a good game of rugby. There are areas for improvement. Still don't deal with rolling maul but gave as good as we got. Couple of scrums were outstanding and didn't budge. Need to practice catching the oval thing but some of the lines of attack were excellent and the third (?) Try was really well constructed.

Good basis to build on and very promising squad.

I heard that the first team had a game on Friday too, that's why the DR's were on the bench, so at least they could field a team. Dunno, like I said that's what I heard

The view from the valleys:

Pontypridd will round off their pre-season schedule with an away trip to face English Championship side Bedford Blues this coming Saturday 27th August. The match at the Goldington Road ground kicks off at 3pm.

The friendly fixture is a reverse of the match played at the Welfare Ground, Cilfynydd two weeks previous, with the visiting Bedford squad on that occasion powering to an emphatic 14pts to 66 victory.

Having since notched up a 0pts to 38 away win over Ystrad Rhondda, Pontypridd will be hoping to show a significant improvement in taking on Bedford for a second time, and to maintain momentum with the Premiership campaign due to kick off within the week.

The Ponty squad has been bolstered by the inclusion of four senior Blues players, with centre Garyn Smith and the entire front row of hooker Liam Belcher and props Bradley Thyer and Dillon Lewis making a return to club duties.

Scrum half Joel Raikes, flanker Darren Waters and hooker Ashleigh James make a comeback from injury, all taking a place on the bench. Unavailable for selection are flanker Jake Thomas and lock Sean Moore, both away on leave.

The Pontypridd team selected to face Bedford is as follows:

15.Geraint Walsh. 14.Lewis I Williams. 13.Garyn Smith. 12.Dafydd Lockyer – cpt. 11.Alex Webber. 10.Ceri Sweeney. 9.Wayne Evans.

1.Bradley Thyer. 2.Liam Belcher. 3.Dillon Lewis. 4.Hemi Barnes. 5.Chris Dicomidis. 6.Dafi Davies. 7.Rhys Shellard. 8.Dan Godfrey.

Subs: Joel Raikes; Lewis K Williams; Bradley Coombes; Joe Davies; Darren Waters; Josh Novell; Ashleigh James; Huw Dowden; Mitch Auger; Liam Bodman.

JW, the only Sarries game reported in the Rugby Paper on Sunday was that against Bedford but I'm sure they played the previous week.

TRP report was a bit dismissive of the Bedford effort suggesting it was all Sarries, which was a tad harsh as we won the second half 14-12 and Sarries have a reputation now of putting everyone they meet to the sword.

Pontypridd will come today better prepared than the other week when they were over-run by Bedford. Whatever the result, Bedford will have had a decent enough series of outings to blow away the cobwebs in readiness for Pirates next week.

Well, that's the end of the 'phoney war' and we look forward to the visit of Pirates next week.

There were fewer handling errors against Ponty than last week against Sarries and some impressive offloading. The scrum held up to what appeared a bigger pack. This will be a key area if the pace of the backs is to be capitalised on - and there is pace when the afterburners are switched on.

Defence remains good and there was some strong ball carrying. Fitness does not appear to be an issue as Bedford capitalised when Ponty tired.

Well done to Ponty for bringing so many supporters, who added to the atmosphere.

Will their MP lose by the same margin in the upcoming Leadership election? :-)

Very enjoyable game. Agree with THM that the handling was much better. The scrum held up very well, which was pleasing. George Edgson and Dave Spellman looked busy. There certainly is some pace in the backs! One interesting question might be how we can get Burns and Whiteley on the pitch at the same time, unless Whiteley is going to appear regularly on the wing. He has really impressed me both times I have seen him, but so does Burns. Some very tough decisions for MR as refelcted in his Ponty interview here: MR Ponty Interview

Anyone want to hazard a guess on the starting XV to face Pirates?

My starting XV v Pirates assuming, of course, all fit and available:

O'Conor
Perkins
Griffiths
Le Booj
Adamson
Sharp
Burns

Campo
Edgson
Judge
Howard
Carrick-Smith
Hill
Buggea
Conlon

Culverhouse James Thompson-Stringer Tupai Adams Whiteley Dorian Clements-Hill

Good Luck lads, let's get off to a flying start

Looks a good team, plenty of pace too