Not considered for selection: Matthew Arden, Dan Biggar, Tommy Freeman, Aston Gradwick-Light, Rory Hutchinson, Courtney Lawes, George Patten, Courtnall Skosan, and Karl Wilkins.
Surprised not to see Hinkley not involved and even more surprised to see Ehren Painter is starting for Bedford at the weekend. Guess he needs game time to get back to fitness but as our best scrummaging tighhead, it would be nice to have him back in the mix against the teams with stronger packs.
Not a bad team, the bench feels a bit less punchy than it has in recent weeks but the starting 15 are relatively settled and in form. Dingwall and Proctor will be kept on their toes by Ollie Lawrence, so pleased to have our best defensive centre partnership playing!
We are getting a better sense of the pecking order under Dowse as each team is announced.
Waller, Hill still preferred. Collins and Sleightholme over Skosan so far. Moon over Nansen. Perch over Painter so far (though is that fitness after protracted time out?). Smith has had game time over Haywood and Fish. Graham over Scott-Young in recent games.
It’s surprised me new signings Brayley and Ramm are down the pecking order.
Is Fin Smith still injured? As he’s not on the list as injured so presumably available
Skosan still injured and Ramm was ill during the week. Fin will not know the playing style as yet and not the time to be putting him into a very difficult away trip at Bath.
Thought that Brayley made a few wrong decisions when he came on last week.
Well I for one am happy to trust the coaching team to select the best team. Yes there are some interesting preferences but it still looks a strong line up to me and all the rotation simply makes for competition and develops strength in depth. Wilkins will be back in the mix with Angus SY, Arron H and Sam G soon I’d hope, so we have lots of options in the most attritional positions. We’re used to seeing front row rotation as too mid field and back three. It’s only really our half backs that look at risk from injury/call-ups. Bath now down to their 3rd or 4th choice 10 with Billy Searle on the bench.
Caveat: Big fan of Mitchell... but! I've noticed he never ever joins a ruck. Even when the ball carrier is hopelessly isolated and we need to secure the ball. He just stays outside the ruck. Just join the ruck and secure the ball!
I think we'll end up winning this but this must be so frustrating for the coaches. Credit to Bath on their defence but our mauling leaves a lot to be desired.
Hate to get on at the ref but the breakdown is a complete lottery, they are not releasing and he’s making up decisions very quickly without much consistency
The first 2 or 3 phases in attack we look good, strong carries from the likes of Ribbans and Augustus but then we seem to lose direction and it fizzles out, whether that's a lack of direction from half-back I'm not sure. But Mitchell looks slow to a few breakdowns today.
Surprised Bath's try there wasn't reviewed, players joining the maul from all angles and Cokanasiga clearly ahead of the ball carrier and impacted a defender, interesting call
Deesaint Not sure the ref is that bad
He is not responsible for getting players to the breakdown so we don’t get turned over
They are not releasing the tackler, that half a second makes a difference, done it pretty much every breakdown, he’s only pinged them for going beyond ball so far
I’m not blaming the ref but not helping our frustrations
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022:10:22:16:02:46 by Walks11.
Deesaint Not seeing that myself
I think they have targeted the breakdown to stop our game
They are committing players
We are just going in with one or two
They are commanding the space which may look as if they are illegal but I don’t think they are
It’s illegal if they are not releasing after the tackle, commanding the space is fine
Whilst the ref is consistent at the breakdown, it's an unusual interpretation, literally tackled, half a second then penalty. It is killing the game somewhat
Wow what a shambles, what's the point of passing the ball 10cm onwards when the man receiving the ball is about to be tackled, makes no sense.
We look clueless, rudderless and directionless today
herbie85 So miles Reid walks through the ruck at saints entry point, prevents access to our 'gate', in front of ref. Just really odd this blokes take.
That’s my point, they have to release, they are not and just either latching or driving through
He has been consistent all game but as usual we don't respond.
But there's consistent...and then there is not allowing players into the breakdown to compete from blockers. Almost like he's ignoring stuff around the breakdown, only blinkered to where the ball is.
We really are quite a poor side for the majority of games.
There is so little cohesion and stupid mistake after stupid mistake week after week after week.
Talented players in some respects but also lack so many basics.
The most frustrating thing is that these issues never seem to be addressed.
fleetg We really are quite a poor side for the majority of games.
There is so little cohesion and stupid mistake after stupid mistake week after week after week.
Talented players in some respects but also lack so many basics.
The most frustrating thing is that these issues never seem to be addressed.
Agreed. A lot of talent but we really are the most brainless team frequently.
fleetg We really are quite a poor side for the majority of games.
There is so little cohesion and stupid mistake after stupid mistake week after week after week.
Talented players in some respects but also lack so many basics.
The most frustrating thing is that these issues never seem to be addressed.
Same as you posting the same thing every week… what do you want to happen?.. sack all the coaches, the players, the CEO, all of them?
You are happy to criticise without actually offering up any suggestions
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022:10:22:16:45:25 by Walks11.
fleetg We really are quite a poor side for the majority of games.
There is so little cohesion and stupid mistake after stupid mistake week after week after week.
Talented players in some respects but also lack so many basics.
The most frustrating thing is that these issues never seem to be addressed.
Same as you posting the same thing every week… what do you want to happen?.. sack all the coaches, the players, the CEO, all of them?
You are happy to criticise without actually offering up any suggestions
Well this is what happens when you promote internally, lack of fresh thinking and same old, same old. Let's get some perspective, we are being made to look terrible but the team who are bottom and have been for 2 years!
fleetg We really are quite a poor side for the majority of games.
There is so little cohesion and stupid mistake after stupid mistake week after week after week.
Talented players in some respects but also lack so many basics.
The most frustrating thing is that these issues never seem to be addressed.
Same as you posting the same thing every week… what do you want to happen?.. sack all the coaches, the players, the CEO, all of them?
You are happy to criticise without actually offering up any suggestions
Well this is what happens when you promote internally, lack of fresh thinking and same old, same old. Let's get some perspective, we are being made to look terrible but the team who are bottom and have been for 2 years!
fleetg We really are quite a poor side for the majority of games.
There is so little cohesion and stupid mistake after stupid mistake week after week after week.
Talented players in some respects but also lack so many basics.
The most frustrating thing is that these issues never seem to be addressed.
Same as you posting the same thing every week… what do you want to happen?.. sack all the coaches, the players, the CEO, all of them?
You are happy to criticise without actually offering up any suggestions
I think Dowson knows the issues, he's mentioned it the past few weeks where we have made games tight when we should have been out of sight. Like you say, fixing it easier said than done. Doesn't make it any less frustrating though, when weekly teams are under the posts unopposed once or twice a game with our own basic errors with the ball on the game line, resulting in coughing the ball up. How coachable is rugby intelligence or game management, especially when game plan is quite high risk to comparative reward?
fleetg We really are quite a poor side for the majority of games.
There is so little cohesion and stupid mistake after stupid mistake week after week after week.
Talented players in some respects but also lack so many basics.
The most frustrating thing is that these issues never seem to be addressed.
Same as you posting the same thing every week… what do you want to happen?.. sack all the coaches, the players, the CEO, all of them?
You are happy to criticise without actually offering up any suggestions
Well this is what happens when you promote internally, lack of fresh thinking and same old, same old. Let's get some perspective, we are being made to look terrible but the team who are bottom and have been for 2 years!
Again… what’s the solution?
I gave you the solution, if you want to be a serious club then don't promote a coach with no experience as a DoR and who was previously embedded in the culture and isn't going to challenge the thinking. 7 games into Dowson's tenure and as far as I can see we've got worst. When the league table evens itself of all teams playing 7/8 games we will be sitting around 8th I imagine.
As supporters we can question the gameplan and the strategy, that was utterly shambolic today. The sooner Fin Smith can get into the side the better as can't do much worst. And Alex Moon must be on seriously thin-ice for retaining his contract, would like to see Nansen given a shot off the bench
Another poor performance and this time we get what we deserve.
No easy fix as there are numerous facets of our game that need sorting out. I feel major elements are poorly coached. Defence, discipline, accuracy of skills even though we are regarded as a highly skilled side. We’re not. The maul needs sorting. Decision making, we should really have taken at least one of those penalties in the first half. Especially when you see the maul is pointless
We do just seem to want to run from everywhere
Play with freedom
Take chances
Take risks
We need a pragmatic game
We need to know how to play tight rugby
How to go 10/15 phases without coughing up
How to clear the breakdown
How to protect the ball
Great to play open rugby
But let’s play it after we have scored a few points
Take the penalty
Build the score
Oh and defence
As said above
How many times do we give away walk through tries
For those thinking this is all down to PD
He doesn’t really coach anymore
He is busy being DoR
Our defence is terrible, basically if we don't score over 30 points we can forget winning. So many of our tackles ride high and allow the ball carrier to make yardage without actually holding the ball up or slowing it down. Our defence has been poor for a while now. Is Vass being told this has to improve or we look for someone else to take over?
Attacking lineouts are awful. Would be interesting to see some stats on attacking 5m lineouts. We just do not seem to learn
General, execution, passing. We are too frantic with too many players looking for high risk miracle plays. Mitch needs to start managing games better, as does Grayse who is too inconsistent.
We look like we've regressed since last season. Dowson says he is aware of the issues - now what is he going to do to fix them?
Sitting in my hotel feeling down.
We had all the play in the first half but didn’t take our time. Could and should have been leading at half time.
One of the BT commentators said last week that some teams let the opposition have the ball and let them make the mistakes. That seems to have happened today
If dingers was actually punched the citing office will see it. Won’t change the result but will solve the mystery be way or another.
Was a bit surprised how predictable and perhaps naïve Saints were. We had some youngsters and a rookie fly half that I thought Saints would exploit. But they couldn’t get on their game and made silly errors. A third placed team in the league against a bottom of a table team lacking in confidence made a meal of that! Saints didn’t go marching on they kind of wimped home. But Saints fans are always a pleasure to welcome in the pretty city, plenty of them on show today 😁
Chris Hoddle Sitting in my hotel feeling down.
We had all the play in the first half but didn’t take our time. Could and should have been leading at half time.
One of the BT commentators said last week that some teams let the opposition have the ball and let them make the mistakes. That seems to have happened today
If dingers was actually punched the citing office will see it. Won’t change the result but will solve the mystery be way or another.
Couldn’t make Bath this year
Always like the West Country games
Can add a few days RandR either side
Out of interest
The ground look full
But only odd glances from camera angle
Was it busy?
The ground was pretty full, and the Bath supporters we sat next to very pleasant….. but the number of people arriving late, leaving their seats before half time, returning after half time, chattering during kicks and even some booing, truly p****d me off. Not helped by the on pitch performance. Bath is a lovely place.
I saw someone on Twitter who thinks that it's about a year (home game against Worcester) since we last conceded fewer than 20 points against anyone. If so ... oof!
fleetg We really are quite a poor side for the majority of games.
There is so little cohesion and stupid mistake after stupid mistake week after week after week.
Talented players in some respects but also lack so many basics.
The most frustrating thing is that these issues never seem to be addressed.
Same as you posting the same thing every week… what do you want to happen?.. sack all the coaches, the players, the CEO, all of them?
You are happy to criticise without actually offering up any suggestions
Your response is utterly ridiculous and completely dramatic.
You will see plenty of fellow posters agreeing with me that it's not good enough.
I don't want all at the club sacked and never suggested it so perhaps you need to calm down a touch.
We are so disappointed as we have some real talent.
I was also sceptical of promoting from within as we have not had that winning mentality and sheer bloody mindedness for years.
The answer with the current crop ? That's not my job but the players clearly need to learn how to make the right decision at the right time for starters eg the easy 3 points at 14-7 rather than a quick tap and go.
Concentration is also an issue aa we switch off for periods which top sides don't tend to do.
I don't know if the players actually have it in them to address these ongoing issues but as it's been an ongoing issue, I am less confident.
We couldn’t watch the match. Barclaycard didn’t send the authorisation pin until gone half time. For £4.99! Ridiculous. By that time we weren’t sure we wanted to watch it anyway.
We're 4th in the un-adjusted table with Wasps in it, take them out of the equation and it's not looking so good, todays match won't effect us as Quins and Sharks are above us.
I debated if this was in bad taste or not, but you see comments all over social media about what the adjusted table might look like and sometimes it's just easier to appease curiosity
It is a bit same old same old, we get the training was great we have learnt how things when wrong every week,we also get the we are so up for this one and blah blah,Alex Waller is about 3 seasons passed his best and just wanted to push and shove Bath players.
As quoted above Grayson has not progressed to a high class prem player but like Mallinder in past seasons his dad is an ex saint and the being sentimental is doing us no good.
We really need some nasty back in the team,Tupai,fox ect.
That table is a true reflection of where we are. We will compete with the teams below us and will struggle against the teams above. A long way off top 4 this season. I’m not looking forward to the European games.
I think the overall reaction that I see on here is one of frustration. Not that we lost but that the mistakes and reasons are the same every week (win or lose). Poor decision making and going for ‘Hollywood’ all the time.
Then the same comments from the coaching team ….we know what’s wrong, we are fixing it.
It leads to frustration and then anger……let’s hope they do fix it….soon.
Saint Ted We're 4th in the un-adjusted table with Wasps in it, take them out of the equation and it's not looking so good, todays match won't effect us as Quins and Sharks are above us.
I debated if this was in bad taste or not, but you see comments all over social media about what the adjusted table might look like and sometimes it's just easier to appease curiosity
I have not seen this table before it certainly has a different look to it, obviously at this point who you have played can still be a fairly big factor.
A few things stick out to me, Sarries are blowing everyone else away in the number of points scored. Sale have a very tight defence, far better than anyone else. Glaws are a surprise don't score many but don't concede many either admittedly having only played four games. Bristol looked like they were back a couple of weeks ago in the full table but look far less so in this one as do Quins.
It’s by no means an official table ajack, I just removed any results against wasps, im pretty sure it’s accurate, I’ve been keeping tabs on if for a couple of weeks now but didn’t put it out there so to speak
Saint Ted It’s by no means an official table ajack, I just removed any results against wasps, im pretty sure it’s accurate, I’ve been keeping tabs on if for a couple of weeks now but didn’t put it out there so to speak
Yes I am aware of that and realise when the difference between 3rd and 11th is only 2 wins taking or adding one (wasps) can make it look different.
You can always juggle numbers to try and make a point, but some things really surprise me, Bath having a better points difference to us for example.
The two stand outs for me is just how good Sarries are in attack and how good Sale are in defence.
It's all very disappointing, and the solutions are a long way distant.
I was trying to identify sporting teams that saw real success from recruiting coaches from within. I came up with Liverpool and Tigers when they were in their pomp, but they were recruiting from coaches that had experienced success.
I just can't imagine the thought process that goes through the boards collective mind. Still debt is lower than some, not that I really give a damn about that.
ch saint It's all very disappointing, and the solutions are a long way distant.
I was trying to identify sporting teams that saw real success from recruiting coaches from within. I came up with Liverpool and Tigers when they were in their pomp, but they were recruiting from coaches that had experienced success.
I just can't imagine the thought process that goes through the boards collective mind. Still debt is lower than some, not that I really give a damn about that.
Saint Ted We're 4th in the un-adjusted table with Wasps in it, take them out of the equation and it's not looking so good, todays match won't effect us as Quins and Sharks are above us.
I debated if this was in bad taste or not, but you see comments all over social media about what the adjusted table might look like and sometimes it's just easier to appease curiosity
Why have Wasps not been suspended yet? Is there a deadline by which they can avoid that if they're taken over?
It’s a very good question and one I don’t have an answer for. I don’t know anything (thankfully) about administration and redundancy, so this is what I’m guessing at, then hopefully it will jog the mind of someone who does and we might get an answer!
With Worcester, the company holding the players contracts was liquidated straight away and the staff hadn’t been paid, so they effectively have no players so got taken out for the season. I’ve not seen anything to suggest wasps players weren’t paid, so is assume, even in administration, they are still contracted until the end of the month, then they will be made redundant and at that point they have no players and the scores get wiped.
As I say, I have no knowledge at all on this and that is a total guess, hoping someone can tell me where I’m wrong with it so we may get the correct answer.
TimperleySaint How did the TMO not see the bath player hitting Dingwall repeatedly in the ruck?!
Shouting about this myself, it was Dave Attwood and Frazer did speak to ref who said rugby incident, no replays on screen.
I can’t believe that nothing was done about this.
You don't think the nose injury might have happened when Dingwall uses his nose to tackle the Bath ball-carrier's shoulder to set up that ruck?
Did anyone see what happened to Lawrence, who emerged clutching the back of his head (and should have gone for an HIA)?
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