'A' team to kick-off Premiership Rugby Shield at Northampton

[Rossm]

15 Owain James

14 Jude Williams

13 Cameron Anderson

12 Ross Neal

11 Tom Bacon

10 Billy Searle

9 Henry Clement

1 Ben Harris

2 Gabriel Oghre (C)

3 Jeff Toomaga-Allen

4 Tim Cardall

5 Theo Vukasinovic

6 Ben Morris

7 James Tunney

8 Kieran Curran

 

Replacements

16 Adam Brown (Yorkshire Carnegie)

17 Tom West

18 Biyi Alo

19 Pete Vickers

20 Ben Onyeama-Christie

21 Joe Green (Yorkshire Carnegie)

22 Charlie Atkinson (Wasps Under 18s)

23 Sunni Jardine 

Wasps A have named nine first-team players in the starting line-up to tackle Northampton Wanderers at Franklin’s Gardens on Monday night, in the first Premiership Rugby Shield game of the season (kick-off 7.30pm).

Meanwhile, nine Academy players are named in the team, which will be overseen by Wasps Transition Coach Matt Everard and Assistant Attack Coach Martin Gleeson.

Wasps A scored 48 tries in last season’s ten matches, including a stunning finish to the season with four consecutive bonus-point wins.

Academy graduate Gabriel Oghre will captain the side while Wasps Under 18s youngster Charlie Atkinson is named among the replacements.

Tickets for the game are available on the gate at £5 for adults and £2 for juniors. Parking is first-come, first-served in car parks A, B and C (postcode NN5 5AX).

[Shugs]

Strong front row for an A game. Good to see Neal back - was wondering what had happened to him.

[andermt]

Anyone going to watch? Thinking about it but will depend when I get finished at work.

[westwaleswasp]

Interesting to see the TH selection.
Has Owlett shifted up the order?
Or is it just a game time thing....

[Jac A]

That looks a good team. Haven't seen the Wanderers side but I think we should give any team they put out a good game.

I think JTA is probably starting for some game time after a couple of weeks off, that said, Owlett has certainly done a great job and I think is now in contention with Kieran and JTA so hopefully the competition will drive them all on.

Interesting to have two more tight heads on the bench 0 I know Ben O-C is quick but I'm surprised to see him covering back-row.

That is a fairly rapid back-line too. Haven't seen much on Neal at 12, I wonder if that is part of a plan to shift him inside or due to lack of other options there.

Looking at who isn't involved, I'm assuming they've still got injuries or niggles, but does anyone know the status of Spink, Simonds, Wilson and Barbeary?

[BG]

Interesting to see the TH selection.
Has Owlett shifted up the order?
Or is it just a game time thing....

I'm going to have to whisper-type this.. but it must surely be a rotational decision because we're in the extremely rare position of having 4 senior squad TH's fit at the same time.

JTA and Alo will share duties in the A game and then I'm presuming Dai will access injuries and fitness to choose 2 for Saturday.

I think Brookes is probably number one at the moment but has played more than the others so might get a rest this week-end and Dai could start with JTA with Owlet or Alo on the bench.

Its good to see Neale back (not sure if he was injured?). His preferred position is 13 but seeing how well he did converting to wing laqst season, I don't doubt he could do the same. He would offer something different to our normal playmaking 12's given his size and pace.

Its refreshing to see the make-up of the A team. 70% Senior players, 25% academy with a sprinkling of U18 or a guest, which is what it should be. For the last 2 seasons it always seemed to be 60% academy, a sprinkling of U18 and 25% guest players

Modification

I was typing at the same time as you Jac A - Seems we have seem thoughts/observations

[NellyWellyWaspy]

It also gives us an idea of who will be going thistle grabbing at the weekend. None of the above. So, Searle will not be in that mix, nor JTA or Harris.

I like the idea of Neale at 12. Can he do it? If he can, and spends some time in the A team getting that, he would be immense on that position and would pin defences back. You have to put two players on him, and a rush defence becomes a big risk. In this case it leaves Anderson with some room, and that lad can motor given a yard.

[BG]

Thistle grabbing?

[Neils]

Alfie is loaned out - Notts I think.

[Jac A]

Cheers Neils, I forgot about the loans (Wilson is at Pirate too if I remember rightly too).

I see that the match is being streamed on Saints Facebook Page and YouTube channel for any that are interested.

[Neils]

Cheers Neils, I forgot about the loans (Wilson is at Pirate too if I remember rightly too).

I see that the match is being streamed on Saints Facebook Page and YouTube channel for any that are interested.

No problem - difficult keeping track sometimes. Thanks for the heads up on streaming.

[Raggs]

Cheers Neils, I forgot about the loans (Wilson is at Pirate too if I remember rightly too).

I see that the match is being streamed on Saints Facebook Page and YouTube channel for any that are interested.

No problem - difficult keeping track sometimes. Thanks for the heads up on streaming.

Great news about the streaming, cheers .

[Steve from Cov]

Thanks for the streaming news - I’ll be watching.

[RBB]

Spoiler

They look to be going well, even with 14 after a silly yellow for deliberate knock on.....JTA does look to be knackered though, blowing a lot

[RBB]

Spoiler

And then we wave them through after a ropey kick from Billy