Teams Up for Briz

[Rossm]

15 Lima Sopoaga (43)
14 Zach Kibirige (26)
13 Juan de Jongh (59)
12 Jimmy Gopperth (106)
11 Josh Bassett (127)
10 Jacob Umaga (31)
9 Ben Vellacott (
1 Simon McIntyre (172)
2 Tommy Taylor (71)
3 Kieran Brookes (41)
4 Tim Cardall (19)
5 James Gaskell (121)
6 Jack Willis (62)
7 Thomas Young (120)
8 Brad Shields (34)
Replacements 16 Tom Cruse (83) 17 Tom West (34) 18 Jeff Toomaga-Allen (21) 19 Levi Douglas (1) 20 Alfie Barbeary (6) 21 Tom Willis (22) 22 Sam Wolstenholme (11) 23 Paolo Odogwu (

[Rossm]

Lee Blackett has named his first Wasps side of the new Gallagher Premiership 2020/21 season to play Bristol Bears at Ricoh Arena on Sunday.

Jack Willis and Jacob Umaga return from international duty with England to take their places on the blindside flank and at fly-half respectively.

Joe Launchbury, Dan Robson, Will Rowlands and Matteo Minozzi are still away with their national teams. With club-captain Launchbury starting for England, Thomas Young is named as captain at openside flanker.

Ben Vellacott and Lima Sopoaga are the only changes to the backline that played in the Premiership Final four weeks ago, replacing Robson and Minozzi. Malakai Fekitoa remains absent with a shoulder injury.

In the pack Tim Cardall and James Gaskell form the second-row pairing in the absence of Launchbury and Rowlands.

Brad Shields, Kieran Brookes, Simon McIntyre and Alfie Barbeary all return to the matchday 23, having missed out on the final due to COVID contact tracing protocols.

Wasps Head Coach, Lee Blackett, said: “The boys have had a little bit of time off and they've come back and trained extremely well. We’ve been really pleased with the attitude and desire of the players to get better each day since their return.”

“The boys needed that time off. It may take a few weeks till we will be at our 100 per cent best, but even with just five main sessions we should hopefully be pretty close come the weekend.”

“You look at teams when they've got to finals and where they are the following year, especially losing finalists, seem to struggle early on. We've put a lot of focus back on our confidence and attitude that got us to a final, we will be focused on that from the start.”

[Bloke in North Dorset]

With the exception of the front row that's a very young bench.

[Rossm]

Jacob and Jack both start and Levi Douglas on the bench.

Lee goes 6/2 again.

[Rossm]

And the oppo.

15. Piers O’Conor; 14. Niyi Adeolokun, 13. Alapati Leiua, 12. Siale Piutau (c), 11. Henry Purdy; 10. Sam Bedlow, 9. Harry Randall; 1. Yann Thomas, 2. Bryan Byrne, 3. John Afoa, 4. Ed Holmes, 5. Joe Joyce, 6. Chris Vui, 7. Dan Thomas, 8. Jake Heenan.

System players: 16. Will Capon, 17. Jake Woolmore, 18. Jake Armstrong, 19. John Hawkins, 20. James Dun, 21. Tom Kessell, 22. Tom Wilstead, 23. Toby Fricker.


Siale Piutau will skipper the side as Bristol Bears prepare for the opening round of the new Gallagher Premiership campaign.

Director of Rugby Pat Lam’s men travel to face Wasps on Sunday (1pm KO), as Bristol go in search of a first win at the Ricoh Arena in the competition.

Wasps have won their last ten Gallagher Premiership Rugby fixtures against Bristol and are unbeaten in their last fourteen such encounters since the Bears’ 26-21 victory at Memorial Stadium in September 2006.

With Callum Sheedy, Max Malins and Ioan Lloyd all away on international duty, Sam Bedlow makes his first start at fly half in the Premiership, while Piers O’Conor switches to full back.

Lam said: “For us, it’s about moving on to the next moment of inspiration – what we do daily here and what we can do throughout the whole season, and that’s why we’re excited to start again, and you couldn’t ask for a tougher game than Wasps away.”

We have set our goals for the campaign and have absolute clarity about what we want to achieve and what we expect of ourselves. That long road begins on Sunday at the Ricoh and we can’t wait to get started.”

19 year-old Academy fly half Tom Wilstead is listed among the replacements and could make his competitive debut for the club in round one as Lam continues to give opportunities to homegrown youngsters.

[baldpaul101]

Loving the look of that side.
Given who is missing, its fantastic to be able to put out such a good side.

[InBetweenWasp]

Strong side.

[Neils]

Nice team. Hard match up first but there will be a few (Shields, Brookes etc) who are raring for a game.

[Horusthewasp]

Solid team to kick off the season. I would of started Harris over McIntyre (hope his lack of game time doesn’t frustrate him). Looking forward to seeing Vellacott work his magic at 9 - he’s been unlucky with his injury but with Robson expected to be away for an extended period of time, this is Vellacott’s time to shine (big boots to fill though).

Lee goes 6/2 again.

Agree - I thought we’d see Spink on the bench. Would of been a good opportunity for him given the weakened side Bristol have had to put out. I suppose Barbeary’s versatility could of played a role.

[Steve from Cov]

Good squad - I’d expect a little bit of rust though.

[Shugs]

Very strong. Huge bonus to have Willis in although could have been an interesting conversation between him and Tom! Is Oghre injured. Not that's unfeasible for Cruse to be in ahead of him. Final point - how many ridiculous ways can we come up with to describe substitutes. I note Bristol seem to have gone with "system players". Madness.

[DGP Wasp]

Pretty much as expected.  Only slight surprises are Odogwu on the bench ahead of MLB, and Douglas ahead of Vuka.  Given that Douglas has been offered a contract extension this week, have to assume he's gone well in training.

Some unfamiliar names in that Bristol side.  Fly half making his first start.  Not to be taken lightly though.  There will be some in there looking to grab their opportunity.

(Reckon their 21 might be quick.  Look forward to seeing Kessell Run! - If you don't get that, move along; if you do, you're welcome! )

[hookender]

May the force be with us😀

[hopwood]

Great side.

Should be a great match.
A whole ton of rugby on TV this weekend.
Popcorn at the ready!

[HDAWG]

Interestingly Bristol fans are quite nervous