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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).
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Strong front row for an A game. Good to see Neal back - was wondering what had happened to him.
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Anyone going to watch? Thinking about it but will depend when I get finished at work.
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Interesting to see the TH selection.
Has Owlett shifted up the order?
Or is it just a game time thing....
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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?
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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
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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.
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Thistle grabbing?
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Alfie is loaned out - Notts I think.
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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.
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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.
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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 :).
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Thanks for the streaming news - I’ll be watching.
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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
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And then we wave them through after a ropey kick from Billy
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Not sure I'd agree with that RBB. We're smashing them in the scrum and in the maul, but given the strength of our front row, you'd expect that. Been disappointed with the backs. Hopefully we'll see a bit more in the 2nd half
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I then added a comment, as we appeared to usher them to the try line! Rose coloured and all that....
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Billy is having a really poor game. Our backs are not doing very well. Can't seem to pass or tackle.
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Agree regarding the backs, Searle's ropey kick just cost us and Ross Neal seems totally anonymous given his size and stature.
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Half-time. Not really a classic, bit scrappy.
Very similar to a first team game. Scrum very much on top, as it should be, but they look like they could run through our defence every time they get a sniff of a broken field.
Impressed with the way Gaby is communicating both with the team and the ref. Owain James has looked good - fab pick up off the floor. 9 is slow to get the ball away and so we are not getting any go forward as they are too set. Agree that Billy's kicking (kicking all round to be fair) has been poor.
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and again ran straight through us. No line speed from the backs.
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and straight through again. Not one of our backs should be allowed a sniff at the main team
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Much better there after that horror start to the second half.
Forwards looking good. Agree that Curran at 8 is playing well.
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Thought Oghre has looked good. Harris too not bad. Searle has put in some nice enough passing, but the rest of the backline hasn't helped him at all. I'd have expected to see Neale running Roberts like 12 lines giving us front foot ball, but it's just not happening.
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Didn't Neal get replaced by Sunni Jardine either at half time or just before?
I still think James has looked pretty decent most of the game too.
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Cracking quality coverage by Saints. Not something we seem to be able to do even with our IT/Phone sponsors/partners.
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If ever a game extinguishes the age old belief that forwards win games and backs decided how much then this was it. Wasps mullered Saints in the tight but poor defensive structure and powder puff attack from the Wasps backline lost the game.
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Frustrating game in the end.
Scrum - Really good, dominated all game
Line out - Functioned OK until replacement hooker came on (can't really put much blame on a young lad who won't have trained much with the squad and then has a series of clutch line outs - maybe should have been called to the front to make it easier for him)
Breakdown - Decent enough, good competition
Maul - Strong again
Front row - Looked strong in the loose, carried well and made some big hits. West looked fired up when he came on, Alo was good on the charge but his handling makes me nervous.
Second row - Cardell was his usual busy self and his try was good, staying onside, charging down and reacting quickest. TV3 was fine, decent enough for 7th choice lock, looks like he needs an extra 3/4 of a stone of bulk and to work on his leg drive for the Prem though.
Back row - Went well. Ben Morris was good at the line out and breakdown and Kieran Curran had a good game at 8.
Half-backs - Clement looked like he's copying Robson's current form, box kicks to touch were good but otherwise they were poor and let Wandies run back at us. Too slow to get the ball away (I'll give him a p[ass on the 'tache as it's still November). Searle was OK aside from the kicking but it was notable how that last year Umaga was great in these games and showed his talents, I expected more from Billy. Replacements didn't have much time and I didn't see any big change when they came on.
Centres - Disappointing. Neal should have been running hard and fast down the 10/12 channel. Jardine distributed well but kicking and tackling was poor. Anderson didn't show up much. Defense was iffy all game.
Back Three - Wings didn't get much of a chance. Showed they were fast but not much else, but they are both young. James I was impressed with: defence wasn't perfect but he came into the line well, took a tricky high ball under pressure, great pick up and some lovely play to avoid a tackler and clear down the line plus a good try (although I could be wrong as haven't re-watched but it looked to me like he might have lost control as he went over).
To me it was like most of our games this season: a strong performance from the pack, dominating the scrum and competing at the breakdown but let down by handling errors, half-backs that struggle to orchestrate the attack and poor defence outside of the tight areas. In the end close but not quite there.
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Great summary Jac, thanks.
It did seem like watching the 1st team, same good points, same frailties. Went to sleep and let them grab a couple of quick tries, butchered opportunities to score, blew it at the end.
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Great summary Jac, thanks.
It did seem like watching the 1st team, same good points, same frailties. Went to sleep and let them grab a couple of quick tries, butchered opportunities to score, blew it at the end.
+1
Enjoyed the game and the excellent coverage, breakdown reffed well, offside, less so. Jac's description is on the money
The defending looked too often like they had discussed alignment on the coach to the game but that wouldn't have mattered with some heads up in the red zone. I am liking the scrum and the organisation around the maul. If we add our traditional strengths - then this is a club going forwards. I'd be annoyed given two chances at the end to win it that the lineout failed. But I'd be mainly pleased as a coach that the team played well and didn't allow conceding tame scores, to get them down.
One area as Jac said - the 10/12/13 connection, didn't function and our ball was too ponderous. We had enough ball in the right places, but allowed (admittedly a rapid Saints backline) far too much time to realign and defend.
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Agree about the ref, seemed very good, and having him do "the commentary" was excellent, enough information and let the rugby do most of the talking.
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Agree about the ref, seemed very good, and having him do "the commentary" was excellent, enough information and let the rugby do most of the talking.
+1 A bit of a surprise but liked it.
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I too liked the Ref. Missed a few things, but that is normal.