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Three players that you need to watch in tonight's game between Bristol Bears and Bath

By Tom Parker
Bath will be hoping that their new signings will deliver tonight.

There are less than six hours until the Gallagher Premiership begins for the 2018/2019 season, and the clash between Bristol Bears and Bath appears to be extremely competitive to say the least.

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Bristol Bears, having being promoted from the Championship last year, will be looking to hit the ground running under the watchful eye of head coach Pat Lam. The club based in the south-west, have high hopes this year of a successful season with some key high profile signings. However it will be a tough start to the year, facing a team that has equally ambitious goals in the form of Bath.

Bath should at the very least be aiming to secure Champions Cup rugby, after finishing the 2017/2018 season at a disappointing sixth place. Like Bristol, the Somerset club have also made a string of strong signings and this should hold the club in good standing coming into a long and arduous season.

It would be difficult for anyone to predicts tonight’s match, but we will attempt to pinpoint some of the key players who can win the game for each team.

Continue reading below…

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We take a look at three players who we believe will make a decisive difference in the match for both teams.

Joe Cokanasiga (Wing)

This will be the first Premiership match for the 20-year-old since his move from newly-relegated London Irish. Cokanasiga scored for the men in blue during the final pre-season game against Scarlets last week after intercepting the ball from halfway and easily cruising through under the sticks.

Standing at 6ft 3 and weighing in at almost 18st, the Fijian-born winger has been likened by many to Matt Banahan. However, speed is what really draws Cokanasiga apart from his peers, with the ability to beat any defender in a footrace.

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We are sure that there will be a big impact from this player at some stage during the match and he is certainly one to keep an eye on.

Joe Cokanasiga in action for his previous club London Irish

 

George Smith (Openside Flanker)

At 38 years of age, Smith is undoubtedly one of the most experienced heads in World Rugby. Smith has become known around the rugby world for his unbelievable work ethic around the pitch, and that has not changed a bit despite his age. The former Australia international has played for Toulon, Wasps and the Reds along with many other clubs, however this new challenge appears to be different from the rest.

Bristol Bears are without a doubt, ‘the new boys’ on the block and Smith will have to face up to some of England’s most promising back-rows this season.

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We are sure that you will witness some Smith magic tonight so make sure to keep an eye out for him on the flank.

George Smith in action for the Brumbies

 

Sam Underhill (Openside Flanker)

English rugby has been blessed to have such a talented youngster at their disposal. The 22-year-old Bath player will be hoping recapture some of the form that he had from the start of last season, when he single-handedly bulldozed many of the teams that he came up against in the Premiership.

His defence is without a doubt his greatest asset and you can be sure to see some big hits from this man. His England debut came in Novemeber of last year, when he made a series of crunching hits on the Argentinian team that he came up against. Underhill would be well worth considering adding to your Premiership Fantasy team for the amounts of completed tackles that he gets through in a game. (Scroll down to the bottom to find the link.)

Underhill is still young and he faces a tough test in his opposite number, George Smith tonight. It will definitely a tale of youth vs experience and it will be interesting to see who comes out on top.

Sam Underhill singing the national anthem before the June series.

 

Tonight’s clash is a tantalising one to say the least, so make sure to catch the game LIVE on www.RugbyPass.com or if you can’t manage that then catch all the updates and statistics here – https://bit.ly/2PRLw4v

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J
Jon 7 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 9 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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A
Adrian 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

37 Go to comments
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