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'Fly-half is his No1 position': Ioan Lloyd to make first start as a Premiership ten
Ioan Lloyd is set to make his first-ever Gallagher Premiership start as an out-half having made his six previous starts in the league for Bristol at either full-back or left-wing. The 19-year-old gets the No10 jersey after Callum Sheedy spent the earlier part of the week in training with Wales.
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Lloyd did start one match before for Bristol as their No10, a European Challenge Cup tie in November 2019 against Zebre, but Friday night versus Bath will be the first time he has been chosen to start in that role in the Premiership by Pat Lam.
“Fly-half is his No1 position. He can play full-back but ten is his main position,” said Lam about a youngster whose other league starts this season have come on the wing against Newcastle and Harlequins and at full-back versus Worcester.
Capped for the first time by Wales during the recent Autumn Nations Cup, Lloyd was excluded when Wayne Pivac last week announced his squad for the 2021 Guinness Six Nations. Lam, though, wasn’t reading too much into that admission, suggesting a moment such as last week was all part of a journey that will be long and successful at international level for Bristol back Lloyd.
“Wayne has made the right choice,” continued the Bears boss. “The clarity as a 19-year-old going in was for them to get a look at him and for him to get a taste of what is there, but remember they have got some world-class players there as well.
Bristol have given update on how Sinckler is responding to suspension that hit his England plans#GallagherPrem #GuinnessSixNations
https://t.co/2Ce3ZYe7VC— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 27, 2021
“Ioan was able to go and experience what it is, get to know the Alun Wyn Joneses, the Liam Williams and he loved it. It was a taste of it but there it’s only part of his development. Like when we played him in the Bath game when he first came up and he was just out of school, that’s not that he has made it. All it has done is aided in his development. He is going to be a world-class player but all of these moments are part of that journey.
“The good thing is he got a taste, knew the things he did well. Wayne was very clear with him what he did well but he was also clear with him and with us about what he wanted him to improve on. There is no doubt that he is going to be back.”
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Lloyd is one of six changes to Lam’s starting XV following the January 9 Premiership win away to defending champions Exeter. Henry Purdy and Andy Uren are the other changes in the backline while in the pack, Chris Vui, John Afoa and Dan Thomas earn starts.
Max Malins, Harry Randall and Ben Earl are unavailable due to international duty with England, while Kyle Sinckler is serving the first game of a two-match ban. Sheedy is included among the replacements having been released from Wales camp.
BRISTOL (vs Bath, Friday)
15. Charles Piutau; 14. Luke Morahan, 13. Semi Radradra, 12. Piers O’Conor, 11. Henry Purdy; 10. Ioan Lloyd, 9. Andy Uren; 1. Jake Woolmore, 2. Bryan Byrne, 3. John Afoa, 4. Dave Attwood, 5. Chris Vui, 6. Steven Luatua (c), 7. Dan Thomas, Nathan Hughes. Reps: 16. Will Capon, 17. Yann Thomas, 18. Jake Armstrong, 19. Ed Holmes, 20. Jake Heenan, 21. Tom Kessell, 22. Callum Sheedy, 23. Alapati Leiua.
Wayne Pivac's Premiership request wasn't granted #GuinnessSixNations #GallagherPrem
https://t.co/weyJ0NBFdD— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 28, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
After their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
2 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
29 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
3 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to comments