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Gallagher PremiershipGloucesterWorcester

Gloucester and Worcester welcome back Lions contingent

Duhan van der Merwe /PA

Both Gloucester and Worcester Warriors have welcomed back their British & Irish Lions stars for their respective Gallagher Premiership Round 4 clashes.

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Gloucester head coach George Skivington has made two changes to the side that defeated Worcester Warriors last weekend with the Lions tourists Louis Rees-Zammit and Chris Harris  – who had a cameo from the bench last week – returning to the starting 15.

The rest of the backline is unchanged with Jason Woodward starting at fullback alongside Jonny May and Rees-Zammit on the wings.

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A Clockwork Orange, Islander remedies and Jonny Hill | RugbyPass Offload | Episode 4

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A Clockwork Orange, Islander remedies and Jonny Hill | RugbyPass Offload | Episode 4

Worcester Warriors will unleash their Lions on Exeter Chiefs in Saturday’s Gallagher Premiership match at Sandy Park.

Wing Duhan van der Merwe and loosehead prop Rory Sutherland both linked up with Warriors last month having been given a well-earned break after the summer tour of South Africa.

The Scotland international pair have both been recruited from Edinburgh Rugby and, having settled in at Sixways, they will both start against last season’s beaten finalists among seven changes to the starting XV.

Van der Merwe comes into the back division in place of Melani Nanai, who suffered a hamstring injury against Gloucester last Saturday.

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Sutherland takes his place in the front row alongside two more of Warriors’ summer signings, Scott Baldwin and Christian Judge, with Ethan Waller moving to the bench.

WORCESTER WARRIORS: 15 Jamie Shillcock, 14 Noah Heward, 13 Oli Morris, 12 Ollie Lawrence, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Billy Searle, 9 Willi Heinz (CC), 1 Rory Sutherland, 2 Scott Baldwin (CC), 3 Christian Judge, 4 Andrew Kitchener, 5 Justin Clegg, 6 Kyle Hatherell, 7 Matt Kvesic, 8 Sione Vailanu.

REPLACEMENTS: 16 Niall Annett, 17 Ethan Waller, 18 Jay Tyack, 19 Joe Batley, 20 Sam Lewis, 21 Will Chudley, 22 Will Butler, 23 Harri Doel.

GLOUCESTER RUGBY: 15. Jason Woodward, 14. Louis Rees-Zammit, 13. Chris Harris, 12. Mark Atkinson, 11. Jonny May, 10. Adam Hastings, 9. Ben Meehan, 1. Harry Elrington, 2. Jack Singleton, 3. Kirill Gotovtsev, 4. Freddie Clarke, 5. Andrew Davidson, 6. Ruan Ackermann, 7. Lewis Ludlow (c), 8. Ben Morgan

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REPLACEMENTS: 16. Matt Moulds, 17. Val Rapava-Ruskin, 18. Jamal Ford-Robinson, 19. Matias Alemanno, 20. Jack Clement, 21. Charlie Chapman, 22. Billy Twelvetrees, 23. Kyle Moyle

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No CEO, no head coach, but the All Blacks can fire pot shots at Australia

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Comments on RugbyPass

J
JW 15 minutes ago
Can the All Blacks navigate their way past old enemies to win the World Cup?

Thats a bit too negative for the All Blacks, and like I said, would send exactly the wrong message to England.

That’s particularly because tap was on the halfway lines (on the 5 meter). Not even Jordie would kick that dead, and Jordan at best would be 5 meters short of the goalline and allow the English to take the ball back tot he 22 and boot it back past halfway. At worst a skied kick could have given them the ball on the 22. Or turnover at a lineout 10meters outside their 22.



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H
Hammer Head 21 minutes ago
How Ireland can upset the odds in Paris: Big match preview part two

How far off is Flannery (and Felix’s) D from Nienaber’s?

I feel Ike it’s an iteration of Nienaber’s.



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78 Go to comments
K
KZ7 22 minutes ago
Senior All Blacks duo come out in defence of 'scapegoat' Savea

Just don’t follow what he’s done wrong?If like all other players he gave his opinion as part of the review he’s done the right thing.If comments attributed to him about thinking of playing abroad have been leaked then so what?

26 Go to comments
S
SB 25 minutes ago
Timoci Tavatavanawai to return from injury in preseason Moana tussle

Yea but the point is that France series was clearly a time to try new things. Billy Proctor was the standout 13 in Super Rugby yet at top test level he’s not been good. I think it’s time to understand what top test level requires as opposed to selecting just off Super Rugby form.

10 Go to comments
J
JW 37 minutes ago
Can the All Blacks navigate their way past old enemies to win the World Cup?

They were back to back the worlds best 10s.

But yes, they aren’t like Carter where you’d expect him to win year after year. Agreed, all those names are similar too.



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S
SK 40 minutes ago
How Ireland can upset the odds in Paris: Big match preview part two

Ireland need to keep the ball for long periods even if it goes against their current Leinster identity. This is their bread and butter against France. If they can stress test the French defence for long periods of time they will tire out. Ireland cannot afford to just build 90 rucks in a game. They need to build well in excess of 100 and they need to get 55-60% lightning quick ball at least. They need to force France to make at least 150-200 tackles and force them to defend multiple phases of attack. They need to play quickly at lineout, get the ball away from the base at scrum time and keep the French forwards under the pump. They cant play from everywhere but once it gets to their own 10 metre line they need to keep the ball and avoid the kick unless its to expose space with a kick chase or a 50-22. I dont rate the French bench, hell the Ireland bench doesnt look so great itself but if they can survive the first 60, deny France set piece and aerial dominance and move their forwards around they can win this. For France they need to establish dominance at set piece, make a mess of the Irish lineout, dominate the air waves and score off turnover ball using fast breaking backs like LBB and Ramos. They need to put Prendergast under pressure and smash the Irish front row. If they can make a mess of the Irish ruck speed they will also win but what we cant have is both teams pussyfooting around in a cagey affair putting the ball up constantly in a snooze fest with Ireland playing some Leinster garbage and France doing what they are comfortable doing. That only ends one way, a France win and Thursday night wasted for a rugby hungry audience. If we want a game on Ice we will watch the Winter Olympics thank you very much.

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C
Cantab 42 minutes ago
No CEO, no head coach, but the All Blacks can fire pot shots at Australia

So all is well for the good ship NZR at this stage?? Unfortunately like the Titanic they are ill prepared for the icebergs that lie ahead.

8 Go to comments
G
GRB13 49 minutes ago
No CEO, no head coach, but the All Blacks can fire pot shots at Australia

The opening match used to be between the holders and the hosts. Somewhere along the line they stopped doing this for some reason.

8 Go to comments
J
JW 54 minutes ago
Timoci Tavatavanawai to return from injury in preseason Moana tussle

ALB was the standout center in Super before that.

Fairly short period I think. Has recently back from injury at that point.



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J
JW 55 minutes ago
Timoci Tavatavanawai to return from injury in preseason Moana tussle

Not saying this would have happened with Timoci but, even if they lost the game as a result of given a deb 30 min instead of 15?

10 Go to comments
J
JW 56 minutes ago
Timoci Tavatavanawai to return from injury in preseason Moana tussle

A bench role under Razor is more of a heart breaker than anything else.

10 Go to comments
S
SK 59 minutes ago
How Ireland can upset the odds in Paris: Big match preview part two

The last 4 or 5 meetings between France and Ireland have been blockbuster and was a fixture that ultimately determined in large part the destiny of the 6 Nations title. This however seems like a big budget movie that hasn’t played too well with the critics or the test audience. It has a few big-name A-Listers but plenty of protagonists missing and to add to its woes it’s been relegated to a Thursday night kick off like a Europa League fixture. Theres plenty to play for in this one for both teams and looking at the line-ups France are favourites however it could go either way but is this really the Blockbuster opening to the 6 nations we were expecting when the fixture list was announced? Or is it a box office bomb, a damp squib in waiting, full of kicking and dropped balls, scrums and resets, low ball in play time and poor execution with a bit of ill-discipline mashed in for good measure.

78 Go to comments
S
SM 1 hour ago
Ian Foster is not the answer while NZR need to decide the fate of seven All Blacks

Let's face it the ABS went woke, sack everyone and start again, l bet Reiko and his Chiefs mates we’re moaning little you know what's. Biggest mistake Robinson made was not dropping the underperformers.

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v
vr 1 hour ago
Can the All Blacks navigate their way past old enemies to win the World Cup?

I also saw it only if the prop / hooker out due to illigal scrummaging - yet it could be wrong even without AI - need to check with the Laws… I saw it once on international - it was YC and oops - 13 vs 15 at the first scrum after YC - lost one of the wings to keep on scrumming, but the other time - just normal one for one change. It is of course should be very clear for the team and coaches also…

Well I still see it as a sort of leadership gap or may be leaders of the team did not buy Razors tactic or something like that - it is hard to accept on how good was he at Saders - mainly due to people skills and that he lost it on AB level - I am not talking the tactics and Super vs International level - just people skills-which was his “selling point” as it looks from outside



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139 Go to comments
S
Skinny Pins 1 hour ago
The constant in the All Blacks’ struggles is not the coaches

Good arguments, and fair comment. Respect. I see it differently, and firmly believe old dogs can’t be taught new tricks. I also worry that it is difficult to recreate a culture of excellence with a group of senior players who have never really made the grade, under a variety of coaches (which is Bidwell’s point here, I guess). But, who knows? Time will tell, and you make the case for the alternative view really well. Cheers

247 Go to comments
R
RickyBobby38 1 hour ago
Senior All Blacks duo come out in defence of 'scapegoat' Savea

I made the mistake of reading an “article” that basically just transcribed a Mexted circular rant on a podcast - I felt like I lost 10-20 IQ points #NeverAgain 😆

26 Go to comments
P
PB 1 hour ago
Can the All Blacks navigate their way past old enemies to win the World Cup?

No they really aren’t! Both are pretty flash at SR, both have odd moments of brilliance, and both play well vs minnows where they have time to play their little tricks. Both have usually failed to be anything more than average vs the top teams.

The best in the conversation would be the likes of Ntamack, Jalibert, George Ford, Sacha, Pollard, Finn Russell and Albanorz.



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139 Go to comments
P
PB 1 hour ago
No CEO, no head coach, but the All Blacks can fire pot shots at Australia

It is called deflection. They are studiously trying to avoid the elephant in the room. They were already in disarray, and Kirk’s knee jerk decision has put further coals on the fire.

8 Go to comments
C
Cameron 2 hours ago
No CEO, no head coach, but the All Blacks can fire pot shots at Australia

Speak for yourself. The 2007 opening match between France and Argentina cemented rugby as the only sport I would ever truly care about for me. I agree that the opening match isn’t usually a blockbuster and I’m totally fine with this, but Chile at least might have provided something to cheer about.

8 Go to comments
G
GS 2 hours ago
Ian Foster is not the answer while NZR need to decide the fate of seven All Blacks

Lions tour plus a tour to NZ, where he outplayed Smith; and the series was won 2-1. TJ - How many WC’s and Grand Slams did TJ win?

He does a great Haka, but pretty average on core skills required of a 9 - you know - thing called passing. Actually, I remember a game in 2018 vs. Boks, where his passing at the end of the game was so poor, it cost us the game - why do you think he could never supplant Smith, the more dynamic runner/defender, but with very average skills.



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