'Joe took a good whack on the AC joint... these things can turn around very quickly or take a while'
Bath have eased concerns over Joe Cokanasiga’s fitness after the England wing was forced off at half-time of their 26-19 Gallagher Premiership victory over Bristol.
Cokanasiga hurt his shoulder in the act of scoring the third of his team’s four tries and, although he initially played on, he was in obvious pain, with an interval medical check ending his afternoon at Twickenham.
The bulldozing Fijian-born three-quarter is on course to be a member of Eddie Jones’ World Cup squad after starring against Italy in the recent Six Nations.
“Joe took a good whack on the AC joint. It’s just very sore, that’s all,” director of rugby Todd Blackadder said. “These things can turn around very quickly or they can take a while. You could see he was a bit ginger out there. Hopefully it’s not too bad. We’ll hit it with some ice and he’ll be fine.”
Jonathan Joseph was the star as Bath made a storming start in front of a 60,152 crowd at Twickenham, but a dreadful penalty count that read 8-0 against helped Bristol back into the game.
? | Todd Blackadder, "It was a massive day with over 60,000 supporters here. After all the work that has gone into it, we wanted to back it up with a really good performance. To get five points here today, we have got to be really pleased with that." ????? pic.twitter.com/NPjEGMSAJW
— Bath Rugby (@BathRugby) April 6, 2019
“It was a significant step forward and I couldn’t be happier. I thought the club put on amazing occasion and it was just really nice to back that up with a good performance,” Blackadder said.
“We put Bristol under early pressure and got points off the back of that. I was really pleased with that. We have massive issues with our indiscipline. We basically gave Bristol 12 points and we talked about it at half-time. It’s not good enough.
“On the performance side we can be better. We missed opportunities and overplayed a bit. We didn’t really fire enough shots, but we’re pleased with the result. That’s a massive five points for us but there’s certainly more in us.”
Bristol head coach Pat Lam took heart from the Bears’ fightback following an early onslaught from Bath that threatened to turn the fixture into a rout.
“I’m disappointed but also proud of the boys – at 19-3 down they could have gone, but they showed a lot of character to come back and get a bonus point,” Lam said.
“Half of our team had never played at Twickenham before, but this experience will help the players grow. We’re committed in what we’re trying to do and to bringing young English players through.
Jonathan Joseph, that is really REALLY tidy ?
Jamie Roberts latches on to a perfect grubber, a brilliant start for Bath at Twickenham! pic.twitter.com/1Yga6gwfap
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) April 6, 2019
“We’re 50 per cent English in the team and there are 70 per cent of young English players coming through. We’ll continue to invest in them.
“Getting the bonus point was crucial, but nothing replaces the experience of playing in front of 60,000 at Twickenham. A lot of the guys are buzzing.”
Lam revealed that Australian wing Luke Morahan could miss the rest of the season because of the shoulder injury sustained in the second-half at Twickenham.
– Press Association
Comments on RugbyPass
I knew who wrote this article from the first few words in the headline…lol. The red card actually did the ABs a favour. It galvanized them, only then did they step up a gear. Before that there was zero momentum.
103 Go to commentsFirstly the foul on Bongi was a planned move just like the NZ master plan with Bryce Lawrence you kiwis are filthy fux perhaps try to play a cleaner game next time I doubt that’s possible tho but don’t worry world rugby is on yr side they trying to take away all the BOKS strengths to help all you weakling as Jeremy Clarkson would say LA OO ZA ERR..🤣
103 Go to commentsAbsolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
103 Go to commentsHo hum.
103 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
103 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
103 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
103 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
1 Go to commentsGotta love it when kids throw their toys out the pram and can’t hack it with the grown ups debate. Here’s looking at you turlough! 😉🤣
148 Go to commentsThey lost the game period move on
103 Go to commentsSpringboks won! Stop winging. You can change the game however much you and your rugby colonizing IRB want to and the Springboks will win you at that too. Your mind is colonized my friend get a life
103 Go to commentsBen, nobody gets fooled anymore by selective and biased data to support an hypothesis. Games are decided on such small margins these days that you win some and lose some, and dominance is a thing of the rugby past. Look at the RWC circle of fortune…. Ireland beats SA who beat France who beat NZ who beat Ireland. And so it goes on. Match officials help to eliminate real indiscretions. If they had been with us years before, no doubt results would have been different. Remember Andy Haden’s dive from a lineout in 1978 for which a match-wining penalty was awarded? Wales should have beaten the ABs that day. They took the loss like the gentlemen they were.
103 Go to commentsWith all the analysis and how good the all blacks were.The fundamental mistake with the ABs is that this is a test match and not an exhibition.There is no better team(country) in world rugby than the Boks that knows how to win a test match(we are post masters at this).We know our rules, we have the discipline, we tackle like beasts, we take our points and we never give up.I now have educated the ABs supporters(at least say thank you).Please stop “bitching” , accept what the outcome is and move along swiftly.
103 Go to commentsAnd they came from behind to win two big games before the final. No one can say what would have happened. Had the boks gone behind the game plan changes and the result may changes. Ifs and ands are irrelevant. The boks won. Neutral critics enjoyed the games they played. Its not a popularity contest. Get over it and move on.
103 Go to commentsI'm happy for the people of SA to get a second WC. And I mean that. I was very disappointed with this man's “stand on the hand” incident with Josh Van Der Flyer (Ireland). Ireland's downfall in the last WC was they did not rotate their first 15 as the head coach probably should have. That said, I'm happy for SA and genuinely hope it lifts the mood in their country. Ireland did beat them in the first match of the tournament. And before the trolls start trolling ….. please don't bother. Etzbeth said recently that the Irish players said after the match “see you in the final”…..this was actually wishing the SA team the best of luck in the rest, the Irish team were not dismissing the AB’s. This is what Etzbeth was implying. But he was wrong. I no longer live in Ireland. But I hope to see them lift that cup before I pass. Anyway, congratulations SA. 👍
12 Go to commentsMore bloody click bait. Dan Carter has said absolutely nothing. As he should do. Poor journalism again from a site that should know better
9 Go to commentsOh god please help these loosers get over it!!!! You lost. Doesn't matter how many times you dummies are gonna analyse the game, you still lost and we are still Rygby World Champions….get over it, you lost.
103 Go to commentsThe next Willie le Roux. SA are made not to use him.
3 Go to commentsDan has always been as controversial as tea with milk so we were never going to get any definitive answer. So DMac for the win.
9 Go to comments