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BT Sport’s Nick Mullins has over the last decade become the instantly recognisable voice of rugby union in the British Isles.
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Over the course of around 40 matches per season – and upwards of 100 preparatory training ground visits – BT Sport’s leading match commentator sees more Gallagher Premiership action than most.
As such he is ideally placed to assess the hopes of the 13 teams for whom the road to Twickenham next June gets underway this weekend.
Here is the first part of his club-by-club preview.
Bath
Last season: Seventh place with 52 points (W10, D0, L12)
Top scorer: Rhys Priestland (150)
Top try scorer: Will Muir (7)
Head coach: Stuart Hooper (appointed 2019)
Arrivals: Seven including Danny Cipriani, D’Arcy Rae, Jaco Coetzee
Departures: 14 including Zach Mercer, Elliott Stooke, Rhys Priestland
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Most recent play-off season: 2019/20
Title wins: Six
Nick’s verdict:
“I won’t be the only one talking a lot about Danny Cipriani this season, but I am also very interested to see how David Williams their new attack coach goes.
“I know they’ve been talking about how they blend backs and forwards a bit more effectively and those two are central to that.
“Everybody at Bath will hope he has a huge impact because lots of neutrals looked at them last season and wondered how a team with so many impressive backs could not be more consistent.
“Cipriani for Priestland makes them a different looking team, and they are going to have to find someone to step up for Zach Mercer who was our man-of-the-match every time we saw them play.”
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Bristol Bears
Last season: First place with 85 points (W17, D1, L4) then beaten semi-finalists
Top scorer: Callum Sheedy (91)
Top try scorer: Max Malins (8)
Head coach: Pat Lam (appointed 2017)
Arrivals: Three including Tom Whiteley
Departures: Eight including Max Malins, Ben Earle and Siale Piutau
Most recent play-off season: 2020/21
Title wins: None
Nick’s verdict:
“They’ll be top four again, probably top two and maybe top one but there’s another team or two who will have something to say about that.
“They’ve lost Ben Earl and Max Malins who had positive impacts last season but they have Tom Whiteley coming the other way from Saracens.
“The player I’m most curious to see how they replace is Siale Piutau since I got the impression that for all the magic they threw out last season a lot revolved around him.
“Pat Lam is much too clever not to have thought about what they’re going to do about that and maybe there will be a subtle change in how they play.
“I can’t think of any better way to start the season than Ashton Gate on Friday night against Saracens and those two will be going at each other throughout the season.”
Part 3 from @andNickMullins covers Sale to Worcester
"What I suspect keeps the coaches awake at night is not knowing how they will perform from one day to the next but that’s what makes them so watchable"https://t.co/PQxuXWQjCW— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 13, 2021
Exeter Chiefs
Last season: Second with 82 points (W17, D0, L5) then beaten finalists
Top scorer: Joe Simmonds (184)
Top try scorer: Sam Simmonds (21)
Head coach: Rob Baxter (appointed 2009)
Arrivals: Seven including five from their academy
Departures: Eight including Alex Cuthbert, Corey Baldwin and Tomas Francis
Most recent play-off season: 2020/21
Title wins: Two
Nick’s verdict:
“They are sticking largely with the squad that has got them to the last six finals and there’s no reason to think they won’t make it to their seventh in a row.
“As much as we neutrals were thrilled by the final, they will have been burned by it and you can be sure no-one will have worked harder than Rob Baxter and his coaches over the summer to put that behind them.
“I am very interested in how Exeter have developed their academy and made players into Premiership stars and the next name to have been promoted is Frankie Nowell – a teenage utility back who is Jack’s brother.
“I suspect we’ll be talking a lot about him over the next few months.”
Gloucester
Last season: Eleventh with 45 points (W7, D0, L15)
Top scorer: Billy Twelvetrees (104)
Top try scorer: Santiago Carreras (6)
Head coach: George Skivington (appointed 2020)
Arrivals: Eight including Adam Hastings and Ben Meehan
Departures: Six including Matt Garvey, Willi Heinz and Matt Banahan
Most recent play-off season: 2018/19
Title wins: None
Nick’s verdict:
“Patience is the watchword for Gloucester, they are further down the redevelopment path than Worcester but George Skivington is having to completely rebalance the squad.
“Looking from the outside over the last few seasons they seem to have invested heavily in the backs and less so in the forwards and that now looks to be changing.
“Adam Hastings catches the eye as an arrival, but it is how they are beefing up the pack to give the likes of Lewis Ludlow more support that is more critical and I think George would want them to be much more impactful up front.
“I know one or two Gloucester forwards of old who will be choking on their pints of bitter at the thought of an artificial pitch at Kingsholm, but that’s what they’ve done and if that isn’t a line that tells up about 21st century rugby I don’t know what is.”
Plenty of Premiership clubs will be interested in this news… ?????https://t.co/8Jz7bIFG7x
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 12, 2021
Harlequins
Last season: Fourth with 71 points (W14, D1, L8) then champions
Top scorer: Marcus Smith (286)
Top try scorer: Danny Care (12)
Head coach: Tabai Matson (appointed 2021)
Arrivals: Seven including Huw Jones and Tomasso Allen
Departures: 11 including Mike Brown, Elia Elia and Nathan Earle
Most recent play-off season: 2020/21
Title wins: Two
Nick’s verdict:
“I love Tabai Matson’s appointment – he fits perfectly into what they are trying to become.
“I know how much Bath and Todd Blackadder missed him when he had to leave early a few seasons ago.
“Some questions:
“Can they do what the 2012 title winning team couldn’t and kick on next season?
“Can that brilliant end to last season build into a cohesive challenge again this year?
“Is Marcus Smith ready to take the next step up and not just boss Premiership games but begin to boss test matches for England?”
Part 2 of 3 from @andNickMullins covers Leicester to Northampton
“Clearing out the attic feels the best way to describe last season when they had the most major of overhauls"https://t.co/prlU1TNfok— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 13, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
Je suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
25 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
25 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to comments