A potential Bristol XV that could more than survive next season's Premiership
When Bristol were promoted to the Premiership in 2016/2017, they just didn’t have the squad depth to survive among the ranks of England’s elite.
With the arrival of BT’s lucrative deal and latterly the RFU pay for play deal, there’s more money in English war chests than ever before and resultantly an abundance of foreign talent has since swelled rosters from Sale to Bath. Players that would have moved to the Top 14 or stayed in the Pro14, were suddenly being lured to the Premiership with the promise of inflated wages.
While Bristol had the likes of Tom Varndell, Gavin Henson and Soane Tonga?uiha, they just didn’t have the firepower throughout the squad fight a season-long campaign against the Premiership’s nouveau riche.
In 2018/19, neither Bristol nor their billionaire benefactor Stephen Lansdown are not going to found wanting.
A potential starting XV based on players either playing for Bristol; committed to playing; or heavily rumoured to be signing, suggests they’ll be in a far better position to stay up.
15 Charles Piutau
Bristol have downplayed the suggestion that he will be paid £1million per year, but he’s undoubtedly their headline signing and a player that any side in the world will fear playing.
14 Luke Morahan
The Aussie speedster is unlucky not to have more than three Wallaby caps considering his pace and proven finishing ability.
13 Matt Banahan
Banahan has yet to sign a new deal with Bath and is rumoured to be on Bristol’s radar. At 6’7 and 110kg, he continues to pose a massive offensive and defensive threat.
12 Alapati Leiua
With Will Hurrell reportedly leaving for Edinburgh, powerful Samoan centre Alapati Leiua provides heavy duty ball carrying, having made thirty appearances for Wasps and having earned 11 caps for Manu Samoa.
11 Tom Varndell
The Premiership’s all-time highest try scorer maybe advancing in years, but apparently can’t get his head around not scoring tries.
10 Ian Madigan
The Irish man has quickly become the creative heartbeat of the side and combines both place-kicking ability and a ball-in-hand threat.
9 Andy Uren
Next year might be a bit soon for Uren but with the exit of Rhodri Williams the young academy player could feasibly stake a claim at scrumhalf.
8 Jordan Crane
An old dog of the backrow, the former England stalwart has huge experience and rugby IQ to offer the side and at 31, still has a few good years left in him.
7 Jack Lam
The bulldozing flanker who represented Samoa during the 2015 Rugby World Cup offers a nice foil to the workmanlike Crane.
6 Steven Luatua
The former All Black is an exceptional athlete and maybe one of the few Kiwi’s to exit his national side that could realistically expect to make a return. Will be an undoubted force in the next year’s Premiership.
5 Giorgi Nemsadze
Not a household name but the Georgian brings much needed grunt and experience. Irish international Dan Tuohy or homegrown talent Joe Joyce are formidable alternates in the Bristolian engine room.
4 Jonny Gray
One of the unluckiest players not to the make the British and Irish Lions, Gray has been heavily linked to the club and if he joined, would arguably represent an even bigger coup than the signatures of Piutau, Madigan or Luatua.
3 John Afoa
Currently on a reputed £500k a year deal at Gloucester, Afoa has been linked to Bristol in recent weeks. Thirty four is not all that old for a prop and it could be the retirement fund he’s been looking for.
2 Harry Thacker
Despite a breakthrough season last year, Thacker has fallen down the pecking order at Leicester, and is understood have agreed terms with Bristol. Will bring youth and heaps of ball carrying ability.
1 Soane Tonga’uiha
While 130kg Tonga’uiha will be 36-years-old by next season, he still brings power and experience in abundance, and Bristol will be banking on getting at least one more good season of him.
Comments on RugbyPass
I wouldn’t spend the time on Nawaqanitawase! No point in having him filling in a jersey when he’s committed to leave Union. Give the jersey to a young prospect who will be here in the future.
4 Go to commentsIt was a pleasure to watch those guys playing with such confidence. That trio can all be infuriating for different reasons and I can see why Jones might have decided against them. No way to justify leaving Ikitau out though. Jorgensen and him were both scheduled to return at the same time. Only one of them plays for Randwick and has a dad who is great mates with the national coach though.
53 Go to commentsBrayden Iose and Peter Lakai are very exciting Super Rugby players but are too short and too light to ever be a Test 8 vs South Africa, France, Ireland, and England, Lakai could potentially be a Test player at 7 if he is allowed to focus on 7 for Hurricanes.
5 Go to commentsPencils “Thomas du Toit” into possible 2027 Bok squad.
1 Go to commentsDon’t see why Harrison makes the bench. Jones can play at 10 if needed, and there is a good case for starting her there to begin with if testing combinations. That would leave room for Sing on the bench
1 Go to commentsWhat a load of old bull!
1 Go to commentsOf the rugby I’ve born witness to in my lifetime - 1990 to date - I recognize great players throughout those years. But I have no doubt the game and the players are on average better today. So I doubt going back further is going to prove me wrong. The technical components of the game, set pieces, scrums, kicks, kicks at goal. And in general tactics employed are far more efficient, accurate and polished. Professional athletes that have invested countless hours on being accurate. There is one nation though that may be fairly competitive in any era - and that for me is the all blacks. And New Zealand players in general. NZ produces startling athletes who have fantastic ball skills. And then the odd phenomenon like Brooke. Lomu. Mcaw. Carter. Better than comparing players and teams across eras - I’ve often had this thought - that it would be very interesting to have a version of the game that is closer to its original form. What would the game look like today if the rules were rolled back. Not rules that promote safety obviously - but rules like: - a try being worth 1 point and conversion 2 points. Hence the term “try”. Earning a try at goals. Would we see more attacking play? - no lifting in the lineouts. - rucks and break down laws in general. They looked like wrestling matches in bygone eras. I wonder what a game applying 1995 rules would look like with modern players. It may be a daft exercise, but it would make for an interesting spectacle celebrating “purer” forms of the game that roll back the rules dramatically by a few versions. Would we come to learn that some of the rules/combinations of the rules we see today have actually made the game less attractive? I’d love to see an exhibition match like that.
29 Go to commentsIrish Rugby CEO be texting Andy Farrell “Andy, i found our next Kiwi Irishman”
5 Go to commentsI certainly don’t miss drinking beers at 8am in the morning watching rugby games being played in NZ.
1 Go to commentsThis looks like a damage limitation exercise for Wales, keeping back some of their more effective players for the last 20/25 minutes to try and counter England’s fresh legs so the Red Roses don’t rack up a big score.
1 Go to commentsVery unlikely the Bulls will beat Leinster in Dublin. It would be different in Pretoria.
1 Go to commentsI think it is a dangerous path to go down to ban a player for the same period that a player they injured takes to recover. Players would be afraid to tackle anyone. I once tackled my best friend at school in a practice match and sprained his ankle. I paid for it by having to play fly-half instead of full-back for the rest of that season’s fixtures.
5 Go to commentsJust such a genuine good bloke…and probably the best all round player in his generation. Good guys do come first sometimes and he handled the W.Cup loss with great attitude.
2 Go to commentsWord in France is that he’s on the radar of a few Top14 clubs.
5 Go to commentsGet blocking Travis, this guy has styles and he’s gonna make a swift impact…!
1 Go to commentsWhat remorse? She claimed that her dangerous tackle wasn’t worthy of a red! She should be compensating the injured player for loss of earnings at the minimum. Her ban should include the recovery time of the injured player as well as the paltry 3 match ban.
5 Go to commentsArdie is a legend. Finished and klaar. Two things: “Yeah, yeah, I have had a few conversations with Razor just around feedback on my game and what I am doing well, what I need to improve on or work-ons. It’s kind of been minimal, mate, but it’s all that I need over here in terms of how to be better, how to get better and what I am doing well.” I hope he’s downplaying it - and that it’s not that “minimal”. The amount of communication and behind the scenes preparation the Bok coaches put into players - Rassie and co would be all over Ardie and being clear on what is expected of him. This stands out for me as something teams should really be looking at in terms of the boks success from a coaching point of view. And was surprised by the comment - “minimal”. In terms of the “debate” around Ireland and South Africa. Nice one Ardie. Indeed. There’s no debate.
2 Go to commentsThere’s a bit of depth there but realistically Australian players have a long way to go to now catch up. The game is moving on fast and Australia are falling behind. Australian sides still don’t priories the breakdown like they should, it’s a non-negotiable if you want to compete on the international stage. That goes for forwards and backs. The Australian team could have a back row that could make a difference but the problem is they don’t have a tight five that can do the business. Tupou is limited in defence, overweight and unfit and the locks are a long way from international standard. Frost is soft and Salakai-Loto is too small so that means they need a Valentini at 8 who has to do the hard graft so limits the effectiveness of the backrow. Schmidt really needs to get a hard working, tough tight 5 if he wants to get this team firing.
4 Go to commentsSorry Morgan you must have been the “go to for a quote” ex player this week. Its rnd 6 and there is plenty of time to cement a starting 15 and finishing 8 so I have no such concerns.
2 Go to commentsGreat read. I wish you had done this article on the ROAR.
2 Go to comments