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'There was some good banter between Sheedy and the England boys'
Bristol boss Pat Lam has revealed that Callum Sheedy has given the Bears’ England contingent a ribbing now that the Gallagher Premiership leaders are all back in under the one roof following their respective Guinness Six Nations campaign with Wales and Eddie Jones’ English squad.
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Sheedy’s Welsh were dramatically denied the Grand Slam with a clock-in-the-red try last Saturday from Brice Dulin in Paris, but that extreme disappointment hasn’t been enough to prevent the Bristol out-half from having a thing or two to amusingly say to the Bears’ England players.
Sheedy stepped off the bench in Cardiff on February 27 to kick 13 points and propel Wales to their Triple Crown victory over an England team that featured Kyle Sinckler as a starter along with Ben Earl and Max Malins off the bench.
That rivalry has now resurfaced on the Bears training ground and Bristol boss Lam has described it as great in helping everyone settle in again for club duty. “The international boys are all keen to get back ASAP which is great,” he reported at his club’s weekly media conference on Wednesday.
“They came in. We all acknowledged them and they have come back with a bit of energy and there was some good banter between Sheedy and the England boys. That was great and a bit of a laugh.
'… the irony with him is when you look at someone like Callum Sheedy, Billy was ahead of him a number of years ago.'
Two 10s. Two differing career paths and fortunes.
– reports @heagneyl ???https://t.co/Uei5GLpBMh
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 20, 2021
“We had a good day yesterday [Tuesday], a lot of clarity work and bedding them back into the Bears way. These boys haven’t been around for a long time. Max was last involved on Boxing Day, Ben had only had 90 minutes (with England) since Exeter on January 9 and Kyle has had a lot of game time, but they have been away a long time.
“The important thing Tuesday in the high performance centre was just going through the plays to get them back into it. Looking at the video last night they picked it up quite well again so we will have a big session tomorrow [Thursday] and get ready for the weekend (versus Harlequins).”
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A replacement versus Wales, Malins made a first Six Nations start in the round four win over France and was due to start again for England last Saturday in Dublin until he suffered a training ground injury the day before.
“He [Malins] came back and our medical team took him for a scan. It’s not too bad, possibly a couple of weeks, so our medical team will rebuild him and get him back to shape and our S&C team will put some work into him to get him back up to speed.
“He strained his quad when he was kicking. Our job is to repair it now and get him back the ability to play and perform. There is a lot of competition there now. Callum Sheedy, massive, his 100th game this week for Bristol.
“When you consider his journey and what he has been able to do, coming right through the academy and now an international player and a very good one, he is a big leader in our team and it’s potentially a big occasion for him this weekend.
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“Cal came back in the breaks from Wales and played so it doesn’t seem like he was away and if there is anyone who can slip straight back in it’s Callum Sheedy because of his character, personality and understanding of the Bears way and he is a big part of it.
“He just flicks the switch. He was extremely disappointed (with the loss to France), like all Welsh people, and there is still a bit of hope for them Friday night for that game (against Scotland), but they were seconds away from having it. Knowing Cal, it will motivate him to be even better.”
Uncapped Harry Randall was injured at England training on the weekend of February 20 and when Lam addressed the setback on March 3, he reported that the scrum-half was “another seven, eight weeks, which is frustrating. He had a syndesmosis injury.”
Three weeks later, however, Lam is hopeful Randall will be back in harness a few weeks earlier than planned, saying, “He is a little ahead of schedule.”
Adding to the upbeat mood at Bristol will be the likely return this weekend of Semi Radradra following a knee injury. Bristol haven’t suffered from his absence, winning five and drawing one of their seven matches without him, but Lam is glad to have him back in the mix.
“Semi has been training. He is looking good for selection this week. He’s buzzing, he has been pushing hard. He had a good session (Tuesday) and another one tomorrow. A real credit to our medical and physical performance team, they have been class… Semi had a lot of pride. He wants to get back and perform, he is ready to go.
“It more about him playing well again. He just wants to play rugby. That is the Island way, he wants to get back and play. He is a great trainer, but it’s only a means to an end, he wants to play. We’re seeing that, he’s just buzzing.”
'Can you imagine a Premiership club going ‘Right lads, we’re going skiing’. Absolutely no way… it was me, Bryan Habana & Duane Vermeulen learning to ski together' @Dmjattwood fell out of love with rugby at Bath but found it again, writes @heagneyl ??? https://t.co/QWWZQPD1Ek
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 21, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
Firstly 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..🤣
99 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.
99 Go to commentsHo hum.
99 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
99 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.
99 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.
99 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
99 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
99 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.
99 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.
99 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.
99 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.
99 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 commentsGoodness. When are the All Blacks and New Zealand commentators going to stop complaining about how they could have won and just try to win next time 😂. In South Africa if you lose you get up and try again. Get over it.
99 Go to comments