The UAFC

(15-9) Stewart Moore, Rob Baloucoune, James Hume, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale, Billy Burns, Nathan Doak;

(1-8) Steven Kitshoff, Tom Stewart, Tom O’Toole, Alan O’Connor, Iain Henderson (C), Dave Ewers, Nick Timoney, James McNabney.

Replacements: Rob Herring, Andrew Warwick, Marty Moore, Kieran Treadwell, Matty Rea, John Cooney, Jake Flannery, Mike Lowry.


Matty Rea over Sheridan on the bench. My mind is blown.

I wasn’t as convinced as others that playing the French sides in Belfast and the English sides away was a particularly great set of fixtures.

Not only did it ruin my holiday plans but I’m pretty sure that the reverse would have seen us qualify comfortably.

If we don’t find another gear from somewhere, we’ll lose the bloody lot.

Sheridan better be injured. Cooney benched for his little show of discontent last week.

Bath Rugby: 1 Beno Obano, 2 Tom Dunn, 3 Will Stuart, 4 Elliott Stooke, 5 Charlie Ewels (150), 6 Miles Reid, 7 Sam Underhill, 8 Alfie Barbeary, 9 Ben Spencer (c), 10 Finn Russell, 11 Will Muir, 12 Cameron Redpath, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 15 Matt Gallagher

Replacements: 16 Niall Annett, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 GJ van Velze, 20 Jaco Coetzee, 21 Louis Schreuder, 22, Orlando Bailey, 23 Will Butt

Couple of big surprises in there:
- Sheridan's absence - very hard to explain from what I've seen, unless there's an injury
- AOC starting - has been a shadow of himself this year, maybe picked for the lineout?

Good to see Sheridan's early season form rewarded by Dan

It should be a close game based on the starting 15s.

No HS?….unless injured, dire selection.

HS is exactly the type of abrasive forward who we should be picking, should be on the bench. The guy is for me the most abrasive of the pups. I’ve not seen him have a shocker or go missing in games, really bad call. I’d defo have him for Backrow cover as bath have a very good abrasive unit.

Shocker of a call. Absolute shocker.

justinr73 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 08, 2023 1:13 pm I wasn’t as convinced as others that playing the French sides in Belfast and the English sides away was a particularly great set of fixtures.

Not only did it ruin my holiday plans but I’m pretty sure that the reverse would have seen us qualify comfortably.

If we don’t find another gear from somewhere, we’ll lose the bloody lot.

Absolutely hate this format, but do think this is the best we could have hoped for. The other way round we'd likely limp into the round of 16 for a shoeing away somewhere, on form this'd give us a good chance of home knockout fixtures, which is something Ulster definitely need to balance the books after last year. I'm not overly confident, but frankly if we can't get two wins from these fixtures we don't deserve to be in the knock out stages.

Personally think it’s a worry re TS and TOT come scrum time, herring and MM can’t be good to start. Think we could potentially give bath clear entries into the game through scrums, and the game killed before we use the bench.

thecrouch wrote: ↑Fri Dec 08, 2023 1:03 pm (15-9) Stewart Moore, Rob Baloucoune, James Hume, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale, Billy Burns, Nathan Doak;

(1-8) Steven Kitshoff, Tom Stewart, Tom O’Toole, Alan O’Connor, Iain Henderson (C), Dave Ewers, Nick Timoney, James McNabney.

Replacements: Rob Herring, Andrew Warwick, Marty Moore, Kieran Treadwell, Matty Rea, John Cooney, Jake Flannery, Mike Lowry.


Matty Rea over Sheridan on the bench. My mind is blown.

Sheridan looks like he has been locked away in the same closet that Marcus Rea and Sean Reidy vanished too.

MightyRearranger wrote: ↑Fri Dec 08, 2023 1:23 pm Couple of big surprises in there:
- Sheridan's absence - very hard to explain from what I've seen, unless there's an injury
- AOC starting - has been a shadow of himself this year, maybe picked for the lineout?

I agree that O’Connor is on the wane, he’s too short to be an effective lineout jumper though, but his selection speaks volumes for how poor Treadwell has been this season, in my opinion.

Big-al wrote: ↑Fri Dec 08, 2023 1:48 pm

MightyRearranger wrote: ↑Fri Dec 08, 2023 1:23 pm Couple of big surprises in there:
- Sheridan's absence - very hard to explain from what I've seen, unless there's an injury
- AOC starting - has been a shadow of himself this year, maybe picked for the lineout?

I agree that O’Connor is on the wane, he’s too short to be an effective lineout jumper though, but his selection speaks volumes for how poor Treadwell has been this season, in my opinion.

Haven't actually crunched the numbers, but my impression is that though players like Sheridan and Cormac have looked better around the park, the set piece and in particular the line-out has been much less effective when we haven't had two from Henderson, AOC and Treadwell starting. Might just be my imagination though.

HammerTime wrote: ↑Fri Dec 08, 2023 1:14 pm Sheridan better be injured. Cooney benched for his little show of discontent last week.

McFarlands love affair with Rea continues. What a message to send to a young player in form! Unless he's injured obviously.

Not convinced AOC deserves a start.

Ageeed points re Rea. AoC is also a gamble..suspect he’s probably on the team because he can effectively be the leader of an undisciplined core. Plus Treadwell hasn’t really made himself indispensable, has he . McNabney is a gamble and the pressure will be on O’Toole who should be better prepared than last week. Doak obviously gets the go ahead as Cooney will be getting a McFarland rap for his facial disapproval when substituted last week. Burns gets the go ahead as he’s the intellectual genius in the squad. Finn Russell will be in full panic mode about now.

Paddy Power make Bath seven point favourites, Ulster are 11/4 to for the win outright.