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Fit-again Sinckler back to face old side Harlequins as semi-final teams named
By Liam Heagney
England and Lions prop Kyle Sinckler has been restored to the Bristol starting line-up for Saturday's Gallagher Premiership semi-final versus his former club Harlequins. The tighthead has originally been chosen to start the last match played by the Bears two weeks ago.
However, a hamstring strain forced him to cry off from the win over Leicester prior to kick-off but he now takes back the No3 jersey from John Afoa as one of four changes to the XV that won at Tigers, Bristol's last outing as their match last weekend at home to London Irish was cancelled at the eleventh hour.
While Sinckler will be scrummaging against old pal Joe Marler in an intriguing prop contest, Charles Piutau and Luke Morahan return to the Bristol back three in place of Henry Purdy and Piers O'Conor, with the other alteration coming at hooker where Harry Thacker has got the nod ahead of Will Capon.
Lam attributed Sinckler's availability for the semi-finals to work done by the Bristol backroom staff when the prop initially arrived at the club last year. “Thankfully the work that he has done with our RTP (Return To Perform) team this season, when he first came in they looked at his history of injuries and strains and they put a phenomenal programme for him to strengthen a lot of his key muscles as a scrummager and as a dynamic rugby player.
“It would be fair to say that the injury he suffered if he hadn’t had done that work that could have been a lot more serious and it’s a real credit to Kyle and the work that he has put in. It really bulletproofed a lot of his key muscles."
Harlequins, who were defeated by a late Sinckler try when they visited Ashton Gate a few months ago for a regular-season fixture, have made one change to their starting XV following last weekend's hammering of Newcastle, fit-again skipper Stephan Lewies returning at second row in place of Dino Lamb.
BRISTOL: 15. Charles Piutau; 14. Luke Morahan, 13. Semi Radradra, 12. Siale Piutau (co-capt), 11. Max Malins; 10. Callum Sheedy, 9. Andy Uren; 1. Yann Thomas, 2. Harry Thacker, 3. Kyle Sinckler, 4. Dave Attwood, 5. Chris Vui, 6. Steven Luatua (co-capt), 7. Dan Thomas, 8. Nathan Hughes. Reps: 16. Will Capon, 17. Jake Woolmore, 18. John Afoa, 19. Joe Joyce, 20. Ben Earl, 21. Harry Randall, 22. Ioan Lloyd, 23. Piers O’Conor.
HARLEQUINS: 15. Tyrone Green; 14. Louis Lynagh, 13. Joe Marchant, 12. Ben Tapuai, 11. Aaron Morris; 10 Marcus Smith, 9. Danny Care; 1. Joe Marler, 2. Scott Baldwin, 3. Wilco Louw, 4. Matt Symons, 5. Stephan Lewies (capt), 6. Tom Lawday, 7. Jack Kenningham, 8. Alex Dombrandt. Reps: 16. Joe Gray, 17. Santiago Garcia Botta, 18. Will Collier, 19. Dino Lamb, 20. James Chisholm, 21. Martin Landajo, 22. James Lang, 23. Luke Northmore.
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Latest Comments
No he's just limited in what he can do. Like Scott Robertson. And Eddie Jones.
Sometimes it doesn't work out so you have to go looking for another national coach who supports his country and believes in what he is doing. Like NZ replacing Ian Foster. And South Africa bringing Erasmus back in to over see Neinbar.
This is the real world. Not the fantasy oh you don't need passion for your country for international rugby. Ask a kiwi, or a south african or a frenchman.
Go to commentsDont complain too much or start jumping to conclusions.
Here in NZ commentators have been blabbing that our bottom pathway competition the NPC (provincial teams only like Taranaki, Wellington etc)is not fit for purpose ie supplying players to Super rugby level then they started blabbing that our Super Rugby comp (combined provincial unions making up, Crusaders, Hurricanes, etc) wasn't good enough without the South African teams and for the style SA and the northern powers play at test level.
Here is what I reckon, Our comps are good enough for how WE want to play rugby not how Ireland, SA, England etc play. Our comps are high tempo, more rucks, mauls, running plays, kicks in play, returns, in a game than most YES alot of repetition but that builds attacking skillsets and mindsets. I don't want to see world teams all play the same they all have their own identity and style as do England (we were scared with all this kind of talk when they came here) World powerhouse for a reason, losses this year have been by the tiniest of margins and could have gone either way in alot of games. Built around forward power and blitz defence they have got a great attack Wingers are chosen for their Xfactor now not can they chase up and unders all day. Stick to your guns its not far off
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