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Just one Bath change as they look to reach a first final since 2015
By Liam Heagney
Johann van Graan has made just a single change to his starting Bath XV for this Saturday’s Gallagher Premiership semi-final at home to Sale, promoting Alfie Barbeary from the bench to start at No8 with Josh Bayliss dropping to the replacements.
Bath blew away an understrength Northampton 43-12 in their last outing on May 18 to clinch second place on the table and secure a knockout-stage fixture at The Rec.
Now looking to reach a first Premiership final since 2015, their South African boss has opted to keep the faith by selecting that entire match day 23 again, the only change being the upgrade given to Barbeary.
The selection, which has Miles Reid named as the 23rd man, means Bath will go into the tie with a six/two forwards/backs split on their bench, a tactic that is the same as Sale who have confirmed the comeback-making Tom Curry as their 23rd man for the semi-final.
Bath (vs Sale, Saturday): 15. Matt Gallagher; 14. Joe Cokanasiga, 13. Ollie Lawrence, 12. Cameron Redpath, 11. Will Muir; 10. Finn Russell, 9. Ben Spencer; 1. Beno Obano, 2. Tom Dunn, 3. Thomas du Toit, 4. Quinn Roux, 5. Charlie Ewels, 6. Ted Hill, 7. Sam Underhill, 8. Alfie Barbeary. Reps: 16 Niall Annett, 17. Juan Schoeman, 18. Will Stuart, 19. Elliott Stooke, 20. Josh Bayliss, 21. Louis Schreuder, 22. Orlando Bailey, 23. Miles Reid.
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Latest Comments
Italians defended well. Luckily the scrums went well for the ABs.
Go to commentsYou were 'valuing' the players by you saying "they are not greats" though, I was pointing out another reason why they are greats, inside the team I mean (which is more important to selections on the pitch stuff).
Someone like TJ would be bitterly disappointed he didn't play on this end of year tour. He is still good enough to come on in that France game and ensure the team get the victory (with regards to how well Ratima had been playing). At the very least this is a 'sorry you didn't get that chance' offering, he's not here to get token farewell games, he will be playing to try and prove that he should have been on the pitch last week.
The other decision to play your best over the future is really personal though so can agree with your reasoning. Just sharing a slightly different perspective. I'll have to check the ratings and see how they went.
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