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Launchbury returns as Wasps, Bristol name Ricoh Arena semi-final teams

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Wasps and Bristol have announced their teams for Saturday’s Gallagher Premiership semi-final in Coventry. Lee Blackett has made two changes to the Wasps starting line-up that beat Exeter Chiefs. 

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Joe Launchbury returns from injury to captain the side at lock and Jack Willis returns to the Wasps back row. The backline is unchanged from last Sunday’s victory. 

Bristol, meanwhile, have chosen an XV that is an entirely new starting line-up to the side that suffered defeat to Wasps in round 20.

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Here’s the debut episode of RugbyPod Offload, the new podcast featuring Dylan Hartley, Jamie Roberts, Simon Zebo and Ryan Wilson

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      Here’s the debut episode of RugbyPod Offload, the new podcast featuring Dylan Hartley, Jamie Roberts, Simon Zebo and Ryan Wilson

      Appearing in their first semi-final in 13 years, skipper Steven Luatua returns while Nathan Hughes is also named in the back row.

      Andy Uren is selected at scrum-half while Callum Sheedy, fresh from an international call-up with Wales, also comes back into the side.

      George Kloska is listed among the replacements with Will Capon (ankle) and Bryan Byrne (hamstring) unavailable.

      WASPS: 15 Matteo Minozzi; 14 Zach Kibirige, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Jimmy Gopperth, 11 Josh Bassett; 10 Jacob Umaga, 9 Dan Robson; 1 Simon McIntyre, 2 Tommy Taylor, 3 Kieran Brookes, 4 Joe Launchbury (capt), 5 Will Rowlands, 6 Jack Willis,  7 Thomas Young, 8 Brad Shields. Reps: 16 Gabriel Oghre, 17 Tom West, 18 Biyi Alo, 19 James Gaskell, 20 Alfie Barbeary, 21 Tom Willis, 22 Ben Vellacott, 23 Michael Le Bourgeois.

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      BRISTOL: 15. Max Malins; 14. Luke Morahan, 13. Semi Radradra, 12. Siale Piutau, 11. Piers O’Conor; 10. Callum Sheedy, 9. Andy Uren; 1. Jake Woolmore, 2. Harry Thacker, 3. John Afoa, 4. Joe Joyce, 5. Chris Vui, 6. Steve Luatua (capt), 7. Ben Earl, 8. Nathan Hughes. Reps: 16. George Kloska, 17. Yann Thomas, 18. Kyle Sinckler, 19. Ed Holmes, 20. Dan Thomas, 21. Harry Randall, 22. Sam Bedlow, 23. Alapati Leiua.

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      Comments on RugbyPass

      J
      JW 13 minutes ago
      New Zealanders may not understand, but in France Test rugby is the 'B movie'

      But he was wrong, he had to take back what he said. But maybe this only happened because he came out and was honest with his initial plans?


      He’s simply in a position where he should be far more professional.


      I don’t really follow much media, especially SM, but again, I’ve not seen anyone complaining. Plenty of ridicule and pointing out things like it being disrespectful to the game, but as far as the English language goes, that’s not complaining. Nick Bishop for instance hasn’t been complaining, he’s simply saying Galthie made a bad decision for France’s prospects (which when the common reply is ‘thats how it is’).


      Complaining would be views expressing that the FFR should have put the tour back a week so that all T14 finalists could attend. Complaining would be saying they’ve been robbed of seeing the worlds best stars. Complaining would be saying players can simply take extra weeks off from T14. I’ve only seen advice and suggestions that these are things France need to look-at-for-the-future.


      Basically I tried to communicate with French fans because they don’t understand what’s being communicated. ALL reactions I have seen shared here by French supports have all seemed way over the top compared what I’ve seen expressed about this tour.

      the players are expected to play in too many matches, for too many minutes, and need more rest and recovery time.

      This is the message I have been sharing. So something needs to happen, whether thats France pull out of more Internationals or rest players from more domestic games, who knows, but I also don’t think what they have now is working. It’s obviously much better than 3-4 years ago, but they appear to want to work even harder at it like you say. Personally I’ve only seen LNR be reasonable, I hear much less of their other internationals being denied/influenced not to play, so I imagine that they will give even further (as I can’t really see France pulling out the other international windows as well).

      146 Go to comments
      H
      Hammer Head 13 minutes ago
      15-year All Blacks coach names two factors slowing Razor's roll

      Yeah. You should worry about your own game and not anyone else’s. Play for the right reasons and to your own strengths. If you’re good enough, the rest will take care of itself.

      1 Go to comments
      j
      jb 33 minutes ago
      'The Wallabies only have themselves to blame': How the Lions sunk Australia in Melbourne

      Agree with nick fully …I think it’s very clear that the weakest point in our game has been the 12/13 mix. Poor in defence. The lions had charge blanch out wide- jas is lost at 13. …

      And then the lack of grunt. But genge should have been penalised twice for dropping the arm…against Robertson …okeefe, who is the worst ref for au games, should have reported that. It was obvious to everyone else… we have to improve our defence strategy. That’s the key. And I don’t think TT is the answer. He is lazy and drops ball, gives away penalties and wins some scrums ..not all…that’s not a big scorecard.

      38 Go to comments
      J
      JW 39 minutes ago
      'The Wallabies only have themselves to blame': How the Lions sunk Australia in Melbourne

      What I found disturbing was that he made his call after (supposed going off the live feed) only one replay. Others you can see the only reason “both arrived at the ruck/tackle together” was because Morgan dived from 2 meters away.


      I reckon Tate could still have held up the try on half time. 10 point lead could have been a way different game.

      38 Go to comments
      j
      jb 42 minutes ago
      'The Wallabies only have themselves to blame': How the Lions sunk Australia in Melbourne

      I can’t believe you suggest kurtley. He was no where in the Pasifika game - was he actually playing ?? and was never a great number 10 in high level rugby and is still a handbag tackler. His days are done.

      38 Go to comments
      J
      JW 43 minutes ago
      'The Wallabies only have themselves to blame': How the Lions sunk Australia in Melbourne

      Can you say in this example May was going to land on his feet ingoal, or his torso/ball? It’s unclear whether there is distinction there “in the act of scoring”?

      38 Go to comments
      J
      JW 47 minutes ago
      'The Wallabies only have themselves to blame': How the Lions sunk Australia in Melbourne

      Skelton looked pretty sore when going to sit down on the bench too I thought.

      38 Go to comments
      J
      JW 49 minutes ago
      'The Wallabies only have themselves to blame': How the Lions sunk Australia in Melbourne

      Yeah I hadn’t heard anything further than that straight after the game stuff. Cant be what SB is referring to though? I missed the CEO stuff.

      38 Go to comments
      J
      JW 52 minutes ago
      'The Wallabies only have themselves to blame': How the Lions sunk Australia in Melbourne

      Yeah agreed. In his defence though he’s only done it because of the disrespect Australia has been given, and he wants their fans to believe in them, I reckon. As otherwise, like you say, it’s very out of character (he just went off in the Brums game from out of nowhere lol) I think.

      38 Go to comments
      J
      JW 54 minutes ago
      'The Wallabies only have themselves to blame': How the Lions sunk Australia in Melbourne

      I think Beale has been in better for than JOC personally. I wonder if Joe will select from outside the squad (LSL, Tupou, Beale etc) for the 3rd.


      Such a long season too for Lions can’t be ignored in re to their performance. Someone like Finn Russell has already played 2.5k minutes, and that data doesn’t include tour games (only tests).

      38 Go to comments
      J
      JW 1 hour ago
      'The Wallabies only have themselves to blame': How the Lions sunk Australia in Melbourne

      “In principle, in a try scoring situation, if the action is deemed to be a dive forward for a try, then it should be permitted. If a player is deemed to have left the ground to avoid a tackle; or to jump, or hurdle a potential tackler, then this is dangerous play and should be sanctioned accordingly.”

      The whole description can be found (I think it would have included everything, I’ve only seen this article) here https://www.rugbypass.com/news/what-world-rugby-say-about-dan-sheehans-controversial-lions-try/?ht-comment-id=26942117


      Having read that again, I suppose this could be another case of incomplete laws, as couldn’t both be true? What then… I took it to mean the second sentence clarifies the first (ruling it out), but it might be directly relating to the specific situation it came out after (whatever that was).

      38 Go to comments
      O
      Otagoman II 1 hour ago
      'The Wallabies only have themselves to blame': How the Lions sunk Australia in Melbourne

      Hi Mzilikazi, I still think in the Sheehan scenario there is potential for some nasty neck injury to himself. I recall the Johnny May scenario was later considered foul play as he used a hirdling motion to score where his legs could easily be taken out underneath him and he would have no control over his descent. Diving with your head and arms leading is ironically safer. If that is correct recall.

      38 Go to comments
      J
      JW 1 hour ago
      'The Wallabies only have themselves to blame': How the Lions sunk Australia in Melbourne

      Cameron Woki picked at the base of a ruck and jumped/dived over. That would clearly now be penalised.

      But the Sheehan try is different to my eye. It starts from a tap penalty, he drives forward, the two WB defenders go low for a tackle in the assumption Sheehan will go to ground. He does not, but seeing the hole now left dives through it. In this case surely there is zero danger there.

      World Rugby’s terminology/interpretation recently (shared again after this) is that it’s ok to hurdle/dive (that includes over, say a ruck, which we have seen this many times even in this years SR) to score a try, but it’s not (OK) to avoid a tackle. I can’t remember the one you describe (which may have been where their clarification came from) but that would sound OK. Sheehan definitely was playing the rope-a-dope and dived to avoid being tackled (can’t call it tackled really, just blocked/stopped lol), so shouldn’t have been awarded (I wasn’t aware of this last definition so just thought it was a very smart move). Was it premeditated? I’m not sure, but he could definitely have collected someones head if that was the case. And I guess even if he saw the space, I guess it’s not something they can allow as others might try it and get it terribly wrong?


      Well summed up Miz. I have been thinking the whole situation of events that lead to this type of sneaky move is the problem, particularly as it relates to the difficulty and effort defenders now go to stop such situations (like say Slippers try), where players go extremely low to drive from meters out (and in most cases plays just trying to dive under). It’s also ugly business seeing attempt after attempt to go in under the tacklers, especially with them not really being able to perform a ‘tackle’ at all. I would simply give the defenders their goal line. All they need is some part of the body on or behind, and this will stop the play (being the fuel to this fire) from being attempted I reckon.

      38 Go to comments
      R
      RK 1 hour ago
      Hugo Keenan: From high school 'D' team to British and Irish Lions immortality

      Keenan is the skinniest fullback I’ve seen since Alan Hewson and that’s going back a bit. As with Hewson, though, the appearance is deceptive.

      23 Go to comments
      D
      Derek Murray 1 hour ago
      Lessons the Wallabies must heed to turn Lions heartbreak into future success

      It’s hard to see how we are benefiting from Fisher’s passive defensive. The Lions ran their backline plays with all the time they needed and we soaked and conceded 5 tries.


      Gotta be more aggressive - we’re the last top side to do so and it’s failing us

      27 Go to comments
      J
      JW 1 hour ago
      'The Wallabies only have themselves to blame': How the Lions sunk Australia in Melbourne

      Yes agreed, TT wouldn’t have been ready last week, as he’d not been in the environment (which would be the more pertinent thing, but sensible based on form and fitness). Might be the right time to pick him this week?

      38 Go to comments
      N
      Neilashford 1 hour ago
      'The Wallabies only have themselves to blame': How the Lions sunk Australia in Melbourne

      Multiple things can all be true at the same time. The Wallabies made a lot of mistakes, they had way too passive defence, they didn't get selection (match day and full squad) correct, AND the referees made the wrong call for the final penalty which factually cost them the match.


      We talk a lot about rugby being a professional sport and what that means (club vs country, private equity, ‘rugby ethos’, workloads). Well referees and their decisions should be a piece of that. There is way too much money and consequences on the line for major calls like that to be completely inconsistent game to game. Fans spend money for tickets, sponsors and broadcasters spend a ton to show the games, gamblers spend money on the outcome. It's not right for the referees to ignore the rules because it was “a rugby incident".


      The Wallabies also made a lot of mistakes. Rewatching the two tries at the end of the first half, they were just way too passive and allowed the Lions into the 22 far too easily.

      38 Go to comments
      J
      JW 1 hour ago
      'The Wallabies only have themselves to blame': How the Lions sunk Australia in Melbourne

      Why wasn’t Kerevi in? Heard more that he wasn’t viable these days, was that from people following JRLO I wonder. Would have been a nice end to his career but Joe’s also going to look further into the future than that no?

      38 Go to comments
      D
      Derek Murray 1 hour ago
      'The Wallabies only have themselves to blame': How the Lions sunk Australia in Melbourne

      Been saying for months we wanted Tupou, Skelton, LSL, Kerevi and, of course, Bobby V.


      Probably worth noting that selecting Gordon at 9 was a good call and being brave enough to toss in a 20yo Jorgo after a long injury lay-off was also a difficult but correct selection.

      38 Go to comments
      B
      Brett McKay 1 hour ago
      Lessons the Wallabies must heed to turn Lions heartbreak into future success

      Yes, that’s a pretty healthy motivating factor, PS

      27 Go to comments
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