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Zach Mercer switches position as Bath make wholesale changes for visit of Wasps
By Online Editors
England No.8 Zach Mercer switches position as Bath Rugby make 12 changes to the side as we prepare for the visit of playoff rivals Wasps at the Rec on Monday. Director of Rugby Stuart Hooper has made a host of changes from the side who claimed the 18-3 win against Northampton Saints on Wednesday evening.
Beno Obano retains his place in the side after earning a Man of the Match medal last time out and is joined by Tom Dunn and Will Stuart in the front row, while Josh McNally and Charlie Ewels replace Will Spencer and Elliott Stooke respectively.
Mercer moves from No.8 to openside, accompanied by Sam Underhill at blindside with Taulupe Faletau at the back of the pack.
Rhys Priestland and Ben Spencer reignite their partnership at fly half and scrum half respectively as they both return to the starting line-up.
Gabriel Hamer-Webb returns to the fold after impressing last time out against Northampton Saints, as does Ruaridh McConnochie, who replaces Semesa Rokoduguni.
Josh Matavesi is back in midfield, partnered with Jonathan Joseph. Anthony Watson comes back in for Tom de Glanville at full-back.
A notable return sees Max Green on the bench as the scrum half returns from injury.
BATH RUGBY SIDE TO FACE WASPS
15. Anthony Watson, 14. Ruaridh McConnochie, 13. Jonathan Joseph, 12. Josh Matavesi, 11. Gabriel Hamer-Webb, 10. Rhys Priestland, 9. Ben Spencer; 1. Beno Obano, 2. Tom Dunn, 3. Will Stuart, 4. Josh McNally, 5. Charlie Ewels (C), 6. Zach Mercer, 7. Sam Underhill, 8. Taulupe Faletau
REPLACEMENTS
16. Jack Walker, 17. Lewis Boyce, 18. Christian Judge, 19. Elliott Stooke, 20. Miles Reid, 21. Max Green, 22. Max Clark, 23. Tom de Glanville
WASPS TEAM:
15 Lima Sopoaga, 14 Zach Kibirige, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Ryan Mills, 11 Marcus Watson, 10 Jacob Umaga
9 Dan Robson, 1 Tom West, 2 Tommy Taylor, 3 Biyi Alo, 4 Joe Launchbury (c), 5 James Gaskell, 6 Jack Willis, 7 Thomas Young, 8 Brad Shields
REPLACEMENTS:
16 Gabriel Oghre, 17 Simon McIntyre, 18 Jeff Toomaga-Allen, 19 Will Rowlands, 20 Tom Willis, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Jimmy Gopperth, 23 Matteo Minozzi
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Latest Comments
Yeah me too. I think the Welsh have it in them to make it a contest in the first half. Give the boks' second stringers a headache. Disrupting lineouts is one area the welsh could cause problems. Bok lineouts have been subpar.
And then fronting up in the collisions and at the rucks. If the boks get the ascendancy there too early, it could be a hiding. Jaden hendrikse had a tough game against the Scots - who were very good at disrupting the boks flow. The welsh would have taken note of this i'm sure.
But the bok bench will finish the welsh off i'm afraid.
Go to commentsYes, certainly. As an AB fan happy to be included in that top 3 of "matches that are routinely decided by one score" now, we were well outside that for a few years.
They have not had enough games yet. You can't undo so many poor years just like that. Asking for miracles like SA losing is not the way to get back to number 1.
They might get there as those bad years filter out of the rankings but it's guarenteed to be great fun going back and forth with SA once that happens.
Admittedly Foster only really had one bad year (21/22 season), but that's more likely because COVID stopped a lot of tough games from being played, and effected the other countries they did play far more than themselves.
A real shame we both don't get to see it unfold first with our regions teams in SR!
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