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liveinhope wrote:I tend to agree with BIgD163 that ultimately the Challenge Cup games don't matter and only the URC games do -and that is the route to next year's Champions Cup of course.
But Saracens away is a terrific challenge and it would be tremendous to put down a good performance there (Glasgow were pretty poor in both there matches against them in the last 2/3 years). recent selections have shown that we appear to have much more serious competition for the 23 than in recent years so Blair should be able to mix and match a bit without weakening the line up. Injuries to Mata and Hoyland don't help but we have excellent cover for them in Bradbury/Haining and Moyana.And we have the following weekend off whilst Glasgow will be hosting Exeter so the need for "cottonwooling" some players is not as necessary.
BigD163 wrote:With Mata being potentially injured for the medium term why risk Bradbury when for club and player the Glasgow games are probably bigger. On this seasons showing Bradbury is better than Haining. Saracens unlikely to go full noise and Bradbury will have a chance to face up against two competitors (come AI's 2022) for the national 8 shirt against Glasgow. The way the conferences are set up, win both games and the gap is massive going into the second half of the season. If the URC decide to do something daft like void the SA team results because they can't complete the season then the gap increases by another 3 points.
TheSmidge wrote:BigD163 wrote:With Mata being potentially injured for the medium term why risk Bradbury when for club and player the Glasgow games are probably bigger. On this seasons showing Bradbury is better than Haining. Saracens unlikely to go full noise and Bradbury will have a chance to face up against two competitors (come AI's 2022) for the national 8 shirt against Glasgow. The way the conferences are set up, win both games and the gap is massive going into the second half of the season. If the URC decide to do something daft like void the SA team results because they can't complete the season then the gap increases by another 3 points.
That's unlikely to happen as Dempsey is virtually first name on the team sheet for Glasgow now, at no. 8. Fagerson isn't getting a look-in so far this season. Which probably means the Scotland no.8 jersey is currently Maggie's to lose, unless Bayliss shows he's the man.
TheSmidge wrote:BigD163 wrote:With Mata being potentially injured for the medium term why risk Bradbury when for club and player the Glasgow games are probably bigger. On this seasons showing Bradbury is better than Haining. Saracens unlikely to go full noise and Bradbury will have a chance to face up against two competitors (come AI's 2022) for the national 8 shirt against Glasgow. The way the conferences are set up, win both games and the gap is massive going into the second half of the season. If the URC decide to do something daft like void the SA team results because they can't complete the season then the gap increases by another 3 points.
That's unlikely to happen as Dempsey is virtually first name on the team sheet for Glasgow now, at no. 8. Fagerson isn't getting a look-in so far this season. Which probably means the Scotland no.8 jersey is currently Maggie's to lose, unless Bayliss shows he's the man.
BigD163 wrote:TheSmidge wrote:BigD163 wrote:With Mata being potentially injured for the medium term why risk Bradbury when for club and player the Glasgow games are probably bigger. On this seasons showing Bradbury is better than Haining. Saracens unlikely to go full noise and Bradbury will have a chance to face up against two competitors (come AI's 2022) for the national 8 shirt against Glasgow. The way the conferences are set up, win both games and the gap is massive going into the second half of the season. If the URC decide to do something daft like void the SA team results because they can't complete the season then the gap increases by another 3 points.
That's unlikely to happen as Dempsey is virtually first name on the team sheet for Glasgow now, at no. 8. Fagerson isn't getting a look-in so far this season. Which probably means the Scotland no.8 jersey is currently Maggie's to lose, unless Bayliss shows he's the man.
There is a chance they line up with Fagerson at 6 for one of the games as they did at Benneton and if not he'll almost certainly be on the pitch at some point. Considering these will likely be the last two h2h match ups against Dempsey before he is eligible he'll still want to put a marker down.
BigD163 wrote:I don't think it is his shirt to lose yet either. It was only 8 weeks ago Townsend didn't want him in the squad. If he keeps this form up he might get the 8 jersey but don't think he'll be there for Townsend yet. The next three league games at 8 against good backrows (assuming Cardiffs lot are fit) will be a good test.
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