The Coach Might Be "God", But Captains Matter Too

LEADERSHIP is one of these sporting intangibles – you cannot see it, but you can feel its positive and negative effects. As Billy Connolly, back in his glory days on vinyl, so-memorably pointed out: claiming: “I'm a born leader” is often shite.

Mike Brearley was a better captain than player

Mike Brearley, for instance, is often used as the prime example of a great captain who, as a player was not worth his place in the side, but, as a captain, he had to be first-pick. Geoffrey Boycott, on the other hand, was first-pick as a batsman, but, the teams he led were usually hot beds of internal differences.

In football, Rangers' George Young was an inspiring leader, but, on one foreign tour, when he was injured – the SFA selectors turned to Hibs' Gordon Smith, a man who, by common consent, seldom played as well in navy blue as he did in green and white. Lawrie Reilly said: “We played for Gordon, because we so respected him and didn't want to let him down – he inspired us just by being there.”

 As was 1984 Grand Slam skipper Jim Aitken

In rugby, when you think of great Scotland captains, the comparative journeymen – Jim Aitken being the prime example, were very often better leaders than the supposed super-stars. I always felt, Ken Scotland and Andy Irvine, Scotland's two greatest full-backs, always played better without the cares of captaincy.

Thus, we turn to the vexing questions of the week – the new captains of the Edinburgh and Glasgow PRO1 sides.

Dave Rennie has quietly handed the leadership of Glasgow to Ryan Wilson – one-time hooligan turned inspiring professional, and I welcome this appointment. Wilson has been growing as a player following his shaming for his part in “Kebabgate” a few years ago. He tholed his assizes and came back stronger. He will not let Glasgow or Rennie down.

Ryan Wilson - the new Glasgow captain

I also welcome the return of Jonny Gray to the ranks. For all his massive potential – he still has more to give – Jonny will be nane the waur of being just a player, he was maybe just too young to have the responsibility he held last season, when his form definitely dipped.

Of course, with so-many Glasgow players in the Scotland squad, perhaps the key appointment for Rennie will be the stand-in captain, for when the big guns are away with Scotland. The new coach has said Gray (who of course will, once fit again, be with Scotland) and Henry Pyrgos – whose Scotland days may be behind him – will still be in the leadership group. I can see Pyrgos as stand-in when Wilson is on Scotland duty.

Across at Edinburgh, Richard Cockerill is hinting at giving the captaincy to one of the younger players – which would be no bad thing. Leading the team has, in perhaps different ways, been a poisoned chalice to the likes of Ross Ford and Grant Gilchrist – I fancy either of the scrum-halves, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne or Sean Kennedy, could bring something to the role. Jamie Ritchie, of course, has always been seen as officer material, but, he's maybe still too-young for the job on a permanent basis.

We await Cockerill's decision with interest.

MEANWHILE, the SRU's French connection moved forward this week with the announcement that Lisa Thomson and Chloe Rollie are to join Lille Metropole Rugby Club Villeneuvois (LMRCV) on initial one-year contracts, playing alongside Jade Kronkel, who is already at the French club, in the top flight of French women's rugby.

The French international side looked very good in running World Champions England so close in the Women's World Cup semi-final earlier this week, so, clearly Lisa and Chloe are moving up a couple of levels from the domestic Scottish game. They are also becoming full-time professionals, which can only benefit them, and Scotland.

Speaking of the Women's World Cup. The two semi-finals were cracking games, and, as I prepare to support the Black Ferns against The Common Enemy, I can only say, how much I enjoyed the two matches.

By the way, apart from the first scrum in the England v France game, when the front rows slipped, there wasn't a single scrum re-set in both games – maybe the girls can yet teach the men a thing or two!!!

If I can act my age and be allowed to be seen as a sexist old reactionary – which I deny – I would not fancy taking a broken pay packet home to some of those New Zealand forwards, the way they hit opponents.

Portia Woodman - a very special talent

Also, if the New Zealanders ever get Portia Woodman and Beauden Barrett together, in 20-years or so, they might have on helluva player on their hands. That girl is something else.

I SEE, Saracens are bleating the English Premiership's salary cap is causing them concerns. They can only spend £7 million on wages for their players – plus a couple of “marquee” players, whose obviously inflated salaries are not counted.

This works out, allowing them t have a fairly-average 50 full-time players, an average annual salary of £140,000 per year. Now, they will not all be on that – their bigger names, Maro Itoje, Sean Maitland, Duncan Taylor and the likes will be on more; young Academy players a lot less.

But, given their small ground and comparatively-small, if fanatical following – that level of pay-out on salaries is unsustainable. It's OK now, while Sky and BT are fighting for television rights, and they have a "Sugar Daddy" owner, but, as with Premiership football, the day will come when the gravy train hits the buffers – then just watch the carnage.

The Celtic Unions, by taking greater control of the club game than their English an French colleagues, will be better-positioned to keep rugby going when things get rough financially – as they surely will for the English clubs, once Brexit, followed by Scottish Independence, kicks-in.

Rugby - A Minority Sport On Some Sports Pages

I HAD a wee chuckle this week at the differing approaches to sports coverage of our two Scottish-published “serious” newspapers. (We used to call them “broadsheets”, but, since one of them is now printed in tabloid format, I have to use “serious”).

Andy Murray - the Glasgow newspapers' antidote to non-stop Old Firm football coverage

The Glasgow paper has now seemingly decided that “sport” means coverage of two of the Glasgow-based football teams. They may now and again give a nod to Andy Murray, but, the main thrust is towards capturing the attention of the two warring families on the East and South West of the city. Trouble is, two warring “red top tabloids with offices in the city have greater experience and expertise at milking the eternal enmity of “Ra Peepul” and “the Celtic Family”.

The Glasgow paper does not even have a dedicated staff rugby writer at the moment, relying on freelance cover, while across in Edinburgh, they have two guys on the rugby beat.

Both papers cover the PRO14, as they should. However, while the Glasgow paper does a freelance-generated Monday round-up of the BT Premiership, the Edinburgh one covers every game, on both Sunday and Monday.

Any way, the SRU took a 41-man Scotland squad off to St Andrew's on Monday and Tuesday. To me, this was perhaps overkill, and the timing didn't seem right – just as the two professional squads were going into the last couple of weeks of pre-season training. Still, Scotland comes first, and so-much of what they do at Edinburgh and Glasgow mirrors what they do with Scotland, so, little real damage done.

Media-wise, this was a jolly. The usual carefully-controlled access for the press, with the SRU setting the agenda. Still, while the broadsheet Glasgow paper's coverage was distinctly (red top) tabloid, the tabloid Edinburgh paper came-up with the best line – Duncan Smith's take on his interview with Matt Taylor the Scotland defence coach, highlighting how Gregor Townsend wants his team to try to learn best practices from leading teams in other sports.

Well done Toony, for too-ling sports in Scotland have lived in their own wee bubbles, good to know we have someone at the top in rugby looking at the wider picture.

 The Scotsman's Duncan Smith: his piece was different to the journalism by numbers approach elsewhere in the media.

And, well done too Duncan, for coming up with that line. That boy is taking to rugby writing like a duck to water.

WHILE on the subject of Scotland, for more years than I care to recall, Scotland has had a very small elite core of players without whom the national XV cannot do. If even a couple of these guys were injured at the same time, we all went into Private Fraser mode, convinced Scotland was doomed Ah tell ye.

Today, we have genuine depth, so, today, for a bit of fun, I thought I'd have a look at how many international-quality teams we could field.

 Finn Russell

SCOTLAND: Stuart Hogg; Sean Maitland, Huw Jones, Duncan Taylor, Tommy Seymour; Finn Russell, Ali Price; Gordon Reid, Fraser Brown, Willem Nell; Richie Gray, Jonny Gray; John Barclay, Hamish Watson, Josh Strauss.

 Greig Laidlaw

SCOTLAND A: Greig Tonks; Lee Jones, Mark Bennett, Alex Dunbar, Tim Visser; Duncan Weir, Greig Laidlaw; Allan Dell, Ross Ford, Zander Fagerson; Tim Swinson, Ben Toolis; Ryan Wilson, John Hardie, Dave Denton.

Matt Scott

SCOTLAND B: Ruaridh Jackson; Damian Hoyland, Matt Scott, Phil Burleigh, Rory Hughes; Peter Horne, Henry Pyrgos; Alasair Dickinson, Stuart McInally, D'Arcy Rae; Grant Gilchrist, Anton Bresler; Magnus Bradbury, Chris Fusaro, Adam Ashe.

George Horne

EMERGING SCOTLAND: Blair Kinghorn; Darcy Graham, Nick Grigg, Chris Dean, Robbie Nairn; Adam Hastings, George Horne; Rory Sutherland, George Turner, Adam Nicol; Scott Cummings, Lewis Carmichael, Jamie Ritchie, Matt Smith, Matt Fagerson.

 Rob Harley

ALSO AVAILABLE: Backs: Glenn Bryce; Dougie Fife, Richie Vernon, Tom Brown, Sam Hydalgo-Clyne, Sean Kennedy. Forwards: Alex Allen, Murray McCallum, Jamie Bhatti, Rob Harley, Fraser McKenzie, Hugh Blake, Cornell Du Preez.

I don't think we have ever had such depth. In fact, if I was the SRU, I would be looking at the possibility of getting that Emerging Scotland team, bolstered by some of the other guys from the Scotland A or B squad or the Also Availables, off on an end-of-season tour, playing some of the second tier nations, or southern hemisphere regional teams. The benefits would, I believe be great.

And, while they are at it, why not encourage the best of our club players, by getting more games and perhaps an end-of-season tour for our Club XV, playing some of the lesser European nations, whose game is still resolutely amateur or semi-professional.

Gregor Townsend is being bold and thinking out of the box, it is maybe time some others inside Murrayfield did this too.

Pine Tree A True Giant Of The Game Has Fallen

Sir Colin Earl Meads – farmer and All Blacks legend

Born – Cambridge, Waikato, New Zealand: 03 June, 1936

Died – Te Kuiti: 20 August, 2017, aged 81

THE entire Rugby Union world is today mourning one of the true greats, Colin “Pine Tree” Meads, the legendary All Black forward, who has lost his year-long battle against Pancreatic Cancer.

In rugby, as in all contact sports, there are “hard men”, nobody was ever harder than “Piney”, the furrowed-brow “enforcer” in the All Blacks' boiler-house from the late 1950s until the early 1970s. He gave no quarter, and asked none in return, a rampaging force of nature driving-on the black tide of New Zealand packs.

The Enforcer

But, off the park he had a keen sense of humour and in his later years his cabaret turn round New Zealand, South Africa and the UK with old sparring partners Frik Du Preez of South Africa and Ireland's own Willie John McBride was a truly fun-filled and joyous celebration of the rugby family – given the way the trio had spent years knocking lumps off each other.

He was a farmer, a man of the soil, raised on the family farm outside Ti Kuiti in the King Country in New Zealand's North Island. From playing at school, he graduated to the small Waitete club and, still a teenager into the King Country representative team. From there it was a small step to representing the North Island in the then annual North v South games.

The Greatest All Black

These matches were de facto All Blacks trials and having already played for the Junior All Blacks on a tour to Ceylon, as Sri Lanka then was, in 1957, Meads made the first of an eventual 133 appearances in the legendary All Black jersey with the silver fern. Fifty-five of these appearances, a then record, were in full Tests, following the first, against Australia in 1957.

He faced the British Lions in 1959, again in 1966 and for a third time, as captain, in the legendary 1971 series, which the Lions won. He also played regularly against the South African Springboks in some of the most-violent series in rugby history, as well as regularly taking on: “The neighbours across the ditch”, in Bledisloe Cup clashes with the Australians.

His younger brother Stan was a regular lock partner for the Waitete, King Country and the All Blacks, while his regular forward partners with the All Blacks, Sir Wilson Whineray and Sir Brian Lohore were life-long friends.

He famously broke an arm, but played on, during one game in the bitterly-contested 1970 Tour of South Africa, while he left his mark on UK rugby with the 1964 and 1967 All Blacks. On that second tour he was controversily sent-off against Scotland at Murrayfield.

He swung his foot at a loose ball, just as Scotland stand-off Davie Chisholm bent to pick it up. There was no contact, but, Meads had already been spoken-to for over-aggressive ruckng, so he was dismissed for dangerous play. He went to his grave regretting that he had let-down the All Blacks, but, he never criticised Irish referee Kevin Kelleher, the man who sent him off.

He inspired awe in friend and foe. Erle Mitchell, the young Edinburgh University lock who marked him that day at Murrayfield admitted: “At one point I told him to: 'Fuck Off, but,' I said it quietly.”

By then, he was seen as the embodiment of the dour, unsmiling giants in black, but, as a young tyro, he had been criticised as: “Not hard enough for the second row”, and played as a “loosie”, at flanker and number eight. Given how his career unfolded, that early criticism seems crazy.

He was always a farmer first

Meads and his brother, were, of course, farmers first – rugby players second. Their daily toil gave them natural strength, but, when it was suggested that they might benefit from the new sports science of weight-training, Meads decided to: “give it a go”.

He reported how, at his first weight-training session, he was asked if he wanted to get strong or look good.

“Don't be stupid, I've always been an ugly bugger, so make me stronger” was the response, as he got to work. Later, forced to clear scrub land to qualify for New Zealand government framing grants, he and Stan each lost a stone in weight as they worked with scythe and sickle to clear the necessary land.

This exposure to the realities of running a small hill farm enabled him, on a night in Skipton during the 1967 Tour, when drink was taken, to explain the facts of farming life in New Zealand to some North Yorkshire farmers, who he thought were feather-bedded by their subsidies.

Being the losing captain in the legendary 1971 series against the Lions was a blow to Meads, but, he accepted the defeat with dignity. However, he realised his time was coming to an end and after leading a side in an internal farewell tour of New Zealand, he hung-up his boots. Too-early said some, convinced the unhappy and controversial 1972-73 All Blacks Tour of the British Isles might have been a lot-happier, had Meads been there to police the hotter heads in the party.

He went back to farming,but, rugby would not let him go. He became Chairman of King Country, did a a bit of coaching and was elected to the three-man All Blacks selection committee, before being controversially sacked after agreeing to manage the rebel New Zealand Cavaliers.tour to the then outcast South Africa in 1987.

He tholed his assizes and, in 1994 he was back on the New Zealand Rugby Council, before managing the All Blacks to the final of the 1995 World Cup back in South Africa, a country he loved touring, in spite of a lack of success there.

He stepped down from rugby in 1996, spending the remainder of his life on charitable causes, and as a hugely-popular talking head about the game he loved.

Arise Sir Colin

Made MBE in 1971, he later collected the New Zealand decoration: Companion of the New Zealand order of Merit, and, in 2009, when New Zealand restored titular honours, he became Sir Colin Meads.

McCaw and Meads - the two greatest All Blacks

Richie McCaw is today, widely held to be: “The Greatest-Ever All Black”. That's not an opinion with which McCaw agrees, he believes Meads, officially New Zealand's Rugby Player of the 20^th Century, will always be The Greatest. Needless to say, Meads is in both World Rugby's International Hall of Fame and the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame.

Lady Verna Meads, his wife of over 57-years, and Colin have five children, Karen, Kelvin, Rhonda – who followed her father by becoming an internationalist, with the New Zealand Silver Ferns, the national netball team; Glynn - dubbed "Pinecone", when he followed his father into playing for an managing the King Country XV; and Shelly, who also played international sport, for the New Zealand women's basketball team. He is survived by Lady Verna, his children, 14 grand-children and great-grandchildren.

Meads and Lady Verna at the unveiling of his statue

Sir Colin and Lady Meads sold the family farm in Te Kuiti, to relocate to a beach-front “bach” in the Bay of Plenty, but, he subsequently returned to spend his final days in a house in Te Kiuti where he died, and where, earlier this year he opened a museum and unveiled a statue in his honour.

Of all the many honours he won, however, perhaps the one he most-cherished was bestowed by the general public in New Zealand. They saw Colin Meads as: "A Good bloke" - there is no higher honour in the Land of the Long White Cloud.

A Good Start But In The Longer Term Not Worth A Hill O' Beans

Edinburgh Coach Cockerill

 

BOTH Dave Rennie and Richard Cockerill have expressed their delight at the way their squads performed in their weekend hits-out against Northampton Saints and Sale Sharks respectively. And rightly so.

 Glasgow Gaffer Rennie

We Scots, brought-up with the in-built prejudice of: “It matters not who won nor lost – so long as you beat England”, a doctrine which has been a rampart of international sport across the world for so long, do want to see any team representing our arrogant neighbours put in their place, but, the reality was, the games at Meggetland and Bridgehaugh were nothing more than looseners for more-important battles to come.

Pre-season games are for gauging the fitness levels, rehearsing the planned moves, getting new formations to gel, and finding-out if the new, young blood has what it takes.

And it is that latter point which left Cockerill and Rennie if not exactly purring, then certainly not too-unhappy with a defeat. This is mid-August, the real stuff does not start for another two weeks, while Europe, the field on which both coaches really want their teams to shine, is even further down the track.

The Glasgow XV which Rennie will send out to open their PRO14 campaign against Connacht will be almost-entirely different from that which faced Saints, and while a few of the Edinburgh team against Sale will be stripped in Cardiff for their opener, Cockerill has a considerable number of top men to bring in for that one.

What the two weekend games did demonstrate, however, is that we maybe have more talent kicking around in Scotland than we thought we had. This also indicates, the SRU's Academy system seems to be working, with a lot of the youngsters who produced such encouraging recent results for the Under-20s and the Sevens squad are growing-up nicely into professional rugby.

But, a large part of their growing-up has been done on the playing field in the BT Premiership, a competition which, while not without its faults, has worked well over the past three or four seasons, but, which the SRU is determined to scrap for something else, which may or may-not work as well.

Sir Bobby Robson - a wise old coach

The late Sir Bobby Robson, one of the great football managers of the recent past always insisted, nothing beat: “time on the grass” - being out there, playing in matches and learning at the coal face of the sport. I fear that, when the Super Six comes in, the fact the younger professionals and Academy trainees will, in theory, have fewer games to play in and will be prevented from testing themselves in the club game on a weekly basis, might tell.

I return to the football example. In Italy and Germany for instance, the tendency is for the best young talent to be coached in the academies of the top clubs, but, to have a spell playing in one of the lower leagues, before returning to the big club.

With the domination of imports in the English (football) Premiership, a lot of good, young, English players are now being farmed-out to lower league clubs, or to Scottish clubs, to gain experience. Over the past couple of seasons this system has spread to Scotland, with Celtic and Rangers youngsters going down the leagues for toughening-up.

In English rugby, the Academy system is well-enough established to keep the youngsters ticking-over and learning. We do not have their numbers or infrastructure, and, while I applaud the setting-up of A teams by our two pro sides, I still feel, there is a case for continuing to let the youngsters learn with top club sides – as happens in Wales and Ireland. Time on the grass is important too in Rugby Union.

I WOULD not wish to be an All Black this week, even after their big win over their neighbours from: “across the ditch” in Sydney. It was all very well having the game against Australia won by half-time, but, I think Steve Hansen will be reminding his charges this week: “You lost the second-half”, when, apparently boredom set-in and the Blacks allowed the Aussies four relatively face-saving second-half tries.

Steve Hansen - will have his grumpy face on this week

The whip will be cracked and I cannot see the foot coming off the gas pedal in Christchurch this weekend, as it did in Sydney last.

There is a lot of wishful thinking going on just now. People who ought to know better trying to make out that a Lions' series draw, mainly down to the men in red getting the benefit of a few dubious refereeing calls, was some sort of defeat for the ABs.

The men in black are still the gold standard in Rugby Union, but, as anyone with any kind of sporting pedigree knows, winning is the easy part, it is keeping-on winning which is difficult.

Unless you are the Harlem Globetrotters, facing the same team every time – with that team knowing they are supposed to lose – then every winning run has to eventually come to an end.

The All Blacks lost recently, they will want to make certain, they don't have to revisit that feeling for a long time to come.

The Kids Get An Early Chance To Impress Coach Rennie

Adam Ashe - will lead a very young Warriors' side

I AM having second thoughts about taking-in tomorrow afternoon's Glasgow Warriors v Northampton Saints pre-season clash at Bridgehaugh, now that I have seen the Glasgow squad.

It is not a case of being unimpressed by Dave Rennie's decision to load his squad with youngsters – I applaud this venture – no, it is because I can visualise things now, as those rugby writers who scorn everything below the PRO14 as unworthy of their talents, ask those of us who have covered the Premiership etc and seen all the kids in action: “Who was that?”

This is an occupational hazard of the sports-writing game, as the so-called big names, taken out of their comfort zone, struggle. It is even worse in football, on the odd occasion when the legendary Lap Top Loyal and the Celtic-Minded are taken away from their normal routine of Celtic Park, Hampden and Ibrox.

Then, your train of thought, your ability to concentrate on the game, is fatally destroyed by having to spoon-feed information to one of the A Team. Being in F Troop was always more fun anyway.

I digress, to Dave Rennie's first Glasgow selection, which is – with their individual number of Glasgow appearances:

15. Rory Hughes (32); 14. Leonardo Sarto (8), 13. Paddy Kelly (1),
12. Sam Johnson (24), 11. Robbie Nairn (0); 10. Adam Hastings (0),
9. George Horne (3); 1. Jamie Bhatti (6), 2. James Malcolm (18), 3. D’arcy Rae (24); 4. Greg Peterson (21), 5. Scott Cummings (17); 6. Matt Fagerson (9), 7. Matt Smith (3), 8. Adam Ashe (39) CAPTAIN.Replacements: 16. Alex Allan (51), 17. Grant Stewart (0), 18. Adam Nicol (1), 19. Brian Alainu’uese (16), 20. Kiran McDonald (0), 21. George Stokes (0), 22. Hamilton Burr (0), 23. Chris Fusaro (126), 24. Lewis Wynne (15); 25. Charlie Shiel (0), 26. Stafford McDowell (0), 27. Lee Jones (54), 28. Robert Beattie (0).

Some interesting talking points there – not least the choice of young Hastings and Horne Minor at half-back, plus a couple of very young flankers. Also, some of the replacements have reportedly earned their places with some outstanding work in training. Smart thinking too by Coach Rennie. He has clearly seen the Scotland players in action – he knows what they can do. This game gives him an early chance to see what his fringe players bring to the table.

Adam Hastings - makes his Warriors' debut tomorrow 

The Northampton team is, on paper, much more-experienced. It is:

15 Ben Foden (capt); 14 Jamie Elliott, 13 Ahsee Tuala, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 Tom Collins; 10 Piers Francis, 9 Nic Groom; 1 Campese Ma'afu, 2 Charlie Clare, 3 Jamal Ford-Robinson; 4 David Ribbans, 5 James Craig, 6 Jamie Gibson, 7 Lewis Ludlam, 8 Mitch Eadie.

Replacements: Forwards - Dylan Hartley, Alex Waller, Kieran Brookes, Paul Hill, Michael Paterson, Reece Marshall, Christian Day, Ben Nutley, Teimana Harrison; Backs - Alex Mitchell, James Grayson, Rory Hutchinson, Tom Stephenson, Juan Pablo Estelles, George Furbank, Harry Mallinder.

Let's be nice to Dylan Hartley tomorrow

Never mind, provided we get a chance to hurl abuse at pantomime villain Dylan Hartley, it will not be a wasted day. It will also be good to congratulate former Edinburgh man Piers Francis, who will be making his Saints debut, on winning his first England cap in Argentina over the summer.

BEFORE then, tonight at Meggetland, Edinburgh take-on Shale Sharks in their opening pre-season friendly, their first under Richard Cockerill. The Edinburgh squad is:

15 Glenn Bryce; 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Chris Dean, 12 Phil Burleigh, 11 Jason Harries; 10 Duncan Weir, 9 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne; 1 Darryl Marfo, 2 Stuart McInally, 3 Simon Berghan; 4 Anton Bresler, 5 Grant Gilchrist; 6 Jamie Ritchie, 7 John Hardie, 8 Cornell Du Preez.

Substitutes: Jason Baggott, Tom Brown, Lewis Carmichael, Neil Cochrane, Luke Crosbie, Ross Dunbar, Jamie Farndale, Cammy Fenton, Dougie Fife, Nathan Fowles, Hugh Fraser, Callum Hunter-Hill, James Johnstone, Blair Kinghorn, Murray McCallum, Fraser McKenzie, Ally Miller, Junior Rasolea.

Cockerill has gone more for the tried and tested, but, his bench is loaded with Sevens specialists and Academy boys. More perhaps a case of him trying to get his core group to gel quickly.

Controversial Sale and England winger Denny Solomona

Sharks Director of Rugby Steve Diamond has named an experienced 30-man group to travel north. The squad is: Mike Haley, Denny Solomona, Will Addison, Sam James, Byron McGuigan, AJ MacGinty, Faf de Klerk, Ross Harrison, Cameron Neild, Will-Griff John, Bryn Evans, Josh Beaumont, Jono Ross, Ben Curry, Josh Strauss, James Flynn, Marc Jones, Jake Pope, Andrei Ostrikov, George Nott, Tom Curry, TJ Ioane, Lawrence Pearce, Will Cliff, Mark Jennings, Jonny Leota, Josh Charnley, Alex Tarus, James O'Connor, Halani Aulika.

The attractions here are the exciting new England wing Denny Solomona and the Curry twins, while Josh Strauss will also feature.