Pre Season Friendlies

Seeing as most teams are now begging their pre-season training, does anyone have news of any pre-season fixtures?

5th August
Bristol 19 V 33 Harlequins - Saturday 5th August
http://www.bristolrugby.co.uk/news/report-bristol-rugby-19-33-harlequins/


11th/12 August
Bristol 31 V 34 Bath - Weekend Of 11th August
http://www.bristolrugby.co.uk/news/report-bristol-rugby-31-34-bath-rugby/

Ospreys 14 V 21 Leicester - Friday 11th August (Bridgend)
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-match-reports/ospreys-14-21-leicester-tigers-13466978

Montpellier 40 v 15 Dragons - Friday 11th August
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-match-reports/montpellier-40-15-dragons-welsh-13466843

USA Perpignan 42 V 32 Leinster Rugby – Friday 11th August
http://www.leinsterrugby.ie/perpignan-42-leinster-32/

Northampton 71 v 21 Dragons - Saturday 12th August
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-match-reports/northampton-saints-71-21-dragons-13469008

Scarlets 82 V 12 Scarlets Premiership Select - Saturday 12th August
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/scarlets-82-premiership-select-xv-13469331

Newcastle 31 V 8 Nottingham - Sarurday 12th August
http://www.newcastlefalcons.co.uk/news/match/falcons-49-nottingham-19

Newcastle 49 V 19 Doncaster - Saturday 12th August
http://www.newcastlefalcons.co.uk/news/match/newcastle-falcons-31-doncaster-knights-8

Sale 31 V 14 Castre - Saturday 12th August
http://www.salesharks.com/news/5322.php#.WZGaZVGGOUl


17th-19th August
Northampton V Nottingham - Thursday 17th August
Ulster Rugby V Wasps - Thursday 17th August
Ospreys V Bath - Weekend of 18th August
Leicester V Treviso - Friday 18th August
Leinster Rugby V Gloucester Rugby – Friday 18th August
Bristol V Scarlets - Saturday 19th August
Exeter Cheifs V Dragons - Saturday 19th August
London Scottish v Cardiff Blues - Saturday 19th August
Glasgow V Northampton - Saturday 19th August
Newcastle V Rotherham - Saturday 19th August

23rd - 26th August
Wasps V Connacht Rugby – Wednesday 23 August
Leicester V Ospreys - Friday 25th August.
Northampton V Ulster  - Friday 25th August
Cardiff Blues v Exeter Chiefs - Friday 25th August
Gloucester Rugby V  Scarlets - Friday 25th August
Leinster Rugby V Bath Rugby – Friday 25th August
Dragons V Glasgow - Friday 25th August
Edinburgh V Newcastle - Friday 25th August
Connacht V Bristol - Staurday 26th August
Doncaster V Newcastle - Saturday 26th August


Not sure what is going on with midweek fixtures though seems pretty weird.

(I'll update this as and when Fixtures are known, and results come in)

Leicester are due to host Treviso on Friday 18th August, and Ospreys on Friday 25th August.

Saints; Dragons at home 12/08, Nottingham at home 17/08, Ulster at home 25/08

Cheers guys

Bristol Pre-season
Saturday, August 5 – Harlequins (H – location and KO TBC)
August 11/12/13 – Bath (H - location and KO TBC)
Saturday, August 19 – Scarlets (H - location and KO TBC)
Saturday, August 26 – Connacht (A – Galway Sports Ground – KO TBC)

Ospreys pre season is
11/8 Leicester Tigers Brewery Field Bridgend 7.30 KO
18, 19, 20/8 Bath Liberty Stadium Swansea date to be confirmed when Swans fixture confirmed
25/8 Leicester Tigers Welford Rd Leicester 7.45 KO

Dragons

Northampton Saints away - 12 Aug
Exeter Chiefs away - 19 Aug

Updated with those.

Risca, I'm guessing theres no home fixture due to the pitch being done? Any signs of there being a 'home' fixture at Cross Keys or Caerphilly?

Nah, think that's it.

Friday, 11 August
Montpellier v Dragons; Aveyron
Ospreys v Leicester Tigers; Brewery Field, Bridgend - 19:30 BST

Saturday 12, August
Northampton Saints v Dragons; Franklin Gardens

Saturday 19 August
Exeter Chiefs v Dragons; Sandy Park
London Scottish v Cardiff Blues; Athletic Ground, Richmond

Friday, 25 August
Cardiff Blues v Exeter Chiefs; Cardiff Arms Park - 19:15 BST

These pre season games are more important than we give them credit for, Connacht for various reasons didn't get to play any and their form at the start of the season was terrible, (weather saving them from a loss in Zebre) and really cost them as they had an uphill struggle for the rest of the season

USA Perpignan v Leinster Rugby – Friday, 11th August, Aimé Giral Stadium (KO 8pm local)

Leinster Rugby v Gloucester Rugby – Friday, 18th August, St Mary’s RFC (KO 7.30pm)

Leinster Rugby v Bath Rugby – Friday, 25th August, Donnybrook Stadium (KO 7.30pm)

Cheers St.John I'll add them tomorrow (it's easier on the computer at work than on my phone).

Kingshu - yeah I think pre-season games are brilliant. You get to see the fringe players from the squad, who will hopefully be pushing for places. You start to see how the coaches are trying to play things. The team gets time to gel. And more importantly it's a good reason to get to a game, have a few beers and laughs without being too concerned about the result.

Also, i took the Welsh fixtures from the Beeb. Is it just me or is it weird the Dragons are playing in France one Friday, and then in England the next day? I'm hoping they made a typo, any Dragons fan shed any light on it?

Dragons have got a training camp in France and then some of the squad will fly back on the day of the Montpellier game to join some players left behind in Gwent (ahem). To me it seems there'll be a split in the squad and around 14 will join some academy players (as I can't imagine who else would be left behind).

So basically it will be the 'first' team in france and 'reserves' in Northampton

I guess so. I'm not sure it will be officially classed as that, given that he probably doesn't want to upset his squad this early

I expect he will have to just split the squad with no idea of what he considers to be his first team and then pick a team to face Exeter the following weekend.

'We are feilding two teams, so everyone gets a chance to push for shirts, without any opinions being formed before the games' kinda thing.

Yeah, that's my best guess.

Scarlets Pre-season fixtures;

• Scarlets v Scarlets Premiership Select, Saturday 12th August kick-off 4pm at Church Bank, Llandovery
• Bristol v Scarlets, Saturday 19th August, KO TBC
• Gloucester Rugby v Scarlets, Friday 25th August, KO TBC

You might find this helpful:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/40486463

Cheers Lord, but I think those sods have come on here and swiped my list, as except for the Dragons match in France we beat them to the punch with all the other fixtures

In soapdodger news, Glasgow play Northampton Saints at Bridgehaugh Park in Stirlingshire on Saturday 19 August.

Edinburgh will play Linlithgow Girls U16 Second XV. If they kick all of their goals and can hold them in the pack, I have every confidence that Edinburgh will take a LBP from this one.

Geroge, I was about to ask what date Edinburgh are playing the Girls U16s. Think i may need to get a strong coffee injection to kick start my head.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Geroge, I was about to ask what date Edinburgh are playing the Girls U16s.  Think i may need to get a strong coffee injection to kick start my head.

Whatever you do, don't ask Duncan Weir to kick start anything. Certain to miss.

Glasgow will also play the Dragons at Eugene Cross Park in Ebbw Vale, with the match taking place at 2pm on Friday 25 August.

Not good news for Glasgow, ending pre season on a loss at Fortress Eugene.

Updated.

So glad that we are almost there, and rugby is almost back.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/40886628 Ospreys

Falcons Pre-season

Saturday 12th: Kingston Park (Fabulous day on the drink )
Double Header (Squad splits in to two and Academy players)
Doncaster 14.00 pm
Nottingham 16.30pm

Saturday 19th: Kingston Park
Rotheram 16.30pm

Friday 25th: Melrose
Edinburgh 18.00pm (Absolutely crazy time!!)

Saturday 26th:
Doncaster away 14.30pm (Academy / A-team players)

mikey_dragon wrote:http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/40886628 Ospreys

Just about to put the Team up Mikey, you beat me to it, like a lot of those combinations, the centres with Kieron Williams in a couple of seasons will be battling for a number of years for those 2 spots, (injuries permitting). Not really sure about the 2nd row partnership, because basically the 3 selected are all front of the line jumpers, would have preferred Thornton instead of one of the 3 selected, and IMO Olly Cracknell will never make a 7, he's a 6 and only that. Will be good to see Hook and Allen on in the 2nd half.

Leicester Tigers squad (v Ospreys, at Bridgend, Friday 7.30pm)

Forwards: Chris Baumann, Ben Betts, Tom Croft, Will Evans, Mike Fitzgerald, Sam Grahamslaw, Luke Hamilton, Owen Hills, Sam Lewis, Joe Maksymiw, Harry Mahoney, Michele Rizzo, Dominic Ryan, Harry Thacker, Fred Tuilagi, Harry Wells

Backs: George Catchpole, Joe Ford, Tom Hardwick, Jonah Holmes, Jono Kitto, Nick Malouf, Jordan Olowofela, Harry Simmons, Matt Smith, Mathew Tait, Charlie Thacker, Ben White, George Worth

16 senior players
13 Senior development players

Scarlets team;

15 Morgan Williams, 14 Tom Grabham, 13 Ioan Nicholas, 12 Paul Asquith, 11 Ryan Conbeer, 10 Rhys Jones, 9 Jonathan Evans, 1 Dylan Evans, 2 Taylor Davies, 3 Nicky Thomas, 4 David Bulbring, 5 Tom Price, 6 Josh Macleod, 7 Shaun Evans, 8 Jack Condy

Replacements; Dafydd Hughes, Rhys Fawcett, Simon Gardiner, Josh Helps, Will Boyde, Lewis Rawlins, Declan Smith, Jack Maynard, Hadleigh Parkes

Scarlets Premiership Select team;

15 Kalum Evans (Llanelli), 14 Aaron Warren (Llandovery), 13 Matthew Jenkins (Llanelli), 12 Rhodri Jones (Llandovery), 11 Morgan Griffiths (Quins), 10 Jacob Botica (RGC), 9 Aron Hemmings (Llandovery), 1 Rhys Thomas (Llanelli), 2 Torin Myhill (Quins), 3 Javan Sebastian (Quins), 4 Jack Jones (Llandovery), 5 Bryce Morgan (Llanelli), 6 Shaun Jones (Quins), 7 Stuart Worrall (Llandovery), 8 Joe Powell (Llandovery)

Replacements; Matthew Moore (Llandovery), Jamie Hughes (Llandovery), Steff Thomas (Quins), Chris Long (Llanelli), Lloyd Pike (Llanelli), Lawrence Reynolds (Quins), Gareth George (Llanelli), Ryan Davies (Llanelli), Steffan Marshall (Quins), Ashley Evans (Llanelli), Jack Evans (Llandovery)

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Scarlets team;

15 Morgan Williams, 14 Tom Grabham, 13 Ioan Nicholas, 12 Paul Asquith, 11 Ryan Conbeer, 10 Rhys Jones, 9 Jonathan Evans, 1 Dylan Evans, 2 Taylor Davies, 3 Nicky Thomas, 4 David Bulbring, 5 Tom Price, 6 Josh Macleod, 7 Shaun Evans, 8 Jack Condy

Replacements; Dafydd Hughes, Rhys Fawcett, Simon Gardiner, Josh Helps, Will Boyde, Lewis Rawlins, Declan Smith, Jack Maynard, Hadleigh Parkes

Scarlets Premiership Select team;

15 Kalum Evans (Llanelli), 14 Aaron Warren (Llandovery), 13 Matthew Jenkins (Llanelli), 12 Rhodri Jones (Llandovery), 11 Morgan Griffiths (Quins), 10 Jacob Botica (RGC), 9 Aron Hemmings (Llandovery), 1 Rhys Thomas (Llanelli), 2 Torin Myhill (Quins), 3 Javan Sebastian (Quins), 4 Jack Jones (Llandovery), 5 Bryce Morgan (Llanelli), 6 Shaun Jones (Quins), 7 Stuart Worrall (Llandovery), 8 Joe Powell (Llandovery)

Replacements; Matthew Moore (Llandovery), Jamie Hughes (Llandovery), Steff Thomas (Quins), Chris Long (Llanelli), Lloyd Pike (Llanelli), Lawrence Reynolds (Quins), Gareth George (Llanelli), Ryan Davies (Llanelli), Steffan Marshall (Quins), Ashley Evans (Llanelli), Jack Evans (Llandovery)

Is that full strength? Haven't decided whether to go down.

Scottrf - that is pretty much the LV Cup side against the LV Cup reserves. Its probably worth a tenner if you in Llandovery on the day, but I wont be travelling up there to watch it myself.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Scottrf - that is pretty much the LV Cup side against the LV Cup reserves.  Its probably worth a tenner if you in Llandovery on the day, but I wont be travelling up there to watch it myself.

Sorry! I thought it was Scarlets playing Saints, but it's the Dragons!

ScarletSpiderman wrote:So basically it will be the 'first' team in france and 'reserves' in Northampton

Not sure if that's strictly true.

A Warren, T Morgan, C Hill, R Landman, O Griffiths are all pretty much 1st team starters for me.

munkian wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:So basically it will be the 'first' team in france and 'reserves' in Northampton

Not sure if that's strictly true.

A Warren, T Morgan, C Hill, R Landman, O Griffiths  are all pretty much 1st team starters for me.

Wasn't bad for a guess back then mind

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

munkian wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:So basically it will be the 'first' team in france and 'reserves' in Northampton

Not sure if that's strictly true.

A Warren, T Morgan, C Hill, R Landman, O Griffiths  are all pretty much 1st team starters for me.

Wasn't bad for a guess back then mind

Aye, sorry, just realised the date of your post.

Welly wrote:Leicester Tigers squad (v Ospreys, at Bridgend, Friday 7.30pm)

Forwards: Chris Baumann, Ben Betts, Tom Croft, Will Evans, Mike Fitzgerald, Sam Grahamslaw, Luke Hamilton, Owen Hills, Sam Lewis, Joe Maksymiw, Harry Mahoney, Michele Rizzo, Dominic Ryan, Harry Thacker, Fred Tuilagi, Harry Wells

Backs: George Catchpole, Joe Ford, Tom Hardwick, Jonah Holmes, Jono Kitto, Nick Malouf, Jordan Olowofela, Harry Simmons, Matt Smith, Mathew Tait, Charlie Thacker, Ben White, George Worth

16 senior players
13 Senior development players

Good chance for fringe and reserve players to set their stall out and try to earn a chance in the first team. A smattering of experience should mean there's some leadership on the pitch. Can't see a win but in pre season that's not important.

Good to see Will Evans has fully recovered and is back playing.

Ospreys 14 Tigers 21. No penalty kicks at goal attempted. Terrible weather, plenty of handling errors especially by us, good atmosphere sat near a load of Tigers supporters, decent conversations. I think both teams would have learnt plenty.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/40890164 - Dragons got a good beating, as expected when I seen the two forward packs that would be taking the field. Not sure why we stretched our limited team across two games on the same weekend, just doesn't seem productive to me.

wayne wrote:Ospreys 14 Tigers 21. No penalty kicks at goal attempted. Terrible weather, plenty of handling errors especially by us, good atmosphere sat near  a load of Tigers supporters, decent conversations. I think both teams would have learnt plenty.

Any tigers players stand out?

Welly wrote:

wayne wrote:Ospreys 14 Tigers 21. No penalty kicks at goal attempted. Terrible weather, plenty of handling errors especially by us, good atmosphere sat near  a load of Tigers supporters, decent conversations. I think both teams would have learnt plenty.

Any tigers players stand out?

Welly, you had a decent maul, which we didn't handle very well, one of your supporters sitting next to me, was very impressed with young Ford especially out of hand, the conditions were terrible, he was saying in the first half about why doesn't the young Welshman Luke Hamilton come on as he is very impressed with him and when he did come on he did play very well.

Welly what do you know about another Welshman on your Academy books Tom Reffell, he is from our area as is grandfather has a number of Plumbing outlets in the Bridgend area, he captained Wales U18s to a first win over SA schools in a tournament yesterday, and had a good write up on our pages.

wayne wrote:

Welly wrote:

wayne wrote:Ospreys 14 Tigers 21. No penalty kicks at goal attempted. Terrible weather, plenty of handling errors especially by us, good atmosphere sat near  a load of Tigers supporters, decent conversations. I think both teams would have learnt plenty.

Any tigers players stand out?

Welly, you had a decent maul, which we didn't handle very well, one of your supporters sitting next to me, was very impressed with young Ford especially out of hand, the conditions were terrible, he was saying in the first half about why doesn't the young Welshman Luke Hamilton come on as he is very impressed with him and when he did come on he did play very well.

Welly what do you know about another Welshman on your Academy books Tom Reffell, he is from our area as is grandfather has a number of Plumbing outlets in the Bridgend area, he captained Wales U18s to a first win over SA schools in a tournament yesterday, and had a good write up on our pages.

I know a fair bit about him.

Very promising 6/7, highly rated was our U18 academy captain this and last year.
Came from the Ospreys U16 setup (he was captain of your U16 north squad i think).

He is in our senior development squad this year having been promoted from the junior academy so the club have plans for him.

If he's a 6/7 then I doubt there'd be much room for him in Wales.

mikey_dragon wrote:If he's a 6/7 then I doubt there'd be much room for him in Wales.

prob not.

i mean if he is captaining Wales U18 despite being in Leicester he would prob be better off in leicester for now anyway, it's obviously isn't doing him any harm.

I imagine he was part of the exile program? Tigers have always had a good academy, I'm not at all worried about Welsh players going there, it's just I don't think he'd break into the Wales team unless he becomes a very good No 8.

Welly wrote:

wayne wrote:

Welly wrote:

wayne wrote:Ospreys 14 Tigers 21. No penalty kicks at goal attempted. Terrible weather, plenty of handling errors especially by us, good atmosphere sat near  a load of Tigers supporters, decent conversations. I think both teams would have learnt plenty.

Any tigers players stand out?

Welly, you had a decent maul, which we didn't handle very well, one of your supporters sitting next to me, was very impressed with young Ford especially out of hand, the conditions were terrible, he was saying in the first half about why doesn't the young Welshman Luke Hamilton come on as he is very impressed with him and when he did come on he did play very well.

Welly what do you know about another Welshman on your Academy books Tom Reffell, he is from our area as is grandfather has a number of Plumbing outlets in the Bridgend area, he captained Wales U18s to a first win over SA schools in a tournament yesterday, and had a good write up on our pages.

I know a fair bit about him.

Very promising 6/7, highly rated was our U18 academy captain this and last year.
Came from the Ospreys U16 setup (he was captain of your U16 north squad i think).

He is in our senior development squad this year having been promoted from the junior academy so the club have plans for him.

Thanks for that Welly, he was mentioned to me by a heating engineer that lives nearby, he knows his Grandfather very well, he thought he would have been involved last night in Bridgend. We are turning out plenty of backrow forwards, the Wales u20 Captain from last season, who is also available for the same level this season Will Jones came on the field late last night, he is a bit small but an excellent jackler. We were known for producing tight 5 forwards, very little these days now it's down to back rows. Another snippit from last night our hooker that came on Ifan Phillips is the son of the former Neath and Wales hooker Kevin Phillips (a nutter), I don't know if you've read anything about the Wales South Africa game yesterday but the star was apparently Ieuan Evans's son, (ex Llanelli) but comes under the Ospreys academy, a bit like Sam Davies a few years ago son of ex Llanelli and Wales centre Nigel, they both lived the right side of the Lougher:D
You get Tom up to the right standard and we'll have him back:D

mikey_dragon wrote:I imagine he was part of the exile program? Tigers have always had a good academy, I'm not at all worried about Welsh players going there, it's just I don't think he'd break into the Wales team unless he becomes a very good No 8.

If he becomes a very good 8 he'll be popular at Tigers as well. We haven't had a 6/ come through into the academy for some time. 

Speaking of academy 8's anyone know how Fred Tuilagi got on against Ospreys? Good to hear Joe Ford played well, his signing had a lukewarm reception with the fans.

He isn't an 8.

doesn't have the body type for it IMO.