Derby Weekend debut for Emens in trip to Kingsholm

October 11, 2024
519
Ultimate Rugby

Johann van Graan has named his matchday-23 ahead of a trip to Gloucester this weekend, seeing a debut for Austin Emens on the wing.

Taking a short journey up the M5, van Graan will lead his men to the home of the Shed to take on the Cherry & Whites.

Props Beno Obano and Thomas du Toit retain their jerseys from last week’s clash against Bristol Bears, with Tom Dunn switching in at hooker, seeing Niall Annett moved to the bench.

Ted Hill moves from his regular blindside flanker position to the second row in the number 4 jersey, partnered by last week’s try-scorer Ross Molony at 5.

In a Bath Rugby Academy alumni pairing, Josh Bayliss makes a return to the pack on the blindside, seeing Miles Reid move to the openside.

Alfie Barbeary comes back into the fold to start at Number 8.

Fresh from England Rugby training camp, centurion Ben Spencer will captain from scrum-half alongside fly-half Finn Russell, making it four starts out of four for the pair.

In the centre, Cameron Redpath returns to the starting line-up after returning from injury last week off the bench. Redpath will partner Ollie Lawrence who starts at outside centre.

Austin Emens, who signed last year for Bath, after impressing for University of Bath and GB 7s, will make his debut for the Blue, Black and White on the left wing, with Will Butt featuring on the righthand channel.

Tom de Glanville returns to the full back position after playing wing last weekend.

Lining up on the bench, Annett is joined by Francois van Wyk as replacement loosehead.

Also returning from England camp, Will Stuart, Charlie Ewels and Sam Underhill are named as replacements.

Jaco Coetzee completes the replacement forwards, with Louis Schreuder and Orlando Bailey named as replacement backs in van Graan’s 6-2 split.

The game takes place at Gloucester Rugby’s home of the Kingsholm at 15:05 on Saturday 12 October.

You can watch on TNT Sports, listen to radio commentary on BBC Radio Bristol or follow our written commentary on the Bath Rugby X channel.

TEAMS

Gloucester Rugby: 1 Ciaran Knight, 2 Jack Singleton, 3 Afolabi Fasogbon, 4 Arthur Clark, 5 Freddie Thomas, 6 Jack Clement, 7 Lewis Ludlam (c), 8 Zach Mercer, 9 Tomos Williams, 10 Gareth Anscombe, 11 Ollie Thorley, 12 Seb Atkinson, 13 Max Llewellyn, 14 Josh Hathaway, 15 Santi Carreras

Replacements: 16 Seb Blake, 17 Val Rapava-Ruskin, 18 Kirill Gotovtsev, 19 Freddie Clarke, 20 Ruan Ackerman, 21 Caolan Englefield, 22 Charlie Atkinson, 23 George Barton

Bath Rugby XV: 1 Beno Obano, 2 Tom Dunn, 3 Thomas du Toit, 4 Ted Hill, 5 Ross Molony, 6 Josh Bayliss, 7 Miles Reid, 8 Alfie Barbeary, 9 Ben Spencer ©, 10 Finn Russell, 11 Austin Emens (debut), 12 Cameron Redpath, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 14 Will Butt, 15 Tom de Glanville

Replacements: 16 Niall Annett, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Charlie Ewels, 20 Sam Underhill, 21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Orlando Bailey, 23 Jaco Coetzee