No Lilley at a guess with him playing for Leeds this week and Pryce injured I think. Doesn't look good.

Looks like Smith and Keyes at hb then

Unless Lilley gets left on the bench.

It's been nice to chalk up a couple of wins, but nobody seriously thinks that at this stage, we can win in Lahndan. Do they? Really?

I see the next four games after this one as massive. We can win all four of them with a bit of luck. I would put Smith in at FB with Thomas moving into the halves on Sunday. I don't expect to win this game and would put Leon in cotton wool for those games we can seriously expect to win.
We desperately need 2-3 more good signings - not loans. I am starting to wonder if there is a problem with getting a permit for Phoenix. He would have been ideal this weekend.

I'm not sure, but I think I've seen somewhere before that there's a rule saying someone can't play for two teams in one week? Or is that just a Dual Reg thing so doesn't apply to loans? Not sure, can't even remember where I read it. Regardless, I'd be amazed for him to be playing for us on Sunday.

the visa issue is to do with Bulls struggling to get a bank account I believe

We (London) have a fair amount of early season injuries, mainly in the pack.
And our only fit 1st team hooker, Andy Ackers went off injured last week and is doubtful.
That said, we play our best rugby at home on our 4G pitch which suits our expansive style, so I'm expecting a win by around 8-10pts.

Safe travelling to all those making the long trip down.

Not sure you'll get much advantage from the pitch as the Bulls train regularly on one.

The players missing though are another matter as, I guess, the Broncos will have more depth than us (it would be hard to have less, to be honest). From our POV, London is not a fixture we would have expected to get any points from, so if we get a decent performance from the youngsters and don't come out with injuries, I expect most would be happy. Better to have players back for the game next week, IMO when the two points are, maybe, a little more likely to be obtained.

I think this is a free swing for us. No one expects us to get any points and if we lose, it won't effect our season massively as its not a game we have marked down as a possible victory.

There is a little feeling that we could pull off an upset. The lads will be confident after 2 good victories. Our star man Ethan Ryan will feel he can beat anyone right now. The London pitch will suit him and Macani. Oakes and Bentley are getting better and better. Keyes/Thomas half back pairing could go well for us. I would give Pryce a rest for this game and see how Smith goes at FB.

A decent game to be missing a few players to be fair.

Have to disagree about Macani, only early days but I haven't seen much from him yet for him to keep Caro out once fit.

Hopefully he will make me eat my words with a hat trick against London!!

I agree. Agree also on wanting him to prove me wrong, but I'm not expecting it.

In fairness to him, I don't think it's helped by being outside Mendeika who I think has been very poor so far this season. Totally overshadowed by the superb combination on the other side of Oakes & Ryan. But even with ball in hand, Macani has done very little so far, and his defence has me worried most games.

Caro isn't great defensively either, but he's certainly no worse, and I think offers more in attack than Iliess has.


As far as London game goes, I agree it's a free shot. I'm expecting nothing at all out of it except maybe a bit of a kicking, so anything we do get is a bonus.

Macani's problem in defence is that almost always comes inside, which tells me that he doesn't really trust Mendeika to defend. As a result a long pass will invariably leave us wide open down that side.

We haven't really got anyone else right now though for the centres. Presumably we'll need Smith to play in the halves or at full back on Sunday. Is Campbell an option for centre? (Although he looks like he's completely out of favour for some reason)

Need to start quickly, we've been sluggish in a few games but managed to turn it around (apart from Toulouse when it went the other way), if we fall behind to london we will only fall further, hit them hard and fast in the opening 10-20mins and set our stall out earlier.

Thomas/Keyes should go well for us now we have a reasonably good pack, give Pryce a break if not 100%, agree its not make or break but we need some confidence going into the games before Easter which will define where we are as a team and give us hope of staying up.

When we last had Mendeika in the team he was woeful think it was our 1st season down, they dont seem to link well together, would caro/maccani as a partnership suit us better do you think?