JBFC II

Announced John Afoa, just what we need imo, solid experienced prop who will definitely shore up our scrum and has a bit of extra quality about him

Nah it was basically a dead rubber, thankfully that is the last game we will ever play in that dreaded competition!

68-0 win tonight, I guess convincing is an understatement...

I should have put realistic haha

9 new signings going to be announced at 12 mid day tomorrow, who do we want then?

And now Aaron Chapman is out for 6 months, was really excited about what he could do for hartbury this season, the pains of having players in the England youth setup!

Real shame that, has all the attributes to be a top full back. Hopefully he'll come back firing in August

Basically a first team on Friday bar Luatua and Cortes, going to be interesting to see if Cardiff play a stronger side as like us they can't qualify. I'd imagine the coaching staff don't want the players rusty going into Bedford and Ealing although it is still a risky tactic as injuries now wouldn't be good

37-32 away at Doncaster for the reserves today, good win overall but still lots of poor defending

5 in midfield?

http://www.shotsweb.co.uk/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=46699 Some brilliant comments on here, it seems aldershot don't get why he would go to a club 'who will be in league two next season'..

So they've just signed a striker with a 1 in 5 goalscoring ratio in the conference... They really are coming for us

Some brilliant posts from them on their 26 page thread about how far we are above them Apparently they are going to watch the game tonight to see us get thumped so they can laugh at us about it and apparently, according to one highly deluded sag, the difference between us isn't actually that large.... http://gaschat.co.uk/thread/11303/elephant-room?page=26

The best bit is the pricing haha

Can this talk sport guy stop calling us bristol, we aren't the rugby team...

So true, conceding 7 tries in two games against Pirates and Richmond is unacceptable. Reckon a new defence coach is a must in the summer, we have some top quality players who can obviously tackle well but if they aren't being told how to defend then their quality is worthless. The line defence and defence in and around the rucks has improved, massive changes needed in the scrum and defending of mauls though as we were being bullied by amateurs yesterday

I think he has all the attributes to be a very good player and we have the right coaches to turn him into one so hope it works out. We are awful for 40 minutes yesterday, Richmond were unlucky to go in level and with a good kicker they could very easily have been 10 points in front at half time. Fortunately our backs saved us with some outstanding tries and another near flawless kicking display from Madigan who looks more and more like the player we thought we were bringing in

In a small comparison between that team and the team in 2015/16 for a match v London Welsh which we won 35-0 in front of 11000. 2015/16 team and substitutes: Jack Wallace; Tom Varndell, Jack Tovey, Gavin Henson, David Lemi (c); Adrian Jarvis, Will Cliff; Jack O’Connell, Marc Jones, Anthony Perenise, Glen Townson, Mark Sorenson, Nick Koster, Jack Lam, Mitch Eadie. Replacements: Ross McMillan (for Marc Jones, 60 mins), Ellis Genge (for Jack O’Connell, 57 mins), Jamal Ford-Robinson (for Anthony Perenise, 57 mins), Joe Joyce (for Nick Koster, 67 mins), Craig Hampson (for Will Cliff, 57 mins), Matthew Morgan (for Tom Varndell, 60 mins). Ben Mosses (for David Lemi, 67 mins). 2017/18 team v Richmond plus substitutes: 15. Jordan Williams; 14. Luke Morahan, 13. Siale Piutau, 12. Tusi Pisi (c), 11. Alapati Leiua; 10. Ian Madigan, 9. Andy Uren; 1. Soane Tonga’uiha, 2. Jason Harris-Wright, 3. Sione Faletau, 4. Joe Joyce, 5. Sam Jeffries, 6. Steven Luatua, 7. Dan Thomas, 8. Jordan Crane. Replacements: 16. Nick Fenton-Wells, 17. Ryan Bevington, 18. Alex Giltrow, 19. Joe Batley, 20. Ryan Glynn, 21. Callum Sheedy, 22. Mat Protheroe. The 2015/16 team had 6 internationals and some youngsters who I wouldn't mind seeing in our first team at the minute (JFR and Genge...) but at the same time I'd only have 2 players from that starting line up in 2015 in our line up now (Cliff and Perenise) It just shows how far we have come as a club in the last couple of years, we now have 10 internationals in our squad including many who can't make the team or who are injured, we have some bright young talents and a top coaching team who I believe will take Bristol to the very top, what a great time it is for Bristol Sport

WIll Hurrell and Jack Tovey both sign new deals for next year Not too sure what to think with regards to that, both young EPQ's so if they are given the right coaching could come in very handy next year but when we were in the Premiership, Tovey didn't impress and Hurrell has hardly set the league on fire this season... Anyway in Pat Lam we trust Oh and the team is up for tomorrows game, 4 changes and still a much better side then we were able to put out last year... https://www.bristolrugby.co.uk/news/team-news-richmond-vs-bristol-rugby/

It is still tight but I can't see us losing v ealing, reckon it'll be another 5 point victory. The Bristol backs are levels above anything else in this league and when they are on form no team (including Ealing) will be able to stop us. As long as cortes is in the scrum we'll be comfortable imo

First home game I missed last night so had to watch on the TV, Bristol were decent last night but if they play like that next season in the premiership we'll get torn apart. No premiership team will give us that much ball in hand and although Madigan, Morahan and Leiua were all outstanding there were too many errors which need to be dealt with. The forwards were again much improved but we were still pretty equal at scrum time with the Pirates which we shouldn't be, we need to be getting the upper hand at scrum time if we want to compete in the premiership. Defensively we were excellent at times but again there was that 10 minute spell of falling asleep which we can't have next year. Overall a decent result, the score board doesn't really tell the whole story and a lot to work on for next season

We took more than double that, but their support is still much better...

Attendance: 3505 But I thought we despised their support??

From the CCMB but probably the most deluded thing I have ever seen.... Its worth knowing a bit of the background over there. Rovers fans are by far the more knowledgeable and longer serving set of fans. They've been through much leaner times, but still turn out in big numbers home and away. The Wurzels (lovingly named the 'Shit Heads' from the Rovers fans) are the more Sky TV loving, pseudo middle class types whereas the Gas Heads (as they're called by the Shit Heads') are the more down to earth, passionate and loyal type of fan. Rovers have unfortunately been in the lower leagues for longer, but will absolutely dwarf the attendances of the Shit Heads when the roles are reversed. Which I'm certain will be in the next few seasons come to think of it... Don't forget that football ALWAYS goes in cycles

Only about 12-13k more They are still coming for us mind