Bristol Bears bring the curtain down on the 2022/23 Gallagher Premiership with derby rivals Bath Rugby coming to Ashton Gate on Friday night.
Pre-season is now over, with Bristol losing away in Brive first up for before beating the Dragons 45-28 and then Scarlets 34-28 just last weekend, with the two wins coming after going behind.
Bath, under new head of rugby Johann van Graan who arrived at the club following the Blue, Black and Whites' last place finish in the Premiership last season, played two Championship sides in pre-season, beating Coventry 38-7 and Jersey Reds 38-17 with real displays of forward power and mauling prowess while also looking dangerous off some first phase attacks.
With the friendlies now done and dusted, South West rugby writer John Evely takes a closer look at who is likely to start in the big game for Bristol Bears.
READ MORE: Bristol Bears injury latest ahead of Bath: Joe Joyce, Steven Luatua, Dan Thomas, Fitz Harding
Backs
There are three positions across the backline that must have been providing Bears director of rugby Pat Lam and his coaching staff a few selection headaches: wing, fly-half and inside centre.
Fly-half is of course the biggest call Lam has to make with two internationals vying for the 10 jersey in Welshman Callum Sheedy and US Eagle AJ MacGinty. MacGinty is the star summer signing in the backs and at 32 years-old has been brought in to make an immediate impact, but from watching the pre-season matches Sheedy looks to have upped his game under the pressure. I've gone with Sheedy but could easily see Lam going the other way. Whatever happens it is one hell of a one-two munch combination in a key position and both men are more proven than Bath's options of upcomer Orlando Bailey and utility man Piers Francis.
Heading into a second straight season the inside centre berth is up for grabs at Bristol, Sam Bedlow is now back from suspension and is probably the strongest option defensively, but new signing James Williams has impressed in pre-season with his abrasive carrying while Ioan Lloyd has the skills to blow any game apart and despite being just 21 years old already has some fine memories of magic moments in this derby game. I think Lam will opt for Bedlow on this occasion.
In terms of the wings, Luke Morahan has been an attacking catalyst so far in pre-season and has looked every bit the former Wallabies international that he is. Morahan is starting, but who will play on the other flank? Henry Purdy stole the headlines with a pair of 60m plus tries against the Dragons and is a safe pair of hands but Rich Lane, who initially joined the club on a short term deal from Bedford last season as full back cover, has been impressive in everything he has done during pre-season, scoring tries and patrolling the backfield with confidence. I think Lane might just be ahead at this stage of the season with the more X-factor players like Gabriel Ibitoye and Siva Naulago to come back from injury as the season progresses. Former Quins man Ibitoye has missed the pre-season games with a quadricep injury having reportedly impressed in training. If he is deemed fit then all bets are off. I don't think Lam will take a gamble in such a big game on a player he hasn't seen in competitive action yet
15 Charles Piutau
14 Luke Morahan
13 Piers O’Conor
12 Sam Bedlow
11 Rich Lane
10 Callum Sheedy
9 Harry Randall
Forwards
Now we know England international Ellis Genge is set to make his first appearance for the club since rejoining from Leicester Tigers there really are very few doubts in the pack. Thacker provides X-factor at hooker which just puts him ahead of Bryan Byrne and Jake Kerr.
Options in the backrow are quite frankly slim with Dan Thomas a significant doubt having rolled his ankle a couple of weeks ago against the Dragons, even with former Worcester flanker Sam Lewis reportedly signing for the club this week.
The big selection dilemma in the pack comes in the second row. Joe Joyce is in a race against time to be fit having had shoulder surgery this summer. If he does make it then he will likely start but I have no information as to whether he has come back in time for what will likely be his last big derby game at Ashton Gate having agreed to join Connacht next season. The athletic Ed Holmes and summer signing Morgan Eames have both looked on a level during pre-season and I can see Lam opting for Morgan to try and match the bulk of the Bath pack with Blue, Black and Whites head of rugby Johann van Graan likely to pick former Bear Dave Attwood and England international Josh McNally as his locks.
1 Ellis Genge
2 Harry Thacker
3 Kyle Sinckler
4 Morgan Eames
5 Chris Vui
6 Sam Jeffries
7 Jake Heenan
8 Magnus Bradbury
Team news is out at midday on Thursday when all the questions will be answer, follow all the breaking news and team news analysis on our live blog on BristolLive.
READ MORE:
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