Men’s 1st XV seek capital gains as they head to London for BUCS Super Rugby ‘Big Match’ with Durham
Team Bath men’s 1st XV will be looking to bounce back from their narrow defeat to Northumbria when they head to London to play Durham University at Rosslyn Park FC.
Durham, who are yet to play this season, will be looking to get their new BUCS Super Rugby campaign off to a winning start in what is being dubbed as ‘The Big Match’ tonight (Friday).
It is expected to be an entertaining encounter under the floodlights as the two teams, whose previous games in the BUCS Super Rugby competition have been very close, will both look to claim their first victory of the season.
The match, which expects a big crowd, gets under way at 7.30pm at Rosslyn Park’s National 1 ground with tickets costing £10 online or £20 on the gate. Advance tickets are available from durfc-v-burfc.eventbrite.co.uk.
If you can’t make it to the game, you can watch the action live via this YouTube stream from 7.15pm:
The Team Bath team is strengthened by returning Bath Rugby academy players, including Will Partington who will wear the number 15 shirt, Kieran Verdon who comes in at tighthead prop, Jack Davies at number 6 and the 2018/19 1st XV captain, Tom Doughty, who kicks off his third successive BUCS Super Rugby campaign with the Blue and Gold.
Despite a few selection changes from last week’s game against Northumbria, many partnerships remain the same; Miles Gilbert and Alex Nisbett form the centre partnership again, vice-captain Alex Burrage and Ed Rimmer continue their half back pairing, whilst Angus Hinton and Adam Thresher make up the second-row formation.
Santander Sporting Scholar Hugo Stiles moves onto the left wing, whilst forwards James Catlin and Bath Rugby academy player Arthur Cordwell are named on the bench.
Team Bath starting XV
15 Will Partington, 14 Finn Murphy, 13 Alex Nisbett, 12 Miles Gilbert, 11 Hugo Stiles, 10 Alex Burrage, 9 Ed Rimmer; 1 Tom Rowland, 2 Tom Doughty (c), 3 Kieran Verdon, 4 Angus Hinton, 5 Adam Thresher, 6 Jack Davies, 7 Chris Barry, 8 Jordan Martin. Replacements: 16 James Hadfield, 17 Arthur Cordwell, 18 Simone Ngeng, 19 Jack Kenningham, 20 James Catlin, 21 George Wootten, 22 Benn Morris, 23 Will Butt.
Durham starting XV
15 Tom Catterick, 14 Saul Melvin Farr, 13 Matt Welsh, 12 Myles Rawstron Rudd, 11 Jack Hedley, 10 Paddy McDuell, 9 Jacob Collin, 1 Jack Conteh, 2 Luke Chadwick, 3 Sam Hughes, 4 Colin Markham (c), 5 Henry Paremain, 6 Fitz Harding, 7 Chris Johnston, 8 Ben Fowles. Replacements: 16 Freddie Davies, 17 Scott Bowerman, 18 Toby Woods, 19 Marjin Huis, 20 Josh Basham, 21 Alex Skinner, 22 Charlie Wilson, 23 Ben Stevenson.
