Irish luck for Bristol opener
Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:47
After an impressive pre-season, Bristol prop Mark Irish has received the nod to start only his second Guinness Premiership game, as they open their season account against Bath on Sunday.
Irish, who spent all of last season on loan at Newbury Blues, last started a Premiership fixture at Leicester Tigers in the 2005/06 season but was widely acknowledged to be one of the top performing props in National League Division One in 2007/08 and started four out of five of Bristol's recent pre-season matches.
Bristol also name three players who will be making their Guinness Premiership debuts for the club in centre Junior Fatialofa, flyhalf Adrian Jarvis and lock Robert Sidoli.
Head coach Richard Hill acknowledged that Bath are a tough team to face in the first game but that his team have prepared well.
"Pre-season has gone really well," said Hill.
"Everyone has worked really hard and it's certainly gone better than it did last season when it was well documented that we had a lot of changes on and off the field and were quite disrupted.
"Bath is a great start for us. The crowd should be packed in there to create a great atmosphere which we're looking forward to."
"Traditionally Bath start and finish the season well so we'll need to be on top of our game. They were probably the form side at the end of last season and playing a fantastic brand of rugby.
"We'll have to defend and defend in the opening 20 minutes. They will come out firing on all cylinders and it'll be wave after wave. We need to hold out and not concede," he said.
Hill also put a lot of confidence in his new signings.
"Robert Sidoli comes in at lock. He's a commanding figure and has brought a huge amount of experience and some different ideas with him.
"Junior Fatialofa has made rapid strides and we have great confidence in him. Adrian Jarvis was in great form at Harlequins last season and has looked very calm and assured in pre-season," Hill added.
Bristol: 15 Luke Arscott, 14 Tom Arscott, 13 Junior Fatialofa, 12 Kevin Maggs, 11 David Lemi, 10 Adrian Jarvis, 9 Haydn Thomas, 8 Dan Ward-Smith, 7 Joe El Abd (captain), 6 Andrew Blowers, 5 Robert Sidoli, 4 Nathan Budgett, 3 Jason Hobson, 2 Scott Linklater, 1 Mark Irish.
Replacements: 16 David Blaney, 17 Scott Linklater, 18 Mariano Sambucetti, 19 Redford Pennycook, 20 Graeme Beveridge, 21 Ed Barnes, 22 Greg Barden.
Date: Sunday, September 7
Venue: Memorial Stadium, Bristol
Kick-off: 15.00 (14.00 GMT)
Referee: Chris White
Touch judges: Paul Dix, Ken Stewart
Assessor: Paul Bridgman
TMO: Laurie Bryant
With thanks to guinnesspremiership.com
