DavidW,
          The guys that have gone with the exception of Marlin,may not be first choice but its a long hard season and i'm sure they will all play their part.

That's if some of them don't get pee'd off with all the travelling involved week in week out and that's just to training.

Well,they've been given the use of a car,so that might help!!!

It's still a long way,i expect there will be a lot of I-Spy to wile away the hours.

Lans just signed Mal Roberts from Newbury - a Cornishman and a decent signing to boot.

Quote :

DICKON wrote : Lans just signed Mal Roberts from Newbury - a Cornishman and a decent signing to boot.

Are you sure about this? I thought Lanson had signed him a few months ago, but I have read this:

http://www.getwokingham.co.uk/sport/rugby/s/2032926_roberts_skippers_reading

in a few different places.

According to the Lanson website, Roberts had been hoping for a posting to the Plymouth area and it has now come through, hence the Reading option has been dropped and he's signed on at Polson.
Smart move by Lanson for sure.

Thanks for that WNC, I should have gone straight to the horse's mouth myself.

Link for anyone who is interested:

http://www.jtreewebdesign.co.uk/LRFC/articles/art_view.asp?id=88

So the All blacks now have a squad of about 60 at my last count.

So the All blacks now have a squad of about 60 at my last count. Lot and lots and lots and lots and lots of competition for places then.

I'd rather have too many than not enough players in my squad and to be fair they also run a regular 2nd xv/development side,so there should be game time for many of the squad without the risk of over-playing or injury.
The current size of Bays squad and the strength in depth outside the 1st choice xv is an area of concern in my opinion.

2 have gone back to Exeter from Lanson apparently, as Exeter's squad too small at circa 45.

Heard that Exeter were looking to have 3 quality players for every position.

They'll have three good teams then.

Squad size has always been a topic for debate,Clive Woodwards Lions took 45 players to New Zealand and didn't play well,next years Lions under Ian McGeehan are going back to the 35 player squad of old.
As for Bay my main concern is the lack of game time within the squad that some players could face,the problem with only having one side.
One of the younger players who doesn't figure in the match day xv for say a month,could suddenly find himself in the squad for saturdays game having not played any rugby in the last 4 weeks,which is very difficult for the player concerned.
IF the player doesn't get any game time at all for a couple of months and he can't go out on loan,as currently no Cornish side are within 2 leagues of Bay at a lower level,he might be tempted to go elsewhere to get regular rugby.
I know there is the Cornwall cup but one game every  so often is not much good.

To be honest I think they'll pretty much all get game time, given the size of the squad. For some it'll mainly be off the bench, but I suspect that Bay will quickly settle on a first choice run on side and aim to stick pretty close to that, depending on injuries.
I don't think there'll be the opportunity to rest many players in easier games like there was to an extent last season.
The worry for me is injuries to key players, which in a number of positions[esp second row] may mean a reliance on Pirates being willing/able to help out with loanees[is that a word?]

I see that the All Blacks are looking to start their own supporters club and forum-cant wait, well for the forum anyway. Didnt their last forum get closed down under dubious circumstances!!!!!!!!!!!!!


http://www.jtreewebdesign.co.uk/LRFC/fans/supportersclub.asp  

--Last edited by bay on 2008-08-20 15:18:33 --

The idea of a forum has been on their site almost since the last one closed down,they don't appear to have someone as dedicated as the people involved with the pirates and bay to run such a service.

Good luck to them, I say  

I understand they are working hard on creating their own Forum - it'll give the 346 players who don't make the First XV something to do