Latest news with #BenSpencer
The Independent
a day ago
- Sport
- The Independent
George Ford and Jamie George add experience to youthful England facing France XV
Fly half Ford, who is one away from bringing up the 100-cap milestone, will have to wait until Test matches against Argentina and USA this summer to reach the magic number but is tasked with providing veteran nous to a line-up that is otherwise giving an opportunity for plenty of inexperienced heads to make a statement to head coach Steve Borthwick. With 13 England players heading Down Under for the British and Irish Lions tour, Borthwick is shorn of many of his biggest names this summer, although given the non-cap nature of Saturday afternoon's warm-up clash, the matchday 23 he has named is surprisingly strong. Even so, Ford, his 101-cap co-skipper George and outside centre Henry Slade (72 caps) are the only players in the starting XV with more than 15 international appearances. However, regular squad players such as winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, who is returning from injury, and props Fin Baxter and Joe Heyes will also play from the start. Full back Joe Carpenter of Sale Sharks, inside centre Seb Atkinson of Gloucester and flanker Guy Pepper, who was named man of the match in Bath's Premiership final victory over Leicester last weekend, are the three uncapped players starting, while Harlequins duo Jack Kenningham and Oscar Beard are in a similar situation on the bench. Another Premiership champion with Bath, scrum half Ben Spencer, will hope to change a dismal record that has seen him lose seven and draw one of his eight games for England, while Ted Hill and Tom Willis join Pepper in an exciting-looking back row. Borthwick will select his squad to travel to Argentina and the US on Monday, meaning this fixture is the perfect opportunity for many fringe players to impress the head coach. 'We're excited to be playing at Allianz Stadium and to test ourselves against a strong French side,' said Borthwick. 'I'm really looking forward to seeing this young team get out there and show what they're capable of. 'It's a great opportunity to take another step forward ahead of the summer Tour to Argentina and the US.' The RFU have made tickets available from £25 pounds – less than a third of normal Six Nations prices – in the hope of attracting thousands of first-time supporters, particularly youngsters. England XV to play France: 15. Joe Carpenter (Sale Sharks), 14. Tom Roebuck (Sale Sharks), 13. Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs) 12. Seb Atkinson (Gloucester Rugby), 11. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Exeter Chiefs), 10. George Ford (Sale Sharks) - co-captain, 9. Ben Spencer (Bath Rugby); 1. Fin Baxter (Harlequins), 2. Jamie George (Saracens) - co-captain, 3. Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers), 4. Alex Coles (Northampton Saints), 5. Nick Isiekwe (Saracens), 6. Ted Hill (Bath Rugby), 7. Guy Pepper (Bath Rugby), 8. Tom Willis (Saracens) Replacements: 16. Theo Dan (Saracens), 17. Bevan Rodd (Sale Sharks), 18. Trevor Davison (Northampton Saints), 19. Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins), 20. Jack Kenningham (Harlequins), 21. Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins), 22. Raffi Quirke (Sale Sharks), 23. Oscar Beard (Harlequins)
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Bath champions cheered by thousands at victory parade
Bath's Premiership win is the club's first since 1996 [BBC] Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Bath to welcome home their Rugby Premiership-winning team. Bath beat Leicester Tigers in the final at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, on Saturday to win the title for the first time since 1996. Advertisement An open-top bus is carrying the players over Pulteney Bridge and up Milsom Street, before heading towards Bath Abbey and ending at The Recreation Ground. The club will then host a ticketed party in the stadium. Bath fan Theo told BBC Radio Bristol he was "immensely proud" of the team. "Everyone's here. Even if you couldn't go to the final, you can still see this," he said. "We've won three trophies and you get to see the players." Fellow fan Guy, from Bristol, joked: "I've got to be careful because all my neighbours are Bristol fans. "I'm watching the parade from Milsom Street and it's brilliant." The open top bus has been making its way through Bath's packed streets [BBC] Bath were the trailblazing team in the league this season and went into the final as overwhelming favourites after finishing 11 points clear at the top of the table. Advertisement Captain Ben Spencer said on Saturday he "couldn't be prouder" of the team. "What an effort - we had to dig deep, fair play to Leicester but I think we deserved it after the year we've had," Spencer added. Follow BBC Somerset on Facebook and X. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630. More on this story
BBC News
5 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Open-top bus parade for Bath's Premiership winning rugby players
Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Bath to welcome home their Rugby Premiership-winning beat Leicester Tigers in the final at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, on Saturday to win the title for the first time since open-top bus is carrying the players over Pulteney Bridge and up Milsom Street, before heading towards Bath Abbey and ending at The Recreation club will then host a ticketed party in the stadium. Bath were the trailblazing team in the league this season and went into the final as overwhelming favourites after finishing 11 points clear at the top of the Ben Spencer said on Saturday he "couldn't be prouder" of the team."What an effort - we had to dig deep, fair play to Leicester but I think we deserved it after the year we've had," Spencer added.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Bath's treble win blends yesteryear charm with the recently unthinkable
At the 29th time of asking, Bath are champions of England once more. At five to five on a sunny afternoon here, Ben Spencer passed to Finn Russell – the married couple, as their coach, Johann van Graan, likes to call them – and Russell kicked it somewhere, anywhere but on the pitch to put an end to decades of pain out west. In 1996, when titles were won the old-fashioned way, the notion it would take so long for Bath, who had just won their sixth in eight years – their 10th cup in 13, and their fourth double – to become champions of England again would have seemed absurd. Only a little more absurd than the notion they wouldwin it would have seemed three years ago, when they finished bottom of the table, spared the indignity of relegation only by the very different way English rugby is organised these days. Advertisement Related: Finn Russell inspires Bath to Premiership title despite late Leicester fightback The most telling difference, though, is that thing about paying players. In the 80s and 90s, Bath secured their pre-eminence, it is widely held, precisely by being ahead of the game, if not by paying their players, by getting them to approach their rugby as if they were. After 1996, when professionalism became a directive for everyone, that special edge was lost. They regained it here. As in 1996, they have topped the table by playing the rugby of the gods, scoring a remarkable five tries a match on average, comfortably more than anyone else in English rugby history. That they still had to win the thing all over again by a knockout system enrages some, just as others accept a showpiece occasion as the ultimate test of would-be champions, not to mention the ultimate requirement of a sport that wants to showcase itself in these commercial times. It turns out this iteration of Bath champions can win it that way too, just as they have twice elsewhere this season, in the Premiership Cup and the Challenge Cup. A treble. If only 1990s Bath had had one of those to play for. Advertisement You do not win anything much in rugby, then or now, without an authoritative pairing at half-back and the old married couple excelled themselves. Not only will fans of try-scoring be pleased about Bath's reward, one Andy Farrell may be heartily encouraged too with the form of the frontrunner for the Lions No 10 shirt. Russell's genius has been an established reality these past 10 years or so, but his ability to orchestrate, to play it cool when the situation demands, has been more in doubt. There is ample evidence now to suggest he has matured, having passed those classic milestones in anyone's life of fatherhood and hitting 30. On Saturday, he ran the game in understated fashion, without forgoing those little flashes. His was the decisive moment, reading his opposite number's pass to perfection. Handré Pollard is more or less the opposite of Russell, his match-winning hardness of temperament procuring him not just one World Cup medal but two, as pivot of those formidable Springboks. How telling, then, that he should shovel on the mantle for this season, at least, to a man far less decorated. With the score 13-7 in Bath's favour after an error-strewn first half, Russell intercepted Pollard's pass and was away from his own half. Freddie Steward tried to run him down. He probably would not have made it, but Russell saw Max Ojomoh inside and threw what would turn out to be the match-winning pass to his centre. Advertisement We thought that we might for once have a final – hell, a match of any kind – concluded in timely fashion. All the more so when Guy Pepper had seemingly scored an outrageous solo try on the hour to open up a 25-7 lead for Bath. We should have known better. The minutest of knock-ons was spotted in the buildup and the try was revoked. Dynamic well and truly shifted. Now, let the spotlight shift to Leicester. They are nothing if not grafters. None more so than dear old Dan Cole. The last match of a long and storied career this was, but only minutes after his arrival he was off to spend the final minutes of his career in the sin-bin. Leicester's indiscipline rivalled Bath's handling errors as decisive factors in a match that failed to ignite until those last minutes. The boos that met Cole's yellow card for turning his shoulder as he tried to charge down Russell's clearance were louder even than the cheers that had greeted his arrival from the bench. Leicester endured two yellow cards, the other for their captain, Julián Montoya, in the first half, but as so often both were simple accidents. Far worthier of yellow was their fellow front-rower Nicky Smith's handling on the deck as Bath seemed set to score late in the first half. That was deliberate; the other two were not. Advertisement But such is the sport these days. Even though Leicester rallied to score their third try with five to go, the excellent Emeka Ilione finishing round the fringes, just as Solomone Kata had a few minutes earlier, all with Cole in the bin, Bath managed to hold out. How different it all seems from the 20th century. And yet how very much the same.
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
Bath's treble win blends yesteryear charm with the recently unthinkable
At the 29th time of asking, Bath are champions of England once more. At five to five on a sunny afternoon here, Ben Spencer passed to Finn Russell – the married couple, as their coach, Johann van Graan, likes to call them – and Russell kicked it somewhere, anywhere but on the pitch to put an end to decades of pain out west. In 1996, when titles were won the old-fashioned way, the notion it would take so long for Bath, who had just won their sixth in eight years – their 10th cup in 13, and their fourth double – to become champions of England again would have seemed absurd. Only a little more absurd than the notion they wouldwin it would have seemed three years ago, when they finished bottom of the table, spared the indignity of relegation only by the very different way English rugby is organised these days. The most telling difference, though, is that thing about paying players. In the 80s and 90s, Bath secured their pre-eminence, it is widely held, precisely by being ahead of the game, if not by paying their players, by getting them to approach their rugby as if they were. After 1996, when professionalism became a directive for everyone, that special edge was lost. They regained it here. As in 1996, they have topped the table by playing the rugby of the gods, scoring a remarkable five tries a match on average, comfortably more than anyone else in English rugby history. That they still had to win the thing all over again by a knockout system enrages some, just as others accept a showpiece occasion as the ultimate test of would-be champions, not to mention the ultimate requirement of a sport that wants to showcase itself in these commercial times. It turns out this iteration of Bath champions can win it that way too, just as they have twice elsewhere this season, in the Premiership Cup and the Challenge Cup. A treble. If only 1990s Bath had had one of those to play for. You do not win anything much in rugby, then or now, without an authoritative pairing at half-back and the old married couple excelled themselves. Not only will fans of try-scoring be pleased about Bath's reward, one Andy Farrell may be heartily encouraged too with the form of the frontrunner for the Lions No 10 shirt. Russell's genius has been an established reality these past 10 years or so, but his ability to orchestrate, to play it cool when the situation demands, has been more in doubt. There is ample evidence now to suggest he has matured, having passed those classic milestones in anyone's life of fatherhood and hitting 30. On Saturday, he ran the game in understated fashion, without forgoing those little flashes. His was the decisive moment, reading his opposite number's pass to perfection. Handré Pollard is more or less the opposite of Russell, his match-winning hardness of temperament procuring him not just one World Cup medal but two, as pivot of those formidable Springboks. How telling, then, that he should shovel on the mantle for this season, at least, to a man far less decorated. With the score 13-7 in Bath's favour after an error-strewn first half, Russell intercepted Pollard's pass and was away from his own half. Freddie Steward tried to run him down. He probably would not have made it, but Russell saw Max Ojomoh inside and threw what would turn out to be the match-winning pass to his centre. We thought that we might for once have a final – hell, a match of any kind – concluded in timely fashion. All the more so when Guy Pepper had seemingly scored an outrageous solo try on the hour to open up a 25-7 lead for Bath. We should have known better. The minutest of knock-ons was spotted in the buildup and the try was revoked. Dynamic well and truly shifted. Sign up to The Breakdown The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewed after newsletter promotion Now, let the spotlight shift to Leicester. They are nothing if not grafters. None more so than dear old Dan Cole. The last match of a long and storied career this was, but only minutes after his arrival he was off to spend the final minutes of his career in the sin-bin. Leicester's indiscipline rivalled Bath's handling errors as decisive factors in a match that failed to ignite until those last minutes. The boos that met Cole's yellow card for turning his shoulder as he tried to charge down Russell's clearance were louder even than the cheers that had greeted his arrival from the bench. Leicester endured two yellow cards, the other for their captain, Julián Montoya, in the first half, but as so often both were simple accidents. Far worthier of yellow was their fellow front-rower Nicky Smith's handling on the deck as Bath seemed set to score late in the first half. That was deliberate; the other two were not. But such is the sport these days. Even though Leicester rallied to score their third try with five to go, the excellent Emeka Ilione finishing round the fringes, just as Solomone Kata had a few minutes earlier, all with Cole in the bin, Bath managed to hold out. How different it all seems from the 20th century. And yet how very much the same.
