Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Giant Wallaby Coleman set for London Irish home debut

Adam Coleman confronts the All Blacks

Giant Wallaby secondrow Adam Coleman is set for his home debut for London Irish to play Bath Rugby in round 6 of the Gallagher Premiership.

ADVERTISEMENT

London Irish director of rugby Declan Kidney has named his team to play and 6 foot 8 inch, 122kg lock Coleman will make his first Premiership start in front of a home crowd at the Madejski Stadium.

Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi, Saia Fainga’a and Ollie Hoskins make up the front row with Ruan Botha and Adam Coleman in the second row. Steve Mafi and Blair Cowan are the flankers, with Cowan captaining the side. Albert Tuisue continues at number 8.

Ben Meehan and Stephen Myler are scrum half and fly half respectively, with Terrence Hepetema and Tom Stephenson combining in the midfield. Ollie Hassell-Collins, Curtis Rona and Paddy Jackson make up the back three.

Video Spacer

London Irish director of rugby, Declan Kidney said: “It will be great to play in front our home supporters again in what I’m sure will be a tough match on Sunday.”

Bath Rugby make 10 changes to the starting line-up following the Heineken Champions Cup defeat to Clermont Auvergne, as the Blue, Black and White return to Gallagher Premiership action.

Adam Coleman

ADVERTISEMENT

Anthony Watson returns to the starting line-up following an injury, picked up in the Heineken Champions Cup match against Harlequins in November, whilst Semesa Rokoduguni also joins his fellow England international on the wide channels. Tom Homer retains his place at full-back.

Jonathan Joseph returns to the fold and joins Jamie Roberts in midfield, with Will Chudley and Rhys Priestland returning to create a new half-back partnership.

Beno Obano, Tom Dunn and Will Stuart come into the front row, whilst McNally joins Elliott Stooke, who will make his 100th Club appearance, at second row.

Tom Ellis shuffles to 6 with the returning Sam Underhill, who comes into the back row at blindeside to replace Mike Williams whilst Josh Bayliss retains his spot at No.8.

ADVERTISEMENT

London Irish Team:

15. Paddy Jackson, 14. Curtis Rona, 13. Tom Stephenson, 12. Terrence Hepetema, 11. Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10. Stephen Myler, 9. Ben Meehan, 1. Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi, 2. Saia Fainga’a 3. Olle Hoskins, 4. Ruan Botha, 5. Adam Coleman, 6. Steve Mafi, 7. Blair Cowan ©; 8. Albert Tuisue

Replacements:

16. Motu Matu’u, 17. Allan Dell, 18, Lovejoy Chawatama, 19. Franco van der Merwe, 20. Matt Rogerson, 21. Nick Phipps, 22. Tom Fowlie, 23. James Stokes

Bath team:

15. Tom Homer, 14. Semesa Rokoduguni, 13. Jonathan Joseph, 12. Jamie Roberts, 11. Anthony Watson, 10. Rhys Priestland (C), 9. Will Chudley, 1. Beno Obano, 2. Tom Dunn, 3. Will Stuart, 4. Josh McNally, 5. Elliott Stooke, 6. Tom Ellis, 7. Sam Underhill, 8. Josh Bayliss

Replacements:

16. Jack Walker, 17. Lewis Boyce, 18. Christian Judge, 19. Matt Garvey, 20. Rhys Davies, 21. Chris Cook, 22. Freddie Burns, 23. Aled Brew

ADVERTISEMENT

Argentina v France | HSBC SVNS Hong Kong 2025 | Men's Match Highlights

New Zealand v Australia | HSBC SVNS Hong Kong 2025 | Women's Match Highlights

Tokyo Sungoliath vs Shizuoka BlueRevs | Japan Rugby League One 2024/25 | Full Match Replay

Reds vs Force | Super Rugby W 2025 | Full Match Replay

Behind the Scenes with the Australian Rugby Sevens Team in Hong Kong | HSBC SVNS Embedded | Episode 9

The Rise of Kenya | The Report

New Zealand in Hong Kong | Brady Rush | Sevens Wonders | Episode 4

The Fixture: How This Rugby Rivalry Has Lasted 59 Years

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

H
Head high tackle 3 hours ago
Can Samoa and Tonga ever become contenders when their top talent is skimmed?

I think you have gone in the wrong direction here Nick. I think you need to delve down into the rules etc around Moana Pacifica’s selection policies and then you need to understand that a lot of KIWI BORN rugby players have PI heritage. It appears ok for the 4 home nations to pillage NZ born players constantly without retribution but you want to question whether NZ BORN players should be eligible for NZ? Seems a real agenda in there.

Go back and look at the actual Aims and agenda for MP becoming a entity and you see lots of things enshrined in policy that you arnt mentioning here. EG there is an allowance for a percentage of MP to be NZ eligible. This was done so MP could actually become competitive. Lets be real. If it wasnt this way then MP would not be competitive.

There also seems to be some sort of claim ( mainly from the NH ) that NZ is “cashing in” on MP, which , quite frankly is a major error. Are you aware of how much MP costs NZR Financially?

39 NZ born rugby players played at the last world cup for Samoa or Tonga. PLUS plenty for Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales.

Taumoefolau is a BORN AND BRED NZer. However I very strongly doubt he will be an AB, but who do you believe he should be allowed to play for? Levi Aumua is ALSO a born and bred Kiwi.

Aumua was eligible to represent Samoa and Fiji for the Pacific Nations Cup in July that year but ended up playing for neither. He IS eligible for his nation of Birth too Nick

He is a Kiwi. Are you saying an NZ born, raised Kiwi cant play for NZ now?

Sorry Nick Kiwi born and bred actually qualify for NZ.

5 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Razor has an about turn on All Blacks eligibility rules Razor has an about turn on All Blacks eligibility rules
Search