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How Bristol have rated 19-year-old Ioan Lloyd in his two Premiership starts at No10
By
Liam Heagney
Bristol have given their feedback on the recent performances of Ioan Lloyd, the 19-year-old rookie out-half who has made consecutive starts in recent weeks in the No10 role having initially made his breakthrough at the Gallagher Premiership club as a winger and at full-back.
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The Ashton Gate hammering of Bath and last weekend’s home loss to Sale was the first time the young Wales prospect had started in the Premiership for Bristol at out-half, Callum Sheedy’s involvement in Wales’ Guinness Six Nations campaign paving the way for Lloyd to be given a shot at being the Bears talisman.
Whereas Lloyd was able to make 46 metres off eleven runs and put in 14 passes during his 56 minutes behind a dominant pack in the 46-point win versus Bath, he was restricted to 16 metres off seven carries (and 14 more passes) in last week’s 80-minute appearance in a seven-point loss to Sale where Bristol’s pack didn’t have things their own way.
Lloyd is now looking ahead to his third out-half Premiership start this Friday night when Bristol travel to bottom side Gloucester and Bears coach Pat Lam has been satisfied with what he has seen so far from his budding new No10.
“Remember he is 19 years old, he has just had two games and they were contrasting. Bath, it was front foot, everything going well. Then he played a game under pressure and it is fair to say he would have got more learnings out of that game last weekend.
A first-time Prem starter at 1??0?? after previous selections at 15 and 11#GallagherPrem
https://t.co/mWUoNVh3XJ— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 28, 2021
“The thing I was really pleased with, in his one on one, they come with their learnings, the things they have done well and he was spot on. He pretty much had our notes. That is what you want, you make notes about a player to be able to give him feedback on and he already had that.
“I have also seen in this week’s training just the lift in his communication and his understanding of control because as we said to him playing ten is different from playing wing and full-back. Wing and full-back you are in and out of the game whereas at 10 it’s not about what you do as an individual like at full-back or wing, it’s more about what you do to control the game.
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“Him and Andy (Uren, scrum-half) haven’t had much time together but Ioan in that position I thought he did extremely well and he is growing in there. This is class. What Ioan is getting there is hugely beneficial.”
Bristol adjusting to life without the injured Semi Radradra who is out until April #GallagherPrem https://t.co/CGXdj1evYU
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 11, 2021
