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'Joe took a good whack on the AC joint... these things can turn around very quickly or take a while'

Bath's Joe Cokanasiga is tackled by Bristol's Piers O'Connor at Twickenham (Photo by Henry Browne/Getty Images)

Bath have eased concerns over Joe Cokanasiga’s fitness after the England wing was forced off at half-time of their 26-19 Gallagher Premiership victory over Bristol.

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Cokanasiga hurt his shoulder in the act of scoring the third of his team’s four tries and, although he initially played on, he was in obvious pain, with an interval medical check ending his afternoon at Twickenham.

The bulldozing Fijian-born three-quarter is on course to be a member of Eddie Jones’ World Cup squad after starring against Italy in the recent Six Nations.

“Joe took a good whack on the AC joint. It’s just very sore, that’s all,” director of rugby Todd Blackadder said. “These things can turn around very quickly or they can take a while. You could see he was a bit ginger out there. Hopefully it’s not too bad. We’ll hit it with some ice and he’ll be fine.”

Jonathan Joseph was the star as Bath made a storming start in front of a 60,152 crowd at Twickenham, but a dreadful penalty count that read 8-0 against helped Bristol back into the game.

“It was a significant step forward and I couldn’t be happier. I thought the club put on amazing occasion and it was just really nice to back that up with a good performance,” Blackadder said.

“We put Bristol under early pressure and got points off the back of that. I was really pleased with that. We have massive issues with our indiscipline. We basically gave Bristol 12 points and we talked about it at half-time. It’s not good enough.

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“On the performance side we can be better. We missed opportunities and overplayed a bit. We didn’t really fire enough shots, but we’re pleased with the result. That’s a massive five points for us but there’s certainly more in us.”

Bath’s Zach Mercer runs out prior to the Gallagher Premiership Rugby match versus Bristol at Twickenham (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

Bristol head coach Pat Lam took heart from the Bears’ fightback following an early onslaught from Bath that threatened to turn the fixture into a rout.

“I’m disappointed but also proud of the boys – at 19-3 down they could have gone, but they showed a lot of character to come back and get a bonus point,” Lam said.

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“Half of our team had never played at Twickenham before, but this experience will help the players grow. We’re committed in what we’re trying to do and to bringing young English players through.

“We’re 50 per cent English in the team and there are 70 per cent of young English players coming through. We’ll continue to invest in them.

“Getting the bonus point was crucial, but nothing replaces the experience of playing in front of 60,000 at Twickenham. A lot of the guys are buzzing.”

Lam revealed that Australian wing Luke Morahan could miss the rest of the season because of the shoulder injury sustained in the second-half at Twickenham.

– Press Association

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Eliza Galloway 36 minutes ago
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JW 1 hour ago
James O'Connor, the Lions and the great club v country conundrum

Lol you need to shoot your editor for that headline, even I near skipped the article.


France simply need to go to a league format for the Brennus, that will shave two weekends of pointless knockout rugby from their season and raise the competitions standards and mystique no end.


The under age loophole is also a easy door to shut, just remove the lower age limit. WR simply never envisioned a day were teams would target people under the age of 17 or whatever it is now, but much like with Rassie and his use of subs bench, that day was obviously always going to come. I can’t remember how football does it, I think it’s the other way around with them, you can’t sign anyone younger than that but unions can’t stop 17 or 18 yo’s from leaving for a pro club if they want to. There is a transaction that takes place of a few hundred thousand for a normal average player. I’d prefer rugby to be stricter and just keep the union bodies signoff being required.


What really was their problem with Kite and co leaving though? Do we really need a game dominated by Internationals? I even think WR’s proposed calendar might be a bit too much, with at minimum 12 top tier games being played in the World Championship. I think 10 to 12, maybe any one player playing 10 of those 12 is the best way to think of it, for every international team is max, so that they can allow their domestic comps to shine if they want, and other nations like Japan and Fiji can, even some of the home nations maybe, and fill out their calendar with extra tours if they like them as a way to make money. As it is RA don’t have as good a pathway system, so they could simply buy back those players if they turn good. Are they worried they’ll be less likely to? We wait for baited breath for the new season to be laid out in front of us by WR.

It could impose sanctions on the Fédération Française de Rugby, but the body which runs the Top 14 and the ProD2, the Ligue Nationale de Rugby, is entirely independent.

It’s not independent at all. The LNR is a body under, and commissioned by, the FFR (and Government control) to mediate the clubs. FFR can simply install a new club competition if they don’t listen, then you’d see whether the players want to stay at any club who doesn’t tow the line and move to the new competition, as they obviously wouldn’t fall under the auspice of world rugby. They would be rebels, which is fine in and upon itself, but they would isolate themselves from the rest of the game and would need to be OK with that. I have no doubt whatsoever that clubs would have to and want to fall in line to remain part of the EPCR and French rugby. Probably even the last thing they would want is to compete with another French domestic competition that has all the advantages they don’t.


All those players would do good for a few seasons in France, especially the fringe ones, with thankfully zero risk of them being poached if they turn good. New Zealand had a turn at keeping all of it’s talent, and while it upticked the competitiveness of the Super Rugby teams into a total dominance of Australian and South African counterparts (who were suffering more heavily than most the other way at that stage), it didn’t have as positive an effect on the next step up as ensuring young talents development is not hindered does. Essentially NZR flooded the locate market with players but inevitably it didn’t think the local economy could sustain any more pro teams itself, so now we are seeing a normal amount of exodus for the availability of places again. Are Australia in exactly the same footing? I think so, finances where dicey for a while perhaps but I doubt they are putting money constraints on their contracting now. It’s purely about who leaves to open up opportunity.

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