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The Bristol verdict on their rookie tighthead who joined as a No8

(Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

It’s been quite the journey at Bristol for the locally sourced talent George Kloska. The 23-year-old originally arrived at the Bears as an aspiring No8, was soon switched to hooker and then when his inconsistent throwing became an issue, the gamble was taken to transform him into a prop, originally a loosehead but lately at tighthead.

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Four different pack positions in as many years – it’s a circuitous development and with Kyle Sinckler currently away on England duty, a valuable opportunity has knocked in recent weeks for the flexible forward who will play the bench backup role on Sunday behind Max Lahiff when Harlequins visit Ashton Gate.

The fixture will mark Kloska’s 22nd appearance for Bristol, an education that commenced long ago with a 2018/19 debut as a teenager. In recent times there have been loan spells at Bedford and Hartpury, but he is now in the thick of it with Bristol, coming off the bench in all three of their most recent Gallagher Premiership victories.

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It’s a dividend that Lam is pleased to finally bank following the long-term Bristol investment in Kloska. “It’s about the perseverance and the resilience of George,” he enthused. “When he first came in, he was a back-rower that went to hooker.

“You can see with his size that he can handle the game but certainly the throwing was taking its time, so when we got to a point when we weren’t selecting him because of his throwing wasn’t quite right, but he was a good rugby player.

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“Then we thought about moving him to loosehead, but we had a few looseheads. Then we tried the experiment of moving him to tighthead which meant he had to bulk up. George used to be 108kilos and he is now 120. Over the last couple of years, he has built that up but also (scrum coach) Mark Irish has done extremely good work with George. George is a Bristolian born and bred so you know he has got the fight, wants to compete and has got the desire for this club to be successful.

“He has just slowly been going about his business. He came on against Will Stuart and Tom Dunn at The Rec at 15-13 and faced four big scrums. Any one of those scrums he doesn’t perform, that is a penalty and potentially the losing of that game.

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“The scrum went well, and he then came on earlier last weekend and his carries were good, he made some big hits and scored a great try. His development is right on track and what we expected. That is a real credit to George and the coaches. It is a credit to trusting the process, the plan for him to be an excellent, local tighthead prop.”

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H
Hellhound 2 hours ago
South Africa will beat England at a canter

You forget that this was the 3rd Test between the AB's and the English this year. They were prepared and they knew how to keep NZ quiet. The Boks is not NZ.


The Boks is a whole other level. You overestimate England and underestimate the Boks. Clearly you haven't really looked at the teams. Besides the Irish games earlier this year, the Boks have mainly used experimental sides, even against the AB's.


Now they have chosen their best team available. They have targeted this game. The Boks mean business. Man for man, this Bok team is better. In strategy and player abilities there is no comparison and they are outmatched.


There isn't just monster strength, but unreal speed. In broken play there is currently no better team as well as defensively, not to even talk about the attacking threat, both from front and the back.


I'd say read between the lines, see what everyone is seeing, but clearly you are wearing blinders and is also putting too much emphasis on an AB's team the Boks beat twice this year, the same AB's that beaten England 3 times this year.


When Rassie gets serious, the players become machines. There is no stopping them. That bench is loaded with players that is fast, strong and have exceptional skills. This is a team not many teams will face before the 2027 WC, because the Boks doesn't use their best between WC's in one game. All experimental.


You will be proven wrong on Saturday and then you will wonder how you could have been so wrong. This Bok team means serious business. They came to conquer and not just by a close score. They want to demolish and they will. This England team at most is a 60 min team. Against the Boks that just won't cut it

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