STOOP TO CONQUER
Stuart: massive boost
By theredseat
September 21 2026
The 2026/27 version of the Blue, Mostly Black and White travel down the M4 to kick off the PREM season with a visit to Harlequins under the lights. It’s a scheduling repeat for these sides who also kicked off last season with the same fixture which saw Bath begin their title defence with a 31-47 win. On that occasion some questionable first half defence led to a Will Evans hat trick and an early deficit before Bath’s power took control to secure a bonus point win in West London.
Neither club will feel they finished that season hitting the heights they wanted but it is the hosts that have the most work ahead of them to get back to the levels of old. Jason Gilmour has been promoted to Head Coach with the former Australia Head Coach installed above him as Performance Director. If nothing else it appears a more stable management structure than last year’s radical approach of appointing neither a Head Coach nor a Director of Rugby which presumably played some part in the club’s 9th place finish.
It seems fair to assume that the same lack of leadership also impacted recruitment ahead of the new season. George Furbank is a headline grabbing addition to the squad although full back wasn’t an obvious area of need but little has been done to address deficiencies in the tight five. James Dun is a solid enough PREM second row and Sampie Swiegers could prove to be a canny acquisition but for the most part Quins will need improvement from their incumbent players. The only team quieter than Quins in the pre-season transfer market may well be the Stoop’s visitors this weekend.
The regular injury updates from the Quins medical team during last season showed a club taking on water much faster than they could bail it out: at one point 27 first team squad members were listed as crocked, battered or broken. Based on pre-season the medical bills seem to have subsided a bit and Gilmour and co have close to a fully fit squad to select from although Furbank is set to miss out after being knocked out in the opening moments of last week’s friendly. For all the questions about his international credentials Alex Dombrandt is a fine PREM player and leader so his long-term injury is a big loss. It does give Chandler Cunningham-South a chance to stake his claim at no 8 but keep an eye out for the well-regarded Zach Carr too. A big positive for Quins is Fin Baxter confirming he’s back to fitness but he has yet to feature in pre-season so may be eased in on opening night.
For Bath the safe bet is that we will kick off the season with a pretty familiar looking lineup more notable for its absences than its additions as the club move forward without core contributors Alfie Barbeary and Thomas du Toit while skipper Ben Spencer is rehabbing a shoulder injury. One thing to keep an eye on this season is what opportunities are granted to the younger members of the squad to step up and fill those gaps and become key members of the next version of Bath Rugby.
At the time of writing we await any midweek availability updates from Johann van Graan but the likes of Jaco Coetzee, Vilikesa Sela and Will Muir have not seen any action over pre-season and seem unlikely to be involved for this one given other options available in their positions. Louis Hennessey pulled up lame against Bedford so his status is questionable while Jamie Bhatti appears to have suffered a broken arm shortly after coming on against Glasgow leaving Bath looking thin at loosehead for the opening block of fixtures. The door now opens for Scott Kirk who becomes a key part of the match day 23 for the foreseeable. Henry Arundell didn’t feature up in Scotland but there has been no indication of a problem so fingers crossed it was a scheduled night off.
Of the key selection decisions the back row is, as ever, the toughest to call week to week. Given the expectation that Quins will want to play at pace and may lack the grunt of other opposition, van Graan may look to counter that with a more mobile pack than usual. Ted Hill’s deployment in the second row against Glasgow therefore could have been a dress rehearsal for the trip to London. Reading further into the pre-season tea leaves it looks like Bernard van der Linde and Santi Carreras may be favoured in their respective positions as well. Up front Will Stuart’s return is a mighty boost to Bath’s prospects but there’s a case to be cautious after such a big injury and to make sure he has fuel in the tank to maximise his impact over the season.
A tough test awaits van Graan and co but targetable away wins are rare in this league and this is the sort of fixture playoff and title hopefuls will want to come away with the points.
Welcome back. And let’s go.
Possible teams:
Quins: Hobson, Walker, Delgado, Dun, Petti, Kenningham, Evans, Cunningham-South, Porter, Smith, Murley, Bradley, Beard, Isgro, Green
Riley, Baxter, Johnson-Holmes, Treadwell, Carr, Friday, Lang, Northmore
Bath: Obano, Dunn, Griffin, Hill, Ewels, Bayliss, Pepper, Reid, van der Linde, Russell, Arundell, Ojomoh, Lawrence, Cokanasiga, Carreras
Tuipulotu, Kirk, Stuart, Roux, Underhill, Carr-Smith, Redpath, du Preez
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.
It is hard to argue with your selection other than the point raised by CBW. Therefore Russell and Carreras replaced by Donoghue and de Glanville
Quote:CBW
I stand to be corrected by more knowledgeable posters, but my understanding was that any players who made recent appearances for Argentina (and SA, NZ and Australia) aren’t eligible to play in these early games?
That was my understanding as wellto be honest until Carreras was picked for Glasgow. I know friendlies are treated differently but it seems odd for him to play there to then be stood down for upcoming comptitive games so have made an assumption he's available this week. Same for Petti on their side
Russell I understand is available but await confirmation either way
Given their bizarre lack of signings upfront, I actually think this is a game to back the forwards in. Yes, we'll be missing Spencer's best-in-class kicking game, but we have some able deputies in Finn, BvdL and Mojo. I know we are hoping for a more expansive game this year with our new attack coach in tow, but it just seems like an obvious approach for this one. Starve their lively backline of the ball as much as we can by trying to assert dominance at set piece time. Even without Barbs and TdT, we still look like we have the edge here.
Dombrandt's injury isn't new but his absence feels massive. Sure CCS will have a thing or two to say about that but Quins' had probably the most confusing transfer strategy of the summer, given the lack of replacement for Dombrandt and also Launchbury and significant cap used up in a position they appear to be very well stocked in. Baxter still not been seen much either, so - for this week at least - go with the approach that has served us so well in recent years.
Bath by 10. COYB