An ankle injury to 6′6″ veteran Centre Dave Bullock has ruled him out of the National Shield semi-final against East Kent Crusaders this weekend. The injury occurred in the dying minutes of the Tigers League win in Cardiff last weekend vs UWIC Stealers. It is a major blow to Taunton in the build up to their biggest game of the season. Head Coach Ronnie Heath though, remained positive,
“It will be impossible to replace what Dave brings to the team, we simply don't have anyone else of his size, presence and experience. What we can do however is to change the balance of our line up to improve in other areas. In addition other players will have to step up and except the personal challenge.”
Heath would not be pushed into revealing whether it would be Lee Riviello or 19 year old Tad Gray who would be asked to fill his size 16 boots. Riviello is more experienced and produced a monster dunk in the friendly against Exeter to prove that he is back to full fitness, but Rookie Gray has improved game by game this year. The scouting report back from the Brixton game suggests that East kent play the same free flowing fast break game as Taunton. They do however have the 6′10″ Canadian Moyse to give variety to their approach.
The game has the potential to be the most exiting game yet at Wellsprings this weekend at 4.00pm on Sunday. Saturday will provide a warm-up at 4.00pm Wellprings as the Tigers will try to extend their present League winning streak to seven games when they host the Swindon Sonics. The club would like to remind supporters to arrive early on Sunday for the 4.00pm National Shield Semi-final as a Capacity 450 crowd is expected.