Glaws v Tigers

Rests for Cole and Salvi plus injury to Parling and Forsyth see 4 changes to tigers team. Youngs still being eased in from the bench.

15 Geordan Murphy (c)
14 Horacio Agulla
13 Matt Smith
12 Billy Twelvetrees
11 Alesana Tuilagi
10 Toby Flood
9 Sam Harrison
1 Marcos Ayerza
2 George Chuter
3 Martin Castrogiovanni
4 Louis Deacon
5 George Skivington
6 Tom Croft
7 Ben Woods
8 Thomas Waldrom

Replacements
16 Rob Hawkins
17 Boris Stankovich
18 Dan Cole
19 Steve Mafi
20 Ed Slater
21 Ben Youngs
22 Jeremy Staunton
23 Scott Hamilton

Strong looking Gloucester team:

Gloucester Rugby: 15 Olly Morgan; 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Henry Trinder, 12 Mike Tindall, 11 Lesley Vainikolo; 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Rory Lawson; 1 Nick Wood, 2 Darren Dawidiuk, 3 Rupert Harden; 4 Will James, 5 Jim Hamilton; 6 Alasdair Strokosch, 7 Akapusi Qera, 8 Luke Narraway (c). Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Dan Murphy, 18 Dario Chistolini, 19 Peter Buxton, 20 Brett Deacon, 21 Dave Lewis, 22 Tim Taylor, 23 Jonny May

Beat me to it!

It should be a cracking match. We always raise our game against Tigers and this will be needed if we want to get our home record back on track.

That is a pretty strong Tigers team too, so I do feel this is going to be a close one, but of course I feel it's going to be a Glaws win!

It probabley should be a Glaws win. They have home advantage and their backline is pretty bountiful in terms of talent. With a tough set of forwards.

On the flip side Tigers have got a big pack there and so the set piece battles will be interesting though I expect Tigers to edge both even minus Parling (well the lineout might change when Buxton comes on). A proper midfield for a change is nice but Smith will need some rest soon as he put in a monster defensive shift last weekend and really hammered Trimble in the second half. Glad to see a little rotation as squad competition really helps to drive a team forward.

Sam, it should have been a home win against Sarries and Quins too! In both those instances you have to give full credit to the away sides, but Glaws threw both games away. So it will be interesting to see our game management tomorrow as we really need to start improving.

It is going to be a colossal battle in the scrum. You are the only side that has truly bettered us in the scrum this season, so can you do it again or will our front row be out for some payback?

Parlings not injured is he?

Great to see Twelvetrees back in there. I still look forward to finally seeing this backline play:

Youngs
Flood
Tait
Twelvetrees
Tuilagi
Tuilagi
Murphy

That backline could beat any in the NH.

Good to see cockers is keeping the faith with Harrison as well, all that competition at 9 will be great for the three youngsters.

Parling is out for a few months I believe.

HongKongCherry wrote:Parling is out for a few months I believe.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/15874820.stm

"It's not too bad so we hope it will only be around four to six weeks," director of rugby Richard Cockerill told BBC Radio Leicester.

Getting a bit injury prone there. Unlike Robson...

Parling just suffering from a bit of bad luck (Waldrom falling on his leg in a ruck). Not sure Parling is injury prone it's just that his injuries aren't little ones. In his first season at Tigers he played pretty much every game then hurt his neck with England and after 6 months out returned before destroying his knee 2 mins into his return. This is thankfully not that serious. Robson is in fine form and the pair of them should be heading for a cap sooner rather than later.

Good to see cockers is keeping the faith with Harrison as well, all that competition at 9 will be great for the three youngsters

Good to see a little of the old fashioned, 'he's earnt the shirt so you've got to win it off him' philosophy coming through. Youngs is the better 9 but not fully match fit and Harrison has done well played the percentages and improved with the experience. Micky Young must be a bit frustrated though as he's fit but can't get near the team.

I like the look of this gloucester side threats everywhere and the pack is no push over.

leicesters pack is back, they will be a difficult side to beat home or away for the rest of the season, i must say though that the back line still seems to be lacking some balance. twelvetrees performance could be vital for leicester both defensively and in attack.

certainly a strong wind, will be going against glaws next half. Hopefully tigers can get it together.

What did anyone think of the head butt on murphy, nothing in it?

1 finger try!

...or maybe not!

tut tut at mr doyle!

oh dear youngs!!!

try tuilagi! 14 - 16 to leicester

floods missed a few kicks

nice break from b. youngs. ruined by a knock on though

WOOOHOOO, we won!

Massive win for Leicester. Starting to roll.

Great tussle that one, and Tigers are beginning to show their traditional grit.

Having had a day out with my daughters, do I watch the recording of the game?

no Tiger

I went to the match. Volcano, Tindall, ? no no no. Please chop.
Anyway where's HKC when you need him ?

Decided to watch the BaBas game (not a great idea), knowing I could watch the repeat of this early tomorrow morning. How did Burns do opposite Flood? Who was the best of the 8s (the only uninjured England options outside Easter at the moment)? And how did Twelvetrees & Trinder get on in the centres?

hawalsh wrote:Decided to watch the BaBas game (not a great idea), knowing I could watch the repeat of this early tomorrow morning. How did Burns do opposite Flood? Who was the best of the 8s (the only uninjured England options outside Easter at the moment)? And how did Twelvetrees & Trinder get on in the centres?

I thought Flood did well, but so did Burns. Some of Burn's kicks were brilliant! Regarding 8's i think i agree with the pundits, there two different sort of 8's and both played pretty well. So they were about even.

LondonTiger wrote:Having had a day out with my daughters, do I watch the recording of the game?

It was a gritty performance, Tuilagi played well i thought, flood played well and was unlucky to have one of his tries ruled out (which i'm not sure why, can anyone explain?)

Cheers for the answers nathan.

So on the back of the head to head, given that we'll need two options at 8 for the EPS and Fearns, Crane & Haskell will be unavailable, could you pick a more likely candidate out of Narraway & Waldrom?

I look forward to seeing Burns performance then, I'd like to see him challenging Hodgson behind Flood.

Burns certainly did his chances no harm today. If he keeps that up he would be my understudy to Flood in the 6N.

Trinder and Twelvetrees both fairly quiet. But this was Twelvetrees' first game after injury for quite a while.

So now it looks like Gloucester are awesome on the road and wasteful at home. Gahhhh

Tigers have yet to win in the AP at home - pretty sure we must have the worst home record.

Burns certainly did his chances no harm today. If he keeps that up he would be my understudy to Flood in the 6N.

Trinder and Twelvetrees both fairly quiet. But this was Twelvetrees' first game after injury for quite a while

Twelvetrees worked hard in defence and played the numbers in attack, didn't really shine as we know he can but having not played for a few weeks that was maybe expected. Trinder looked alright in defence but knocked on a couple of times in attack and struggled to impose himself on Matt 'dependable' Smith who provided another solid performance.

Flood played well but struggled to judge the wind when kicking from range. Offered a lot ball in hand and was robbed of one try but scored another. Burns was denied a try by a great chase back tackle from Croft. Very impressed by the young Gloucester mans awareness and tactical kicking. That performance should put him closer to EPS inclusion.

nathan wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:Having had a day out with my daughters, do I watch the recording of the game?

It was a gritty performance, Tuilagi played well i thought, flood played well and was unlucky to have one of his tries ruled out (which i'm not sure why, can anyone explain?)

I just watched the highlights. It was ruled out by the TMO as he wasnt pressing his hand down on the ball whilst the ball was touching the ground. He did barely get his fingers on it.

nathan wrote:
It was a gritty performance, Tuilagi played well i thought, flood played well and was unlucky to have one of his tries ruled out (which i'm not sure why, can anyone explain?)

I was quite lost for words when this was disallowed. On the screen you could clearly see Tobys fingers on the ball as he touched it down, the ball was rolling away from him but he still had downward pressure so a Try. Watched it again on Sunday and even the commentators were shouting it was a Try. I think Toby was very unlucky there to be on the wrong end of a wrong decision by the TMO.

Apparently fingers do not count as hand.

Watched the replay/highlights yesterday.

Thought Flood had a pretty consumate game, with some nice running touches. Burns kicking was superb, passing was pretty fluid, and a great break. A few more performances like that and I wouldn't hesitate in exposing him to the EPS as an understudy.

It didn't turn out too bad for him in the end, but Youngs looked quite indecisive at times when he came on. He could have been in real trouble if the defence had been a bit sharper on him.

Didn't think Trinder or Sharples had their best of games, in fact Sharples seems to be having a pretty average season so far. I expected him to really be pushing his case for England, but I'd probably take May over him from Gloucester on current form.

Twelvetrees was solid if unspectacular, a decent enough first game back though, a good defensive performance, and one or two really nice fast flat passes to bring on at pace the players outside him (probably the aspect of his game I like the best).

I'd say Narraway edged Waldrom, but aside from a great intercept, I don't think either stood out that much. It's a real shame so many candidates are injured because there is plenty of room for someone to lay down a big claim for the England spot. Can't see Easter losing his starting spot at present.

Gloucester really need FSP back, Tins was ordinary to poor and without him there was no one to actually get a grip of the backs and play with some structore.

Sharples and the other youngsters all had poor games but to be honest what do you expect with a bunch of youngsters and no leaders in the backs.

yappysnap wrote:Gloucester really need FSP back, Tins was ordinary to poor and without him there was no one to actually get a grip of the backs and play with some structore.

Sharples and the other youngsters all had poor games but to be honest what do you expect with a bunch of youngsters and no leaders in the backs.

Whats Tindall then?

I've come out of hiding and am getting pretty fed up of being humble and bowing to the victors, but once again I shall - well done Tigers!

Once again our front 5 were good, our backrow inconspicuous and our backs were predictable and frantic. Burns was the one exception and that was by far his best performance of the season. We made far too many errors. Big Les who had a great 40 mins against Quins was poor in this match. He dropped 3 balls and threw a forward pass in the 1st half alone which is simply not good enough - however his failure to even see the ball led to our try! On that front, I thought Narraway was poor too with the try being the only exception. He gave away too many penalties for silly mistakes and Deacon really needs to be given a game - which hopefully he will against Newcastle. We are really missing Hazell. Whilst Q had another great game with carries and tackling he is not a ball winning 7. We are waiting to see if EFS will escape the 6 month ban and Sinbad should be back soon, as either one would have given a bit of creative spark so desperately needed. My final rant is aimed at Rory Lawson. He is an outstanding defensive 9, but he just slows play far too much and he never makes a break. This makes it easy to defend against him and also allows the defense to line up properly. I was amazed Brush didn't bring on Lewis. His pass may not be as good, but at least he injects some pace into the game.

On the Tigers front Flood looked very assured and cannot believe that try wasn't awarded. I thought Croft really stood out and showed he is a class act. It was interesting to get home and watch the Saints match as you do have to ask can England have a backrow with both Croft and Wood?

HKC,

For me Croft & Wood would be a great back row. I would like to see Wallace in the mix too as I think he is showing some real promise.

The big question is, as usual No.8 I am really hoping that the Tubby, Lazy Slow, Freeloader from Quins get's dropped and someone fresh & new gets a shot... but who?