Quins v Sarries - Sunday 2pm KO

What's your predictions?
Who's likely to be playing following a battering last round at Welford Rd.

With injuries sustained to Chisholm, Tom Williams, JTH, who is going to come in?
Lowe will have hopefully recovered.

I suspect the Quins team will line up with -
Marler, Grey, Johnston, Kohn, Robson, Faasavalou, Robshaw, Easter,
Dickson, NEV, Monye, Hopper, Lowe, Sam Smith, Brown

Would like to see Botica on the bench. Wallace sounded useful in the A-leage game vs LI and could feature, although Guest is also playing well and filling that back row replacement berth well.

Whos currently in favour for Sarries to start? Will Owen Farrell continue over Hodgeson?

I'm looking forward to a full stoop for a London Derby.

The pack is probably right - thought Guest might start with Mo on the bench, but on reflection if there's no JTH they may want Mo to use at second receiver.

Backline looks about right, except that I'd expect Botica to start at 12 with Clegg on the bench. JTH is out, Hopper's not a 12 (even at 13 he holds onto the ball too often), Casson's not quite back to full fitness (which is a shame), and Clegg's defence was always given as the reason he doesn't play 12 more.

If Lowe is fit, I'd expect him to come in for Hopper to add a bit of defensive nous to the line.

I expect it to be a tense game dominated by a fierce scrap at the breakdown. Quins will probably look to absorb a lot of pressure and then unleash their high-speed game in a couple of bursts.

I have to say that if Quins play their usual high tempo offloading game and Saracens play their kick the leather of it, dull as dishwater game, I hope and pray that Quins absolutely stuff them.

Hey PD, yea no doubt this is going to be a tough game for us, Saracens are always difficult to breakdown and as we learnt last season one little mistake and give them the lead and they're masters of closing out a game.

I think Care will start, along with Lowe at 13 if fit, can't see the Lowe at wing experiment happening again for a long time really and Hopper definitely isn't a 12. Botica or Casson should be the starting 12 Casson has plenty of experience from last season and only played one half in the A league game on Mon, Botica to me is the more secure player but hasn't had much first team time.

Brown is a worry as he only had one eye on Sunday.

Think we'll see:

9. Care
10. Nev
11. Monye
12. Botica/Casson
13. Lowe (if fit or else Hopper)
14. Smith/Stegmann
15. Brown (if fit)

As to the backrow Robshaw and Easter have been standouts so far this season but to me Mo hasn't been on form. Maybe a bench spot would help kick him in to gear a bit. Perhaps for this game Robshaw should go to 6 and Wallace at 7 as we know Saracens will target the breakdown a heck of a lot.

I rate Wallace really highly yappy, what's Quins fans general view of him?

Ozzy3213 wrote:I have to say that if Quins play their usual high tempo offloading game and Saracens play their kick the leather of it, dull as dishwater game, I hope and pray that Quins absolutely stuff them.

You and every non Saracens fan out there Ozzy, problem is we play a high risk game and can be our own worst enemies!

Ozzy3213 wrote:I rate Wallace really highly yappy, what's Quins fans general view of him?

I think we all rate him highly too Ozzy, just a shame that he plays 7 the same as Robshaw. He did get to captain that A fixture though which is good. Perhaps in the future we could see a bit more rotation of the two of them and Robshaw switching to 6, i'm not sure how effective Wallaces style of game would be from 6.

I think he stunned us all over the WC last season so hopefully he can do the same again over the AI's.

I would love to see him captain the LV team as well.

Quins do kick quite a lot - just Evans and Brown tend to kick rather well.

Changes to Quins back row may be needed - Tigers secured a lot of turnover ball.

Yappy, I think Wallace is a more natural 7 than Robshaw, and have always felt that Robshaw is a better 6 than 7 anyway. I think with Quins looking to play fast and loose, having both of them in the side could be really beneficial.

I am pretty confident Hodgson will start. I think most of the guys who were on the bench vs Exeter will come back into the starting lineup.

It means the likes of Brits,Joubert and Borthwick will be back.

If Saracens are going to stand any chance of winning they need to play significantly better than the dross that has been served up currently.

I can unfortunately see Saracens reverting to kicking everything but I hope we actually try and take the fight to Quins.

Agree that control of the breakdown is key.

Well, if Brown is out who should fill the 15 spot?
Tom Williams and Chisholm both out would have slotted right in there!

Could we see Clegg at 10, Botica at 12 and NEV at 15?
Lets hope Brown is fit.

Alternatively there is the Monye at 15 option with the 2 youngsters on the wings (Stegman and Smith).

We've got options. Ollie Lindsay-Hague played full back in the A game, and Ugo has done it reasonably well at club level (though not at International). Nick Evans was a decent international class fullback, and with Botica and Clegg reportedly playing well on Monday it might be an option.

I suspect Brown will be back though. He is hard as nails.

I had forgotten about OLH.
I would prefer to see -
Botica, Monye, Casson, Lowe, Smith, NEV
if Brown isnt fit.

If you are not playing Evans at 10, would it not be better to give him a complete rest?

COS doesnt seem to want to rest NEV!
I would have thought the game against Lon Welsh he would have definately been rested - but he played the full 80mins

What are your next 4 games? You could rest Nick Evans in the HC potentially.

Hopefully Brown won't be out for the game, the swelling on the eye should have gone down by Sun.

Yea the amount of turnovers that we gave away on Sat was criminal, and you can guarantee Saracens will highlight that and target it even more. They won't worry about attacking but will use it as a way to keep us pinned in our half. Wallace would do a lot to stop that coupled with Robshaw alongside him.

Beshocked we have:

Home to Sarries
Away to Exeter
Home to Biarritz (any one know what they're like at the moment?)
Away to Connacht
Away to LI

So I could see Nev benched away to Exeter and then London Irish. But honestly I think he'll start them all, COS does not want to rest him it seems.

It seems like you guys don't expect Saracens to attack. Neither do I. It's why I think Saracens should do the utmost to attack from the beginning.

It's quite obvious with two defensively strong sides that the side can get ahead and build a healthy lead is likely to win.

Getting on the front foot from the beginning is so important against decent opposition in particular.

I just feel you need to try out one of the pretender for Evan's 10 jersey because if you don't you'll encounter problems if Evans is unavailable.

Biarritz have started strongly in the T14. Think we should win at the Stoop, can't see anything more than LBP in France to be honest.

We should rest Nev at some point, not in the HEC except against Zebre though. He was a pretty good fullback so he is an option I like there.

Think we should play

15- OLH (baptism of fire!)/ Evans
14- Smith
13- Lowe (or Hopper if unavailable)
12- Botica
11- Monye
10- Evans/Clegg
9- Care
8- Easter
7- Wallace
6- Robshaw c.
5- Kohn
4- Robson
3- JJ
2- Grey
1- Marler

As Clegg can move a backline with Nev kicking at FB if needed (obvs if Brown is fit he plays) and Clegg needs to start in games that matter now if Nev is keaving

I agree Beshocked, I am inclined to start Clegg but let Nev play FB in case he is needed