Aviva Premiership - Round 2 Preview

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Friday 13th September 2013

Harlequins v Northampton 19:45

Round 2 starts with a real humdinger of a match as last years losing finallists travel to the previous year's champions. BT have chosen to make this game free-to-air via Freeview, BT TV, Sky and Virgin and plenty will turn in to watch what will hopefully be a great clash. Last week both sides won, but by all accounts Saints put on the better display. Their first half demolition of Exeter must have been impressive to watch. Quins on the other hand were a little disappointing - but the won. The likes of Corbisiero, Hartley and North for Saints, Robshaw, Care and Brown for Quins will garner much of the media attention. however it is the smaller contests that will fascinate me. PDJ after his unhappy time at Franklins Gardens will be eager to play and make his mark. Will we see both Dickson's on the field at the same time?
Last season Saints struggled against the other top 4 teams - there only win coming in the play-off when they stormed all over Sarries. Do they really believe they can win this game? If Fotuali'i (or Dickson) can guide Myler through this, Saints shoudl have too much for Quins even away from home. However if Quins can start well the we will see just how fragile the Northampton confidence is.

Harlequins Team:
TBC

Saints Team:
15 Ben FODEN, 14 Ken PISI, 13 James WILSON, 12 Luther BURRELL, 11 George NORTH, 10 Stephen MYLER, 9 Kahn FOTUALI’I
1 Alex CORBISIERO, 2 Dylan HARTLEY (capt), 3 Tom MERCEY, 4 Courtney LAWES, 5 Christian DAY, 6 Tom WOOD, 7 Calum CLARK, 8 Samu MANOA

Replacements
16 Mike HAYWOOD, 17 Alex WALLER, 18 Gareth DENMAN, 19 Sam DICKINSON, 20 Phil DOWSON, 21 Lee DICKSON, 22 George PISI, 23 Jamie ELLIOTT



Sale v Newcastle 20:00

Contrasting fortunes last week for two of the team favoured to be amongst the few fighting of relegation. Sale travelled to Gloucester and in front of a stunned Kingsholm completely outplayed a fancied Gloucester team. Falcons however hosted Bath on a wet and windy night, picked a side for an armwrestle and proceeded to be crushed by the Bath juggernaut of a pack. Those were the conditions that Falcons would have hoped to make the most of, but they looked underpowered and, sad to say, devoid of any attacking intent. This week it is their turn to travel on a Friday night. The Falcons pack have to raise their game, and someone has to control things at 9 or 10. Mike Blair was poor last week but he can play much better. Phil Godman however just is not good enough.
So long as Sale do not make changes at 10, I would expect them to win by a decent margin. The key for Falcons is to be competitive - and to score.




Saturday 14th September 2013

Exeter v London Wasps 15:00

Rob Baxter will have been really disappointed by last weeks display - especially in the first half when he stated that his side "looked like they were just going through the motions". We can expect training this week to be tough. Wasps struggled at scrum time against Quins and with injuries to key players in the backs, rarely worked the ball to their wingers with anything like the panache we saw last season. Joe Simpson is not the first scrum half, nor will he be the last, to struggle at the base of a scrum that is being shoved or wheeled almost at will. He really needs to find form, and fast though if he is to help Wasps start to win a few matches.
Whichever side loses this game will be anchored at the foot of the table. I suspect that will be Wasps.



Worcester v London Irish 15:00

Another match up between two teams who both lost last weekend. There is no real consolation in defeat, but Worcester perhaps will have taken more confidence from their match. They looked solid and direct (if a little lacking in inspiration) and will as usual be a hard side to beat. However a lack of any real attacking game and flaky goalkicking from Mieres always allows opposition to be in with a shout.
London Irish showed they can score tries - yet at the same time they looked seriously underpowered and at times fragile against Saracens. Dean Ryan and his Worcester team will have targeted this early fixture. They need a win and defeat to potential relegation rivals would put a huge dent in their season. For this reason I feel that a physical Worcester side will be too strong for a game and talented London Irish.



Bath v Leicester 15:15

The second of this weekends televised fixtures pits two clubs celebrating a centenary of inter club fixtures. It has been a while since the two were rivals at the top of the table, but Bath do look as if finally they are getting their recruitment right. In horrid conditions we saw little of thei backs at Kingston Park, but we did see just how strong the Bath pack will be. Again you feel that this is a battle that will be won up front, and having done a real number on Mulipola at the end of the season, David Wilson will be looking for more of the same.
Leicester will hope to welcome back England trio YoungsB, flood and Manu - which would strengthen the backs immeasurably and the absence of Francois Louw will help the Tigers cause. however I find it hard to look past a home win.



Sunday 15th September 2013

Saracens v Gloucester 14:00

The weekend's final fixture will again be live on BT Sport. Saracens, boasting ever impressive strength in depth, will be seeking another TBP win to finish the weekend firmly at the head of the table. A Gloucester side, coming off the back of a disappointing and disjointed effot, have the talent to move the ball at real pace and threaten the famed Saracens defence. Sarries however will resort to their power game and look to crush the visitors. Potentially an interesting match up between the main contenders for the England 12 shirt, both Barritt and Twelvetrees will be looking for improved performances




Good luck everyone, but not so much to Bath (sorry)

Does it seem that Tom Wood and Chris Robshaw have had relatively quiet matches tonight?

quins forwards tiring?

robshaw a mile offside then!

so we're back to the not straight put ins...

No, he wasnt

How are we losing this match?

ChequeredJersey wrote:No, he wasnt

i think he was.

Gonna lose now

ChequeredJersey wrote:Gonna lose now

cant say yet, a dropped ball and quins could win this with this weather.

Nah it's over

Even with Easter off, the weather can do strange things. Was that really a yellow?

In other news Falcons are leading 14-15 at Sale with 6-7 mins to go!

doctor_grey wrote:Even with Easter off, the weather can do strange things.  Was that really a yellow?

on it's own i don't think so but they given a couple away quick succession. So i don't know!

thats not fair, quins knocked on before.

Quite borderline that but the right call

i disagree with that call. Should of been scrum to saints on the other side of the pitch from a knock on.

Love sacks Nathan, absolute Love sacks

This call with Myler is interesting. I thought the pass which Myler kocked on was forward. Which call goes first?

truck and trailer?

ChequeredJersey wrote:Love sacks Nathan, absolute Love sacks

honestly it looked like a knock on, i'll try and find it later for you

There's been some silly penalties from both sides and Easter's penalty was cynical, he knew exactly what he was doing. On It's own probably.not a yellow but given some of the cynical stuff gone before It's fair.

When will pro players learn you need two hands out to slap the ball down and avoid a yellow!

No offence but every single comment you have made has been pro Saints and anti Quins so I'll check myself

Exciting end. Luther Burrell the MOM? For his passing! Burrell?
He can only pass in the rain.........

ChequeredJersey wrote:No offence but every single comment you have made has been pro Saints and anti Quins so I'll check myself

 i'm a tigers fan, you think i'd be pro saints.

every comment? really? i've made two or three in that regard.

Can't help but think that result didn't represent the match, but we have nobody to blame but ourselves. think we will be fine this season though

Very happy, Quins away is a great result, with an easy bonus point last week a good start.

Can we skip 6 Nations this year?

Falcons leading with 30 seconds!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-LCvbNAS3I

GET IN!

Falcons win!

ChequeredJersey wrote:Can't help but think that result didn't represent the match, but we have nobody to blame but ourselves. :(think we will be fine this season though

I thought you had the better of play until maybe the last 20 minutes. Those missed kicks were the difference. We got a bit lucky tonight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PrMaVjHS74

 

Cumbrian wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PrMaVjHS74

 

Good for you, mate. Now is the real welcome back, eh?

Touch wood pal! Reckon this is going to be a really open season. Most teams look capable of beating eachother!

Saints on this early evidence look like Jeff double winners.

i.e. league and playoffs

Don't know, they were struggling in defence and in covering our kicking from hand at points. Think Sarries will win

Portnoy's Complaint wrote:Saints on this early evidence look like Jeff double winners.

i.e. league and playoffs

Start the season well often, until 6 Nations come.

ChequeredJersey wrote:Don't know, they were struggling in defence and in covering our kicking from hand at points. Think Sarries will win

I sincerely hope not, CJ. Still it's all games in all weathers home and away...

Quins were very unlucky there. At the end of the day they just didn't look like they'd grab a try and you can't miss that many points from the tee expect to get away with it. Put it down to the appalling conditions and move on.

Saints will be pleased with that away win. Burrell is looking twice the player he was last season, teach him to kick and he's up there contesting the England starting shirt. I hope Dowson and Clark play against Tigers though, they conceded about a half dozen penalties between the two of them.

Falcons with a very important away win there. Sale still with 5 points from the first two games though. So much for the Northerners being in trouble early doors. LI and Worcester will be a fierce contest today.

I still think Quins will be in the mix at the end of the season, no need to panic, on another day Evans would have nailed those difficult kicks. Having said that, with Kohn and Johnson would that extra bulk up front have helped? Probably and others are going to have to step up over the season.

I'm very pleased that Newcastle won, it's not good for the league to have the promoted team struggling to get that first win. It will be interesting to see if sale bounce back or if week 1 was a flash in the pan.

I agree, Quins were a bit unlucky.  Both teams were impacted by the weather and couldn't really open up at all.  Quins missed quite a few kicks.  But Saints missed a few, too.  So really nothing in it.  It is way too early in the season to make any judgements about who is going to win.  But, Quins will be fine this season, and Saints too.  

Now that Newcastle have their first win, things can now start in earnest.  Only warning is that London Welsh won all their matches early in the season.  The hope is Newcastle can be more consistent.

Sale are making things interesting - I think most people expected them to lose against Glaws but they won and then most expected them to beat Falcons and they lost - they win the prize for being most unpredictable so far ...

First of many intercepts from lamb there....

nathan wrote:First of many intercepts from lamb there....

I love Ryan Lamb (now that he is no longer with Saints).

Why is the ref ignoring Stringer's obvious feeding but penalising Mele for it?

The ref hasn't exactly been a fan of the tigers this half

Wonder if we'll bring Williams on in the second half. Hopefully the ref wont be as harsh on us in the second half.

Super Gavin Henson. Best 12 in the prem.

Not a fan of this talking about football at half time!

nathan wrote:Not a fan of this talking about football at half time!

It's apparently not enough to have the scores scrolling across the screen right throughout the game.  

nathan wrote:Not a fan of this talking about football at half time!

Agree.
But as compensation the girl interviewing Geordan Murphy is pretty cute.