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)

Haha pretty true!

mele looks like the little brother of Daniel Craig.

Oh dear! Stringer put that into the second row!

Stringer literally just threw the ball to the no.8's feet again, what is the ref looking at?!?

Anyone know what the hash tag is for the bt sport thing?

Agh

Lets see what Williams is like

Leicester has played pretty well this half. Just a break or two from being right back in it.

Agh, the ref is being kinder to us this half but we're still making errors.

Cockers smiling? Things must be looking up!

Cole needs to do better than that

nathan wrote:Cockers smiling? Things must be looking up!

He must have pulled the legs off a stray cat at halftime.

Lamb shying away again.

We're really missing b.youngs, many and floody

Get in there! Bath imploding or could this be a tight finish?

Agh, Daniel Craig's kicking isn't the best!

That was a great play. Bath look pretty blown away on defense. Back even for all intents and purposes.

Which haven't much experience on the pitch now!

We*

hope he's ok

This is going to be tight!

               

Congrats ozzy!

Well done Irish.

Think we've lost this

I'm still depressed over yesterday's loss

Bath straight of there feet right in front of the ref!!!

 

Sweet, well played Tigers.

I don't think that game should count towards Cockerills ban as he was clearly on his phone to the tigers coaches.

Well if Gloucester win tomorrow, I will be happy.

Congrats bath! You deserved it in the end. Looking forward to welford road when we have our experienced players back

That ref.  

Glad Bath clung on there, not the best performance but a win over Leicester is never to be sniffed at. Really don't like pre-planned subs, completely stops any momentum a team might have.

Not seen it yet but a losing bonus point away from home when we're missing a lot of players. No point starting like a steam train we just need to go accumulate points and make sure we're in position to contest the playoffs.

That's our plan too, Sam last season we peaked too early so we are going to play like dross and the surge at the end like Tigers

Same with Saints. We peaked at the end as well. I agree its best to keep accumulating points now, but not worry so much until 6-8 months(!) from now. Barring long term injuries (already hitting Leicester), Saints, Quins, Tigers, Sarries will all be in or around the top 4. Hopefully with a strong push from other teams as well.

Could you, should you be happy with a defeat?

Well I was.

I wish Lamb had not thrown that godawful pass that JJ intercepted.

I wish the ref had been looking when Rokudugani smacked the ball out of Mele's hands. If he was that would have been a YC and no Bath second try.

We were unlucky to be so far down at HT, and played so well in the second half. That display bodes well for the rest of the season.

Think munipola was unlucky to get a yellow, it was high but the bath player dipped into the tackle.

beshocked wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:

beshocked wrote:Londontiger I agree. The missing is irrelevant because you have a strong team.

That Mele bloke for example seems to be a great contrast to Youngs. He provides quick ball which is always good.

It is irrelevant in terms of trying to win the league a you just have to make do and cope. There will always be injuries and for decent sides international call-ups.

BUT

When looking at who will win a fixture you have to take into account the relative strengths of the players available. At the end of last season Bath mashed us up front (much like Northampton did to you). Bath strengthened their team in the Summer (much like Northampton have). Now if you were going to Franklin's gardens this weekend, and if you were selecting a second choice prop who had struggled last week and had been taught a lesson in scrummaging by Saints last season, and if you had Mordt at 10, second choice 12, 4th choice 13, second choice FB - well would you be a little pessimistic of your chances?

That's all it is, we got beasted by Bath when we were close to full strength. So if we are some way away from that then surely it is OK to state that the extra missing players will be missed?

On the plus side, Logo apart, our pack is very strong still - and Bath will miss Francois Louw. Now while you have made clear you do not rate him, for me he is one of only a few world class players in the Aviva. so if Logo can survive Davy Wilson's assualt, if Tom Youngs is not splintered from his loosehead, if Dan Cole can get the better of Paul James then heck we coudl do very well.

Well it's not quite the same - our 2nd choice fly half would be Farrell or Hodgson. 4th choice no 13? Well that would probably be Streather. Not bad at all. 2nd choice full back - Wyles not bad again. 2nd choice prop - well that would be Gill or Vunipola. If you mean tight head that's Stevens or Johnston - could be worse.:thumbsup: 

As it stands we are missing 6 of our 1st XV from last season but I am pessimistic? No, the strength is depth is great. Plus technically Bosch could count as an absentee too.:hug: 

Actually I changed my tune in regards to Louw. He played very well against you last season.

Bath look outclassed in the backrow department despite Tigers missing Croft. I know Bathite thinks the current Bath backrow is world class but I am not convinced yet.

Mulipola,Youngs and Cole are very good around the park. That's something you haven't taken into account. Frontrow isn't solely about scrummaging these days. Defence,breakdown work and carrying are all important too.

Lamb vs Ford will be interesting. Goal kicking will in all likelihood be important. That's one area I felt Lamb looked under par and does in general - admittedly I only saw the first 40 mins of Leicester-Worcester.

I've never said its world class, don't exaggerate. I simply disagreed with you saying the Falcons unit were superior. Unsurprisingly, you went very quiet after that result

What a cracking weekend of action so far. So happy with that result yesterday at Worcester. Winning away at one of teams who are expected to be in a relegation battle with us is huge. Massive game now next week at home to Exeter. If we can win that then we will be in a really good position that we'll have a chance of kicking on from.

Watched the Tigers game back. My thoughts.

1. Garner was woeful. No TMO for the Mulipola YC (which looked a lot less cardible in slow motion) and the Ed Slater try (they could not tell for certain whether he was in or out). The Tom Youngs yellow card was never a penalty let alone a card. Missing the slap down on Mele in the build up to the Banahan try was a major miss for both ref and TJ. The scrum was a shambles. It took 45 minutes to spot James was walking round before driving into the side of Cole. Mele was pinged and warned for feeding when it was only slightly crooked but at the following scrums Stringer and Mele both fed it to the second row without comment. Just no consistency.

2. Ford looked excellent and put Bath into the correct areas and with a competent 12 would have caused mayhem. Looked like he could be a serious contender for the AIs if he keeps it up.

3. Great fightback from the Tigers. Real team spirit and didn't let their heads drop. Ed Slater and Crane were tireless in the forwards and Goneva electric in the backs. Promising stuff with big name players to return.

  Get over it Sam, there was no need for the little dig at the Orange one, he wasn't perfect but it was only his 2nd game this season.

IMO, the Youngs yellow card was the best bit of comedy I've seen for years, he just too small and missed the maul as he went under it ha haa.

Mate, Mulipola shoulder charged an opponent in the head. It's a yellow card in real time, slow motion or anything else. The referee clearly didn't need anybody else to tell him that and I would have more concerns about him had ne needed the TMO.

I have no problems with the YCs for Mulipola and Youngs.

I was upset though that they missed the slapping of the ball out of Mele's hands. Nicke Easter must have watched that with incredulity as it was much more clearcut than the one he was binned for on Friday.

Scrumpy, Henson was poor. He sliced two clearances into touch under no real pressure, was dominated in defence and attack and his passing was average at best. Added to that he just didn't read Ford's darts or little weighted passes. When Eastmond is at 12 Ford will send him through gaps for fun.

The Mulipola yellow card could have gone either way had it gone upstairs. Attwood dips into the tackle and hits Mulipola's collar bone on the way down. Mulipola pulls out of what was a sloppy tackle to begin with and whilst his arms were out he didn't complete the wrap. It was a penalty all day, every day. Yellow card? I've seen worse not carded.

I don't think the ref cost us the game (we missed 8 points in kicks and gave away an easy interception try) but he was awful none the less. The new scrum laws will be constantly criticised if they are not applied properly and consistently.

Ah just watched the Quins game and not sure what to think. Positives were a lot the the guys played well in the loose particularly Robson, Easter, Mo and Guest in the pack and Casson, Williams, Brown in the backs. The offloading game was actually a lot better in poor weather then expected and our defense was brilliant except for that very well taken try.

Negatives: really sloppy passing, knock ons, still too many wild moments especially as soon as Saints scored and our pack at scrum time were woeful.

All pre season we worried about our pack and those fears might have been well founded.

Well done Saints some really good play and quality hands under pressure.

Could anyone message me a link for the Saracens game? Many thanks.
Don't know if anyone has called it before now, but Bath VS Saracens premiership final. You heard it here first.

Guess that we will see how accurate that prediction is in a weeks time

I see that Nick Wood was sent off in the first minute. What did he do?

Stamped on Burgers face/head at bottom of ruck. Really obvious, right in front of Barnes, went straight to red. Fair call.

Bath won't make the top 4, will just miss out I think. As will Gloucester, on all the evidence so far... screwed themselves over with that red

What's your top 6 then CJ?

I reckon

Tigers
Sarries
Saints
Quins
Bath
Chiefs

Think we can edge Quins to 4th though. Much depends on how much of Atwood Wilson webber we lose to ints in 6ns though. We won't be that affected otherwise unlike others