Aviva Premiership - Round 2 Preview

First topic message reminder :

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)

I know Gloucester are down to 14, but really haven't been impressing me so far. Although Freddie Burns game management looks much improved.

I think it will be
Sarries
Tigers
Bath
Saints
Quins
Exeter

Oh and if anyone wants a link, I've got a decent one here.

Think Sarries will edge Tigers but otherwise if agree with taht

Sarries v Bath will be a battles of MASSIVE packs.

what happened with the red ans yellow for glous?

Red for Nick Wood, 73 seconds in for stamping.
Yellow for the Glos 8 I believe.

Wood stamped on burgers face in first minute for a red. Kala brought down a maul 5 yards out. Both correct decisions

Bath need to stop the orchestrated substitutions on 50 mins as that took a big chunk of momentum out of thier pack.

Can't wait to see Ford vs Farrell. Farrell was left playing 12 at under 20 level where the younger Ford dominated the 10 shirt. Ford's kicking at goal has meant his progress hasn't been as rapid as Farrell's though at only 20 you could hardly say he's behind schedule. Farrell developed massively on the Lions tour and showed an improved passing game. It should be tasty.

ah cool, cheers guys.

whats healy on about, wigglesworth didnt touch the ball the second time?

oh dear, please Sarries, please get rid of that song!

Barritt out? I know he shouldnt be first choice for Eng any more but too many are dropping like flies/ out of form at the moment

hmmm, top teams (at this early stage) are Saints and Sarries. Tigers i'm not so sure yet as they have a fair few players out. Bath i'm not 100% sure on yet either, they seem to implode a little against a Tigers team lacking alot of experience.

Start of season form means relatively little, it's all about how your 2nd half goes

ChequeredJersey wrote:Start of season form means relatively little, it's all about how your 2nd half goes

oh as a tigers fan dont i know it!

Saints next up for Glaws, Ouch! 

No issues with Woody's red, fully deserved. I'm all for shoe pie returning, but that's different. Given we played 79 with 14 men to lead at half time was quite an achievement, but as soon as we were chasing the game in the 2nd the game was over and the last 14 points were as a result of some attempted shotgun moves.

Strangely that performance was an improvement from the Sale game. The lineout functioned and bar some binding penalties, given the numerical difference I thought we managed a losing scrum quite well. Our defence of the maul is still shocking and we do need to address this pdq. Once again Trinder looked our best back, although he did butcher an opportunity with Cowan on his shoulder, but by that time the result was a done deal. Too much ball causes our players to stop and we need to work on getting some fluid moves.

You have to credit Sarries, they bided their time and took their opportunities very well. You're never going to get a win playing the whole game with 14 men against a team of that quality. Onwards and upwards and given the topsy turvy nature of being a Glaws supporter I really wouldn't be surprised if we beat Saints!

ChequeredJersey wrote:Start of season form means relatively little, it's all about how your 2nd half goes

I think that Christmas and first couple of 6Ns games are a critical point of the season. As 4Ns players come back and 6Ns go away, which squads will adapt best, especially in typically poorer weather

Problem with early season form is that it puts your players right in view for international call ups which can quickly take the wind out of your sails.

Personally I'm not worried about the weather changing, Tigers have Deacon, Ayerza and Manu to return and that'll add plenty if physical oomph to the side.

At this stage my predicted top 4 are....

1. Saracens
2. Northampton Saints
3. Leicester Tigers
4. Bath

...then a group of 4 in the middle which in reality could finish in any order, but I reckon will go like this....

5. Harlequins
6. Gloucester
7. Exeter Chiefs
8. London Wasps

....followed by the bottom 4 looking like this....

9. Sale Sharks
10. London Irish
11. Newcastle Falcons
12. Worcester Warriors

Probably be way off come next May, but that is how I see it right now.

Maybe. I'm not worried though, I think Quins'll do fine I was happy with how the match against Saints went apart from the goal kicking and the result especially as in theory it was against the "team to beat" in the worst possible weather for the gamestyle we usually play.

Yea as long as we're top6 around Xmas time I'm confident that we can battle our way up in to the top4. It was good to see that even in appalling conditions are off loading game was back and looking pretty good.

Still need a better front 5 though.

yappysnap wrote:Yea as long as we're top6 around Xmas time I'm confident that we can battle our way up in to the top4. It was good to see that even in appalling conditions are off loading game was back and looking pretty good.

Still need a better front 5 though.

At least we get Kennedy and Matthews back. As for the scrum, I thought it was better with Buchanan there and wasn't too bad- Marler was fairly but also unfairly pinged and will be fine (as long as he doesn't get involved in bloody stupid scuffles, what a boobie) and Saints with Corbs have as good a front row as any team we will face. Except Clermont  

Good points CJ. But I just can't see us managing anything but maybe parity against Sarries, Tigers and Bath it'll be really tough on Nev and Botica if our pack is having to work their nuts off just to get us halfway decent ball.

I was a little disappointed with the number of excuses being made by Leicester after the game; they even used the 'we scored more tries than them' chestnut.

After being so pumped in the first half they did really well to come back into it and really pressurise us. I thought we'd snatched defeat from the jaws of victory again, but credit to Leicester, a great performance from what was a 2nd or 3rd string in many positions, LBP away from home is a fair result for both teams I reckon.

There may well be some questions asked of Ryan Lamb and the moat telegraphed miss pass in the history of the game. Of the two tens on display Ford looked the experienced playmaker dictating things for his pack and Lamb looked the rookie over eager to impress.

formerly known as Sam wrote:There may well be some questions asked of Ryan Lamb and the moat telegraphed miss pass in the history of the game. Of the two tens on display Ford looked the experienced playmaker dictating things for his pack and Lamb looked the rookie over eager to impress.

I was thinking to myself I don't see Bath score many interception tries about 30secs before Lamb through that pass, mind you had JJ missed it then it was a certain try in the corner. I was very impressed with Niki Goneva, I loved that slow motion shot of him dancing and sending players the wrong way with his eyes.

formerly known as Sam wrote:There may well be some questions asked of Ryan Lamb and the moat telegraphed miss pass in the history of the game. Of the two tens on display Ford looked the experienced playmaker dictating things for his pack and Lamb looked the rookie over eager to impress.

Most telegraphed miss pass....got me thinking

Carlos Spencer 2003 RWC Semi vs. Australia - Mortlock runs the length of the pitch to seal the game and prolong NZs hurt in the WC?

LondonTiger wrote:Well that was the season before last, when you were someone else I believe, and when some of it was a weird obsession with not tempting fate.

In ths case, we have to accept that the Bath Pack dominated us at the end of last season when Mulipola especially (but also Cole) struggled. We are still without Ayerza and Mulipola seemed to be struggling a little on Sunday. Add in the recruits and Bath look stronger (but are missing Louw, who is their one world class player). To counter that we have Deacon back - and he is huge in the tight. Even so we could be struggling come scrum time. We do not see that often, but when it does happen we usually struggle.

Add in to the mix that latest news on Flood, Youngs and Manu ios that they will not be fit - well some pessimism is not that inappropriate.

Well, fair enough, a losing bonus point it was - but, it wasn't Bath's pack that did the damage, but for ill discipline, i suspect Tigers would have won the match..