Aviva Premiership Round 7

Sorry not an all singing, all dancing thread due to time constraints - but may add later. As we return to AP action after a 4 week break, which teams will thrive?

Friday 14th November 2014

Gloucester v Harlequins 19:45

Gloucester: Cook; Sharples, Meakes, Atkinson, Purdy; Twelvetrees (capt), Robson; Wood, Dawidiuk, Afoa; Palmer, Hudson; Savage, Kvesic, Moriarty.
Hibbard, Gibbons, Thomas, Stooke, Evans, Braley, A. Thomas, D. Thomas.

Harlequins: Chisholm; Walker, Hopper, Lowe, Lindsay-Hague; Evans, Dickson; Lambert, Ward, Sinckler; Matthews, Robson; Trayfoot, Wallace, Easter (capt).
Buchanan, Marfo, Collier, Twomey, Clifford, Burns, Swiel, Casson.




Northampton v Exeter 19:45

Northampton Saints: Foden; Elliott, Stephenson, Burrell, Collins; Myler, Dickson; M Waller, Haywood, Ma'afu; Manoa, Day; Clark, Butley, Dowson (capt).
McMillan, E Waller, Denman, Woolford, Harrison, Hodgson, Wilson, Waldouck.

Exeter Chiefs: Dollman; Nowell, Slade, Hill, Jess; Steenson, Chudley; Rimmer, Yeandle, Francis; Mumm (capt), Welch; White, Armand, Waldrom.
Cowan-Dickie, Moon, Low, Caldwell, Horstmann, Thomas, Whitten, McGuigan.


Saturday 15th November 2014

Sale v London Irish 12:00

Sale Sharks: Haley; Brady, Jennings, Tuitupou, Arscott; Cipriani, Cliff; Lewis-Roberts, Jones, Cobilas; Mills, Paterson; Braid (capt), Seymour, Beaumont.
Neild, Flynn, Harrison, Lund, Easter, Fowles, McLeod, Forsyth.

London Irish: Fenby; Lewington, Mulchrone, Griffin, Ojo; Noakes, Allinson; Court, Paice, Aulika; Skivington (capt), Cox; Low, Harraway, Guest.
Stevens, Hagan, Halavatau, Lyons, Curry, Steele, Dorrian, Short.


Bath v Newcastle 17:00

Bath: Arscott; Woodburn, Joseph, Devoto, Banahan; Henson, Young; Catt, Batty, Thomas; Hooper (capt), Day; Ewels, Sisi, Houston.
Dunn, Auterac, Palma-Newport, Garvey, Ellis, Northcote-Green, Cook, Lane.

Newcastle Falcons: Hammersley; Sinoti, Tiesi, Powell, Tuilagi; Socino, Tipuna; Vickers, McGuigan, S.Wilson; Green, Barrow; Robinson, Saull (capt), M.Wilson.
Rogers, Lawson, Tomaszczyk, MacLeod, Hogg, Blair, Clegg, Tait.


Sunday 16th November 2014

Leicester v Saracens 13:00

Leicester Tigers: Mathew Tait; Blaine Scully, Matt Smith, Anthony Allen, Miles Benjamin; Owen Williams, David Mele; Michele Rizzo, Harry Thacker, Dan Cole; Brad Thorn (c), Graham Kitchener; Jamie Gibson, Julian Salvi, Jordan Crane
Jake Farnworth Tom Bristow Fraser Balmain Sebastian De Chaves Paul Grant Sam Harrison Freddie Burns Tommy Bell

Saracens:15. Alex Goode; 14. Chris Ashton, 13. Marcelo Bosch, 12. Chris Wyles, 11. David Strettle; 10. Charlie Hodgson, 9. Richard Wigglesworth; 1. Richard Barrington, 2. Jamie George, 3. Juan Figallo, 4. Mouritz Botha, 5. Alistair Hargreaves ©, 6. Kelly Brown, 7. Jacques Burger, 8. Jackson Wray.
16. Brett Sharman, 17. Rhys Gill, 18. Petrus Du Plessis, 19. Jim Hamilton, 20. Will Fraser, 21. Ben Spencer, 22. Duncan Taylor, 23. Ben Ransom



Wasps v London Welsh 15:15

Leicester Tigers (v Saracens, Welford Road, Sunday 1pm)
15 Mathew Tait
14 Blaine Scully
13 Matt Smith
12 Anthony Allen
11 Miles Benjamin
10 Owen Williams
9 David Mele
1 Michele Rizzo
2 Harry Thacker
3 Dan Cole
4 Brad Thorn (c)
5 Graham Kitchener
6 Jamie Gibson
7 Julian Salvi
8 Jordan Crane

Replacements
16 Jake Farnworth
17 Tom Bristow
18 Fraser Balmain
19 Sebastian De Chaves
20 Paul Grant
21 Sam Harrison
22 Freddie Burns
23 Tommy Bell

 Big test for Thacker, Cole starting will help.

Strong Sarries team and really surprised that Argentina have released Bosch.

Saracens

15. Alex Goode; 14. Chris Ashton, 13. Marcelo Bosch, 12. Chris Wyles, 11. David Strettle; 10. Charlie Hodgson, 9. Richard Wigglesworth; 1. Richard Barrington, 2. Jamie George, 3. Juan Figallo, 4. Mouritz Botha, 5. Alistair Hargreaves ©, 6. Kelly Brown, 7. Jacques Burger, 8. Jackson Wray.

16. Brett Sharman, 17. Rhys Gill, 18. Petrus Du Plessis, 19. Jim Hamilton, 20. Will Fraser, 21. Ben Spencer, 22. Duncan Taylor, 23. Ben Ransom


Looks like an interesting game. Saracens seem to have the more experienced bench - we'll see whether it makes a difference.

A full strength backline - only missing Barritt.

Will be interesting to see what Figallo can do in his first AP start.

Felt for a while that Thorn would make a good captain in Ed's absence. If he does a good job of it then it'll be interesting to see if Ben reclaims the captaincy after the AIs.

Shame Loamanu seems to be injured again after playing last Tuesday but it's a much better side than I would have been expecting to see a few weeks back, and one which should be able to win at home (Edit: Although that Saracens squad looks a lot stronger than it should do IMO) . Not overly concerned about the result though, if the squad continue to show the guts and effort they have done recently, and the youngsters step up again I'll be happy. And pleasing me is all the team care about.

I expect a Sarries win - I just hope for another promising performance.

London Irish team to play Sale Sharks:

15. Andrew Fenby; 14. Alex Lewington; 13. Fergus Mulchrone; 12. Eoin Griffin; 11. Topsy Ojo*; 10. Chris Noakes; 9. Darren Allinson; 1. Tom Court*; 2. David Paice*; 3. Halani Aulika*; 4. George Skivington (Captain); 5. Sean Cox; 6. Kieran Low*; 7. Luke Narraway*; 8. Tom Guest

Replacements: 16. Jimmy Stevens; 17. Jamie Hagan; 18. Leo Halavatau; 19. Dave Lyons; 20. Ollie Curry; 21. Scott Steele; 22. Myles Dorrian; 23. James Short

Sale team

Mike Haley, Tom Brady, Mark Jennings, Sammy Tuitupou, Tom Arscott, Danny Cipriani, Will Cliff, Eifion Lewis-Roberts, Marc Jones, Vadim Cobilas, Jonathan Mills, Michael Paterson, Dan Braid, David Seymour, Josh Beaumont

Replacements Cameron Neild, James Flynn, Ross Harrison, Magnus Lund, Mark Easter, Nathan Fowles,Nick McLeod, Andy Forsyth

Geraghty injured?



My thoughts:

Can the return of Nick Evans compenate for the loss of Brown, Care and Robshaw? I suspect not and Glaws to take a home win.

Saints look vulnerable and Chiefs close to full strength. However at home on a Friday night in front of a rabis crowd we should see a Saints win.

Bath also look vulnerable - but surely Falcons do not have enough oomph to take advantage. Yet another home win.

Sale pick 6 of the pack that dominated Tigers Jrs for 40 minutes, but then struggled in the second half. London Irish are a team who tend to be underated by outsiders, but fans make up for that by over-rating their team (). I feel that yet again the home team will be too strong.

Tigers are starting to look like a Tigers team. Sarries though look really strong. I fear for Harry Thacker and struggle to see a home win.

Wasps will thrash London Welsh.

Really looking forward to that Tigers / Sarries clash, looks like it will be a good one.

Home wins all round bar at Welford Road where a strong Sarries side will beat Tigers.

Glaws have a slightly disheveled backline but a strong pack should hopefully see us home. The Glaws v Quins games tend to be crackers with the home side winning and a repeat on both fronts would be most welcome.

For me it will be
 Quins
 Saints
 Sale
 Bath
 Sarries
 Wasps

Tigers are certainly up against it. Should be a great game though I can't believe Scotland and Argentina can do without Brown and Bosch they are quality players. Definite bonus for Sarries having them available.

Young Thacker threw very well at the line out last weekend and was a menace in the loose. Needs to replicate that and just hook his ball at the scrum and hope the international props either side take up some of the strain.

Don't expect it but I'm hoping we can pull off a third unexpected win. The youngsters have played like Tigers in the LV now the first teamers need to do the same.

LondonTiger wrote:Geraghty injured?



My thoughts:

Can the return of Nick Evans compenate for the loss of Brown, Care and Robshaw? I suspect not and Glaws to take a home win.

Saints look vulnerable and Chiefs close to full strength. However at home on a Friday night in front of a rabis crowd we should see a Saints win.

Bath also look vulnerable - but surely Falcons do not have enough oomph to take advantage. Yet another home win.

Sale pick 6 of the pack that dominated Tigers Jrs for 40 minutes, but then struggled in the second half. London Irish are a team who tend to be underated by outsiders, but fans make up for that by over-rating their team (). I feel that yet again the home team will be too strong.

Tigers are starting to look like a Tigers team. Sarries though look really strong. I fear for Harry Thacker and struggle to see a home win.

Wasps will thrash London Welsh.

I'll bite

We don't overate our team, we know our limitations, but we do support and back them unconditionally, and we always believe that today will be our day, it's part of the DNA of being an Irish fan. We don't have the trophies in the cabinet, so if we didn't have belief, then we'd have nothing.



For what it's worth, I'd fancy us at home against Sale, but we never seem to do well up there, so this will be a tough one. I don't think there's masses between the sides, but the area I think they'll potentially win the game is the breakdown, where their back row is excellent, while we have a back row consisting of a lock and two number 8's, with an academy lock covering from the bench. Had our first choice flankers not been on international duty and our back up 7 injured, it would have been a much better contest.

Ozzy Sale's back row ran out of steam by half time last weekend and in the second half of that game we had a hooker and two academy players in the back row. Don't get sucked into rolling mauls from the line out and smash the rucks quickly. You'll do fine.

I was a little surprised by how imprecise Glaws were last night. Losing Cook early doors was a blow and Twelvetrees is a much better centre than 10. Robson was brilliant at scrum half though his opposite number pulled off the move of the match with that final try.

Wasps v L. Welsh

15. R. Miller
14. C. Wade
13. E. Daly
12. C. Bell
11. S. Tagicakibau
10. A. Goode
9. J. Simpson
1. S. McIntyre
2. E. Shervington
3. J. Cooper-Woolley
4. J. Cannon
5. J. Gaskell
6. A. Johnson
7. J. Haskell
8. N. Hughes

Replacements
16. T. Lindsay 17. J. Yapp 18. L. Cittadini 18. K. Myall 19
 S. Jones 21. T. Bliss 22. A. Lozowski. T. Varndell.

Nice to see the two LV= half backs promoted to the bench.

HAPPY DAYS!

What a good game last night, commiserations to Gloucester, I though thet were well worth the win if they had managed a try right at the death there.

But I'm so pleased with how Quins turned it around, the resolve to be down by 9 and just go for it and back ourselves to get the job done, the attacking play is slowly coming back together we had a lot more continuity for once, and that 30m maul was amazing.

Synckler and Lambert were my MoM both got one over the far more experienced Glos props and both were absolutely awesome in the loose, Marler on current form is going to really struggle to get back in. syncklers selebration at full time said it all.

Exeter's result was a bit of a shock. You've got to say that they look the real deal this season. And 2nd in the table - until Bath and Sarries play. Not that I'm saying both will win their games.

Great result for Exe that, Waldrom seems to be loving life down there. If the England team was picked strictly on league form, he would surely be in with a shot...

First win in Gloucester in the Prem for 15 years

yappysnap wrote:HAPPY DAYS!

What a good game last night, commiserations to Gloucester, I though thet were well worth the win if they had managed a try right at the death there.

But I'm so pleased with how Quins turned it around, the resolve to be down by 9 and just go for it and back ourselves to get the job done, the attacking play is slowly coming back together we had a lot more continuity for once, and that 30m maul was amazing.

Synckler and Lambert were my MoM both got one over the far more experienced Glos props and both were absolutely awesome in the loose, Marler on current form is going to really struggle to get back in. syncklers selebration at full time said it all.

Most importantly the basics were good.  really happy with that performance

Yep basics were good for once. Amazing the difference that one simple thing can make! Well that and our front five playing to their potentials.

Ding dong battle at Welford Rd. Not to much creation going on but Hodgson rolling back the years at ten.

Hodgson having a great game , Jaques Burger loves these games!

Hodgson is probably the best 10 in england at the moment !

The ref has ruined this as a contest. So whistle happy.

It's been a game short on entertainment. Hodgson has done everything Farrell failed to yesterday. Controlled things very well.

Annoys me when the hosts just focus on a couple of bad decisions that went against sarries yet ignore the ones against Tigers.

Overall, messy game with a whistle blow happy ref

Great from some of our younger guys. We won the scrum penalty count with a couple of turnovers at the base of Sarries scrum to boot. Only one poor throw from Thacker who covered every blade of grass for all 80. Balmain made a good impact off the bench and Bell looked good coming in at 15.

Not sure about the comments in regard to the final penalty. Gill did have the forward momentum but he's clearly driving straight up whilst Balmain is trying to stay in and bound. You're supposed to drive straight, he's driving up that's an easy penalty or am I missing something?

From reading twitter sarries management are livid.

I'm sure they had alot to say on brown not rolling away for a sarries turnover under their own posts. ..

Yeah I was pretty miffed at that one Nathan. Cynically holding the ball in place so Wray could get at it. Wasn't the only time either.

The ref even managed to sin bin the wrong Sarries player as well!

Steve McColl was whining about the decision quite a bit in his interview. According to him "everyone in the ground thought it was our penalty ". Clearly he forgot he was in Leicester because I doubt he'd have found any sympathy post game.

Not looking good for welsh, defense an issue again

Murphy and Blaze apparently furious with Ashton about something. There was a bit of a shouting match on the touchline at the end.

Late penalty was a tough call. Sarries were going forward, but looked to be driving up and and in on Balmain.

Tough game. Fair result. Well done to young Harry Thacker.

London Welsh doing well...really progressing, only shipped 70 points to wasps so far !!!!! what a funking joke !

Anyone who knows better than me care to comment on Simpson? He looked good today, but then anyone would have done...

Simpson looked very good against Quins in Europe too, i think he's improved as a player, but, and this is key, from everything I've seen (missed today) he cannot pass at all

I know it was only LW but Wasps were pretty darn clinical today, especially in the conditions.

Johnson, Haskell and Hughes are an absolutely cracking back row. Scarily physical, but skilful too. Ashley Johnson is my new favourite player

I like Simpson, but his passing can be a bit suspect (and probably why he's not really had a real chance at international level). Really pacy and deadly in broken field though.

Wasps are looking really good. Hopefully their move doesn't disrupt their momentum too much.

maverickmak wrote:Murphy and Blaze apparently furious with Ashton about something. There was a bit of a shouting match on the touchline at the end.

Late penalty was a tough call. Sarries were going forward, but looked to be driving up and and in on Balmain.

Tough game. Fair result. Well done to young Harry Thacker.

 Ashton I think was giving the ref (Along with some of the other sarries management etc) and the Tigers some choice words.

Not unusual for Geordie to get stuck in. He's definitely not the quiet type. Blaze on the other hand Is normally more reserved. Must have been something to wind him up.

Poor quality game, with both sides slowing the ball down with impunity it seems. Saracens seemed to feel that if they controlled field position they would win the game - and (especially in first half) they kicked the ball much better. Stupid penalties conceded by Hargreaves in the lineout though either allowed us to clear the lines or score cheap points.

In attack tigers struggled with the blitz defence, while Sarries seemed content to wait for mistakes which never quite happened.

Loudest cheer was for when Benjamin finally caught a ball.

That was a nice way for Wasps to close out their Premiership games at Adams Park. One to go - Castres - before moving to Coventry.

Just watched the Wasps game and I have to say Healy is by far the funniest and best commentator out there. GET HIM ON THE INT SCENE!! Infact let BT take over that from Sky too...

ChequeredJersey wrote:Simpson looked very good against Quins in Europe too, i think he's improved as a player, but, and this is key, from everything I've seen (missed today) he cannot pass at all

Often stated by some on these boards, so I always watch out for it, but his passing has never looked any worse or better than most SHs.

markb wrote:

ChequeredJersey wrote:Simpson looked very good against Quins in Europe too, i think he's improved as a player, but, and this is key, from everything I've seen (missed today) he cannot pass at all

Often stated by some on these boards, so I always watch out for it, but his passing has never looked any worse or better than most SHs.

Unfortunately that is a sad indicator of how bad most of our scrum halves are at actually passing.

Simmo has a very quick pass. Unfortunately the odd one is at torpedo height.

But fear not. Stephen Jones (backs coach) is working on modifying these into a bouncing bomb pass, whereby the ball zips off the surface and flies straight to Wade or Varndell before the opposition can react.


Take note SL - pick Simmo, Wade and Varndell and England's cumbersome centres are taken out of the attacking equation!

yappysnap wrote:Just watched the Wasps game and I have to say Healy is by far the funniest and best commentator out there. GET HIM ON THE INT SCENE!! Infact let BT take over that from Sky too...

 That Ashley simpson sure is a powerful runner.

Well, we were beyond poor this week. Seems that we are still heavily over reliant on certain key individuals, many of whom were missing this week.

If we play like that against Bath, even with them missing guys on international duty then it could well be a very embarrassing scoreline.

Welly wrote:

yappysnap wrote:Just watched the Wasps game and I have to say Healy is by far the funniest and best commentator out there. GET HIM ON THE INT SCENE!! Infact let BT take over that from Sky too...

 That Ashley simpson sure is a powerful runner.

Scored a try as well just like he said. Must be those genetics

Ozzy3213 wrote:Well, we were beyond poor this week.  Seems that we are still heavily over reliant on certain key individuals, many of whom were missing this week.

If we play like that against Bath, even with them missing guys on international duty then it could well be a very embarrassing scoreline.

I think you guys will bounce back Ozzy, Bath have a lot of absentees themselves and at the mo I can see an upset.

I'm not convinced yappy. We failed to front up at the weekend, and tactically our coaching staff were gash. We massively missed Cowan, Steele and Geraghty, and to a slightly lesser extent Sinclair.

Disappointed we didn't take a LBP from Bath who by all accounts we weren't a 1000 miles behind.

Deano seems to think they where more streetwise at the scrum and that got the man in the middle on there side.

We missed a few kicks early on though , Need to pick Clegg at 10 for his goal kicking and move Socks into the 12 jersey.