Aviva Premiership- Round 2

First topic message reminder :

League Positions:

Saracens 5
Gloucester 4
Leicester 4
Harlequins 4
Bath 4
Worcester 4
Northampton 1
Exeter 1
Wasps 1
Newcastle 0
London Irish 0
Sale 0



Fixtures:

Fri 23rd Oct 15

19:45 Gloucester v Saracens BT Sport
Both teams won last week and both looked impressive. Saracens will look to welcome the rest of their England contingent back to the fold and will be looking to make a real statement of intent this week. Glaws may also see some returnees, certainly no reason why hook should not play given he was around for much of pre-season and did not start for Wales. Following WC heartbreak though surely Greg Laidlaw will have a week off. Whether Hook or 12T is at 10 for the home team, you can be sure that Saracens will be trying to harry them. Really hoping we can see a head to head between Kvesic and Fraser. Also hoping that May is fit to play opposite Ashton.


20:00 Sale v Worcester
After a reasonable pre-season Sale were absolutely mullered by a highly efficient Sarries at the weekend. Steve Diamond will have read the riot act and this really is a must win game for them. Worcester may have surprised even themselves in beating Saints. That win will give them a little breathing space and also the confidence to believe the can travel up the M5/6 and pinch another win.



Sat 24th Oct 15

13:45 Northampton v Newcastle
Two sides who lost at the weekend, when both will have been expecting to win. With Franklin's Gardens being extended, Saints open their home season at Stadium mk and will be desperate to put a very poor performance at Sixways behind them. There was a real lack of ideas from the men in green who seemed to believe that they would just turn up and overpower Worcester. Add in some wonky throwing (and daft penalties) from former skipper Hartley and Saints were never able to impose themselves. Reports suggest that Falcons struggled a little at scrum time and massively at the breakdown - these will need to be addressed if their taleneted back line is not to find itself over-run.


14:00 Wasps v Bath
Wasps lost at the Stoop last week having resisted the urge to rush back their WC players. Looking decent in attack they struggled at the set piece and in defence. Fluidity improved when the replacements, most notably Robson, came on - but that may well have been due to the drop in intensity from Quins. Bath struggled in pre-season and should really have lost for the third time in a month to Exeter last weekend. Poor composure from the Chiefs plus a little Ford magic helped Bath squeak home. They will have to play better this weekend.


18:00 Exeter v London Irish
London Irish have a desperately difficult start to the season, with their most winnable fixture having been last weekend when Tigers came avisiting. Adding that defeat to 3 in pre-season and a visit to Sandy Lane is not what new coach Coventry would have been wanting, especially with Saracens and Bath up next. Both teams lost scrappy encounters that they feel they should have got more from. Exeter made innumerable visits to the Bath 22 leaving pointless far too often, while London Irish dropped the ball unopposed over the line and were held up on a second occasion. Exeter should be too strong and will probably look to involve England returnees Slade (starting rather than from the bench), Parling and Nowell. Exeter should be far too strong, especially if Paice is as wonky with his throwing for a second week.



Sun 25th Oct 15

14:00 Leicester v Harlequins BT Sport
Both teams won at the weekend, though Quins were probably more convincing. Leicester should be stronger this week as they re-integrate WC returnees and players who missed last week with niggles. Harlequins will however travel up to the East Midland firmly believing they can win and keen to put last seasons woeful performance in Friday night rain behind them. Breakdown will be key. Tigers are looking to play a much quicker game this season but that can be easily stemmed if Quins slow down possession. Meanwhile Tigers have to ensure that Quins do not build any offloading momentum. Probably will not be a classic as both teams will need a while to be at full oomph as new players and styles of play are introduced.

LondonTiger wrote:Someone else will need to do this thread next week.

Please tell me you're planning on getting arrested after punching Bruce Craig?

yappysnap wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:Someone else will need to do this thread next week.

Please tell me you're planning on getting arrested after punching Bruce Craig?

Spending half term with my daughters.

Fair enough mate, I hope she's well after that accident.

On a rugby note my predictions for the weekend:

Sarries
Sale
Saints
Wasps
Exeter
Quins

yappysnap wrote:Fair enough mate, I hope she's well after that accident.

Aye, she is thanks. She did a triathlon a few weeks ago.

Her older sister however may have a spotty oick as her first bf

LondonTiger wrote:

yappysnap wrote:Fair enough mate, I hope she's well after that accident.

Aye, she is thanks. She did a triathlon a few weeks ago.

Her older sister however may have a spotty oick as her first bf

Fastest growing sport in England, was it a sprint, or straight in for the ironman...

Junior/Mini sprint, so quarter of normal sprint. Because of the accident swimming is her strength, but a reduction in the running is desired.

Now time to check teams

Harlequins team
15. Mike Brown
14. Marland Yarde
13. George Lowe
12. Harry Sloan
11. Charlie Walker
10. Nick Evans©
9. Karl Dickson

1. Mark Lambert
2. Dave Ward
3. Adam Jones
4. James Horwill
5. Sam Twomey
6. Jack Clifford
7. Luke Wallace
8. Mat Luamanu

16. Joe Gray
17. Joe Marler
18. Kyle Sinckler
19. Charlie Matthews
20. Nick Easter
21. Danny Care
22. Ben Botica
23. Ollie Lindsay-Hague

CHIEFS SIDE TO FACE LONDON IRISH
15 Phil Dollman 14 Jack Nowell 13 Henry Slade 12 Ian Whitten 11 James Short 10 Gareth Steenson (capt) 9 Will Chudley 1 Ben Moon 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie 3 Tomas Francis 4 Mitch Lees 5 Damian Welch 6 Dave Ewers 7 Don Armand 8 Thomas Waldrom 16 Jack Yeandle 17 Alec Hepburn 18 Moray Low 19 Geoff Parling 20 Julian Salvi 21 Dave Lewis 22 Sam Hill 23 Olly Woodburn

Wasps’ squad to play Bath at the Ricoh Arena on Saturday, 24 October 2015, 2pm KO
15. Rob Miller
14. Christian Wade
13. Elliot Daly
12. Ben Jacobs
11. Frank Halai
10. Jimmy Gopperth
9. Joe Simpson
1. Matt Mullan
2. Carlo Festuccia
3. Jake Cooper-Woolley
4. Joe Launchbury
5. James Gaskell
6. James Haskell (c)
7. George Smith
8. Nathan Hughes

16. Ashley Johnson
17. Simon McIntyre
18. Lorenzo Cittadini
19. Kearnan Myall
20. Sam Jones
21. Dan Robson
22. Ruaridh Jackson
23. Sailosi Tagicakibau

Newcastle Falcons v Northampton Saints

Saturday 24th October 2015 – KO 13:45

15 Hammersley, 14 Venditti, 13 Harris, 12 Powell, 11 Tuilagi, 10 Delany, 9 Tipuna, 1 Vickers, 2 Lawson, 3 Welsh, 4 Green, 5 Furno, 6 Clever, 7 Latu, 8 Hogg (C)

Replacements 16 McGuigan, 17 Fry, 18 Vea, 19 Botha, 20 Welch, 21 Dawson, 22 Catterick, 23 Penny.

Leicester:

Logo, Youngs, Balmain, Fitzgerald, DeChaves, Williams, Croft, McCaffery
Harrison, Bell, Goneva, Bai, Betham, Thompstone, Tait

Thacker, Brugnara, cole, Pearce, Fonua, White, Williams, Smith

Wasps look really strong on paper there. That is one cracking back row!

Exeter as well look to have a strong 23. That bench especially has lots of quality with Parling and Salvi to come one. All the back subs could make an impact too plus club captain Yeandle - hopefully he won't be coming on to shore up the set-piece for LCD.

Falcons have brought plenty of experience into their line-up too with Venditti, Tuilagi, Jon Welsh, Furno, Latu and Hogg all internationals added to the XV.

Really like that Quins team

LondonTiger wrote:Leicester:

Logo, Youngs, Balmain, Fitzgerald, DeChaves, Williams, Croft, McCaffery
Harrison, Bell, Goneva, Bai, Betham, Thompstone, Tait

Thacker, Brugnara, cole, Pearce, Fonua, White, Williams, Smith

So in a season when we were looking forward to having the option of two big ball carriers at 8 we have both on the bench and 3 blind sides in the back row.

Good to see Niki back in on the wing - I'm really hoping he can get back to his best if used more sparingly and in his best position this season.

Youngs and Cole I would ideally have liked to see given another week off. With so many of the tight 5 missing I can understand Cockers being keen to get them back in, I just fear it is too soon for two players who have had recurring injury issues in the past.

LondonTiger wrote:Junior/Mini sprint, so quarter of normal sprint. Because of the accident swimming is her strength, but a reduction in the running is desired.

Now time to check teams

Best of luck to her.

News reporting that JJ is out for 3 months for that pectoral injury, sorry if it's not relevant to this thread but didn't want to start a whole new thread.

If this is the case I think Bath have a right to ask some serious questions about whether England played him when he wasn't fit and made it worse. If there was a shadow of a doubt, why on earth would you play him against Uruguay?

Two England 13's and two pec injuries. Dodgy tackling technique

Leaves him just enough time to come back just before the 6N, be woefully lacking match sharpness and Barritt being brought in as the saviour

king_carlos wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:Leicester:

Logo, Youngs, Balmain, Fitzgerald, DeChaves, Williams, Croft, McCaffery
Harrison, Bell, Goneva, Bai, Betham, Thompstone, Tait

Thacker, Brugnara, cole, Pearce, Fonua, White, Williams, Smith

So in a season when we were looking forward to having the option of two big ball carriers at 8 we have both on the bench and 3 blind sides in the back row.

Good to see Niki back in on the wing - I'm really hoping he can get back to his best if used more sparingly and in his best position this season.

Youngs and Cole I would ideally have liked to see given another week off. With so many of the tight 5 missing I can understand Cockers being keen to get them back in, I just fear it is too soon for two players who have had recurring injury issues in the past.

Cole has had 1 injury of note in the Past (That I can remeber) pretty serious but he also had nearly a year off. Cockers wouldn't of played either if he wasn't 100% sure IMO.

TBF that backrow has looked good in preseason, I expect it is aimed at the breakdown more trying to stop Wallace and Clifford, With Croft the wider runner.

Reckon with 20 to go the pack will look like this:
1) Brugnara, 2) Thacker, 3) Cole
4) Fitzgerald, 5) williams
6) Pearce, 7) Croft/McCaffrey, 8) Fonua

Agree with all that Welly. I think the numbers the back row are wearing will only apply at the scrum otherwise they'll play their games as usual in the loose.

Well I like the look of the team we've put out but I still worry as Saints have a strong team.

If we can get some decent ball then our backs will cause them serious problems but the big question is can we get decent ball!!

NORTHAMPTON SAINTS TEAM TO PLAY NEWCASTLE
Aviva Premiership R2
stadiummk
Saturday, October 24th, 2015
Kick off 1:45pm
15 Ben FODEN
14 Ken PISI
13 George PISI
12 Luther BURRELL
11 Jamie ELLIOTT
10 Stephen MYLER
9 Lee DICKSON (capt)
1 Alex WALLER
2 Dylan HARTLEY
3 Kieran BROOKES
4 Courtney LAWES
5 Christian DAY
6 Jamie GIBSON
7 Tom WOOD
8 Sam DICKINSON

16 Mikey HAYWOOD
17 Ethan WALLER
18 Paul HILL
19 Michael PATERSON
20 Jon FISHER
21 Kahn FOTUALI'I
22 JJ HANRAHAN
23 Ahsee TUALA

Bath Rugby team to face Wasps

15 Tom Homer
14 Semesa Rokoduguni
13 Ollie Devoto
12 Kyle Eastmond
11 Anthony Watson
10 George Ford
9 Niko Matawalu
1 Nick Auterac
2 Ross Batty
3 Henry Thomas
4 Stuart Hooper (c)
5 Dave Attwood
6 Matt Garvey
7 Alafoti Faosiliva
8 Leroy Houston

Replacements

16 Rob Webber
17 Max Lahiff
18 Dave Wilson
19 Dom Day
20 Guy Mercer
21 Chris Cook
22 Rhys Priestland
23 Matt Banahan

Is Burgess injured?

Ozzy3213 wrote:Is Burgess injured?

From the team announcement blurb:

Meanwhile, Sam Burgess is rested for this weekend's match

Come on Gloucester.

Cheated try by sarries

Crowd loving sarries...

Looked like a forward pass to me, 36 isn't playing that great

I see Joseph is out for 3 months. A few 13s might be eyeing that spot.

Daly?

nathan wrote:Looked like a forward pass to me, 36 isn't playing that great

He didn't play that great last week despite all the plaudits. His handling was poor etc...

He was lucky we gave him 13 chances to kick the ball through the posts and he managed 9. Any decent kicker could have scored them.

Ashton gave away 2 penalties in the space of 5 seconds

Glos kicking has been awful

George doing well so far

Ands that why Tewlvetrees should not play for England again....he just butchers too many chances.

man sausage up by 36, that so should of been a yellow

Still a better option than Barritt! Wheres Itoje?

I wouldn't pick either of them 7.5...neither should be nowhere near the next squad.

George has been impressive again.

Battle on the English 7's.........Fraser on top at the breakdown.

That looked liked it was well in to touch, have sarries paid the ref off now?

Mako is not a good scrummager

Yeah George is really looking good. How on earth was he so little used in the WC???

Wouldn't say he's playing brilliantly but he's doing good

Looking strong at the breakdown too. We've got to go George/Hartley going forward

I don't agree with hartley

Hartley doesn't carry enough for me

Hartley and George look the strongest set piece options Youngs does add loads in the loose but the tides turning. Is Itoje injured or just dropped?

Blimey did Doran JOnes get bent daft there!

Then he redeems himself.