Aviva Premiership - Round 10

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Round 10
Fri 29th 19:45 Northampton Saints  v   Wasps BT Sport

Sat 30th 14:30 Sale Sharks  v   London Irish
Sat 30th 15:00 Gloucester Rugby  v   Leicester Tigers
Sat 30th 15:15 Saracens  v   Bath Rugby BT Sport
Sun 31st 15:00 Newcastle Falcons v   Harlequins

Sun 31st 15:00 Worcester Warriors  v   Exeter Chiefs BT Sport

Saints are a dire rugby team. Burrell/Pisi both are 13s with zero kicking or handling ability. Our wingers get no ball because the only option the centres have is run into man and recycle with no offload. Absolutely no pressure on rucks, Wasps had free ball all night. Then we were sleeping for the whole first half, defense had no cohesion, didn't get near some tackles. Not to mention the shocking line out. Dreadful. The scoreline is flattering.

Didn't think I'd see a worse pitch than tigers this season but the glos pitch is woeful

Sarries not being clinical at all. Two potential try scoring opportunities squandered.

Sarries starting slow but coming back into it and starting to turn up the pressure. Bath looking better with Cook bossing the show at 9.

Burns having a poor return to Kingsholm.

Gifted Glaws one try and rwo simple penalties missed.

Just showed the tackle stats of Sarries

19 made, 7 missed. Shocking.

Saracens always have a high missed tackle count as they commit so hard. Gustard never seemed to mind as the missed tackles still caused an issue and the next man cleared up.

True Londontiger but Sarries have been very sloppy so far.

McCall needs to give a good team talk at half time.

I wouldn't worry bs, Sarries will win at least 1 trophy this season.

Bath look much better with Cook at sh, he is turning into a good player.

LondonTiger wrote:Burns having a poor return to Kingsholm.

Gifted Glaws one try and rwo simple penalties missed.

Can't understand why Bell isn't kicking. Would play to our strengths to have his howitzer of a boot off the tee leaving Burns to concentrate on play making.

Our basics are rubbish

Bateman brushed aside by hook :s

Bateman has been woeful.

JP doesn't like to give any meaningful advantages for either team

As long as we beat Falcons, I like this spread of results so far. If Worcester could have a stormer vs Exeter (but with LCD and Hill having a great return off the bench) that would be greatly appreciated

JP getting a bit too involved lol

Also, on mentioning England 12s, anyone else rate Mills at Worcester?

Glous well of their feet there, JP not having the greatest game - far to whistle happy

Ahhh JP just let it go, no idea what he saw of Morgan there

Lovely try!

stunning try

TIIIIIIGGGGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRs

And then burns misses again....

Burns snatches at another kick, must be nerves.

These are soft soft penalties against both teams, I'd much prefer if the ref would let some of them go.

That shocking ref call, ballances the earlier one against Glaws I guess.

LondonTiger wrote:That shocking ref call, ballances the earlier one against Glaws I guess.

Yeah true, hopefully bell starts to take the kicks

Should Hibbard have been yellowed too?

nathan wrote:Should Hibbard have been yellowed too?

Hibbard was more worthy of yellow

Please let bell take it, not burns

Thank god, bells taking it

Bell is.........good

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

We were lucky to win that, glous forwards were on top for most of that game.

nathan wrote:We were lucky to win that, glous forwards were on top for most of that game.

Credit to our attacking play though.

That display shows why Exeter were happy to let Bateman go, could not throw straight, could not hook and could not tackle.

LondonTiger wrote:

nathan wrote:We were lucky to win that, glous forwards were on top for most of that game.

Credit to our attacking play though.

That display shows why Exeter were happy to let Bateman go, could not throw straight, could not hook and could not tackle.

Yeah though he was poor too, youngs back next week though. Thought taut had an excellent game

ChequeredJersey wrote:Also, on mentioning England 12s, anyone else rate Mills at Worcester?

Yes but I think he looks better at 10. Based on what I've seen of him this season anyway. At 12 he doesn't quite have the carrying game but at 10 he's a good footballer and tends to make the right decisions.

Itoje what a player.

Saw the last twenty of the Tigers game. We looked a lot better once Thacker came on. He offered a real threat ball in hand, his throwing in sharp and the scrum looked just as solid.

Love how dangerous our backs look when the game opens up, tore through Glaws out wide and Morgan very much deserved that yellow for the cynical pull. He put off the winning try but it was the right call considering how lethargic our big lads looked ball in hand. Credit to Crane who had some nice touches including the final turnover which was mistakenly credited to Barrow.

Damn it, Gloucester!

And now Sarries are bringing the come back on Bath

Bateman first game back, His lineouts were on par to an off day for Youngs.

Thacker had Logo and Ayerza which help scrum wise, but him and Balmain might have been found out.

Crane had a great game, looked more relaxed not forcoing things.

Tait rolled back the years, Betham was everywhere so was Veainu.

Bell had a poor game by his standards, bar key kick at the end. Burns looked good in everywhere but kicking.

Mauger done wonders to our attacking play out wide.

I get the Itojie hype now, get him in the England squad ASAP.

Maybe Welly, Balmain has been pretty solid when propping at tighthead though. He's come on well this season and we've started to see him bring a good carrying game as well. It's was only the first game back for Bateman but he needed to hit the ground running with Youngs well established and the club considering hooker options for next season.

formerly known as Sam wrote:Maybe Welly, Balmain has been pretty solid when propping at tighthead though. He's come on well this season and we've started to see him bring a good carrying game as well. It's was only the first game back for Bateman but he needed to hit the ground running with Youngs well established and the club considering hooker options for next season.

Balmain is very good IMO, but i he isn't experienced enough to scrum with Thacker yet.

Thacker big plus is he is a brilliant striker regardless.

Thacker is super talented. If only he was a little bigger, though perhaps that would negate some of his strengths. I still think he'd make a brilliant Brussouw-esque flanker.

Balmain has been good this season when he hasn't had to play loosie. Great engine. Great carrier.

Welly wrote: Bateman first game back, His lineouts were on par to an off day for Youngs.

Thacker had Logo and Ayerza which help scrum wise, but him and Balmain might have been found out.

Crane had a great game, looked more relaxed not forcoing things.

Tait rolled back the years, Betham was everywhere so was Veainu.

Bell had a poor game by his standards, bar key kick at the end. Burns looked good in everywhere but kicking.

Mauger done wonders to our attacking play out wide.

On comeallwithin, someone did deep stats analysis for all the centres in the AP and Betham has incredible stats (as does Daly, unsurprisingly)

Saints are in the pooper.  Now we will learn what Jimmy is made of.  These guys have a track record of performing much better than this.  So, let's learn how the team responds to adversity.  Life is about character.

My old man is having a hairball. Good thing I am 3452 miles away (as the hairball flies).

http://sport.bt.com/video-01363814401986?videoid=4729536803001

Lovely offload by Betham

His offloading is much better than his passing, why I am glad he is now back to wing.

ChequeredJersey wrote:Also, on mentioning England 12s, anyone else rate Mills at Worcester?

Yes

I'd like to see Betham and TV playing wing or full back with Tait mainly a centre from now on. Don't think Tait has the pace for running it back these days but he's still got the footwork to do the job in the midfield and his passing game in underrated.