Aviva Premiership Round 5 - Preview

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TABLE


Friday, 28 September 2012

Northampton v Wasps, 19:45

Northampton Team News:

Waldouck replaces George Pisi, while Lawes continues to feature at 6, PDJ selected over Mooj and Myler gets the nod over Lamb.

15 James WILSON, 14 Ken PISI, 13 Dom WALDOUCK, 12 Luther BURRELL, 11 Vasily ARTEMYEV, 10 Stephen MYLER, 9 Lee DICKSON
1 Soane TONGA'UIHA, 2 Dylan HARTLEY (capt), 3 Paul DORAN JONES, 4 Samu MANOA, 5 Christian DAY, 6 Courtney LAWES, 7 Tom WOOD, 8 Rhys OAKLEY

Replacements
16 Mike HAYWOOD, 17 Alex WALLER, 18 Brian MUJATI, 19 Mark SORENSON, 20 Phil DOWSON, 21 Martin ROBERTS, 22 Ryan LAMB, 23 Tom MAY


Wasps Team News:

A raft of changes for Wasps. Johnson and Poff are unavailable this week seeing Launchberry switch to back row and joined by Haskell and Vunipola. Chris Bell comes in at centre, while former Glaws winger Bailey makes his first appearance for Wasps. This match will mark Tim Paynes 250th appearance for the club. The oft-maligned (and at times unfairly) prop has been a stalwart for Wasps through thick and thin.

1 Tim Payne, 2 Tom Lindsay, 3 Zak Taulafo, 4 Tom Palmer, 4 Marco Wentzel (c ), 6 Joe Launchbury, 7 James Haskell, 8 Billy Vunipola
9 Joe Simpson, 10 Nick Robinson, 11 James Bailey, 12 Chris Bell, 13 Andrea Masi, 14 Christian Wade, 15 Tommy Bell

Replacements
16 T Rhys Thomas, 17 Simon McIntyre, 18 Fabio Staibano, 19 Sam Jones, 20 James Cannon, 21 Charlie Davies, 22 Stephen Jones, 23 Elliot Daly



Worcester v London Irish, 20:00

Worcester Team News:

3 changes to the Warriors starting XV. Matt Kvesic makes another start at 8, Josh Matavesi comes in at 12 while Arr replaces the injured Perry at 9.

15 Chris Pennell, 14 Nikki Walker, 13 Alex Grove, 12 Josh Matavesi, 11 David Lemi, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Jonny Arr,
1 Matt Mullan, 2 Aleki Lutui, 3 John Andress, 4 James Percival, 5 Dean Schofield (c), 6 Chris Jones, 7 Sam Betty, 8 Matt Kvesic

Replacements
16 Ollie Hayes, 17 Ceri Jones, 18 James Currie, 19 Craig Gillies, 20 Semisi Taulava, 21 Ollie Frost, 22 Joe Carlisle, 23 Jon Clarke


London Irish Team News:
Tagicakibau and Paice return to the LI line-up (I thought Paice was still banned?)

1 Lahiff, 2 Paice, 3 Aulika, 4 Evans, 5 Garvey, 6 Danaher, 7 Gibson, 8 Treviranus
9 O'Leary, 10 Humphreys, 11 Yarde, 12 Shingler, 13 Joseph, 14 Tagicakibau, 15 Homer

Replacements
16. Shaun Malton; 17. Jerry Yanuyanutawa*; 18. Alan Cotter; 19. George Skivington; 20. Alex Gray; 21. Topsy Ojo*; 22. Shane Geraghty*; 23. Jack Moates




Saturday, 29 September 2012

Bath v Sale , 14:15

Leicester v Exeter, 14:15

Sunday, 30 September 2012

Harlequins v Saracens, 14:00

London Welsh v Gloucester, 15:00

Dear me... has somebody replaced Evans' kicking boots with Wellies? Not going at all well.

And now Farrell to put Sarries into the lead

I'm pleased for Farrell, he's taken some stick and he is a better player than he's shown recently.

Other than goal kicking he has still been pretty poor today.

In other news Glaws 9pts up at HT over LW. Two tries for Glaws.

BigTrevsbigmac wrote:I think Brown must be pound for pound one of the strongest players in the Prem

I tihnk he is a great player, would put him as my first choice for England.

LondonTiger wrote:Other than goal kicking he has still been pretty poor today.

I see it as a confidence issue though, he can take small steps in the right direction. His goal kicking (and Evans') has kept Sarries in the game.

Evans having a bit of a Brock James meltdown.

Interesting tackle by Farrell on Brown.

Typical, in the above poll I went for Sarries, but chickened out in SuperBru and went with Quins.



Ugly, ugly game.

LondonTiger wrote:Interesting tackle by Farrell on Brown.

Didn't Ashton rip it from Brown first?

Wow, that was an awful game... Sarries are superb in defence, but there should be more to the game than that. They won't win many more fans/ neutrals over by playing that sort of game.


Mind you, winning away at the Champions. It's difficult to knock that.

Cumbrian wrote:

Biltong wrote:Tell me guys Brown the fullback from Quins, is he the guy that came to SA?

Yes Brown played in S.A. mind you, so did his opposite number Alex Goode.

Brown only got to play the first test, thumb ligament damage he got in that match ruled him out for the rest of the series.

niwatts wrote:

Cumbrian wrote:

Biltong wrote:Tell me guys Brown the fullback from Quins, is he the guy that came to SA?

Yes Brown played in S.A. mind you, so did his opposite number Alex Goode.

Brown only got to play the first test, thumb ligament damage he got in that match ruled him out for the rest of the series.

What is factually inaccurate about my post?

Did any of us play well?

Cumbrian wrote:

niwatts wrote:

Cumbrian wrote:

Biltong wrote:Tell me guys Brown the fullback from Quins, is he the guy that came to SA?

Yes Brown played in S.A. mind you, so did his opposite number Alex Goode.

Brown only got to play the first test, thumb ligament damage he got in that match ruled him out for the rest of the series.

What is factually inaccurate about my post?

Sorry, didn't mean to suggest that, was expanding on rather than correcting it.

niwatts wrote:

Cumbrian wrote:

niwatts wrote:

Cumbrian wrote:

Biltong wrote:Tell me guys Brown the fullback from Quins, is he the guy that came to SA?

Yes Brown played in S.A. mind you, so did his opposite number Alex Goode.

Brown only got to play the first test, thumb ligament damage he got in that match ruled him out for the rest of the series.

What is factually inaccurate about my post?

Sorry, didn't mean to suggest that, was expanding on rather than correcting it.

No worries, I just having a laugh.

Cumbrian wrote:

niwatts wrote:

Cumbrian wrote:

niwatts wrote:

Cumbrian wrote:

Biltong wrote:Tell me guys Brown the fullback from Quins, is he the guy that came to SA?

Yes Brown played in S.A. mind you, so did his opposite number Alex Goode.

Brown only got to play the first test, thumb ligament damage he got in that match ruled him out for the rest of the series.

What is factually inaccurate about my post?

Sorry, didn't mean to suggest that, was expanding on rather than correcting it.

No worries, I just having a laugh.

Yeah, got that, just sayin,

ChequeredJersey wrote:Did any of us play well?

Scrum went well, very well. Lineout started to struggle.

At various times Easter, Guest and Robshaw showed up well, ball in hand. Hopper showed some spark, Brown played well. Evans went into melt down after starting well.

Cumbrian wrote:Dear me... has somebody replaced Evans' kicking boots with Wellies? Not going at all well.

Every great goal kicker has an off day now and then.

Pleased to see Farrel get all his kicks today though.

majesticimperialman wrote:

Cumbrian wrote:Dear me... has somebody replaced Evans' kicking boots with Wellies? Not going at all well.

Every great goal kicker has an off day now and then.

Pleased to see Farrel get all his kicks today though.

Problem was he seemed to let it affect the rest of his game.

LW take the lead at the Kassam. 15 minutes to go. Win this game and they go into the top 6.

Why oh why can they not just show the LW games on tv? (I know the answer, I'm just being a grumpy and moaning teenager ok)

LW 25 - G 24 Latest. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/live_scores/13136475.stm)

Now 25 - 31.

Commentary on radio here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union-19747984

Gloucester get a score, they're winning 31-25

About 3 mins to go. Ross named MOM.

Less than 5 minutes to go in Oxford.

A try for Glaws and they get the TBP - one for LW and they can sneak the win.

15 secs to go. Glos 5m attacking scrum.

Good 6 pt win for Glos -- losing bonus for LW.

Finished, Welsh get a losing BP. Not the worst result in the world for them.

Cumbrian wrote:Finished, Welsh get a losing BP. Not the worst result in the world for them.

I am interested to see the attendance. They got 6.5k when Tigers visited (with a lot of away fans) but just 3k for Exeter's visit.

Full credit to Welsh, they look a dangerous side in broken field play. But Glaws came a bit too close to losing a game we should have won with a bit more to spare.

A tip to anyone going to Kassam, buy your ticket online not at the ground. I missed the first 20 minutes of the game due to the absolute shambles of a system they have. I would imagine a number of fans will have missed the whole of the first half based on the que behind me. Very, very poor logistics by Welsh and not what you expect at this level.

HKC, how long before kick off did you arrive?

As someone ran into the back of us at the Cowley roundabout, not as early as we would have liked. We were queing from 2.30 for tickets, so it took us 50 minutes. There were several hundred people behind us in the que.

With Quins at home up next, a comparison with last season seemed appropriate after this first set of games. Last year Exe had 15 points after 6 games with a won 3/lost 3 record. This year we will have at least 11 points (realistically probably have 12 after Quins). The big difference is in the strength of the teams that we have played.

Last year we had played sides that finished 2,3,4,8,11,12. This year we'll have played sides that finished 1,2,3,4,6,12*, a significantly harder set of fixtures and still probably be within 3 points of last year's total (even if we don't beat Quins next weekend). So on paper we are behind on paper, but it's better than it looks. With the 'P' shares sorted too now at last, we might even see the odd additional player come in, and it'll be great to have Gonzo Camacho back after his heroics in TRC.



* As LW weren't in the Prem last year I am calling them 12th in the same way that we were seeded for the Amlin and LV on that basis in our first season, I'm not implying that I think they will necessarily be bottom at the end of this season.

Cumbrian wrote:Wow, that was an awful game... Sarries are superb in defence, but there should be more to the game than that. They won't win many more fans/ neutrals over by playing that sort of game.


Mind you, winning away at the Champions. It's difficult to knock that.

You sound suprised

Jimpy wrote:

Cumbrian wrote:Wow, that was an awful game... Sarries are superb in defence, but there should be more to the game than that. They won't win many more fans/ neutrals over by playing that sort of game.


Mind you, winning away at the Champions. It's difficult to knock that.

You sound suprised

Still hurting from seeing Quins bully Leicester at WR?

No not really, but quite pleased that Leicester scored 3 tries and Sarries didn't score any. Again. Living proof (and proving my point) that even a dynamic team like Quins can be dragged down to to the level of Sarries.

Jimpy suppose it's all about perspective. I would rather score no tries away at Quins and win rather than fail to get the try bonus against a error strewn side.

You didn't score any tries against Quins either.

So far this season Leicester have shown they can score tries vs London Welsh,Worcester and Exeter. Bravo.

beshocked wrote:Jimpy suppose it's all about perspective. I would rather score no tries away at Quins and win rather than fail to get the try bonus against a error strewn side.

You didn't score any tries against Quins either.

So far this season Leicester have shown they can score tries vs London Welsh,Worcester and Exeter. Bravo.

No, it seems to be all about YOUR perspective, which is why I couldn't give a monkey's.

You really do like digging holes for yourself. The fact is that although Tigershavent scored many tries so far, they have created lots of try scoring opportunities which unfortunately, they didn't take (Log's effort on Saturday being a prime example). On the other hand, Sarries create few try scoring opportunies, they prefer to choke the opposition. They are dull to watch, do little to inspire supporters and despite their 'success' are a poor advert for the AP.

Yet you keep responding and criticising Saracens to get a reaction.

You do care.

Just ignore him Beshocked.

beshocked wrote:Yet you keep responding and criticising Saracens to get a reaction.

You do care.

I care because Saracens are damaging the sport - see my edit above.

Talk about missing the point!

Rugby Union is a game that invites different styles of play, that's why true fans love it.

Aslong as they get the W I don't think saracens will be too fussed about the playing style. I find it baffling why other teams fans get so up in arms about it! If you don't like it then don't watch Saracens play. Simple as that really.

The whole you're team is more boring then mine argument is very very boring

Oh great, HERSH and 'Shocked' are holding hands. I suppose it makes sense, if somebody tells them a joke, one can laugh, while the other one thinks about it.


Being lectured on fan loyalty and rugby knowledge by a Bath and a Sarries supporter.... The lunactics have truly taken over the asylum.

Jimpy wrote:Oh great, HERSH and 'Shocked' are holding hands. I suppose it makes sense, if somebody tells you a joke, one of you can laugh, while the other one thinks about it.


Being lectured on fan loyalty and rugby knowledge by a Bath and a Sarries supporter. The lunactics have truly taken over the asylum.

You do like to fly off the handle don't you?

yappysnap wrote:

Jimpy wrote:Oh great, HERSH and 'Shocked' are holding hands. I suppose it makes sense, if somebody tells you a joke, one of you can laugh, while the other one thinks about it.


Being lectured on fan loyalty and rugby knowledge by a Bath and a Sarries supporter. The lunactics have truly taken over the asylum.

You do like to fly off the handle don't you?

You also responded, so what does that make you?