Aviva Premiership - Round 21 Preview

First topic message reminder :

Just one set of home and away fixtures to go and still all to play for in the upper reaches of the table.

Positions

Northampton 71pts
Bath 66pts
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Saracens 62pts
Leicester 60pts
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Exeter 59pts
Wasps 57pts
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Sale 49pts
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Harlequins 48pts
Gloucester 43pts
London Irish 37pts
Newcastle 28pts
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London Welsh 1pt




Fixtures

Fri 8th May

19:45 Harlequins  v   Bath      BT Sport
Both sides still have very much to play for. Quins are just one point behind Sale in the fight for a champions Cup play-off spot, while Bath need to win their final two fixtures to guarantee a home semi-final and still need one win to guarantee a play-off spot. this will be Bath's 6th Friday night fixture of the season and so far they have a 100% record. the Quins back row shoudl provide Sam burgess with the biggest test of his BS abilities so far, while Danny Care will be on the lookout for any positional lapses from the former RL man. However do Quins have the inner belief to get right in Bath's face? Can the look to isolate and neutralise George Ford? I am not sure they can.


Sat 9th May

14:00 Sale Sharks  v   Newcastle Falcons

Sale's season has started to unravel, while Falcons have offered more than they have actually been able to deliver. Sale will hope for more from Cipriani this week as they seek the win that would keep them ahead of Quins, while Mark Cueto could be appearing in his last home fixture for the Sharks. Falcons lost the reverse fixture in a scrappy match. and can expect to face a Sale back row that will harry them for the full 80 minutes. In the end it may come down to whether the Falcons mdfield can keep making their tackles on Sale's PI pair.


15:00 Gloucester  v   London Irish

With Gloucester's win in the Challenge cup giving them a Champions Cup play-off spot, this fixture is really only for pride. A repeat of the Gloucester/Falcons tryfest would please neutrals.


15:00 Northampton v   London Welsh
Any win guarantees a home semi-final for Saints. The expected TBP win will guarantee top spot in the table should Bath fail to get anything other than a TBP win at the Stoop.


15:15 Wasps  v   Leicester Tigers BT Sport

Wasps came to Welford Rd in their last fixture before the move to Coventry and came second best in a turgid arm wrestle of a game. They will be looking to ensure that in the reverse fixture, the first M69 derby, the game is played at a much higher tempo. Since the early season thrashings at Bath and Gloucester, Tigers have had the meanset defence in the AP. However that does not tell the full story as it can often be caught short of numbers when facing fleet footed opposition. there are few teams more fleet footed than Wasps. they have power in the back row and real pace in the backs. It is possible this could be a painful defeat that all but ends the Tigers season. Yes somehow find the will to win and play-off Rugby is all but guaranteed. Both teams hope to welcome back long term absentees into their second row options with Launchbury and Slater set to make an appearance. Tigers would be really bolstered by the possible return from injury of Marcos Ayerza.


Sun 10th May

14:00 Saracens  v   Exeter Chiefs BT Sport

Win and Sarries make the play-offs, as well as improving the chances of the winner at the Ricoh. Depending on Bath's result at the Stoop they could even move back into second place and with just London Welsh to come all but guaranteed home semi final. Lose and they could drop out of the top 4. any player for player comparison would favour the team from Barnet - but Exeter have been making fools of such comparisons ever since they won promotion. If they can treat Saracen's scrum with the same disdain as they did Saints, if Ewers and Waldrom can continue to win the back row battle as they have done for much of the season then the tyros in the backs such as Slade and Hill could make it a very long afternoon for Sarries and their fans.

So extra space for a very quick wasps team....

Annoys me when I see players turn around a pump their fist when an opposition player gets sent off

That ought to be a game changer - and a big advantage for Wasps - but we've seen 14 men cause problems before. A spikey match could also mean that Wasps might lose a player to the bin if they aren't careful.

Absolutely Frak stupid from Bai. Had them to win by 15+ before the match but now I really can't see them holding out for 40min. Frak sake

Is it me or was there no contact with the head?

Really dumb from Bai. Disappointing as he was playing well.

Still in the lead but away from home with a man down and very fast Wasps backline this will take some huge second half performances from our big players to pull through. A real test for Burns trying to control a game under these circumstances without a 12.

The impact of our bench needs to be used very intelligently to maximise the potential damage to be done by Ayerza, Balmain, Slater, Harrison and Loamanu.

Originally I thought so but the replay they played just before half time looked shoulder to shoulder. Bai had been having a superb half he had to handle his frustration with Barnes breakdown roulette better than that.

Nathan, re the fist pumps. Wasps have been less than sporting from the outset. urine take music as Tigers came out and near constant shouting at the ref for decisions. They've barely been in the game other than some penalties (a couple of which were nest described as 50/50) but now should be in for an easy win.

It was Hugh's who was fist pumping as he walked away, I suspect he was doing a bit of play acting if there was no contact with his head as he was holding it.

Still, doesn't change what a plonker bai is

Is Hughes ever on his actual feet?

Barnes is pinging us off the park. We can't even tackle the lineout jumper when he's landed now.

Apparently we're not allowed to win a turnover

that was dirty and dangerous from goneva

that will be the end of simpson's season. lets hope he isnt ruled out of RWC backup

Goneva could be in bother there. Looks nothing more than maybe a penalty.

What's farcical is the "tackle" which involved two Tigers and four Wasps players where the ball was held up. Near identical piece of play at the other end was a maul and turnover for Wasps.

quinsforever wrote:that was dirty and dangerous from goneva

Absolute Love sacks

How come you haven't piped up when wasps keep tackling munipoli like that?

i only started watching at half time. cant comment on first half.

he will get cited for that tackle i betcha. late and dangerous.

Surely that's a yellow?

quinsforever wrote:i only started watching at half time. cant comment on first half.

he will get cited for that tackle i betcha. late and dangerous.

What about the wasps 2 that just dived at a tigers players legs?

ah i can see only monocles work on this thread. will leave you to it. good luck to both teams.

quinsforever wrote:ah i can see only monocles work on this thread. will leave you to it. good luck to both teams.

Then take yours off?

Put him of balance

Hitting someone at the knee whilst dangerous if the tackled player gets unlucky isn't illegal as long as he wraps the arms which Goneva did.

Problem is that it was clearly late.

Happy to see launchberrry back

Gibson was no different to Hughes there

Launchbury never released either. Barnes is only seeing one side. Very frustrating.

I like Harrison as a player, but he needs to sort his hair out lol

Surely there was a forward pass in that?

A penalty gone back for that was never called in play. Yep Barnes is doing what he does best.

nathan wrote:Happy to see launchberrry back

He didn't change his name while he was away. He's still Launchbury.

Sorry to be pedantic, but if we can handle Dallaglio and Vunipola, then we ought to be able to handle Launchbury.

The Daily Star couldn't:

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/other-sports/349926/England-31-Argentina-12-Billy-Twelvetrees-and-Joe-Launchberry-guide-England-to-victory

Rugby Fan wrote:

nathan wrote:Happy to see launchberrry back

He didn't change his name while he was away. He's still Launchbury.

Sorry to be pedantic, but if we can handle Dallaglio and Vunipola, then we ought to be able to handle Launchbury.

The Daily Star couldn't:

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/other-sports/349926/England-31-Argentina-12-Billy-Twelvetrees-and-Joe-Launchberry-guide-England-to-victory

Does it really matter? You still understood who I meant

Get in

nathan wrote:

Rugby Fan wrote:

nathan wrote:Happy to see launchberrry back

He didn't change his name while he was away. He's still Launchbury.

Sorry to be pedantic, but if we can handle Dallaglio and Vunipola, then we ought to be able to handle Launchbury.

The Daily Star couldn't:

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/other-sports/349926/England-31-Argentina-12-Billy-Twelvetrees-and-Joe-Launchberry-guide-England-to-victory

Does it really matter? You still understood who I meant

You know, it does matter. He's an England international.

Rugby Fan wrote:

nathan wrote:

Rugby Fan wrote:

nathan wrote:Happy to see launchberrry back

He didn't change his name while he was away. He's still Launchbury.

Sorry to be pedantic, but if we can handle Dallaglio and Vunipola, then we ought to be able to handle Launchbury.

The Daily Star couldn't:

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/other-sports/349926/England-31-Argentina-12-Billy-Twelvetrees-and-Joe-Launchberry-guide-England-to-victory

Does it really matter? You still understood who I meant

You know, it does matter. He's an England international.

And? He's no more important than any other misspelled name.

Anyway, back to the game.

Wasps definatly still in is

We shouldn't be measuring our own competence by the Daily Star.

This is going to be a last minute to try to wasps, I just know it's going to happen

As much as I rate wade, he's had a poor game today

nathan wrote:And?  He's  no more important than any other misspelled name.

It takes longer to write Launchberry than Launchbury. The other spelling is not a keyboard accident.

Rugby Fan wrote:

nathan wrote:And?  He's  no more important than any other misspelled name.

It takes longer to write Launchberry than Launchbury. The other spelling is not a keyboard accident.

Lol, honestly, you need to get out more mate

Well, we tried our best to feck it up with a stupid act by Bai. He'll be ashamed of himself.

Does anyone know the permutations, are we in the play offs if sarries win?

Was cockerill crying!!!

Shocked at that, Poopie all season then they manage to outscore Wasps 3 tries to nil after spending 40mins a man down. Still not expecting anything for this season but I'm really confident that they'll be a different beast next year.

God I Frak love Cockerill. His reaction was better than any fan's at the end.

nathan wrote:

Rugby Fan wrote:

nathan wrote:And?  He's  no more important than any other misspelled name.

It takes longer to write Launchberry than Launchbury. The other spelling is not a keyboard accident.

Lol, honestly, you need to get out more mate

I have previous on this issue. At least three times on this forum, if I recall.

Great win by Tigers.

It's easy to take an advantage when your are already ahead but much harder to deal with getting ahead first, and then staying in the lead. Wasps seemed to forget that they needed to score more points than Leicester.

He made me cry.

nathan wrote:As much as I rate wade, he's had a poor game today

I don't know if he was poor he was just anonymous.

Little bit sad that's the best Tigers display this season. The impact Slater made on our composure was massive. Nice to see Loamano back in and doing what we hoped he would.

Launchbury was excellent for Wasps. He covered every blade of grass today.

formerly known as Sam wrote:

nathan wrote:As much as I rate wade, he's had a poor game today

I don't know if he was poor he was just anonymous.

Little bit sad that's the best Tigers display this season. The impact Slater made on our composure was massive. Nice to see Loamano back in and doing what we hoped he would.

Launchbury was excellent for Wasps. He covered every blade of grass today.

Yeah from an England perspective it's great to see him back. Just hope slate gets called into the squad if he shows enough in the remaining games.

Saints are AP premiership "League Champions" securing top spot with a game to go. Who are they going to get in the playoffs I wonder.

I still cannot understand why there is no trophy for winning the league. I understand why the playoffs are necessary to, one generate more income, two give clubs that have faired poorly due to international call ups ( Saints especially ) a chance of winning, but there should be a gong and a cup for both.

totally agree

is interesting that the PRL uses league position to determine the seedings for the European Cup, not what happens in the playoffs

as for the game, only watched second half, but tigers looked worthy winners on that performance. great ambition to score a try when they did.

usual spoiling on the ground from gibson in early part of second half that i thought he was lucky to repeatedly get away with, but dogged defense did for wasps.

what a great league the AP is

nathan wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:

nathan wrote:As much as I rate wade, he's had a poor game today

I don't know if he was poor he was just anonymous.

Little bit sad that's the best Tigers display this season. The impact Slater made on our composure was massive. Nice to see Loamano back in and doing what we hoped he would.

Launchbury was excellent for Wasps. He covered every blade of grass today.

Yeah from an England perspective it's great to see him back. Just hope slate gets called into the squad if he shows enough in the remaining games.

Slater was called into the England camp in a non-playing capacity along with the likes of Launchbury and Manu during the Six Nations. Given that, the calls for another ball carrier in the pack and Attwood/Kruis struggling to impose themselves, I'd say his odds of him featuring in the warm-up games are pretty strong.

burgess's claims as ball carrying back rower option are growing weekly too.

i'm looking forwards to launch/lawes at 4/5 complemented very well by burgess as second ball carrier in the back row. dont expect to see it as starting lineup but wouldnt be surprised if it is by the latter stages of RWC. yes we lose something at lineout without wood, but most teams dont kick for touch these days, preferring the infield option, so i reckon burgess has to be in the squad.