Aviva Premiership - Round 13

First topic message reminder :

Well, the Doc brought a level of humour mixed with cynicism to the round 12 preview that I cannot hope to match (I do wonder if our former military medic has styled himself on Hawkeye Pierce ). so back to the more mundane I am afraid.

Table

POS	TEAM	-PL-	-W-	-D-	-L-	-PF-	-PA-	-DIFF-	-TF-	-TA-	-TB-	-LB-	-PTS-
1	Wasps	12	10	0	2	393	261	132	48	31	7	0	47
2	Saracens	12	10	0	2	299	134	165	33	9	4	2	46
3	Exeter Chiefs	12	7	1	4	324	226	98	40	28	6	3	39
4	Bath Rugby	12	8	0	4	272	192	80	29	19	3	2	37
5	Leicester Tigers	12	7	0	5	269	243	26	25	26	2	2	32
6	Northampton Saints	12	6	0	6	207	209	-2	18	16	1	3	28
7	Harlequins	12	6	0	6	251	285	-34	27	33	2	2	28
8	Newcastle Falcons	12	5	0	7	204	293	-89	23	34	2	3	25
9	Gloucester Rugby	12	3	2	7	264	258	6	28	30	3	6	25
10	Sale Sharks	12	3	1	8	219	293	-74	26	33	3	2	19
11	Worcester Warriors	12	2	2	8	215	354	-139	24	38	1	1	14
12	Bristol Rugby	12	2	0	10	190	359	-169	22	46	0	4	12

Fixtures

Friday 6th

19:45 Newcastle Falcons v Bath Rugby (BT Sport 1)
Falcons fans will be starting to wonder if they can qualify for next seasons Champions Cup. To do that they have to start winning these sort of matches. A misfiring Bath team, hit by injuries, will be stunned at their late collapse to Top 4 rivals Exeter last week and have to correct things very quickly. If Falcons can start as well as they did last week, Bath could be blown away before they have even shaken off the travel lethargy. Joel Hodgson needs to play better than last week (if selected – though if Delaney is in then Falcons surely have no hope.). With the mounting injuries to the Bath front row, Falcons will be looking to gain a significant edge up front and force Hodgson’s opposite number, England’s Ford, onto the back foot. With a significant number of the Bath line-up having been in Brighton for two days this week, their training will have been disjointed.
Falcons fans will be starting to wonder if they can qualify for next seasons Champions Cup. To do that they have to start winning these sort of matches.



Saturday 7th]

15:00 Gloucester v Worcester
Whilst matches with Bristol and Bath have more history, what we shall now call the M5 derby brings Glaws closest neighbours down to Castle Grim. When they are good Gloucester are a match for almost anyone, but when they are poor they are truly awful. Sometimes they manage both in one game. With 3 wins from 12 games you would normally talk about a team as relegation candidates, yet the other 9 matches have included two draws and six LBPs. This has them level on points with Falcons and only 3 behind Northampton who currently occupy the last Champions Cup spot. Start to turn those narrow defeats into wins and top 6 is still possible, though it could make the takeover more of a problem.
Worcester will have been relieved to win last week, and by all accounts were much the better team against Quins Joy however will have been tempered by news of Bristol’s win at Sale. Worcester are still missing some of their big players from last season and could struggle to match the home team this week.

15:00 Harlequins v Sale Sharks
Quins have flattered to deceive, mixing excellent performances with woeful ones. With the players available to them, they should have done better than they have so far. Noises of unease at new DoR John Kingston are surfacing on various forum. With this the last match before the 6Ns, where Quins can expect to lose the spine of their team, they simply have to beat a Sale team that has forgotten how to win.
Sale gave Bristol their first away win in the premiership last week and have not won a game now since the leaves were still on the trees. The takeover of the club has promised money for players for next season – but they have to get there first. The only real consolation for them this week will be that the two teams below them are also likely to lose.

15:00 Northampton v Bristol
Mikey Haywood says that Saints are refinding their mojo. Not sure I can agree with that yet, and the pressure is still on Jim and Doreen to maintain a top 6 position. Of course win this game and they would possibly leapfrog struggling neighbours Leicester into 5th spot. You do feel though that right now 5th spot just puts you at the top of the list of mediocre teams. Saints fans will want new boys Bristol to be despatched with ease and to see a style of play that indicates their team can build from here.
Bristol will probably lose, but have been much more competitive recently, gaining two wins and two losing BPs in their last five games, along with two big wins in the Challenge Cup. They could surprise Saints, but unlikely Varndell to break the Cueto try scoring record may be the only reward they get.

15:00 Saracens v Exeter (BT Sport 1)
In the 2014/15 season Chiefs beat the reigning champions home and away. Since then I think they have now lost 5 matches in a row in all competitions to the boys from Barnet. Both teams will have missed key players for much of this week’s training so impact should be negated.
While Sarries are not at their best at the moment, and will miss the Vunipola boys, Exeter too have not been on top form. If Chiefs can win the set-piece battles, most crucially at lineout, they could maul the champions out of this game. If Sarries can gain close to parity and force Exeter to go wider then their aggressive defence and ability on the counter attack should ease them home.


Sunday 8th

15:00 Wasps v Leicester (BT Sport 1)
Wasps are a good team in form. Leicester are not.

Wasps were lucky they got off to a flyer or it would have been a different result surely.

On a slightly annoying note I had Wasps by 6 in Superbru but then changed it last minute to a bigger margin - that'll learn me ....

Heaf wrote:Wasps were lucky they got off to a flyer or it would have been a different result surely.

On a slightly annoying note I had Wasps by 6 in Superbru but then changed it last minute to a bigger margin - that'll learn me ....

*teach

My mother in law says the same thing.... not that I'm one to worry about grammar

formerly known as Sam wrote:On another day then Tigers get a little more luck and we win that. Beale not getting binned and Cole going hurt us but that's the rub of the green.

Slater was HUGE and Eddie Jones will have noted that. The two opensides on the backrow particularly Evans being a pest meant that we were able to hard at the breakdown. Scrum was all us and with Smith leading the defence we slowly got better and better in that department (admittedly not too hard after the opening 10 mins). Positive signs we can hopefully see more of.

It's certainly going to take a fair few games to notice any difference with cockers gone. Glad to see they still had the cockerill type of aggression

nathan wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:On another day then Tigers get a little more luck and we win that. Beale not getting binned and Cole going hurt us but that's the rub of the green.

Slater was HUGE and Eddie Jones will have noted that. The two opensides on the backrow particularly Evans being a pest meant that we were able to hard at the breakdown. Scrum was all us and with Smith leading the defence we slowly got better and better in that department (admittedly not too hard after the opening 10 mins). Positive signs we can hopefully see more of.

It's certainly going to take a fair few games to notice any difference with cockers gone. Glad to see they still had the cockerill type of aggression

I think there were differences. The defence pressured and piled into the breakdown far more readily, Brett Deacon will be no less aggressive than Cockers. The scrum looked very good and very cohesive which used to be the case when Stanko was here and wasn't what our scrum looked like at the start of the season. 

In the second half the attack looked very different. It was almost Sarries like with channels targeted by multiple runners at pace on hard straight lines. Far too often this season we've seen an obvious runner take the ball standing skill, there was none of that. In the first half we saw what we've seen most this season, the players looking to the ref to ensure the breakdown was policed, in that second half we smashed the breakdown like missiles at times. We almost bypassed the ref and just hammered whoever was standing near the breakdown.

Our scrum was good against sarries when cockerill was still around so I don't think Stankovich made that much difference in 4 days.

Hopefully this improved performance keeps on getting better

nathan wrote:Our scrum was good against sarries when cockerill was still around so I don't think Stankovich made that much difference in 4 days.

Hopefully this improved performance keeps on getting better

Agreed. That looked to be pure power, today looked more controlled. We gave a really good picture to the referee from the off which allowed us to get away with one or two in the second half. Particularly in the corner when down to 14, Genge put in a great angle which made the poor bind of Swainston slip and give us a vital pen.

I am absolutely amazed at the final score. I left at halftime to go out and play touch Rugby and didn'yt see the second half. The first half was almost a training run for Wasps. Leicester must have pulled out the old grit and determination at halftime and played some Rugby in the second half. And Wasps must have put the match in the bank at halftime. I will watch the rest of the match later. Should be some compelling Rugby.

doctor_grey wrote:I am absolutely amazed at the final score.  I left at halftime to go out and play touch Rugby and didn'yt see the second half.  The first half was almost a training run for Wasps.  Leicester must have pulled out the old grit and determination at halftime and played some Rugby in the second half.  And Wasps must have put the match in the bank at halftime.  I will watch the rest of the match later.  Should be some compelling Rugby.

Second half was certainly a lot better from tigers, we could of won but there were some handling issues again. They were a lot more direct which helped getting over the gainline

There was some serious tactical fine tuning at half time.

Well yet another great game for the neutral involving Wasps!
Diasappointed that we didn't kick on & get the Bp but credit to Tigers for hanging in there & we were relieved to win in the end.
It's a good habit to get into though & The Ricoh really is our fortress.

Wales will really miss a trick if Young Young is not picked for the 6Ns but maybe Gats Law will see him ignored.

Cips at 10, Gops at 12 is by far our strongest set up but an abundance of quick fast talent to choose from.

I think Hask should be ok

nathan wrote:

Heaf wrote:Wasps were lucky they got off to a flyer or it would have been a different result surely.

On a slightly annoying note I had Wasps by 6 in Superbru but then changed it last minute to a bigger margin - that'll learn me ....

*teach

My mother in law says the same thing.... not that I'm one to worry about grammar

it was deliberate - normally I'm pretty anal about grammar too but it's an expression that seems popular around these parts

The Toad, having finished his breakfast, picked up a stout stick and swung it vigorously, belabouring imaginary animals. 'I'll learn 'em to steal my house!' he cried. 'I'll learn 'em, I'll learn 'em!'

'Don't say "learn 'em," Toad,' said the Rat, greatly shocked. 'It's not good English.'

'What are you always nagging at Toad for?' inquired the Badger, rather peevishly. 'What's the matter with his English? It's the same what I use myself, and if it's good enough for me, it ought to be good enough for you!'

'I'm very sorry,' said the Rat humbly. 'Only I think it ought to be "teach 'em," not "learn 'em."'

'But we don't want to teach 'em,' replied the Badger. 'We want to learn 'em— learn 'em, learn 'em! And what's more, we're going to do it, too!'

Barrington cleared of foul play at the disciplinary hearing, with Barritt banned for 3 weeks for his part in Parlings injury instead.

Common sense in my opinion. Barritt's challenge caused the entire incident and it was a reckless swinging arm tackle straight to the head.