2017/18 Aviva Premiership Round Seven

Friday 27th October

Sale vs Exeter (19:45)

Saturday 28th October

Harlequins vs Worcester (15:00)
Northampton vs Wasps (15:00)
Saracens vs London Irish (15:00)

Sunday 29th October

Bath vs Gloucester (15:00)
Newcastle vs Leicester (15:00)

Exeter
Quins
Saints
Sarries
Bath
Newcastle

All home wins I reckon with Sale edging it against a tired Chiefs side. The middle four matches run the risk of being boringly uncompetitive but hopefully I'm wrong about that.

I'd be more than happy with Tigers picking up a BP from Kingston Park.

Quins game is likely to be competitive as we always seem to make hard work of Worcester. Wouldn’t be surprised by a draw or only just scraping a win, or even a loss

Well - with an entire front row suspended for Quins - Marler, Ward, Sinkler and Collier possibly injured! I would imagine the Worcester pack will be relishing the chance to turn the screw.
That big Tighthead - Allo? will be having a field day.
And, as you say Yappy - we normally make hard work of these games.

15 Will Addison Captain
14 Denny Solomona
13 Sam James
12 Mark Jennings
11 Byron McGuigan
10 James O'Connor
9 Faf de Klerk
1 Ross Harrison
2 Rob Webber
3 WillGriff John
4 Bryn Evans
5 Andrei Ostrikov
6 Jono Ross
7 Tom Curry
8 Josh Strauss

16 Marc Jones
17 James Flynn
18 Halani Aulika
19 George Nott
20 TJ Ioane
21 Cameron Neild
22 Will Cliff
23 Mike Haley

15 Phil Dollman
14 Lachie Turner
13 Henry Slade
12 Ian Whitten
11 James Short
10 Gareth Steenson
9 Nic White
1 Carl Rimmer
2 Jack Yeandle (capt)
3 Harry Williams
4 Mitch Lees
5 Ollie Atkins
6 Don Armand
7 Sam Simmonds
8 Thomas Waldrom

16 Elvis Taione
17 Alec Hepburn
18 Tomas Francis
19 Jonny Hill
20 Sam Skinner
21 Stuart Townsend
22 Tom Hendrickson
23 Tom O'Flaherty

propdavid_london wrote:Well - with an entire front row suspended for Quins - Marler, Ward, Sinkler and Collier possibly injured! I would imagine the Worcester pack will be relishing the chance to turn the screw.  
That big Tighthead - Allo? will be having a field day.
And, as you say Yappy - we normally make hard work of these games.

I'd appreciate it if Quins didn't lose to Warriors

Falcons only missing Dave Wilson, Scott Wilson and Gary Graham this weekend of note.

We can promise nothing Heaf!

Driver wrote:Falcons only missing Dave Wilson, Scott Wilson and Gary Graham this weekend of note.

Tigers are missing Matt Toomua so our defence will lack cohesion, you could well get a TBP. Our pack should be pretty good to go though so maybe we'll grab one as well. Tries for everyone on Sunday.

Exeter, I would love a Sale win but think our defence is far too leaky currently
Northampton
Saracens
Bath
Leicester, a very close win

On paper Sarries should absolutely spank us, but we actually have a pretty decent record at Allianz Park.  We've played there three times and won once, and the most points we've conceded in any game is 24, losing 24-14 on our last visit.  You never know, if we get our selection right, play like we did last week, they rest some of their stars and the back ups have an off day, then we could come away with something.*


*I'm sure my usual Friday morning optimism will be deflated shortly after midday today and further popped round about ten past three tomorrow!

COME ON YOU IRISH!!! 

Newcastle Falcons team to face Leicester Tigers (Sunday, 3pm, Kingston Park Stadium)

15 Alex Tait
14 Vereniki Goneva
13 Chris Harris
12 Juan Pablo Socino
11 Sinoti Sinoti
10 Toby Flood
9 Sonatane Takulua

1 Rob Vickers
2 Kyle Cooper
3 Jon Welsh
4 Calum Green
5 Sean Robinson
6 Mark Wilson
7 Will Welch (captain)
8 Nili Latu

Replacements
16 Scott Lawson
17 Sami Mavinga
18 Trevor Davison
19 Will Witty
20 Ally Hogg
21 Michael Young
22 Joel Hodgson
23 Maxime Mermoz

Leicester Tigers (v Newcastle Falcons, away, Sunday 3.00pm)

15 Telusa Veainu

14 Nick Malouf

13 Matt Smith

12 Mathew Tait

11 Jonny May

10 George Ford

9 Ben Youngs

1 Ellis Genge

2 Tom Youngs (c)

3 Dan Cole

4 Dom Barrow

5 Graham Kitchener

6 Valentino Mapapalangi

7 Brendon O’Connor

8 Sione Kalamafoni

 

Replacements

16 Harry Thacker

17 Greg Bateman

18 Pat Cilliers

19 Harry Wells

20 Luke Hamilton

21 Sam Harrison

22 Joe Ford

23 Adam Thompstone

Looking at those teams it'll be a close game. I expect Falcons to edge it at home and I am concerned about the Tigers midfield. Tait and Smith don't have the best injury records and are both north of 30. I'm not sure both will manage the 80 and we have no cover on the bench so it'll be Malouf the recent 7s convert in at centre, positioning has been his weakness in 15's.

Up front we're strong and the return of Thacker and Wells to the bench should mean we are dynamic and contesting the breakdown hard in the second half.

Good team IMO.

Even match up.

Prefer our Front row
Prefer Falcons second row
Draw in the back row. Tigers back row have looked better
Prefer our half backs
Prefer their Centres
Draw in the back 3 may and gonvea  equal and prefer Sinoti to Malouf and Veainu to Tait.
Bench pretty even would take Thacker, bateman, Cilliers, Hamilton and Harrison over falcons options.

Every time I see Thacker's name on the team sheet it's like the moment in a Poopie romcom when the lovers to be first lay eyes on each other. My heart skips a beat and the sound of birds merrily chirping away fills the room.

This is the backrow I've been wanting to see so it's time for me to either be exposed as a fraud or proven right. Disappointed that Evans didn't get a spot on the bench for what should be a high tempo game on plastic, but then again I'd have been disappointed had Wells missed out.

15 Ahsee Tuala
14 Ben Foden
13 Nafi Tuitavake
12 Luther Burrell
11 Tom Collins
10 Piers Francis
9 Nic Groom
1 Alex Waller
2 Dylan Hartley (capt)
3 Kieran Brookes
4 Courtney Lawes
5 Api Ratuniyarawa
6 Jamie Gibson
7 Tom Wood
8 Teimana Harrison

16 Mikey Haywood
17 Francois van Wyk
18 Paull Hill
19 Christian Day
20 Michael Paterson
21 Cobus Reinach
22 Harry Mallinder
23 Ken Pisi

Shout out for Matt smith 150th Leicester start (210 appearances) between him and his dad Ian that's nearly 541 appearances in a Leicester shirt.

Has flood played with Takulua, Socino and Harris before?

Possibly the first time that 4 have lined up together Welly.

Really looking forward to the Tigers match. Quite even on paper but we're in better form and at home. First time in years that we're going into this one as favourites which speaks volumes on far we've come.

I expect tries and more tries in this one, possibly past 30 for both teams.

Sgt_Pooly wrote:I expect tries and more tries in this one, possibly past 30 for both teams.

That would be incredible. Scores well into the triple digits.

The form is pretty even IMO recently.

Why triple digits?

Welly wrote: The form is pretty even IMO recently.

Table would suggest we're in slightly better form and we're home. Horses for courses...

Any hope Sarries might take this one easy have been well and truly dashed - bit concerned Warriors might turn Quins over too with the number of their starting players missing through bans etc ...

The Falcons v Tigers match does look like it could be a great one - especially after Tigers put in a good performance last weekend ... at the moment I have Falcons to win with a small margin on Superbru but it could go either way and knowing me I'll fiddle with my choice at the last minute and mess it up ...

Heaf2 wrote:Any hope Sarries might take this one easy have been well and truly dashed - bit concerned Warriors might turn Quins over too with the number of their starting players missing through bans etc ...

Itoje has been rested at least.

With Saracens to be heavily depleted during the AIs, a strong performance vs LI is important because could lose at least two games.

Shame we didn't get to play you in the AIs to give us more of a chance ...

Falcons have just sold out for the first time in 9 years there, Will Welch 200th appearance also.

COYF!

Locked in a 6 point win for Sale on SuperBru and instantly realised it was a stupid move.

Rash move ...

Driver wrote:Falcons have just sold out for the first time in 9 years there, Will Welch 200th appearance also.

COYF!

Great to see the rugby fans are out in force up north. It's good for the game in this country. Hope to leave them all disappointed this weekend, realistically I think they'll be leaving happy.

Toomua is leaving a big hole in our midfield and Matt Tait is unlikely to fill it in quite the same way. Socino will be sent down that channel an awful lot this game because it should be easy yards and Tigers don't have a replacement options other than to shift Smith to 12 and then Flood's passing and Harris outside break will make the easy yards instead.

Scottrf wrote:
4 Courtney Lawes

19 Christian Day
20 Michael Paterson

Sure, lets just continue to flog Lawes until he breaks. Understandable with no other options available.....

Have exeter gone off the boil a bit?

Why is Haley on the bench for Sale? Addison is habing a shocker at fullback. He's got a big boot but no accuracy.

The trail ruck law has to be redacted. There is no space and too many defenders. Unintended consequences, perhaps?

kingelderfield wrote:The trail ruck law has to be redacted. There is no space and too many defenders. Unintended consequences, perhaps?

It isn't helping. I know they've encouraged players to pick and go through the middle to try ane keep the players tight in round the breakdown but it isn't working. There's a lot more big collisions with so many forwards on their feet waiting for the next tackle as well.

Is it really worth pinging off feet when there's no opposition player trying to content the breakdown? Was there at least one example just as illegal before the Chiefs booted the ball out? I'd say so. Annoying reffing decision that.

That was definitely there for the taking but Sale really are poor at the minute. Exeter were far too knackered to play their usual game but at no point did Sale look like scoring. Even in the last few minutes when they got on Exeter's 5m line with a man advantage they were slow and lazy with their pick and goes and eventually got pinged for going off their feet. In truth they could've been pinged at every ruck leading up to that.

Chiefs won't play that badly again and they picked up 4 points on the road.

Fuzzy Dunlop wrote:That was definitely there for the taking but Sale really are poor at the minute. Exeter were far too knackered to play their usual game but at no point did Sale look like scoring. Even in the last few minutes when they got on Exeter's 5m line with a man advantage they were slow and lazy with their pick and goes and eventually got pinged for going off their feet. In truth they could've been pinged at every ruck leading up to that.

Chiefs won't play that badly again and they picked up 4 points on the road.

The tight five for Sale were far too lightweight. The Chiefs found it far too easy to slow the ball down and the pick and go game lacked any real power as you say. I thought the Sale backs actually controlled their Chief counterparts well and the Sale set piece held its own. I think they could be a decent side with O'Connor and de Klerk starting to click they just have to do something about that tight five it's too predictable and neither fit nor powerful enough.

The Chiefs looked tired but like any good champions they got the job done.

I think your point about Addison was spot on aswell, so much kicking for large parts of the game and Sale were never on top. It always felt like the mistake would come from them first.

It does feel terribly cruel that Sale were denied the chance to win for going off their feet when so much of Exeter's game plan is built on players flying into rucks like a torpedo to string the phases together. CMK ignored it for 75 minutes and then decided to officiate it.

Fuzzy Dunlop wrote:I think your point about Addison was spot on aswell, so much kicking for large parts of the game and Sale were never on top. It always felt like the mistake would come from them first.

It does feel terribly cruel that Sale were denied the chance to win for going off their feet when so much of Exeter's game plan is built on players flying into rucks like a torpedo to string the phases together. CMK ignored it for 75 minutes and then decided to officiate it.

What annoyed me about the Sale jiving was that it was aimless and as you say the Chiefs were generally more than happy just to kick it back safe in the knowledge that they had better kickers on the field and a good defensive line. When Sale kicked with imagination they caused serious problems. James chip for himself took 13 Chiefs players out the game and the de Klerk kick dink from the lineout should have resulted in a try.

Haley added a lot more to the counter attack when he came on. His introduction should have been earlier. Also a secialost fullback so unsurprising he was more compassed kicking from deep under pressure.

We really are struggling with our tight 5 currently and to be honest missing a real impact centre. Last night we only looked like scoring any tries when we dinked over the Chiefs defence as has been said it was far too easy to slow our ball down so we were always facing a very set and ready defence.

Having said that our lineout more than held its own and was surprised we did not kick to the corner more, I was disappointed at the end with the scrum we went for the line with our forwards instead of going wide when Chiefs were a man down. With our backs we should have bet on ourselves to score in a situation like that.

in the backs I believe Sale can worry any team, but currently the pack is not able to give them the opportunities they need. Our defence looked better than earlier in the season.

One final note Haley should have started as he is easily the best full back in the team and it shows.

Heaf2 wrote:

propdavid_london wrote:Well - with an entire front row suspended for Quins - Marler, Ward, Sinkler and Collier possibly injured! I would imagine the Worcester pack will be relishing the chance to turn the screw.  
That big Tighthead - Allo? will be having a field day.
And, as you say Yappy - we normally make hard work of these games.

I'd appreciate it if Quins didn't lose to Warriors  

Looking dodgy at the moment

2 quick tries for Sarries and all hope is lost .... at least Quins seem to have woken up a bit ...

But then they let Wuss get the TBP

In other news - Wasps seem to have got their mojo back