Aviva Premiership - Round 14

After a month's gap domestic eyes return to the league this weekend.

Friday 9th February

19:45 Bath v Northampton   BT Sport
Bath are blowing hot and cold this season so far. Having been knocked out of the Champions Cup in January, the reserves managed to secure a home semi in the A/W cup. Missing players due to 6 nations and injuries they need to make sure that they can hold Saints physically. Saints on the other hand will need to come out all guns blazing. Hope created by the fine win against Clermont was then smashed by the 3rd trouncing from Sarries so far this season. When their forwards front up this season they play well. too often though they have appeared spineless and lacking any fight. Both sides will be looking for a win to kick start their run in to the end of the season. Home advantage will probably tell as Bath ease home by a score.


Saturday 10th February

14:00 Exeter v Worcester
One of the more helpful factors for Exeter in previous 6 Nations windows has been the lack of call ups for their players. Things have now changed significantly with a significant chunk of their side missing this week. Even so they should still have far too much for a Worcester side with it's own absentees. Exeter may have struggled to use their possession well against Glasgow last month, but the warriors cannot allow Exter to go through the phases as they usually do. Eventually something will break. Thus the visitors need to try and starve  Exeter of possession and avoid kicking the ball away. Squeeze them then unleash the runners available (but no Adams of course). Frankly I am struggling to see beyond a TBP win for the defending champs.

14:30 Gloucester v Leicester
A struggling Leicester team travel to 4th place Gloucester hoping to beat their hosts for the 3rd time this season. The previous games were at Welford Road however. Ackermann is slowly building a team with the fighting spirit you would expect from the Cherry and Whites. While Ed Slater may not find it as easy to steal lineouts as he did back in the Autumn, with Tigers having now rewritten their call book, Tigers woes in this area have largely continued. Gloucester will win with some ease, unless Leicester can return to the form they showed back in October. Missing our first choice props and half backs does not help.

14:30 Saracens v Newcastle
Saracens are missing a lot of key players and showed during the AIs how this can make them vulnerable. Falcons tend to flatter to deceive when playing the Barnet Wolfpack however. Play well and they have a good change of taking a serious scalp - but they have to believe. More importantly Deano has to believe and select a side that can win, rather than waiting to next weekend.

15:00 London Irish v Sale
Sale have risen to 7th in the table, and could end this weekend in the top half if results go their way. When you look at their tight 5 this would be remarkable. de Klerk is doing a sterling job in organising and sparking his backs. Still the exiles have to view this as a winnable fixture. As they seek to put some pressure on Worcester.


Sunday 11th February

13:00 Harlequins v Wasps
The arrival of the 4th meeting between these sides sees the visitors holding a 2-1 lead, with their win last month in the Champions Cup effectively knocking Wasps out. That game showed us the best and worst of Wasps. Their attack in the first half was incredible, their defence and attitude in the second half execrable. With Quins missing key leaders with England, Wasps should be too strong. However they would have been favourites before each of their losses to Quins and Quins do have home advantage

Oh this is a league game. Saw we'd drawn them away on a Friday and presumed this was it.

Bath Rugby XV

15. James Wilson
14. Matt Banahan
13. Will Hurrell
12. Ben Tapuai
11. Aled Brew
10. Freddie Burns
9. Kahn Fotuali’i
1. Lucas Noguera
2. Tom Dunn
3. Max Lahiff
4. Elliott Stooke
5. Charlie Ewels
6. Matt Garvey (c)
7. Paul Grant
8. James Phillips

Replacements
16. Ross Batty
17. Nick Auterac
18. Henry Thomas
19. Luke Charteris
20. Josh Bayliss
21. Chris Cook
22. Josh Lewis
23. Darren Atkins

SAINTS
15 Ahsee Tuala
14 Ken Pisi
13 Rob Horne
12 Tom Stephenson
11 Ben Foden
10 Piers Francis
9 Cobus Reinach

1 Campese Ma’afu
2 Mikey Haywood
3 Kieran Brookes
4 Api Ratuniyarawa
5 Christian Day (capt)
6 Tom Wood
7 Jamie Gibson
8 Teimana Harrison

Replacements:
16 Reece Marshall
17 Francois van Wyk
18 Jamal Ford-Robinson
19 David Ribbans
20 Ben Nutley
21 Nic Groom
22 Harry Mallinder
23 Nafi Tuitavake

Injury update:
Alex Waller, Jamie Elliott, Luther Burrell, and James Craig are unavailable for selection.

Scottrf wrote:SAINTS
15 Ahsee Tuala
14 Ken Pisi
13 Rob Horne
12 Tom Stephenson
11 Ben Foden
10 Piers Francis
9 Cobus Reinach

1 Campese Ma’afu
2 Mikey Haywood
3 Kieran Brookes
4 Api Ratuniyarawa
5 Christian Day (capt)
6 Tom Wood
7 Jamie Gibson
8 Teimana Harrison

Replacements:
16 Reece Marshall
17 Francois van Wyk
18 Jamal Ford-Robinson
19 David Ribbans
20 Ben Nutley
21 Nic Groom
22 Harry Mallinder
23 Nafi Tuitavake

What has happened to Brussow, thought he would bench at least.

Will Hurrell on loan at Bath? Presume he's recovering from injury. He signed a new deal with Bristol not long ago which was a shame I wanted him back home.

formerly known as Sam wrote:Will Hurrell on loan at Bath? Presume he's recovering from injury. He signed a new deal with Bristol not long ago which was a shame I wanted him back home.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/42859953

Good signing for Bath. Bristol tying to balance the books again? They let us have Tuohy for the first half of the season. Keep the wages down a bit whilst the income is low but retain the squad ready for next season?

Bat will certainly have a bit more aggression in the midfield.

Despite the absentees it's still a pretty strong Saracens team. It's not a small pack, that's for sure.
15 Alex Goode (250)

14 Liam Williams (8)

13 Marcelo Bosch (111)

12 Brad Barritt (211)

11 Chris Wyles (243)

10 Alex Lozowski (49)

9 Ben Spencer (120)

1 Richard Barrington (124)

2 Christopher Tolofua (15)

3 Vincent Koch (34)

4 Will Skelton (21)

5 Nick Isiekwe (23)

6 Calum Clark (15)

7 Schalk Burger (42)

8 Jackson Wray (189)



16 Scott Spurling (27)

17 Hayden Thompson-Stringer (21)

18 Juan Figallo (78)

19 Ben Earl (12)

20 Sione Vailanu (2)

21 Tom Whiteley (10)

22 Max Malins (11)

23 Nathan Earle (33)

Leicester Tigers (v Gloucester, away, Saturday 2.30pm)

15 Telusa Veainu
14 Nick Malouf
13 Manu Tuilagi
12 Matt Toomua
11 Adam Thompstone
10 Joe Ford
9 Sam Harrison
1 Greg Bateman
2 Tom Youngs (c)
3 Logovi’i Mulipola
4 Mike Fitzgerald
5 Graham Kitchener
6 Mike Williams
7 Brendon O’Connor
8 Sione Kalamafoni

Replacements

16 Tatafu Polota-Nau
17 Kyle Traynor
18 Pat Cilliers
19 Harry Wells
20 Luke Hamilton
21 Harry Simmons
22 Gareth Owen
23 Mathew Tait



Gloucester Rugby: 15 Jason Woodward, 14 Tom Marshall, 13 Henry Trinder, 12 Billy Twelvetrees, 11 Ollie Thorley, 10 Billy Burns, 9 Willi Heinz (c); 1 Josh Hohneck, 2 James Hanson, 3 John Afoa; 4 Tom Savage, 5 Mariano Galarza; 6 Jake Polledri, 7 Lewis Ludlow, 8 Ruan Ackermann
Replacements: 16 Motu Matu’u, 17 Cameron Orr, 18 Fraser Balmain, 19 Ed Slater, 20 Freddie Clarke, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Mark Atkinson, 23 Matt Scott

Harlequins squad to face Wasps (Harlequins appearances)

15. Ross Chisholm (88)
14. Alofa Alofa (47)
13. Joe Marchant (48)
12. Jamie Roberts (46)
11. Tim Visser (53)
10. Marcus Smith (19)
9. Dave Lewis (9)

1. Lewis Boyce (13)
2. Dave Ward (Captain, 135)
3. Kyle Sinckler (113)
4. Ben Glynn (17)
5. Charlie Matthews (156)
6. James Chisholm (50)
7. Luke Wallace (154)
8. Mat Luamanu (60)

16. Joe Gray (144)
17. Mark Lambert (225)
18. Will Collier (118)
19. Stan South (11)
20. Archie White (15)
21. Jono Kitto (6)
22. Ian Prior (5)
23. Aaron Morris (14)

Sad to see our long term injuries all still out, Horwill too. But Sinckler is back! Generally decent team, well off first team, but decent.

I'm not sure we'll ever see Saili or Catrakalis in a Quins shirt at this rate, mind. And Bothma out the rest of the season after looking class when he finally got a shot.

Glaws have had a dreadful track record against Tigers in recent years; hopefully this will finally be the game that turned the tide... I've written Tigers off on so many occasions and the wily so and so's keep coming back. Glaws have put a strong side out, but we haven't been in the best of form recently. Ackers has made it clear he will no longer undertake a rotation policy for the remaining 1/3 of the season, so hopefully the form will return sharpish. The heart says Glaws, the head says Tigers. It could be an intriguing game.

Most games should be home wins for the rest. The stand out game is Irish v Sale. This is a must win game for Irish, as there won't be many more winnable home games coming up. With Wuss unlikely to get anything from their game, it is vital Irish get the win. Unfortunately I can see the Sale pack getting the upper hand and grinding out a win.

Wasps team to play Harlequins

15. Willie Le Roux

14. Christian Wade

13. Juan De Jongh

12. Kyle Eastmond

11. Josh Bassett

10. Danny Cipriani

9. Dan Robson

1. Simon McIntyre

2. Tom Cruse

3. Jake Cooper-Woolley

4. James Gaskell

5. Kearnan Myall

6. Jack Willis

7. Thomas Young

8. Guy Thompson

Replacements:

16. Tommy Taylor

17. Matt Mullan

18. Marty Moore

19. Nathan Hughes

20. Ashley Johnson

21. Joe Simpson

22. Jimmy Gopperth

23. Gaby Lovobalavu

Wasps look better to me, but Quins at home, and basically playing incredibly unpredictably.

Quins could play a stormer and thrash Wasps again or play abysmally and lose by 50. Who the hell knows?

LondonTiger wrote:After a month's gap domestic eyes return to the league this weekend.

Friday 9th February

19:45 Bath v Northampton   BT Sport
Bath are blowing hot and cold this season so far. Having been knocked out of the Champions Cup in January, the reserves managed to secure a home semi in the A/W cup. Missing players due to 6 nations and injuries they need to make sure that they can hold Saints physically. Saints on the other hand will need to come out all guns blazing. Hope created by the fine win against Clermont was then smashed by the 3rd trouncing from Sarries so far this season. When their forwards front up this season they play well. too often though they have appeared spineless and lacking any fight. Both sides will be looking for a win to kick start their run in to the end of the season. Home advantage will probably tell as Bath ease home by a score.


Saturday 10th February

14:00 Exeter v Worcester
One of the more helpful factors for Exeter in previous 6 Nations windows has been the lack of call ups for their players. Things have now changed significantly with a significant chunk of their side missing this week. Even so they should still have far too much for a Worcester side with it's own absentees. Exeter may have struggled to use their possession well against Glasgow last month, but the warriors cannot allow Exter to go through the phases as they usually do. Eventually something will break. Thus the visitors need to try and starve  Exeter of possession and avoid kicking the ball away. Squeeze them then unleash the runners available (but no Adams of course). Frankly I am struggling to see beyond a TBP win for the defending champs.

14:30 Gloucester v Leicester
A struggling Leicester team travel to 4th place Gloucester hoping to beat their hosts for the 3rd time this season. The previous games were at Welford Road however. Ackermann is slowly building a team with the fighting spirit you would expect from the Cherry and Whites. While Ed Slater may not find it as easy to steal lineouts as he did back in the Autumn, with Tigers having now rewritten their call book, Tigers woes in this area have largely continued. Gloucester will win with some ease, unless Leicester can return to the form they showed back in October. Missing our first choice props and half backs does not help.

14:30 Saracens v Newcastle
Saracens are missing a lot of key players and showed during the AIs how this can make them vulnerable. Falcons tend to flatter to deceive when playing the Barnet Wolfpack however. Play well and they have a good change of taking a serious scalp - but they have to believe. More importantly Deano has to believe and select a side that can win, rather than waiting to next weekend.

15:00 London Irish v Sale
Sale have risen to 7th in the table, and could end this weekend in the top half if results go their way. When you look at their tight 5 this would be remarkable. de Klerk is doing a sterling job in organising and sparking his backs. Still the exiles have to view this as a winnable fixture. As they seek to put some pressure on Worcester.


Sunday 11th February

13:00 Wasps v Harlequins
The arrival of the 4th meeting between these sides sees the visitors holding a 2-1 lead, with their win last month in the Champions Cup effectively knocking Wasps out. That game showed us the best and worst of Wasps. Their attack in the first half was incredible, their defence and attitude in the second half execrable. With Quins missing key leaders with England, Wasps should be too strong. However they would have been favourites before each of their losses to Quins.

Quins are actually home, LT

HongKongCherry wrote:Glaws have had a dreadful track record against Tigers in recent years; hopefully this will finally be the game that turned the tide... I've written Tigers off on so many occasions and the wily so and so's keep coming back. Glaws have put a strong side out, but we haven't been in the best of form recently. Ackers has made it clear he will no longer undertake a rotation policy for the remaining 1/3 of the season, so hopefully the form will return sharpish. The heart says Glaws, the head says Tigers.  It could be an intriguing game.

Most games should be home wins for the rest.  The stand out game is Irish v Sale.  This is a must win game for Irish, as there won't be many more winnable home games coming up.  With Wuss unlikely to get anything from their game, it is vital Irish get the win.  Unfortunately I can see the Sale pack getting the upper hand and grinding out a win.

Tigers attack play from their forwards has been dire. Our form lock has been left on the bench whilst our most ineffective starts. There are no explosive carriers in the pack outside the front row. Our flyhalf produced the worst display I've ever seen from a Tigers 10 vs Castres and Harrison at 9 has forgotten how to attack around the fringes.

Glaws should be looking at 5 points. All they have to do is keep hold of the ball and pressurise our half backs when they don't.

You're not fooling anyone Sam!

ChequeredJersey wrote:
Quins are actually home, LT

Oops. Corrected

HongKongCherry wrote:You're not fooling anyone Sam!

Most Tigers fans are hoping Joe Ford pulls up injured in the warm up.

Our two academy lads that have been given AWC chances have looked better in depleted teams than Joe has looked in far stronger teams. The word sideways will be on your lips when describing his play after the game tomorrow.

Tuala is a disaster today. 3 major mistakes in 5 minutes. No wonder Saints can't get anything going. Plus poor lineout. Saints are dominating scrums and are counter-rucking well. UFB

Embarrassing really. Can't believe what has happened to my club.

doctor_grey wrote:Embarrassing really.  Can't believe what has happened to my club.

Shocking. Bath were poor today. We look like we don't train.

Scottrf wrote:

doctor_grey wrote:Embarrassing really.  Can't believe what has happened to my club.

Shocking. Bath were poor today. We look like we don't train.

.....or simply don't give a damn.  

At least we can start to see who really wants to be here, or has the goods to be here, and who will simply be gone next season.

Was always going to be a battle of who was slightly less terrible

ChequeredJersey wrote:Wasps team to play Harlequins

15. Willie Le Roux

14. Christian Wade

13. Juan De Jongh

12. Kyle Eastmond

11. Josh Bassett

10. Danny Cipriani

9. Dan Robson

1. Simon McIntyre

2. Tom Cruse

3. Jake Cooper-Woolley

4. James Gaskell

5. Kearnan Myall

6. Jack Willis

7. Thomas Young

8. Guy Thompson

Replacements:

16. Tommy Taylor

17. Matt Mullan

18. Marty Moore

19. Nathan Hughes

20. Ashley Johnson

21. Joe Simpson

22. Jimmy Gopperth

23. Gaby Lovobalavu

Wasps look better to me, but Quins at home, and basically playing incredibly unpredictably.

Quins could play a stormer and thrash Wasps again or play abysmally and lose by 50. Who the hell knows?

I fancy Wasps, naturally! For this one. That has got to be one of the strongest benches we have ever put out.

Agreed, and now they've moved it to the Stoop I might see if I can jog along....good work JT

Next week is now the biggest match of the season for Saints.  London Irish at home.  Shame it is with Hartley and Lawes away with England.  No match is a certainty with this Saints group.  

Really sad how a fixture which was once a low profile run-of-the-mill game in the middle of the Six Nations is now huge.  Win and Saints are almost completely out of the relegation zone.   Lose and London Irish are still in it with a fight ahead.  

By the way, am I daft (possible), but did it seem Brookes was our best player last night?  How bad does that make Saints????

Saints could lost all of the rest of our games and Irish will still go down.

You are right, of course, but I like the mathematical certainty.  Plus, if Saints win, at least they will have shown some urgency in an important game.

Wow, Wuss just managed to beat Exeter 5-6. Great effort by the Worcester team, amazing!
Now the afternoon will be complete if England do the business...

Weird scoreline, eh? I had to double check after I saw your post because it is a little bizarre.. Like a baseball score. And down in Exe to boot.

Very strange shoreline but a happy one for me! Exeter hit the post with their conversation attempt too - it was that close.

A bit turning on the quins v wasps game....what was the red card? I noticed Haskell isn't on the pitch....

Marcus Smith playing an absolute blinder again....

https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/962683723421372416

Two red cards in one passage of play, impressive from Eastmond.

Smith just seems to have twice as much time on the ball as anyone else on the pitch.

Absolute shambles in defence from Wasps there, totally switched off.

Hmm, both teams given up defending apparently.

On comes Hughes....

Another braindead performance from Quins....against 14 men aswell, pathetic.

It's very hard to look past the coaching team. Easter and Evans while good clubs servants, just aren't good enough coaches....less said about Kingston the better. We've got a great squad of players now, just need some top class coaching.

Great performance by Wasps today with a man down for 3/4s of the game.
Superb in defence in the main.
How long before  Jack Willis is wearing the red rose

Jack Willis is useless. England can ignore him for years to come, nothing to see here, move along.

kingelderfield wrote:Jack Willis is useless. England can ignore him for years to come, nothing to see here, move along.

Unless he suffers from second season syndrome he's going to be a big time player for Wasps and Eddie will be watching. Powerful carrier with a big engine and tendency to win turnovers. Be interesting to see how he fits in with the other Wasps backrow options for next season, there's a lot of talent with Young, Hughes, Brad Shields, Johnson, Jones, Reider and probably Carr as well.

kingelderfield wrote:Jack Willis is useless. England can ignore him for years to come, nothing to see here, move along.

impossible

Awful by Quins. Awful.

Exeter Chiefs still not yet used to losing players to England.

Managing the international window isn't easy.

ChequeredJersey wrote:Awful by Quins. Awful.

2nd that......Complete collapse in the second half!

Don't worry - guaranteed win for Quins this weekend.

LondonTiger wrote:Don't worry - guaranteed win for Quins this weekend.

Sad but true. Could well be a competition of the most incompetent. Quins should be safe in the knowledge that our DOR will pick experience over form 9 times out of 10 so the young players we've got capable of making a difference because they are actually playing well won't start.

Both teams are currently so poor that the only hope for viewers it that it turns into one of those entertaining farces rather than a boring, low-skilled affair. Neither team can defend but the attacks are also so incompetent that we'll probably see 3 knock-ons for every 1 linebreak.

HongKongCherry wrote:You're not fooling anyone Sam!

Actually Sam you were spot on!

I will gladly take the win, but we butchered so many opportunities and may well rue not getting the TBP. Your pack lacked any edge and it was noticeable how much better you were once Ford and Harrison went off. The biggest disappointment though was the performance of Tuilagi; he added absolutely nothing. He failed to make any impact on the crash ball and his passing was slow and laboured. I fully appreciate he's had a pretty poor run of things on the injury front, but he is a million miles away from being the force he once was.

Glaws were still pretty average at times. Wuss away and Wasps at home are our next 2 games and they could be what makes or breaks our season. The players who weren't average were Polledri and 36. Polledri is a ball carrying beast, he just knocks people away and carries on. And 36, who has been having a decent season, played possibly his best game for us since Nigel Davies left.

Manu hasn't managed to have much of an impact at all HKC but you went a long way in providing mitigation for that in the previous sentence. A pack going backwards and poor halfbacks basically means that it's easy for the defence to press him with multiple tacklers before he can get moving.

With a beaten pack and a 9, 10 and 12 all offering no running threat whatsoever there isn't a 13 in world rugby that could look good in the current Tigers set up.

HongKongCherry wrote:

HongKongCherry wrote:You're not fooling anyone Sam!

Actually Sam you were spot on!

I will gladly take the win, but we butchered so many opportunities and may well rue not getting the TBP.  Your pack lacked any edge and it was noticeable how much better you were once Ford and Harrison went off.  The biggest disappointment though was the performance of Tuilagi; he added absolutely nothing.  He failed to make any impact on the crash ball and his passing was slow and laboured.  I fully appreciate he's had a pretty poor run of things on the injury front, but he is a million miles away from being the force he once was.

Glaws were still pretty average at times. Wuss away and Wasps at home are our next 2 games and they could be what makes or breaks our season.  The players who weren't average were Polledri and 36.  Polledri is a ball carrying beast, he just knocks people away and carries on.  And 36, who has been having a decent season, played possibly his best game for us since Nigel Davies left.

Manu's form has been fairly average. With our pack being so poor going forward we don't really have the platform to launch him. Joe "Hospital Pass" Ford doesn't help stood so deep and running sideways before passing, his centre nearly always gets ball and two defenders.