Gallagher Premiership - Round 1 (Plus pre-season noise)

by **LondonTiger** Tue 14 Aug 2018, 12:47 pm

First topic message reminder :

Still a few weeks before the season starts (for the first time I think in August), but to concentrate our minds a thread for the first round of fixtures plus a chance to discuss pre-season form, your clubs new signings etc.

Round 1 Fixtures

Friday 31 August
19:45 Bristol v. Bath BT Sport

Saturday 1 September
14:00 Gloucester v. Northampton BT Sport
15:00 Harlequins v. Sale
15:00 Worcester v. Wasps
16:30 Exeter v. Leicester BT Sport

Sunday 2 September
15:00 Newcastle v. Saracens BT Sport

by yappysnap Fri 31 Aug 2018, 9:52 pm

Woohoo season start!

by yappysnap Fri 31 Aug 2018, 9:57 pm

Poorfour wrote:Anyway, teams are up:

Quins:
15. Mike Brown (298)
14. Nathan Earle (-)
13. Joe Marchant (56)
12. Ben Tapuai (-)
11. Aaron Morris (17)
10. Marcus Smith (28)
9. Danny Care (244)

1. Joe Marler (168)
2. Elia Elia (16)
3. Will Collier (126)
4. Matt Symons (-)
5. Dino Lamb (10)
6. Chris Robshaw (Captain, 257)
7. Luke Wallace (162)
8. Renaldo Bothma (6)

Game Changers

16. Max Crumpton (-)
17. Mark Lambert (234)
18. Phil Swainston (9)
19. Ben Glynn (20)
20. James Chisholm (55)
21. Charlie Mulchrone (18)
22. James Lang (22)
23. Paul Lasike (-)

SHARKS:
15. B MCGUIGAN
14. D SOLOMONA
13. S JAMES
12. L JAMES
11. M YARDE
10. AJ MACGINTY
9.W CLIFF

1.R HARRISON
2.R WEBBER
3.WG JOHN
4.B EVANS
5. J PHILLIPS
6. T CURRY
7. B CURRY
8. J ROSS (CAPTAIN)

REPLACEMENTS: 16.C NEILD 17. A. TARUS 18. J JONES 19. J BEAUMONT 20. J. STRAUSS 21. G WARR 22. M JENNINGS 23. P. ODOGWU

Interesting test for Quins. We've got a good team on paper and I am excited to see Tapuai and Lasike in action, but pre-season showed a team that was clearly a work in progress and sometimes looked like they'd only met in the car park before the game.

Great to see Robshaw back in there as Captain. I don't expect much of this season tbh, any kind of win against Sale would be great.

by Poorfour Sat 01 Sep 2018, 1:37 pm

Robshaw and Horwill co-captains, which the fans seem to be happy with. I guess we see in an hour's time how much of a struggle the season will be.

by formerly known as Sam Sat 01 Sep 2018, 5:06 pm

Poorfour wrote:Robshaw and Horwill co-captains, which the fans seem to be happy with. I guess we see in an hour's time how much of a struggle the season will be.

Different tone in your talk now? Sale were missing a few big names but that's still a very good result.

by Poorfour Sat 01 Sep 2018, 5:16 pm

formerly known as Sam wrote:
Poorfour wrote:Robshaw and Horwill co-captains, which the fans seem to be happy with. I guess we see in an hour's time how much of a struggle the season will be.

Different tone in your talk now? Sale were missing a few big names but that's still a very good result.

That was much better than pre-season had suggested we were set up for. Discipline needs work, but defence was good, breakdown ok, setpiece getting there and attack very promising.

by doctor_grey Sat 01 Sep 2018, 5:33 pm

Well, a bad start to the season for Saints. There were a few times when Saints appeared to know what they were doing, a nice change from last season, but still not good enough. I don't know how many penalties Saints conceded, but I stopped counting at 1 million. Can't win conceding a penalty every 30 seconds or so. And despite that, Saints almost made it close at the end.

by Sgt_Pooly Sat 01 Sep 2018, 7:16 pm

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Not many sides looking much stronger than on paper than last season, although I like that Saints back row. I can see Quins struggling again this season...they'll hammer Sale by 30pts now.

I think Yappy owes me a pint for that insightful prediction.

by formerly known as Sam Sat 01 Sep 2018, 8:36 pm

Big win from Chiefs. Tigers look like they met in the car park five minutes before kick off.

First sacking of the season could be as soon as next weekend if Falcons roll us over at Welford Road. Quite frankly Matt O'Connor may want to hide in his house until training on Monday because currently he's not a well liked man in Leicestershire.

by yappysnap Sat 01 Sep 2018, 8:56 pm

Sgt_Pooly wrote:
Sgt_Pooly wrote:Not many sides looking much stronger than on paper than last season, although I like that Saints back row. I can see Quins struggling again this season...they'll hammer Sale by 30pts now.

I think Yappy owes me a pint for that insightful prediction.

Definitely.

Can you do it every week now before I do my superbru picks...

by yappysnap Sat 01 Sep 2018, 8:58 pm

Also stunned and very happy with that Quins result.

Especially after so many people on social media have been tipping us for relegation.

by doctor_grey Sun 02 Sep 2018, 1:02 am

Only thing I can say for the defeated and the victors is the first week of the season is not always predictive of the rest of the season. Last year, for London Irish it certainly wasn't. For Saints, it certainly was.

I think Saints have improved from last season, at least on paper. Alas, we don't play on paper. Our front row is a work in progress and but does have a pretty high ceiling. With Lawes, the second row will always be competitive. The back row is deep and could be as good as any back row anywhere, though in the Gloucester match this was not the best combination. The 10-12 axis is also very good. Tom Collins on the wing will be very good. Tuala at 15 (aarrgh) and Tuitavake on the other wing, makes me long for the days of simple mediocrity.

by mid_gen Sun 02 Sep 2018, 8:36 am

[quote="yappysnap"]Also stunned and very happy with that Quins result.

Especially after so many people on social media have been tipping us for relegation.[/quote]

I've never had us down for relegation. We're a quality side that allowed our back room boys club to infect the team for far too long. You could see they'd lost the dressing room before last season started. All in the past now.

I expect top 6, maybe playoffs if Smith grows into the role well.

by yappysnap Sun 02 Sep 2018, 10:33 pm

I'll still be happy with top 8, we have the international windows to get through, then winter and I'm sure there'll be injuries too. Top 8 with a solid season of games and clear separation from the bottom teams will make me happy.

Could all change next week...

by Geordie Mon 03 Sep 2018, 10:58 am

Well ill say again...the refeering at the level needs looked at very closely.

However, we were utterly appalling in attack. Clueless, ponderous, predictable, unintelligent. Players taking the ball standing still FAR too often.

We could quite easily have won that game yesterday ...Sarries weren't that good (our forwards more than matched them) . Our backs completely let us down! We were the same last week v Edinburgh...which is now a concern!

by TightHEAD Mon 03 Sep 2018, 11:51 am

I bet Attwood was glad to be back in the BlueBlackWhite!!!!!

Honestly how can a team like Bath with all those resources and £££££££££s............. be so bad?

The recruitment and retention of players is shocking, the game plan simply doesn't work season after season, just like our catch and drive.

Bristol were nothing special but fair play to them they gave it their all and the support was simply amazing in Aston Gate.

I hope they stay up but Bath made them look better than they were. As for Bath surely its time to stop pampering average at best players at Farleigh house and sign some real game winners and coaches with some ideas.

by No 7&1/2 Mon 03 Sep 2018, 2:39 pm

I didn't particularly agree with his interpetation of clearing breakdowns geordie. Not much binding going on.

by Poorfour Mon 03 Sep 2018, 3:02 pm

The refereeing of the breakdown is starting to worry me. The intent seems to be to allow teams a chance to clear out defenders, but too often it degenerates into them allowing players to shoot in from any angle with no real hope of staying on their feet. I’d like to see it much more rigorously policed, but it seems to be the global norm and if anything English rugby is lagging behind in allowing it.

by No 7&1/2 Mon 03 Sep 2018, 3:04 pm

World.rugby continues to ignore the national and sometimes regional differences in policing.

by Geordie Mon 03 Sep 2018, 4:07 pm

Im wont blame the ref for our defeat 7.5, I personally believe that was due to us being inept in attack...but I do think his performance was woeful.

There was a few neck rolls that I saw which he completely missed and THAT is a concern for player welfare!

And of course I think Gonevas try should have stood! Whistle

Though he surely missed the irony of saying it wasn't in the spirit of the game...when we were playing Saracens!!

by No 7&1/2 Mon 03 Sep 2018, 4:42 pm

I wouldn't either he was consistent in how he saw it just disagreed when he thought clear outs were binding and I didn't. The Goneva try was strange.. If he felt it was unsporting ok I see the argument but surely it's not a 20 drop out as the ball wasn't grounded. I'm thinking scrum saracens off the top of my head? Don't know though.

by Welly Mon 03 Sep 2018, 4:47 pm

No way Goneva try should have stood.

The ref called 22 as soon as that happened Sarries players switched off.

by Poorfour Mon 03 Sep 2018, 6:35 pm

Welly wrote: No way Goneva try should have stood.

The ref called 22 as soon as that happened Sarries players switched off.

With my reffing hat on, once the whistle had gone (and it had) the ball is dead. Now, arguably the ref should have spotted that it wasn't dotted down, but Goneva did it behind the posts with his back to the field of play and didn't make sure the ref was watching.

What surprises me is that it's being discussed as a game value offence. It's not. As far as I am concerned, it would have been perfectly fine had the ref seen it and not blown - but then Sarries would likely have been alert that something was up, and would have been quite within their rights to tackle Goneva as he trotted out of the in goal, because the whistle hadn't gone and so the ball was live.

by doctor_grey Mon 03 Sep 2018, 7:24 pm

When did the play happen? I didn't see the game, but can go back and watch.

by formerly known as Sam Mon 03 Sep 2018, 7:29 pm

doctor_grey wrote:When did the play happen? I didn't see the game, but can go back and watch.

Goneva dummied putting the ball down after a kick through. With his back to the pitch he dotted the ball onto the top of his foot then ran out of the 22 and tried to go the length. Ref called it back because he'd blown up for the 22 having not seen the dummy. He then spouted some rubbish about awarding a or alty if Goneva tries it again.

Basically Goneva was too clever for his own good. Should have made sure the ref could see what he was attempting.

by TrailApe Tue 04 Sep 2018, 9:47 am

Basically Goneva was too clever for his own good. Should have made sure the ref could see what he was attempting.

Well - he was too clever for the ref, but on the evidence of that game, that wasn't too hard.

Having said that, once the whistle went that was the end of the cunning plan/base canard.

It's a shame though that the ref's mind set was 'I missed that so it's not sporting' as opposed to 'I totally blew that one mate - sorry'.

Wouldn't like their job though.

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Gallagher Premiership - Round 1 (Plus pre-season noise)

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