EPCR Champions Cup - Pool 4 Thread

[LondonTiger]

First topic message reminder :

Teams:

Leicester Tigers
Founded: 1880
Ground: Welford Road
Capacity: 25,849
Captain: Tom Youngs
Coach: Geordan Murphy (Interim)


Racing 92
Founded: 1892
Ground: Paris La Defense Arena
Capacity: 32,000
Captain: Dimitri Szarzewski
Coach: Laurent Labit / Laurent Traver


Scarlets
Founded: 2003
Ground: Parc y Scarlets
Capacity: 15,180
Captain: Ken Owens
Coach: Wayne Pivac


Ulster
Founded: 1879
Ground: Kingspan Stadium
Capacity: 18,000
Captain: Rory Best
Coach: Dan McFarland



Fixtures:

Round 1
Saturday 13th October, 17:30 Scarlets v Racing 92 (BT Sport/beIN Sports)
Saturday 13th October, 17:30 Ulster v Leicester (BT Sport)

Round 2
Friday 19th October, 19:45 Leicester v Scarlets (BT Sport)
Saturday 20th October, 17:30 Racing 92 v Ulster (beIN Sports/BT Sport)

Round 3
Friday 7th December, 19:45 Scarlets v Ulster (BT Sport)
Sunday 9th December, 15:15 Racing 92 v Leicester (FR2/BT Sport/beIN Sports)

Round 4
Friday 14th December, 19:45 Ulster v Scarlets (BT Sport)
Sunday 16th December, 13:00 Leicester v Racing 92 (BT Sport/beIN Sports)

Round 5
Saturday 12th January, 15:15 Ulster v Racing 92 (BT Sport/beIN Sports
Saturday 12th January, 17:30 Scarlets v Leicester (BT Sport)

Round 6
Saturday 19th January, 15:15 Racing 92 v Scarlets (beIN Sports/BT Sport)
Saturday 19th January, 15:15 Leicester v Ulster (BT Sport)



Season's Form:

Leicester - Pl 6, W3, L3
Racing 92 - Pl 7, W4, L3
Scarlets - Pl 6, W4, L2
Ulster - Pl 6, W3, D1, L2



Squads:

Leicester:
Props: Bateman, Cole, Cortes, Feao, Genge, Gigena, Heyes
Hookers: Polota-Nau, Stevens, Youngs
Second Row: Fitzgerald, Kitchener, Lewis, Spencer, Wells, Williams
Back Row: Denton, Evans, Kalamafoni, Mapapalangi, O'Connor, Reffell, Thompson
Half Backs: Ford G, Ford J, Hardwicke, Harrison, White, Youngs
3/4s & FB: Aspland-Robinson, Eastmond, Holmes, May, Owen, Olowofela, Smith, Thompstone, Toomua, Tuilagi, veainu, Worth


Racing 92
Props: Ben Arous, Colombe, Gogochashvili, Gomes Sa, Johnston, Kakovin, Tameifuna
Hookers: Avei, Baubugny, Chat, Szarzewski
Second Row: Bird, Claassen, Maka, Nakarawa, Palu, Ryan
Back Row: Chouzenoux, Diallo, Lauret, Le Roux, Sanconnie, Joseph
Half Backs: Chauveau, Gibert, Iribaren, Machenaud, Russell, Volavola
3/4s & FB: Chavancy, Dulin, Dupichot, Imhoff, Klemenczac, Lagarde, Paris, Pauvert, Rokocoko, Thomas, Vakatawa, Zebo


Scarlets
Props: Dylan Evans, Rob Evans, Gardiner, Wyn Jones, Kruger, Lee, Price
Hookers: Elias, Marc Jones, Owens
Second Row: Ball, Bulbring, Helps, Cummins, Rawlins
Back Row: Boyde, Cassiem, James Davies, Kennedy, Macleod, Shingler, Thomson
Half Backs: Gareth Davies, Jonathan Evans, Hardy, Hidalgo-Clyne, Dan Jones, O'Brien, Patchell, Smith
3/4s &FB: Asquith, Blommetjies, Jonathan Davies, Steff Evans, Fonotia, Halfpenny, Hughes, McNicholl, Nicholas, Parkes, Prydie


Ulster:
Props: Ah You, Herbst, Kane, McCall, Moore, O'Sullivan, O'Toole, Warwick
Hooker: Andrew, Best, Herring, McBurney
Second Row: Henderson, O'Connor, Treadwell,
Back Row: Coetzee, Deysel, Henry, Murphy, Rea, Reidy, Ross, Timoney
Half Backs: Burns, Cooney, Angus Curtis, Graham Curtis, Lowry, McPhillips, Shanahan, Stewart
3/4s & FB: Addison, Cave, Gilroy, Kernohan, Ludic, McCloskey, Moore, Nelson, Speight, Stockdale

[mikey_dragon]

The Scarlets were not founded in 2003.

According to EPCR they were.

When did WRU create the regions?

And Companies House say they were incorporated in 2003

But sure what would they know

[neilthom7]

The amount of players who made their European debuts in that game for Ulster and Tigers was quite something, it's not often you get so many youth players in at once.  Some of them look like they have bright futures

It's one of the few plus points for Tigers that tonight we had four players who were at the JWC in the summer playing tonight. The big hope is Heyes, not often you see a 19 year old tighthead come on and look perfectly comfortable at this level. Cole's eventual successor for Tigers and England. They are coming through well and we finally have a head coach who will play them.

The Ulster fullback looked a real twinkle toes. He's going to be leaving people grasping at thin air for years to come

Absolutely Lowry did very well considering he is a 10 really. Ulsters years of not blooding players has resulted in them all being thrown in at once, the likes of Lowry, Curtis, kernoghan and O'Sullivan have all looked good this year so promising for future.

[formerly known as Sam]

The amount of players who made their European debuts in that game for Ulster and Tigers was quite something, it's not often you get so many youth players in at once.  Some of them look like they have bright futures

It's one of the few plus points for Tigers that tonight we had four players who were at the JWC in the summer playing tonight. The big hope is Heyes, not often you see a 19 year old tighthead come on and look perfectly comfortable at this level. Cole's eventual successor for Tigers and England. They are coming through well and we finally have a head coach who will play them.

The Ulster fullback looked a real twinkle toes. He's going to be leaving people grasping at thin air for years to come

Absolutely Lowry did very well considering he is a 10 really.  Ulsters years of not blooding players has resulted in them all being thrown in at once, the likes of Lowry, Curtis, kernoghan and O'Sullivan have all looked good this year so promising for future.

Very similar boat to Tigers. Cockers wasn't great at bringing through the he young talent, exceptional young players yes but those that come through and become valuable squad men not so much. Matt O'Connor virtually refused.

Big overhaul in the academy a few years back as well. Certainly helping these guys come through.

[Rugby Fan]

Rugby writer Alex Shaw says he'll have a piece out looking at why the English clubs have come up short in Europe again. I'll be interested to see his conclusions. he doesn't think last year's breakdown excuse washes, as he says that wasn't the problem in most of the matches.

Sure, Bath blew their game with those Burns bloopers but good teams in Europe manage home wins and Exeter, Bath and Leicester all fell short. I don't think Bath and Leicester have looked good this season, and couldn't seem them going far in the competition but I still expected them to rise to the occasion in the opening match at home.

If English clubs do fall off the pace quickly, I'll be very disappointed if they start fielding weaker teams to give priority to the League. It's something French clubs have often done, and it can unbalance the competition. Newcastle may well do this from the outset, given their current run of form in the Premiership.

[Pete330v2]

Leicester didn't play at home, they were away to Ulster who themselves have been off the pace to say the least. Ulster did however rise to the iccasion in some style whilst Leicester simply didn't have the heart for the fight. It'll be very interesting to see how Saracens do against Glasgow this afternoon. C'mon the Weegies.

[Rugby Fan]

Leicester didn't play at home, they were away to Ulster

[The Great Aukster]

The amount of players who made their European debuts in that game for Ulster and Tigers was quite something, it's not often you get so many youth players in at once.  Some of them look like they have bright futures

It's one of the few plus points for Tigers that tonight we had four players who were at the JWC in the summer playing tonight. The big hope is Heyes, not often you see a 19 year old tighthead come on and look perfectly comfortable at this level. Cole's eventual successor for Tigers and England. They are coming through well and we finally have a head coach who will play them.

The Ulster fullback looked a real twinkle toes. He's going to be leaving people grasping at thin air for years to come

Absolutely Lowry did very well considering he is a 10 really.  Ulsters years of not blooding players has resulted in them all being thrown in at once, the likes of Lowry, Curtis, kernoghan and O'Sullivan have all looked good this year so promising for future.

Lowry is just turned 20 and was out with injury last season. Ulster can't really be accused of "not blooding players" that aren't available! Know what you mean though
- McPhillips, and McBurney should have been introduced long before the middle of last season.

Lowry has great feet but his stature is a problem. There can't be many players make George Ford look big, and he doesn't have the top line pace to stretch away either. He is like Rod Lyttle in that regard - talented but probably not big enough or fast enough to make it as a back-three player. Lowry's best chance of a Test career has to lie at half back. He has the heart of a lion, the brain of a chess player and the leadership qualities needed in the heart of the action.

[formerly known as Sam]

Leicester didn't play at home, they were away to Ulster who themselves have been off the pace to say the least. Ulster did however rise to the iccasion in some style whilst Leicester simply didn't have the heart for the fight. It'll be very interesting to see how Saracens do against Glasgow this afternoon. C'mon the Weegies.

I think Tigers had the heart for the fight. Lack of execution meant they had a 3-0 lead at halftime instead of 10+. They also kept Ulster out whilst down to 14.

Problem for Tigers was that the team tired as quite a few of them (notably the forwards) have played a lot of minutes. O'Connor back from injury for this game faded and the impact he had at the breakdown in the first half was significant. Three of the five forwards on the bench were 20 or younger. Ulster had more forward impact and it told. Made yards up the middle, sucked in the Tigers defence and scored two out wide and one off the back of a rolling maul.

Many problems for Tigers but lack of heart wasn't one and I was proud of the young lads for going down swinging trying for a LBP. They could have let their heads dropped and just played out the time.

Geordan has had no pre season and Matt O'Connor should be shot for the mess he's left the club in. Murphy was left with no defensive structure, no attacking game plan and players who hadn't done enough fitness work (MOC allegedly didn't believe in too much S&C). Trying to pick that up a game into the season is tough. As is going away to our bogey ground missing almost half the first team.

Fair play to Ulster they had a twenty minute period where they were ruthless and made us pay for the errors they forced us into. Thought we deserved a LBP so disappointed not to get one at the end but we made a lot of errors and too many unforced in the Ulster 22.

[The Great Aukster]

Leicester didn't play at home, they were away to Ulster who themselves have been off the pace to say the least. Ulster did however rise to the iccasion in some style whilst Leicester simply didn't have the heart for the fight. It'll be very interesting to see how Saracens do against Glasgow this afternoon. C'mon the Weegies.

I think Tigers had the heart for the fight. Lack of execution meant they had a 3-0 lead at halftime instead of 10+. They also kept Ulster out whilst down to 14.

Problem for Tigers was that the team tired as quite a few of them (notably the forwards) have played a lot of minutes. O'Connor back from injury for this game faded and the impact he had at the breakdown in the first half was significant. Three of the five forwards on the bench were 20 or younger. Ulster had more forward impact and it told. Made yards up the middle, sucked in the Tigers defence and scored two out wide and one off the back of a rolling maul.

Many problems for Tigers but lack of heart wasn't one and I was proud of the young lads for going down swinging trying for a LBP. They could have let their heads dropped and just played out the time.

Geordan has had no pre season and Matt O'Connor should be shot for the mess he's left the club in. Murphy was left with no defensive structure, no attacking game plan and players who hadn't done enough fitness work (MOC allegedly didn't believe in too much S&C). Trying to pick that up a game into the season is tough. As is going away to our bogey ground missing almost half the first team.

Fair play to Ulster they had a twenty minute period where they were ruthless and made us pay for the errors they forced us into. Thought we deserved a LBP so disappointed not to get one at the end but we made a lot of errors and too many unforced in the Ulster 22.

I freely admit I was watching one-eyed at Ulster, but at the ground it didn't look like the Tigers had the heart for the fight. I was disappointed in Cole, both Youngs, Eastmond and to a lesser extent Thompstone, Tuilagi and Ford - or in other words the 'senior' players. Maybe that's because I noticed them more because of their familiarity but it was guys like Kalafamoni, Williams, Wells, Olowofela and Holmes who showed glimpses of danger and fight.
You might have sussed a major problem with the Tigers S&C history this season. I couldn't believe how far Dan Cole was off the pace, neither could I believe he was 5 years younger than Rory Best (when I checked the programme). The former faded in the scrum and I didn't notice him doing his usual breakdown work at all, while the latter gradually picked up the match pace the longer he was on the pitch. Maybe with the injuries some players are indeed jaded from too much gametime as I know some Ulster ones are for the same reason.
One big issue for both teams is the absence of motivational leadership. In the first half the game meandered like two boxers feigning blows but not actually landing punches. After the halftime break Ulster came out with a sense of purpose presumably imbued into them by the team talk and luckily for Ulster one that wasn't replicated in the Visitors dressing room.

[formerly known as Sam]

I thought the Tigers midfield did fine. Manu made yards and broke both Ulster flyhalfs. Ulster made no yards through the Tigers midfield. Thompstone is rock solid but his pace is fading. Owolofela and Holmes have a lot of potential but positioning is not great often meaning that they weren't in position to support each other when kicks went in behind.

You're spot on with leadership. We are desperate for someone to take this team by the scruff of the neck. We just didn't come out for the second half where as Ulster looked pumped and driven.

Cole has struggled since the change in breakdown laws. He's just not quick enough to get down and over the ball. He does make a lot of tackles and play a lot of minutes still. We're in little trouble at tighthead in that Cole can't keep playing this many minutes but at the same time Heyes is 19 and we need to build him up slowly. Hopefully Puma prop Cortes can come in and do a shift or two to help out when he's fit again (got injured in a mid game warm up ).

This Tigers team will be nothing to about about this season. It's a rebuilding season whilst Murphy fixes the many broken aspects.

[LondonTiger]

Ford is the real on field captain for us. Even with OTY on the pitch it is Ford giving team talks, urging the players on (too often under the posts after conceding another try).

We looked plenty up for the fight too me, highlighted most by the linespeed in defence and how much harder we were working off the ball than in some earlier games. I actually thought , especially in the first half, that too many Ulster players looked lazy. Not getting back on their feet quick enough to help out the SH and FB.

Perhaps they were just pacing themselves better

[LondonTiger]

For me, the main differences between the sides were:

1: Lineouts - we lost too many attacking opportunities with a faltering lineout, this is not a new thing sadly.
2: Penalty Count - we lost far too much ground by coughing up silly penalties allowing Ulster too much possession in our 22.


The set piece advantage we had largely disappeared when Moore came on and was able to keep Bateman (who is strong but not especially skilled at scrummaging) quiet. With the tighthead secured, Ulster were able to repel us in this area.

I was impressed with how we competed at the breakdown where several times (more in 1st than 2nd half) we were able to steal ball close to our own line to relieve pressure for a bit. Defence close to the line was good, but yet again this season  we had slow forwards defending the midfield and being made to look silly as several Ulster players made key breaks.

[LondonTiger]

Tigers/Scarlets teams.


15 Jonah Holmes
14 Jonny May
13 Manu Tuilagi 
12 Kyle Eastmond 
11 Jordan Olowofela
10 George Ford 
9 Ben Youngs
1 Greg Bateman
2 Tom Youngs (c) 
3 Dan Cole 
4 Harry Wells
5 Will Spencer
6 Mike Williams
7 Guy Thompson
8 Sione Kalamafoni 

Replacements

16 Tatafu Polota-Nau
17 Facundo Gigena 
18 Joe Heyes
19 Graham Kitchener
20 Tommy Reffell
21 Sam Harrison
22 Matt Toomua 
23 Adam Thompstone

Scarlets: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Ioan Nicholas, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Hadleigh Parkes, 11 Steff Evans, 10 Dan Jones, 9 Gareth Davies; 1 Wyn Jones, 2 Ken Owens (c), 3 Samson Lee, 4 Tom Price, 5 David Bulbring, 6 Blade Thomson, 7 Joshua Macleod, 8 Will Boyde
Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Phil Price, 18 Werner Kruger, 19 Joshua Helps, 20 Uzair Cassiem, 21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 22 Steff Hughes, 23 Paul Asquith

[formerly known as Sam]

Long shift for the props tomorrow night with the young guns on the bench. Still not sure on Gigena.

Scarlets will and frankly should be eying up a TBP. Be interesting to see how bean pole Price does against his old team and up against academy team mate Wells at the lineout (at least my memory suggests they were within a year of each other and of the unfortunate Cain).

I hope we can keep the score reasonable and grab at least an LBP.

[LondonTiger]

Aye, think Cain and Price were a year ahead of Wells.

Struggling to see past a win for the visitors.

[Artful_Dodger]

You really feel that whoever loses this one is out of the tournament. Both teams have yet to play Racing away.

[formerly known as Sam]

You really feel that whoever loses this one is out of the tournament.  Both teams have yet to play Racing away.

Not sure Tigers were ever really in it. We've got a head coach trying to rebuild virtually everything from scratch.

Murphy won't admit it but in reality he wants any kind of result at home and to keep the losses away from home close. He'd take 3-0 wins everytime.

[Artful_Dodger]

You really feel that whoever loses this one is out of the tournament.  Both teams have yet to play Racing away.

Not sure Tigers were ever really in it. We've got a head coach trying to rebuild virtually everything from scratch.

Murphy won't admit it but in reality he wants any kind of result at home and to keep the losses away from home close. He'd take 3-0 wins everytime.

Ulster aren't in a dissimilar position.

Thing is, Tigers are actually favourites to win this. Scarlets could go from one of the outside favourites to being all but out after two games.

[formerly known as Sam]

You really feel that whoever loses this one is out of the tournament.  Both teams have yet to play Racing away.

Not sure Tigers were ever really in it. We've got a head coach trying to rebuild virtually everything from scratch.

Murphy won't admit it but in reality he wants any kind of result at home and to keep the losses away from home close. He'd take 3-0 wins everytime.

Ulster aren't in a dissimilar position.

Thing is, Tigers are actually favourites to win this.  Scarlets could go from one of the outside favourites to being all but out after two games.

Two losses would mean that Scarlets need to win every game. That's a tough position to be in with away games in Paris and Belfast to come. If they got another LBP then that would at least keep things alive for them. Reduces the need for TBP wins.

The annoyance with Tigers is that we completely wasted preseason with a head coach at least 80% of the fans wanted shot of at the end of last season. Sack him after one game (which he deserved) and Murphy is having to fix things on the fly. Had we given Murphy a pre season we might have been in a position to actually play a bit. We've already seen large improvements.

[Artful_Dodger]

You really feel that whoever loses this one is out of the tournament.  Both teams have yet to play Racing away.

Not sure Tigers were ever really in it. We've got a head coach trying to rebuild virtually everything from scratch.

Murphy won't admit it but in reality he wants any kind of result at home and to keep the losses away from home close. He'd take 3-0 wins everytime.

Ulster aren't in a dissimilar position.

Thing is, Tigers are actually favourites to win this.  Scarlets could go from one of the outside favourites to being all but out after two games.

Two losses would mean that Scarlets need to win every game. That's a tough position to be in with away games in Paris and Belfast to come. If they got another LBP then that would at least keep things alive for them. Reduces the need for TBP wins.

The annoyance with Tigers is that we completely wasted preseason with a head coach at least 80% of the fans wanted shot of at the end of last season. Sack him after one game (which he deserved) and Murphy is having to fix things on the fly. Had we given Murphy a pre season we might have been in a position to actually play a bit. We've already seen large improvements.

As soon as I saw O'Connor named I thought 'what the hell are you doing Tigers??' He inherited Schmidt's Leinster and destroyed them, guy is a farce of a coach.

[formerly known as Sam]

Artful I couldn't agree more. There was a list of coaches I hoped we were looking at and MOC wasn't one of them. He was top of the list of coaches I didn't want. Gave him the benefit of the doubt but after two preseasons we looked worse than ever.

What rubs salt in the wound is that we had consultants scour the world and and draw up a shortlist which included Van Graan and Ackerman which we then ignored, what a waste of money.

[mikey_dragon]

Not sure why you’d be so expectant of a thrashing, Scarlets are missing some key players there, most of them up front. The replacements are pretty good but they would have been a lot better with a clean bill of health.

[LondonTiger]

Not sure why you’d be so expectant of a thrashing, Scarlets are missing some key players there, most of them up front. The replacements are pretty good but they would have been a lot better with a clean bill of health.

We are missing some key players, others are only just coming back after injury/suspension, and our defence could not stop Lutterworth Girls U11s from scoring tries.

[formerly known as Sam]

Not sure why you’d be so expectant of a thrashing, Scarlets are missing some key players there, most of them up front. The replacements are pretty good but they would have been a lot better with a clean bill of health.

We are missing some key players, others are only just coming back after injury/suspension, and our defence could not stop Lutterworth Girls U11s from scoring tries.

That's incredibly harsh, on Lutterworth Girls U11s. I'm sure their rolling maul would be worth at least two tries against us.

Injuries are easing for Tigers but not sufficiently quickly. The injuries to our opensides only exacerbates the problems we have in our defensive structure.

[marty2086]

Ulster Rugby team to play Racing 92, Heineken Champions Cup Round 2, Saturday 20th October, La Defense (U) Arena, 6.30pm Local Time / 5.30pm BST:

(15-9): M Lowry; C Gilroy, W Addison, S McCloskey, J Stockdale; B Burns, D Shanahan;
(1-8): A Warwick, R Best (captain), M Moore, I Henderson, K Treadwell, M Coetzee, J Murphy, N Timoney;

Replacements (16-23): A McBurney, E O’Sullivan, R Kane, A O’Connor, S Reidy, J Stewart, J McPhillips, A Kernohan

[marty2086]

RACING: S Zebo; T Thomas, O Klemenczak, H Chavancy, J Imhoff; F Russell, X Chauveau; G Gogichashvili, C Chat, C Gomes Sa; D Bird, L Nakarawa; W Lauret, B le Roux, A Claassen.

S: T Baubigny, V Kakovin, C Johnston, F Sanconnie, J Joseph, T Iribaren, B Volavola, L Paris.

[LondonTiger]

That is a strong looking Racing team.

[formerly known as Sam]

Tom Youngs pulls out with illness meaning that TPN comes in and in the bench we have development squad member Jake Kerr. Four senior hookers in the squad and we have one available for the match day squad. I think that makes out replacement front row aged 23, 21, 19. This could be a long night.

[Guest]

Can’t see Scarlets winning this one. Just think Leicester in Leicester will be too much. Scarlets not as strong as last season either.

I’m going for a close Leicester win. 20-17 perhaps.

[LondonTiger]

Tom Youngs pulls out with illness meaning that TPN comes in and in the bench we have development squad member Jake Kerr.  Four senior hookers in the squad and we have one available for the match day squad. I think that makes out replacement front row aged 23, 21, 19.  This could be a long night.

No idea whether McMillan is fit, but as he is not in the EPCR squad, not relevant.

[formerly known as Sam]

Ah I see. I did wonder why we suddenly had no fit hookers.

[formerly known as Sam]

Yes Colely.

[formerly known as Sam]

Wells has been a menace from the outset today he's earned that try. He played well last season and didn't get the reward and now this season he's had to wait but is now in the side and playing well again. Hopefully he'll keep that shirt for a while.

[formerly known as Sam]

And there goes out crap defence. Scarlets cut us to shreds.

[carpet baboon]

Is Dan Cole wearing lead boots?

[formerly known as Sam]

You expect him to turn and catch a scrum half? TPN has to get closer. Defend the breakdown and force Scarlets to at least play wide to try and find a gap.

[formerly known as Sam]

Johnny May reprieve? Stepping in for a never going to make interception is just lazy. Back peddle and trust your inside defender. Makes it far too easy for Davies.

[carpet baboon]

You expect him to turn and catch a scrum half? TPN has to get closer. Defend the breakdown and force Scarlets to at least play wide to try and find a gap.

No but I expect him to put some effort in. He was plodding Along well before the pass came back inside

[formerly known as Sam]

You expect him to turn and catch a scrum half? TPN has to get closer. Defend the breakdown and force Scarlets to at least play wide to try and find a gap.

No but I expect him to put some effort in. He was plodding Along well before the pass came back inside

He'd been done by TPN on the outside. Agree there was no real effort in giving chase. Suspect he'd weighed up the chances and decided that if there was another phase he'd be back in the line but no chance of a cover tackle.

Boyd is having a cracking game for Scarlets.

[nathan]

Getting a bit fed up of Scarlet players laying on the wrong side, are they doing to it stop Ben youngs sniping?

[formerly known as Sam]

Little bit harsh on Cole. Halfpenny pretty much runs into him and come off worse. Then again Cole should be smarter in his own half. Always a chance the ref would see it as late or as a nice arm tackle.

[nathan]

I just don't rate poite, he's crap. Rubbish at communicating and it's always a free for all at the break down

[formerly known as Sam]

Getting a bit fed up of Scarlet players laying on the wrong side, are they doing to it stop Ben youngs sniping?

Pro14 players lying on the wrong side? In other news the Pope is a Catholic.

Tigers dominating the majority of the game but the big problem is that we are under resourcing the breakdown. Need more support, we're either getting turned over or being slowed down because our support are too small in number or too slow to arrive. If you see Sarries or Leinster they hammer the breakdown so that the defence is nowhere near the ball and the scrum half has it on a plate.

[LeinsterFan4life]

I just don't rate poite,  he's crap. Rubbish at communicating and it's always a free for all at the break down

Did you just listen to the commentary team say that and then decide he's rubbish? Poite has been fine.

[formerly known as Sam]

Cheap try to concede. TPN makes a mess of the lineout and Bateman steps out in defence. Scarlets ruthless once the gift was given.

[formerly known as Sam]

That sums up our season so far.

I think Poite has been fine. He lets the breakdown be a little wild but he's consistent.

[mikey_dragon]

Did Thomson have a previous try disallowed?

[formerly known as Sam]

What I don't like is how Samson Lee is dropping the scrum on his side to save Jones on the loosehead. He's dropping it as soon as the ball comes in knowing TPN will hook it and Poite will play on because the ball is at the 8. It's taking away our advantage at the scrum.

Manu looking more like him old self at the minute. Nice to see.

[formerly known as Sam]

Did Thomson have a previous try disallowed?

Yep. Holmes disrupted his attempt to dot the ball down and he was deemed to have fumbled it over the line.

[carpet baboon]

Is Manu a bit lighter than he was a few years ago?

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