Prem Round 3

First topic message reminder :

Friday 1st

Bristol vs. Bath [19:45] [BT Sports]

Saturday 2nd

Northampton Saints vs. London Irish [14:00]
Leicester Tigers vs. Saracens [15:00] [BT Sports]
Newcastle Falcons vs. Wasps [15:00]
Worcester Warriors vs. Gloucester [15:00]

Sunday 3rd

Sale vs.  Exeter [15:00] [BT Sport]

I love how the crowd saw it an sympathy winced too!

Bit of a bizarre finish to the Leicester game with that penalty against Davies. Seemed to just ignore Jelly putting a shoulder to the head afterwards. Probably should have been reversed with a potential red.

Good spot by the tmo initially but everyone seemed to just stop watching or focus purely on the initial pen including the commentary team.

Game seemed to turn on Farrell going off. He was great today.

No 7&1/2 wrote:Game seemed to turn on Farrell going off. He was great today.

Farrell faded quite a bit in the second half though. Sarries had ball but didn't really do much or threaten the try line. They had a couple of rolling mauls in the first half in the Tigers 22 but after that they made little of the territorial dominance, the ruthless Sarries streak was missing. They really should have been much further ahead at half time but there was no glaring missed chances. Farrell kicking was good but I suspect Eddie might have wanted to see a bit more invention.

The fact Farrell went off about 10 minutes after Tigers brought on their first batch of impact players didn't help Sarries. Was a bit of an odd call even with Farrell fading. The Sarries territorial game in the first half was very impressive though they did have the wind, second half into the wind it was less dominant.

I think the ref or assistant picked up the Davies challenge. Sir just queried that with the TMO and that's all she commented on which might have been a let off for Tigers. I thought Tigers were due a bit of a rub of the green from sir after he'd bottled sin binning Earl earlier during the game though. Tigers needed a bit of luck to win that game and they got it with that decision, as soon as the set the drive up Sarries were in big trouble.

GeordieFalcon wrote:I'm cold and wet...but get in you beauties....

Well beating Wasps having been down to 14 for most of the second half against a team who are normally happy to cut loose in attack and score tries for fun is quite a win.

formerly known as Sam wrote:Yeah Kelly's going to be very lucky not to have a couple of weeks off. Socino will come in as he looked good off the bench as you say.

Ollie Chessum is one that might not be handing the shirt back, he had a very good game given his chance.

Agree. I look forward to Socino starting and think he could form a really good partnership with Scott. It shows how Tigers depth has grown (and is continuing to) that we can have Kelly and Moroni out but still start that pair. Porter showed up solidly again too.

I really want to see Wells and Chessum start a game together in the row after today. They could pair up really well.

1.Genge (c) 2.Dolly 3.Heyes 4.Wells 5.Chessum 6.Henderson 7.Reffell 8.Liebenberg
9.JvP 10.Ford 11.Nadolo 12.Socino 13.Scott 14.Potter 15.Steward

16.Montoya 17.van Wyk 18.Leatigaga 19.Martin 20.van Staden 21.Youngs 22.Burns 23.Porter

I think I'd go for something like that against LI. Give Coley a game off after 3 starts then have him fresh against Wuss to either counteract Sutherland or target Waller depending on their selection.

Bringing Montoya and van Staden straight in is a risk but one worth taking IMO with Dolly playing nearly 80 minutes (albeit very well!) each week and little scope to rotate the back row at the moment due to the absentees.

I'm guessing that Hegarty and Murimurivalu might be injured given their absence. If either are fit then I'd start getting them game time before the AIs though. Burns at 15 in a deluge against a good kick chase side is an odd call if either were available.

This is a lovely, heartfelt interview with new Tiger Hosea Saumaki for those interested.

It wasn't really his day today, though he did make a really good hit on kick chase, but the conditions didn't suit his strengths. I'm really excited about him being at Tigers going forward though. Big, quick and aggressive is a potent combination if our pack can keep getting front foot ball. He could be a very good option to rotate with Nadolo on the left wing.

formerly known as Sam wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:Game seemed to turn on Farrell going off. He was great today.

Farrell faded quite a bit in the second half though. Sarries had ball but didn't really do much or threaten the try line. They had a couple of rolling mauls in the first half in the Tigers 22 but after that they made little of the territorial dominance, the ruthless Sarries streak was missing. They really should have been much further ahead at half time but there was no glaring missed chances. Farrell kicking was good but I suspect Eddie might have wanted to see a bit more invention.

The fact Farrell went off about 10 minutes after Tigers brought on their first batch of impact players didn't help Sarries. Was a bit of an odd call even with Farrell fading. The Sarries territorial game in the first half was very impressive though they did have the wind, second half into the wind it was less dominant.

I think the ref or assistant picked up the Davies challenge. Sir just queried that with the TMO and that's all she commented on which might have been a let off for Tigers. I thought Tigers were due a bit of a rub of the green from sir after he'd bottled sin binning Earl earlier during the game though. Tigers needed a bit of luck to win that game and they got it with that decision, as soon as the set the drive up Sarries were in big trouble.

Think the tmo came in with it initially. Just seemed odd as it's clear as day but sometimes you do just focus in on the 1 thing. Belated comments on social media now and picked up by Ben Kay so can't see Kelly.comingnout it without a ban now.

I presumed it was sir with the late call because he kept saying "I just want to check one thing" but it could be Foy on TMO as she likes to come in with a technically correct decision that you don't normally see given.

Kelly will get a low end ban I suspect. As he's played the first three games he was probably due to be rotated out anyway for a rest so if that's two weeks rest instead of one that's not the end of the world.

KC I did see the Saumaki interview last night. Sounds like he's had a tough time with Covid travel restrictions and his family. Sounds like the boys at Tigers have been looking after him and now his family are reunited he's in a good place. I think he could be an exceptional signing though in awful conditions unlikely to be at his best. I don't recall seeing an emotional post match interview.

I wouldn't be rushing the international players back in and I don't know if they'll be given chance to return home for a week or so before heading over anyway. Montoya is current the only one we need in but I'd hope one of Youngs or Clare will be back soon. A couple of weeks rest now might pay dividends later in keeping those guys healthy.

After the first 15 minutes this is how Saints DOR, Chris Boyd, summarised the Saints play yesterday:
“In a word that was rubbish,” Boyd said. “There were only two good things about today: the four points and the first 15 minutes. The rest was rubbish.

“We didn’t really fire a shot in the second half, but found a way to come away with four points. That’s the most positive thing, that we can be so far short of where we think we are capable of playing. That’s the sign of a lucky team. We could have lost last week and we should have lost this week but the world moves in mysterious ways sometimes.”

"We've got a history of being inconsistent and we're consistently inconsistent.  
Really, it's not good enough and some of the penalties we gave away were braindead.

"There will be some guys squirming in their seats when we do our review on Monday because we can't keep keeping other teams in the game."

Well, as DOR it is his job to get this figured out, no?.

Doc, that sounds like a man who is quite peeved to be looking ahead to giving the same lecture again on Monday's game review.

This weekend shows just how close the teams competing in the Prem. are.
Three of the four games could and perhaps should have gone the other way.

Should be a cracker of a season.

formerly known as Sam wrote:Doc, that sounds like a man who is quite peeved to be looking ahead to giving the same lecture again on Monday's game review.

In theory, he has been giving the same lecture for nigh on three years. That is the problem. Some players have come and others have left. The problem remains.

I haven't seen the Saints v LI match yet but apparently the ref signalled an advantage to Irish when the clock was in the red and so they went for a drop goal which they missed and then he changed his mind - surely you can't do that? If you've made a mistake with the pen surely you have to restart with a scrum even though time's up as you've caused a team to play differently by telling them they had an advantage?

Another dirty tackle by Sale Saffers.

Capstick having a good game, didn't realise he was 6'6".

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Capstick having a good game, didn't realise he was 6'6".

His height is listed differently by various sources. 6'4" according to the Chiefs website. He's a good player though, doing well in the Chiefs systems. He was one of those U20s players that was more steady than standout but was involved with England age grade all the way through. He's accumulating a good amount of experience for a young forward.

Aaron Hinckley is the Chiefs flanker I'd love to see kick on but he's just been plagued by injuries. He looked a Curry or Underhill level talent with the U20s.