Prem Rugby Round 3

Friday
Gloucester v Saracens

Saturday
Bristol v Harlequins
Bath v Leicester
Exeter v Sale

Sunday
Newcastle v Northampton

Newcastle Falcons team v Northampton Saints (Sunday, 3pm, Kingston Park, live on TNT Sports)

15 Elliott Obatoyinbo,
14 Adam Radwan,
13 Tom Penny,
12 Rory Jennings,
11 Iwan Stephens,
10 Brett Connon,
9 Sam Stuart;

1 Adam Brocklebank,
2 Jamie Blamire,
3 Mark Tampin,
4 Philip van der Walt,
5 Sebastian de Chaves,
6 Sam Cross,
7 Guy Pepper,
8 Callum Chick (captain).

Replacements: 16 Bryan Byrne, 17 Phil Brantingham, 18 Murray McCallum, 19 John Hawkins, 20 Kiran McDonald, 21 Hugh O’Sullivan, 22 Freddie Lockwood, 23 Matias Orlando.

Not available for selection: Josh Barton, Eduardo Bello, Mateo Carreras, Nathan Greenwood, Ollie Leatherbarrow, Charlie Maddison, Matias Moroni, Richard Palframan, Pedro Rubiolo, Adam Scott.


NORTHAMPTON SAINTS

15 George Furbank (c)
14 Tom Seabrook
13 Fraser Dingwall
12 Rory Hutchinson
11 George Hendy
10 Fin Smith
9 Tom James

1 Ethan Waller
2 Curtis Langdon
3 Trevor Davison
4 Chunya Munga
5 Alex Coles
6 Angus Scott-Young
7 Tom Pearson
8 Sam Graham

Replacements:
16 Tom Cruse
17 Alex Waller
18 Elliot Millar Mills
19 Tom Lockett
20 Alex Moon
21 Archie McParland
22 James Grayson
23 Tom Litchfield

Bath vs. Leicester

1 Beno Obano, 2 Tom Dunn, 3 Thomas du Toit, 4 Josh McNally, 5 Charlie Ewels, 6 Fergus Lee-Warner, 7 Miles Reid, 8 Alfie Barbeary, 9 Ben Spencer , 10 Finn Russell, 11 Will Muir, 12 Cameron Redpath, 13 Max Ojomoh, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 15 Matt Gallagher

Replacements: 16 Niall Annett, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 Johannes Jonker, 19 Ewan Richards, 20 Jaco Coetzee, 21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Orlando Bailey, 23 Chris Cloete


1 James Cronin
2 Charlie Clare
3 Joe Heyes
4 Cameron Henderson
5 Harry Wells
6 Hanro Liebenbeger (c)
7 Tommy Reffell
8 Matt Rogerson

09 Tom Whiteley
10 Jamie Shillcock
11 Olle Hassell-Collins
12 Dan Kelly
13 Guy Porter
14 Josh Bassett
15 Mike Brown

16 Nick Dolly, 17 Francois Van Wyk, 18 Will Hurd, 19 Sam Carter, 20 Emeka Ilione
21 Joe Powell, 22 Charlie Atkinson, 23 Phil Cokanasiga

Leicester could be in for a bit of a beating in this one. The Bath team looks strong and they really have the edge in the forwards. Then again this is Bath we are talking about... they usually look good on paper.

Only just realised this thread was up.

Based on Tigers in R1/2 and Bath's absentees being in positions they have good cover I expected this to be less close. The weather has been a bit of a leveller.

Tigers have once again looked very poor ball in hand and their ruck security needs to improve out of sight.

The lineout has been poor too but thankfully Bath have evened that up by being equally poor.

Only 6 points in it but the kick chase and line speed is looking very tired since Wells got a yellow.

Tigers certainly aren't out of this but it'd be a very disappointing lead to lose for Bath given they're at home and had most the play in the second half.

Barbeary has quietly had a decent game in horrid conditions to be fair. Some talent.

More like it from the Tigers set-piece. An excellent maul gives them a try and a 1 point lead.

Shillcock looks a terrific signing. He's a quality 10 and 15.

Whiteley and Powell have frankly been poor though. I had hopes for Powell as a good third choice Prem 9, rated him in the past but he's yet to show it here. I'd be looking at Sam Edwards getting chances ahead of both.

Jesus. Terrible error from Powell as I typed the above paragraph. I wasn't even taking that spill into account.

Not sure why they said the Bath 7 started all that - he came it after it was already kicking off from what I saw

king_carlos wrote:More like it from the Tigers set-piece. An excellent maul gives them a try and a 1 point lead.

Shillcock looks a terrific signing. He's a quality 10 and 15.

Whiteley and Powell have frankly been poor though. I had hopes for Powell as a good third choice Prem 9, rated him in the past but he's yet to show it here. I'd be looking at Sam Edwards getting chances ahead of both.

Jesus. Terrible error from Powell as I typed the above paragraph. I wasn't even taking that spill into account.

He was average at Irish too

TMO said Bath replacement 7, think Cloete has gone to 7 since coming on. A clunky way of saying 23. The ref then said 7 without including the replacement bit.

How can it have been the replacement 7 when the 7 was still on the pitch?

Shillcock's kicking from hand and tee has been excellent considering the conditions. So happy to have him at Tigers now.

When Cloete comes on he goes to openside, which is 7. Reid goes to 6. It's just a clumsy way of saying Cloete started it.

Ah right

Joe Powell with a truly dismal bench performance. Spills a ball in the 22, then gives away a dumb penalty for blocking which gifts Bath an easy penalty.

That could have cost Tigers the game

This is a comedy of errors

With the state of that pitch that's a tough call on the scrum

Well, Tigers somehow win a low quality affair in dreadful conditions with a last minute penalty.

It frankly feels more like Bath lost that than Tigers won it though.

Shillcock has been Tigers best performer so far this season by a long distance.

Shillcock's place kicking has been excellent especially in these conditions

Tough watch, but fair play to Leicester they gritted it out in awful conditions.

Having Reffell back and then Ilione off the bench made a huge difference to Tigers. Made us more of a threat at the breakdown and provides just a more dynamic backrow option both sides in the other games this season the backrow has been way to one paced.

Shillcock looks class. Cool, composed and can do a bit of everything. Great signing.

Powell has been dreadful so far. Whiteley has generally looked passable though maybe he's looking better in comparison to Powell's poor show. Edwards really deserves a chance to stake a claim.

Bath tight five looked less than the sum of their parts which will be a concern for Bath. It's their first choice selection (well maybe Stuart for du Tout) and they really failed to stamp their authority on things. The weather was a handy leveller for the Bath backline who would have been a lot more dangerous in other conditions. Tigers did do a good job controlling territory for lengthy periods which will disappoint Bath.

Finally had a chance to watch the Newcastle game. That was fairly ugly game, and of course, the weather was atrocious. Still, far too close for comfort.