Aviva Premiership Round 7

First topic message reminder :

So after a two week break for the LV Cup, it's back to Premiership action this weekend, and here are the fixtures and current table.

Sale Sharks vs. Leicester Tigers
Sale Sharks
15 Rob Miller, 14 Tom Brady, 13 Johnny Leota, 12 Sam Tuitupou (c), 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Nick Macleod, 9 Dwayne Peel; 1 Alasdair Dickinson, 2 Marc Jones, 3 Henry Thomas, 4 Fraser McKenzie, 5 Kearnan Myall, 6 James Gaskell, 7 David Seymour, 8 Richie Vernon.
Replacements: 16 Joe Ward, 17 Vadim Cobilas, 18 Tony Buckley, 19 Mark Easter, 20 Andy Powell, 21 Will Cliff, 22 Luther Burrell, 23 Will Addison
Leicester Tigers
15 Geordan Murphy ©, 14 Scott Hamilton, 13 Horacio Agulla, 12 Matt Smith, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Sam Harrison; 1 Marcos Ayerza, 2 George Chuter, 3 Dan Cole, 4 George Skivington, 5 Geoff Parling, 6 Tom Croft, 7 Julian Salvi, 8 Thomas Waldrom
Replacements: 16 Tom Youngs, 17 Boris Stankovich, 18 Martin Castrogiovanni, 19 Steve Mafi, 20 Ed Slater, 21 James Grindal, 22 Jeremy Staunton, 23 Niall Morris

Worcester Warriors vs. London Wasps
Worcester Warriors
15 Errie Claassens, 14 Marcel Garvey, 13 Alex Grove, 12 Dale Rasmussen ©, 11 Miles Benjamin, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Shaun Perry; 1 Matt Mullan, 2 Ed Shervington, 3 Tevita Taumoepeau, 4 James Percival, 5 Craig Gillies, 6 Neil Best, 7 Jake Abbott, 8 Chris Jones
Replacements: 16 George Porter, 17 Aleki Lutui, 18 Oliver Tomaszczyk, 19 Adam Balding, 20 Sam Betty, 21 Ollie Frost, 22 Joe Carlisle, 23 Chris Pennell
London Wasps
15 Hugo Southwell, 14 Tom Varndell, 13 Chris Bell, 12 Riki Flutey, 11 Christian Wade, 10 Nicky Robinson, 9 Joe Simpson; 1 Tim Payne, 2 Steve Thompson, 3 Ben Broster, 4 Ross Filipo, 5 Marco Wentzel, 6 Richard Birkett, 7 Jonathan Poff, 8 John Hart (c)Replacements: 16 Rob Webber, 17 Zak Taulafo, 18 Jeremy Castex, 19 Joe Burton, 20 Matt Everard, 21 Nic Berry, 22 Ryan Davis, 23 Chris Mayor

London Irish vs. Bath Rugby
London Irish
15 Delon Armitage, 14 Topsy Ojo, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Shontayne Hape, 11 Tom Homer, 10 Dan Bowden ©, 9 Darren Allinson; 1 Max Lahiff, 2 David Paice, 3 Paulica Ion, 4 Nick Kennedy, 5 Bryn Evans, 6 Declan Danaher, 7 Jamie Gibson, 8 Richard Thorpe
Replacements: 16 James Buckland, 17 Alex Corbisiero, 18 Faan Rautenbach, 19 James Sandford, 20 Jebb Sinclair, 21 Adam Thompstone, 22 Steve Shingler, 23 Ross Samson
Bath Rugby
15 Nick Abendanon, 14 Olly Woodburn, 13 Matt Carraro, 12 Matt Banahan, 11 Tom Biggs, 10 Sam Vesty, 9 Michael Claassens; 1 Nathan Catt, 2 Lee Mears, 3 Anthony Perenise, 4 Stuart Hooper ©, 5 Dave Attwood, 6 Ben Skirving, 7 Guy Mercer, 8 Simon Taylor
Replacements: 16 Ross Batty, 17 Charlie Beech, 18 David Wilson, 19 Ryan Caldwell, 20 Andy Beattie, 21 Chris Cook, 22 Paul Roberts, 23 Jack Cuthbert

Harlequins vs. Exeter Chiefs
Harlequins
15 Mike Brown, 14 Seb Stegmann, 13 George Lowe, 12 Jordan Turner-Hall, 11 Sam Smith, 10 Nick Evans, 9 Karl Dickson; 1 Joe Marler, 2 Chris Brooker, 3 James Johnston, 4 Ollie Kohn, 5 George Robson, 6 Chris Robshaw ©, 7 Luke Wallace, 8 Nick Easter
Replacements: 16 Joe Gray, 17 Kyle Sinckler, 18 Tim Fairbrother, 19 Tomas Vallejos, 20 Maurie Fa'asavalu, 21 Richard Bolt, 22 Rory Clegg, 23 Matt Hopper
Exeter Chiefs
15 Luke Arscott, 14 Bryan Rennie, 13 Sireli Naqelevuki, 12 Jason Shoemark, 11 Matt Jess, 10 Ignacio Mieres, 9 Haydn Thomas; 1 Brett Sturgess, 2 Chris Whitehead, 3 John Andress, 4 Tom Hayes ©, 5 James Hanks, 6 Tom Johnson, 7 James Scaysbrook, 8 Richard Baxter
Replacements: 16 Neil Clark, 17 Ben Moon, 18 Hoani Tui, 19 Chris Bentley, 20 Ben White, 21 Kevin Barrett, 22 Gareth Steenson, 23 Josh Tatupu

Northampton Saints vs. Newcastle Falcons
Northampton Saints
15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Jon Clarke, 12 Tom May, 11 Vasily Artemyev, 10 Ryan Lamb, 9 Lee Dickson; 1 Soane Tonga'uiha, 2 Dylan Hartley ©, 3 Brian Mujati, 4 Samu Manoa, 5 Courtney Lawes, 6 Calum Clark, 7 Tom Wood, 8 Phil Dowson
Replacements: 16 Mike Haywood, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Paul Doran-Jones, 19 Mark Sorenson, 20 Roger Wilson, 21 Martin Roberts, 22 Stephen Myler, 23 Scott Armstrong
Newcastle Falcons
15 Jeremy Manning, 14 Luke Eves, 13 Corne Uys, 12 Jamie Helleur, 11 Rikki Sheriffe, 10 Jimmy Gopperth, 9 Chris Pilgrim; 1 Grant Shiells, 2 Joe Graham, 3 Euan Murray, 4 Tim Swinson, 5 Andrew van der Heijden, 6 Mark Wilson, 7 Will Welch, 8 Ally Hogg ©
Replacements: 16 Micahel Mayhew, 17 Ashley Wells, 18 Dan Frazier, 19 Glen Townson, 20 Redford Pennycock, 21 Jordi Pasqualin, 22 Alex Tait, 23 Greg Goosen

Gloucester vs. Saracens
Gloucester
15 Olly Morgan, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Henry Trinder, 12 Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, 11 Jonny May, 10 Freddie Burnes, 9 Rory Lawson; 1 Nick Wood, 2 Darren Dawidiuk, 3 Rupert Harden, 4 Will James, 5 Jim Hamilton, 6 Alasdair Strokosch, 7 Akapusi Qera, 8 Luke Narraway ©
Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Dan Murphy, 18 Dario Christolini, 19 Tom Savage, 20 Peter Buxton, 21 Dave Lewis, 22 Tim Taylor, 23 Mike Tindall
Saracens
15 Alex Goode, 14 David Strettle, 13 Owen Farrell, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 James Short; 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Neil de Kock; 1 Rhys Gill, 2 Schalk Brits, 3 Carlos Nieto, 4 Steve Borthwick (C), 5 Mouritz Botha, 6 Kelly Brown, 7 Jacques Burger, 8 Ernst Joubert
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Deon Carstens, 18 Matt Stevens, 19 Hayden Smith, 20 Andy Saull, 21 Ben Spencer, 22 Chris Wyles, 23 Joe Maddock

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	TF	TA	PD	BP	PTS
01 – Harlequins	6	6	0	0	189	117	20	11	+72	2	26
02 - Saracens	6	5	0	1	153	95	14	9	+58	2	22
03 – Sale Sharks	6	4	0	2	154	144	15	13	+10	3	19
04 - London Irish	6	3	0	3	185	158	17	14	+27	5	17
---------------------------	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
05 – Exeter Chiefs	6	3	0	3	118	127	11	13	-9	3	15
06 – Gloucester	6	3	0	3	126	125	10	12	+1	2	14
---------------------------	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
07 – Bath Rugby	6	3	0	3	127	131	9	7	-4	2	14
08 – London Wasps	6	3	0	3	121	133	12	8	-12	2	14
09 – Northampton Saints	6	2	0	4	109	108	7	8	+1	1	9
10 – Worcester Warriors	6	2	0	4	82	121	6	11	-39	1	9
11 – Leicester Tigers	6	1	0	5	152	194	14	21	-42	3	7
---------------------------	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
12 – Newcastle Falcons	6	1	0	5	99	162	8	16	-63	1	5

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Most teams have some selection decisions to make in relation to integrating returning World Cup players back in, and it is arguably a key fortnight coming up for all teams before the break for Heineken Cup action, particularly given how congested the middle of the table is. Personally I think it will be all home wins, with the exceptions of Tigers and Saracens going on the road and coming back with the points. How do people see this weeks matches going?

Great, the one player I was really looking forward to seeing has gone off injured. Big shame for Jon Joseph.

Poor 40 minutes from us, need to be better this half.

What a finish by Attwood

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:My predictions:
Tigers returnees taking a little while to gel and Sale to continue their strong start to the season - Sale by less than a score;
"Worcester continue their tough home form with a bullish pack display": agree with yappy - Wuss by less than a score;
Bath with just a little too much in key areas for Irish - Bath by less than a score;
Chiefs to keep it tight, but ultimately Mr Evans to deliver his magic - Quins by less than a score;
"Saints internationals continue to get back in to the swing of things, unlucky Newcastle" +1 - Saints by more than a score;
Will Sarries beat the Kingsholm hoodoo? Not this time - Glaws by less than a score.

Lot's of LBPs in my predictions

Apologies, Pete, only got 3 out of 5 so far, but one of the ones I did get right was yours Happy with the LBP from the Stoop, sounds like we fought hard in the second half and managed to get to grip with the ref's interpretations

Good bit of niggle in the Glos vs. Sarries game, good thing too because the televised games have been turgid so far this weekend.

Great try from Glos, their backline looks brilliant. Could be a good game if it carries on, Sarries will have to attack.

We got what we deserved to be honest As. Our lineout was shocking, and we were poor at the breakdown. We also rarely threatened the gainline. Given how bad we were, getting away with an LBP is decent return. On the basis of that game, neither us or Bath will be near a trophy at the end of the season. (We can play a lot better though, so i am not all doom and gloom!!!)

This is what happens when you needlessly take players who are playing well off, why take Burns off????

Good come back from Sarries but the way they cynically play off the ball makes it very easy to support their opposition.

Difficult to like Sarries, when you watch them playing like that.

Seconded why the flip take Burns off?

And Narroway is never going to be an international on that showing.

HammerofThunor wrote:What a finish by Attwood

What's with the pathetic booing by London Irish fans after that try was awarded and also booing Biggs as he recovered from the high tackle by Armitage.

The booing after the try was because from the replays that were being shown on the big screen it looked like his knee was in touch, and I don't recall hearing any booing when Biggs recovered.

yappy, Burns was injured - it looked like he pulled a calf muscle

Ozzy3213 wrote:The booing after the try was because from the replays that were being shown on the big screen it looked like his knee was in touch, and I don't recall hearing any booing when Biggs recovered.

I'd rather trust a TMO with his face close to a HD screen than biased home fans watching a blurry blurry screen from far away. I'm watching the recorded live programme add the boos for Biggs when he stood up were louder than the boos for the try. Just watched it again to make sure I wasn't mistaken.

What has trust got to do with it? The fans were just reacting to what they believed was a poor decision.

As I say, I don't recall any booing for Biggs, but I don't have the benefit of watching it again on tv so will take your word for it. If there was booing for him then that is very disappointing, as I was sat about 10-15 metres from the incident and he got caught with a fair old smack, so there is no way he could be accused of feigning injury or milking it.

I just meant that watching something on a poor quality big screen doesn't put the spectators in a position to judge that the decision was poor.

Dude, if you are in a ground and see something on a big screen that looks like a poor decision against your team, you are going to boo.

I haven't seen it again, as I don't have ESPN, but someone on the London Irish supporters forum has posted that after the game ESPN showed it from 2 different camera angles simultaneously and it looked like the right decision had been made.

Ozzy3213 wrote:Dude, if you are in a ground and see something on a big screen that looks like a poor decision against your team, you are going to boo.

I haven't seen it again, as I don't have ESPN, but someone on the London Irish supporters forum has posted that after the game ESPN showed it from 2 different camera angles simultaneously and it looked like the right decision had been made.

I guess I must be different as I've never booed anything in my life.

Indeed it was the correct decision.

What's the issue you have with booing? There was no abuse directed at the officials, and after a momentary boo to vent some frustration the crowd got back on with supporting their team.

I don't like hearing abuse at grounds, and generally speaking I've not come across it directed at the officials at rugby matches. I've heard banter and seen people offer the touch judge their glasses, but that's all part of the craic when done in the right spirit.

I'm sure I'm entitled to state my opinion that I don't like people booing players and correct decisions ? Just like I don't like people booing national anthems. I'm not sure why you have an issue with me stating that I don't like booing.

I don't have an issue with you not liking it, I am asking you the reason why you don't like it.

Just because.

My thoughts on our match with Bath...

https://www.606v2.com/t17225-london-irish-vs-bath-rugby-a-match-report-of-sorts

That'll teach me for going on a wind up when only half a game's been played.

I thought everyone knew better than to write Tigers off, it takes them at least 20 minutes to get into gear most games. If Waldrom can wipe the butter off his hands before next week that would be an advantage!