Can it get much worse?!?!?!

Floody injured.

http://www.sportsmole.co.uk/rugby-union/england/six-nations/news/england-sweat-on-floods-fitness_12267.html

We have to be the most unluckiest club of the 2011/12 season.

Best call Ford back from Leeds.

You'll get no sympathy on here Bud.

This is really serious for us now, all we have is the charismatic Staunton who stands too deep and fails to get the backs moving!

Ford must return.

A lot of teams have had injury woes this season.

Personally I think ours have been worse than other's but that is what can happen in a contact sport. Flood being ruled out is just one of those things that can happen at any time - and why we have back up. Much worse was when we were down our 6 first choice props due to injury/WC or when we were missing our 5 first choice centres due to injury.

But no, there will be no sympathy (and quite right too ) on here. Sadly nor will anyone even have the good grace to accept that, even though we underperformed during WC, the call-ups and injuries had a huge impact on the side.

Injuries happen to all teams.

At Ulster we lost a World Class 15 in his second game and have been mising our 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice 12 for the last few games.
We also were missing all 4 LH's at one stage such that a hooker came on to play there in one match - it wan't pretty.

However timing is everything and I would concede your injuries for next week will affect you far more than ours - which 15 apart should be cleared up before the HC game.

Geoff, our injuries right now are not a major issue. You pretty much have to accept that 20% of your players will not be fit. This is pretty much where we are - assuming Ayerza/Allen are fit for next week.

The issue with Flood being injured is that the cover is an over the hill Irishman, a callow youth who has been loaned out to get experience and a utility back who looks a bit like jesus. cockerill decided he was not going to spend big on a 10 to sit on the bench, so we made this bed we now lie on.

Jared Payne has never and will never be world class! How you can say that I don't know! Good player, but arguably not even int class!

All teams have injuries fellas, sorry, s hit happens. Bath played 3 games with a 20 Loosehead playing hooker and 2 more with a 19 year clifton rfc hooker! Needless to say, we didn't win many lineouts or scrums and its quite hard to win games without ball!

LondonTiger I think many people accept that the injuries and world cup call ups affected Leicester Tigers greatly but there is a lack of sympathy generally because of Portnoy who is a Also because of jealousy. People like to see Leicester knocked off their perch because you are a good side who have been at the top a long time.

Also it's hard to feel sympathy for a side as good as Leicester. You're 3rd now.

I don't have sympathy in regards to Flood though as you rely on him too much. It's unfortunate but no different to for example my club having 2 starting scrum halves out for 3 months +.

You aren't the only ones though. To a certain extent Saracens rely on Hodgson,Quins on Evans etc.

Staunton is not a good back up fly half. It has been said many times. Why persist with him? It's strange because Leicester are normally so good with strength in depth issues.

I don't think Cockerill had a mass amount of choice in that matter LT. There's very few clubs in the AP that can honestly say that they have a back up 10 who is as competent as their first choice. Exeter, Saints, Worcester and maybe Quins (Clegg is a good 10 but not Evans standard) but all others really haven't blown big cash on reserve fly halfs. Having said that I'd welcome back Taylor from Gloucester and have him over Staunton for the bench.

The wage cap is tight and quality 10s are a)expensive and b)there's not many who would be happy to sit on the bench behind the England first choice.

All teams have injuries fellas, sorry, s hit happens. Bath played 3 games with a 20 Loosehead playing hooker and 2 more with a 19 year clifton rfc hooker! Needless to say, we didn't win many lineouts or scrums and its quite hard to win games without ball!

We had similar issues with not having a recognised tighthead. We got so desperate we had to borrow a loosehead from Nottingham to play there. You know it's bad when Wasps are pushing you back in the scrum. Having to play an academy 12 and 5th choice centre against Ulster and Arioni didn't help either. Neither did the academy centre going off injured and moving Smith up to 12 (he can't pass) and moving a winger to 13.

Bathite wrote:Jared Payne has never and will never be world class! How you can say that I don't know! Good player, but arguably not even int class!

He won player of the month in the Super 15 last year, and was nominated for a second month.
You dont do that unless you are at the top of the game.

Ulster fans are praying for Staunton to play - Ferris is licking his lips.

Leicester will badly miss Flood and Manu and for me those two missing tips a 50/50 game to a 60/40 game in Ulster's favour.

Sam, I agree that Cockers had to decide how best to spend the money and probably made the right decision not to recruit a good 10 as it would be a bad return on the investment. If Ford and 36 get more gametime then cove is sorted.

Geoff - if Allen is back and fit then Manu will be a loss, but defensively we are more organised with an Allen/Smith combo - especially if 36 is playing outside half. Manu can still jump out of the line to make th ebig hit, giving space for clever players to capitalise on.

I can see that - what we feared to be honest was Manu running at Humphreys and or Wallace.

Defensively Wallace will be ok against Allen.
To be honest we see Flood as the bigger lost. The feeling here is if the 10's had been swapped at Welford Road the result would have gone the other way.

I don't know Geoff I was looking forward to welcoming Flood to Ravenhill.....

I think Tuilagi was the big threat running at our midfield. Clermont showed we could be split through the middle and we'd be particularly vulnerable if Wallace is a bit rusty.

I feel strongly that we need a bigger man at 12 like Whitten or Spence to compensate for Pienaar and IHumph but I'm on my own on that one.

Quite possibly it could Geoff - though Humprehys has always been hot or miss.

As to a Tuilagi running at the smaller guys - well wi still have Alesana.

Leicester will badly miss Flood and Manu and for me those two missing tips a 50/50 game to a 60/40 game in Ulster's favour.

Could well be. How is the Ulster injury list looking? Welford Rd was a cagey affair with both sides midfields weakened (Tigers ended up with Morris in the centres!). Tigers should have a mostly fit team but will be missing some big players in Deacon, Manu and Flood (oh for Crane to be fit as well!).

Depends a lot on the conditions I think. A wet game that turns into a tactical kicking battle will not suit Tigers. Twelevetrees has a cannon that can kick pretty much the length of the pitch from hand but he takes a long wind up (allowing for charge downs) and lacks accuracy. He would, however, bring a 50 to 60m (depending on wind and rain) kicking range so shots from his own half tend to easily have the length though not always the accuracy. If the game is on a dry day (unlikely I know) then he is as dangerous ball in hand as Floody, his passing is faster and longer and he is a big bloke ball in hand. He'd be a good 10 but he doesn't have the tactical nous and may get sussed if he is needed to play it clever. Staunton will be ran over repeatedly (that won't happen with Twelvetrees) and has a smaller range and next to no attacking ability. He does provide a more accurate boot and a better tactical brain though.

Ulster injury list is a lot better.
No Payne but we have Terblanche or D'Arcy.
Pienaer is still looking a bit rusty but a game this weekend and he should be OK
Wallace will be rusty and some of the cover (Spence and Marshall) are injured.
Forwards at full strength.
We have about 6 players out but only 1 would be a definite starter.

In truth we have no excuses with respect to injuries, as long as no one picks up a knock this weekend.

Definitely advantage Ulster then. If the weather goes bad I really do expect that with no Deacon, Crane, Flood and Manu we might well struggle. Deacon and Crane are great grunt merchants and would have given us more edge in the tight exchanges where as their replacements either prefer a more athletic game (Waldrom and Skivington) or just lack a bit of nous at the top level (Slater). As said above our 10s lack the all round game of Flood and no one is in Manu's league when it comes to our centres.

On the plus side Ayerza (loosehead) and Parling (chief lineout operator) should be back so they scrum, lineout and loose play will be improved. The Ulster pack is big though so I'm more worried about the missing grunt.

Thats a big blow to Tigers - especially in its timing. Thing is, most teams who are fortunate enough to have a quality OH have the same issue - they are screwed if he gets injured, we'd be in major trouble if ROG got injured (especially given Keatley's current form). We were fortunate to have Warwick for a few seasons, but generally OH cover falls to a far poorer back up or a good utilty back.