Bath vs Tigers at the Wreck in the LV Cup

First topic message reminder :

Tigers are under dogs for this away trip to old rivals Bath. Head coach Richard Cockerill has promised some of the young guns who performed so well against Quins at the Stoop a run out against a Bath team desperate for a chance of HEC qualification. It's televised by Sky tomorrow night.

Leicester Tigers (v Bath Rugby, The Recreation Ground, Friday 7.30pm)
15 Scott Hamilton
14 Horacio Agulla
13 Andy Forsyth
12 Billy Twelvetreees
11 Alex Lewington
10 George Ford
9 James Grindal
1 Boris Stankovich
2 Rob Hawkins
3 Julian White
4 Calum Green
5 Graham Kitchener
6 Steve Mafi
7 Craig Newby (c)
8 Ben Pienaar

Replacements
16 Tom Youngs
17 Marcos Ayerza
18 Logoviii Mulipola
19 Julian Salvi
20 Thomas Waldrom
21 Scott Steele
22 Jeremy Staunton
23 Matt Smith

Bath Rugby:
15 Sam Vesty
14 Matt Banahan
13 Matt Carraro
12 Olly Barkley
11 Tom Biggs
10 Tom Heathcote
9 Michael Claassens
1 Charlie Beech
2 Lee Mears
3 Duncan Bell
4 Dave Attwood
5 Ryan Caldwell
6 Ben Skirving
7 Francois Louw (c)
8 Simon Taylor

Replacements
16 Pieter Dixon
17 David Flatman
18 Anthony Perenise
19 Guy Mercer
20 Carl Fearns
21 Chris Cook
22 Olly Woodburn
23 Jack Cuthbert

Banter (keep it light), predictions and matches to look out for?

SHAMBLES!!!!

Get SIMc off to the RFU, B&I Lions... wherever he wants to be, if he really wants to stay at Bath, he'd better start by thinking Bath, living Bath and breathing Bath Rugby.

It's OK having world class medical facilities at Farleigh, but they are there for players who put it on the line for the club week in - week out, NOT for a bunch of sicknotes signed in need of medical assistance.

Well played Tigers, with a second string side (with borderline 3rd string players involved) you showed Bath what winning is all about.



NOT fecking happy.

nathan wrote:Sir Ian McGeechan is unhappy with the final penalty that was reversed, he says the tigers player was binding on the arm.

Have to admit, i'm 99% certain he had a correct bind where as the bath player didn't. What does anyone else think?

Flatman seemed to pull his arm back virtually every time rather than trying for a bind ...

I really like Dave Flatman.

I was involved with coaching Sarries colts when he came through their system and he was a really decent, bright kid. Later when he had a bit of cash he (co-incidently) bought the flat below me (to help with teh mortgage his flatmate was Tom Shanklin). Last time i spoke to him properly was over breakfast in a greasy spoon after a tour to Argentina where he had performed really well in both the tight and loose. At that point his career looked as though it would be stellar. Mainly due to injuries, but also the vagaries of selection it never happened.

Lack of mobility in his left shoulder following a series of operations and the tight-fit shirts means he seems unable to get a decent bind on. It is very easy for a tighthead to force him to lose the binding. Sadly I think he should retire at the end of the season. Personally I feel he would make an excellent forwards coach - but I guess he would look to develop his TV work.

PJHolybloke wrote:SHAMBLES!!!!

Get SIMc off to the RFU, B&I Lions... wherever he wants to be, if he really wants to stay at Bath, he'd better start by thinking Bath, living Bath and breathing Bath Rugby.

It's OK having world class medical facilities at Farleigh, but they are there for players who put it on the line for the club week in - week out, NOT for a bunch of sicknotes signed in need of medical assistance.

Well played Tigers, with a second string side (with borderline 3rd string players involved) you showed Bath what winning is all about.



NOT fecking happy.

Couldn't agree more, Its hard being a Bath fan at the moment.

Can't wait to see Hersh's response to this result come Monday morning. Priceless.

Well done Tigers, I had little hope of the team getting a result in this match. It speaks volumes about the spirit of a team when second or even third choice players can go to the Rec and play an almost full strength side and get the win. It is even sweeter knowing that Tigers may well have taken the last hope for Bath to win a European place away.

I would imagine Saints will get the result they need on Sunday. Should be a great final.

Doing back-flips in my room after that one! Brilliant effort from the Tigers to win!

Kitchener, Mafi, Ford and all the props, take a bow!

Looks like Ford will be a serious rival to Flood next season. He kicked a lot, but then he's away from home in a semi against a more experienced side - seemed mature play to me. I also thought Heathcote played pretty well.

Still, not many bright spots for Bath, but I thought Fearns looked good - he's a very powerful player.

Looks like Ford will be a serious rival to Flood next season. He kicked a lot, but then he's away from home in a semi against a more experienced side - seemed mature play to me.

Agreed. It wasn't the prettiest play making performance but the Bath defence was good and they had a better pack out. Better to take territory and pressurise a team that was a recent reputation for making errors under pressure. Those kicks were beautifully precise and Cockers has already said Ford will play in the final as he has earnt the opportunity.

Good performances all round with Kitchener in the forwards and Lewington on the wing impressing me imparticular. Disappointed with the Bath fans booing Lewington when he was down injured though. Very poor sportsmanship towards a young man who had to limp off and take no further part.

Quite scary that basically a 2nd to 3rd string Leicester side can beat an almost full strength Bath side on their own patch! Kudos to Leicester for having the faith in those players.

Where do Bath go from here though?

To be fair Bath made a lot of their own problems. Yes, Tigers did apply pressure and were tactically astute but Bath made copious line breaks and looked good in attack, as you would expect against a scratch team, but threw away opportunities with idiotic offloads and poor kicks ahead. If Bath had stopped trying to play the silly Mehan pretty rugby and played at a slightly slower tempo then they would have won.

The crowd were influencing the ref (as you'd hope they would at a home game) the Bath forwards were making yards the Bath backs were making breaks (despite good individual Tigers defending) but time after time silly stuff was giving the ball away. Cuthbert kicking ahead allowing Twelvetrees to clear up, the Bath lineout jumper slapping the ball down 5m from his line when under pressure, Banahan's wild offloads to no one and Flatman refusing to bind even when the officials were warning him. They gave Tigers chances to break up their attack and chances to score points and Tigers took them.

beshocked wrote:
Where do Bath go from here though?

No doubt straight to the bank for another loan

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

beshocked wrote:
Where do Bath go from here though?

No doubt straight to the bank for another loan

More likely that a bank would be coming to us for a loan to be honest!

As Sam has already said, we threw this one away, it was in the bag, completely dominated possession and scoring chances, but didn't convert. Huge credit to Leicester, great spirit and performance from a third string and Ford got the plaudits, but to be honest, Heathcote also looked outstanding and probably outshone his opposite number. However, Tigers played to a gameplan and did what they needed to do, whereas we didn't.

Thank god England won yesterday, I was on suicide watch all Saturday!

Bathite, do you really think that Heathcote outshone Ford?

I haven't seen any other supporting comments from Bath fans agreeing with you even on the Bath unoffy forum!

Still, its your opinion and......

Think Heathcote had a blinder, I'm a flyhalf myself, so watched him closely, as I did with Farrell on Sunday. Maybe Heathcote didn't have a better game in the grand scheme of things, but I was really impressed with his decision making, looked a real attacking threat, bounced Ford off once or twice in contact as well. What I liked is that he took the ball up and presented it very well when under pressure, where many others would have chucked it wide, away from the back row and we would have been turned. I think that Ford got the plaudits because Tigers won, had we not given that last penalty away, I think the reports would be a carbon copy, with Heathcote's name replacing Ford's. Future looks bright for the 10 shirt though, great to see so many youngsters getting game time and looking assured at that level

I think Ford and Heathcote both performed well. Ford certainly had very little ball but showed maturity in what was a brilliant tactical kicking display and he showed up well in defence despite a big Bath team running at him.

Heathcote enjoyed a lot of possession and used it well. The hadnling errors were made further on down the line after he had orchestrated the initial move. Had the players outside him not been so incompetent then he would have been the winning playmaker. I'd have liked to see more imagination from him but I suppose he didn't really need to show more as he had plenty of fire power around him and a dis-organised Tigers defence to attack. Took his kicks well but was never under the pressure Ford was in open play.

Things are looking bright indeed for the England 10 position with these two coming through.