Tigers vs Barf

Tigers vs this weekend at Welford Road. Bath will be stinging from their LV Cup Semi Final loss where their strongest available team was beaten by Tigers A League regulars (plus a couple). That should add some spice to an old rivalry which will also be important for both teams as Bath will be hoping to sneak into next years HEC whilst Tigers will want to cement their home semi place and maybe even catch Quins.

So what teams do we want?

My preferred Tigers team:

1.Mulipola
2.T Youngs
3.Castro
4.Skivington
5.Parling
6.Mafi
7.Salvi
8.Waldrom
9.B Youngs
10.Ford - can't afford for Flood to pick up an injury
11.A Tuilagi
12.Allen
13.M Tuilagi
14.Agulla
15.Murphy

Bench: Ayerza, Chuter, Cole, Kitchener, Newby, Harrison, Twelvetrees, Hamilton.

I like the idea of giving Ayerza a rest definitely, might also be inclined to start with Kitchener as well. Outside of that I think its a good team. Keeping continuity in the backs and giving Ford a game with the full team where hopefully he can show his attacking skills on the front foot instead of just his kicking game which he was forced to do during that LV semi.

I would love us to extend the run to 7 consecutive 5 pointers and then hope that Sale can do us a favour up at Edgeley Park just to cap off a remarkable comeback.

That sums up my feelings as well Killer. Kitchener can come off the bench and rampage around in the second half. I don't want us to make too many changes because I want the 5 pointer and the pack has been working well. Parling has also got to practice managing the lineout without the easy Croft option.

I agree although Mafi has been doing a good job in that area, not as good as Croft but then again there isn't anyone in England as good as him in that area. If the game is safe I would also try and get Harrison on for 30mins or so to play with Ford as they are obviously forming a nice partnership and the more experience they can get, the better. All in all though only a couple of changes for rotation purposes while keeping continuity and I honestly can't see Cockerill doing anything else but that (I personally can't see him not starting Flood either but we will see)

It would be a tough choice to rest Flood for this one when he's in such great form and fresh from a weeks rest but I honestly don't think we should risk him. Staunton is awful, Twelvetrees is a centre and Ford is still developing. If Flood gets injured we are in the brown stuff come the playoffs. I agree with the Harrison Ford partnership getting more time as well, purely for the fun to be had with the puns. On a more serious note they could well be getting more game time together next year with Youngs and Flood away with England.

Yeh, they are second choice now so assuming Flood and Youngs are away we will be seeing a lot more of them. Especially if Allen makes the England squad as well, that leaves Bowden having to play 12 really with Ford at 10. It is a good position to be in though after Ford gets a full offseason of conditioning, he has bulked up already during the year so a full summer should help a lot.

'mon Bath

Erm I believe the cry of the weekend will be 'come on Sale', the great resuce job at Tigers will came full circle then. From relegation placing in the first few weeks to playing for the top spot by the end of the season. Looking to extend the run of tbp to 7 as well.

Quins don't need Bath's help anyway, all they have to do is beat Sale. Tigers need a tbp win and for Sale to not lose.

Yeah, but spoiling your momentum a little before the play-offs would be nice. It could build up like a juggernaut

formerly known as Sam wrote:Erm I believe the cry of the weekend will be 'come on Sale', the great resuce job at Tigers will came full circle then. From relegation placing in the first few weeks to playing for the top spot by the end of the season. Looking to extend the run of tbp to 7 as well.

Quins don't need Bath's help anyway, all they have to do is beat Sale. Tigers need a tbp win and for Sale to not lose.

Even the more so for old fossils like me who believe that the regular season winners should be declared champions and the the playoff winners takes a big prize money pot in the Grand Final.

So Bath will be stinging from their LV Cup loss? Weren't Saints also stinging from recent inter club results? Saints were supposed to get sweet revenge.

They didn't, nor will Bath. At Welford Rd and in current form, I would be disappointed if Tigers didn't get the full five points. And as Morris said on The Rugby Club last night, there's something that makes me think Sale will turn Quins over at Edgley Park.

Well we are 1 point behind so it doesn't matter if we get a tbp or not except to keep the record going. If Quins win they finish top no matter what happens, if they don't win and we do then we finish top unless the unlikely scenario occurs where they draw and get a tbp and we win but don't get a tbp. I think Quins will win though which means that we need a win to ensure second place and a home semi final. Either way, it has been an remarkable turn around after losing 5 of the first 6 games but finishing top would be the icing on the cake so come on Sale.

Portnoy wrote:
Even the more so for old fossils like me who believe that the regular season winners should be declared champions and the the playoff winners takes a big prize money pot in the Grand Final.

There is a big difference between believing we should have a competition where the league leaders are announced champions and one where you unilaterally proclaim the "regular season winners" as champions even though the rules stated they are not. Due to the rules in place teams have rested and rotated players and quite possibly lost matches/points they would not have otherwise lost. We have no idea what the table would have looked like had teams been playing to a different set of rules.

We would probably have seen much more injuries though as teams overplayed their big players, leading to a worse England team and even worse performance in Europe.

We would probably have seen much more injuries though as teams overplayed their big players, leading to a worse England team and even worse performance in Europe

and bigger arguements at the start of the season when teams were missing large numbers of internationals. I wonder how many pizza visits would have occurred with teams happy to take a fine and replay the game when they had a fitter squad rather than risk losing valuable points because they were fielding a weaker side?

Martin Castrogiovanni returns to the front row and Steve Mafi, named as the Tigers Players' Player of the Year, replaces the injured Tom Croft at flanker in the only changes to the line-up which started the bonus-point win over Harlequins in Round 21.

Forwards Craig Newby and Calum Green return to the squad and are named among the replacements.

Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill said: "There is a good old rivalry between Leicester and Bath, and we still have everything to play for because we want to go into the semi-finals with some confidence and with a home draw.

"Our form has been good but it doesn't count for a huge amount unless you turn up and do it."

Saturday's game is already a 24,000 capacity sell-out at Welford Road.

Leicester Tigers (v Bath Rugby, Welford Road, Saturday 2pm)
15 Geordan Murphy (c)
14 Horacio Agulla
13 Manusamoa Tuilagi
12 Anthony Allen
11 Alesana Tuilagi
10 Toby Flood
9 Ben Youngs
1 Marcos Ayerza
2 George Chuter
3 Martin Castrogiovanni
4 George Skivington
5 Geoff Parling
6 Steve Mafi
7 Julian Salvi
8 Thomas Waldrom

Replacements
16 Tom Youngs
17 Logovi'i Mulipola
18 Dan Cole
19 Craig Newby
20 Calum Green
21 Sam Harrison
22 Billy Twelvetrees
23 Scott Hamilton

England international hooker Lee Mears captains Bath Rugby in place of the injured Stuart Hooper.

Bath Rugby
15 Nick Abendanon
14 Olly Woodburn
13 Matt Banahan
12 Olly Barkley
11 Tom Biggs
10 Stephen Donald
9 Michael Claassens
1 Nathan Catt
2 Lee Mears (c)
3 David Wilson
4 Dave Attwood
5 Ben Skirving
6 Josh Ovens
7 Carl Fearns
8 Simon Taylor

Replacements
16 Ross Batty
17 Charlie Beech
18 Duncan Bell
19 Will Spencer
20 Guy Mercer
21 Mark McMillan
22 Sam Vesty
23 Kyle Eastmond

I had heard that Slater, Kitchener and Ford had taken knocks and the team selection seems to indicate that.

I'm beginning to take as much/more interest in the replacements bench than the starting XV.

A tbp is not out of the question.

It's a weakened Bath team that's for certain Portnoy, no Louw and no Heathcote are both blows as is the lack of a natural OC. Attwood will be taking on a lot of responsibility at the lineout as well.

Disappointed not to see Ford on the bench at least, thought this would be an ideal game for him to be on there. Other than that pretty much what was expected.

formerly known as Sam wrote:It's a weakened Bath team that's for certain Portnoy, no Louw and no Heathcote are both blows as is the lack of a natural OC. Attwood will be taking on a lot of responsibility at the lineout as well.

Makes missing Croft even more of a loss.

Bath by 5

There's tries everywhere in that Bath side, looks like a 5 pointer for the Blue, Black and Whites.

Got to admire the optimism! Hopefully Barf will come out and really go for it and make for a great game with a comfortable win for the Tigers!

Tigers 16 Bath 32

Skivs pulls out. Green starts, with Pienaar on the bench.

B. Youngs out too, Harrison in. Grindal on the bench

I'll try and keep this thread up to date with the match commentary

Was the Ben Youngs news on the radio?

radio commentator says its 4 minutes till man sausage off hehehe

maverickmak wrote:Was the Ben Youngs news on the radio?

yeah, it was on radio leicester.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/bbc_radio_leicester

Tigers wearing there new kit today (for next season). Wonder if that's why today's game isn't shown on tv :p

Minutes applause for Clair Squires from North Kilworth

Flood kicks off!

Penalty to the tigers, kick about 40m out.

Flood misses. Sliced kick from bath. Tigers lineout.

Sounds like it's pretty windy.

Bath steal the lineout

Error from bath, kicking the ball out when it was passed back into the 22.

Error in the pass from Flood, Barkley makes a run but knocks on.

Lots of errors from both sides at the minute.

Bath's Loosehead struggling with the first couple of scrums. Ref's missed it. Nice break from Flood but a good tackle from the bath fullback.

This time Leicester get a penalty for the loosehead going down at the scrum (not in that way :p )

Flood kicks the penalty 3-0 to the tigers, Bath havent been out of their own half yet.

penalty for bath, Barkley going for the sticks.

Missed by Barkley, drop out from tigers 22.

leicester turn the ball over, Bath drive them into touch but there was a knock on by tuilagi.

penalty to bath, commentators havent a clue why!

bath knock it on, but ref waves on. Bath counter. Leicester then turn it over and break with tuilagi.

bath have a lineout 10 meters out from the tigers line, throw not straight.

Salvi for the tigers limping.

Salvi is going off, replaced by newby

penalty against bath, Flood doesnt find touch.

Bath counter attack and make around 20 meters

Bath kick for touch just inside the tigers half.

Bath steal the ball, kicked up. Tuilagi chases back and puts the ball down. Scrum to bath 5m out.