Aviva Premiership Round 2

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Friday 7th September

Harlequins v London Welsh

Preview

Harlequins Team
15. Mike Brown, 14. Tom Williams,13. George Lowe,12. Jordan Turner-Hall,11. UgoMonye,10. Nick Evans,9. Karl Dickson
1. Joe Marler,2. Joe Gray,3. James Johnston,4. Olly Kohn,5. George Robson,6. MaurieFa'asavalu,7. Chris Robshaw ©,8. Tom Guest

16. Rob Buchanan,17. Darryl Marfo,18. Kyle Sinckler,19. Charlie Matthews,20. Nick Easter,21. Danny Care,22. Ben Botica,23. Matt Hopper


London Welsh Team:
15. Tom Arscott, 14. Phil Mackenzie*, 13. Sonny Parker*, 12. Hudson Tonga’uiha*, 11. Joe Ajuwa, 10. Gordon Ross*, 9. Tyson Keats,
1. Frank Montanella*, 2. Neil Briggs, 3. Paulica Ion*, 4 Jonathan Mills ©, 5. Matt Corker, 6. Daniel Browne, 7. Mike Denbee, 8. Ed Jackson.

16. Dan George, 17. Tom Bristow, 18. Arthur Joly, 19. Kirill Kulemin*, 20. Alfie To’oala*, 21. Nick Runciman, 22. Seb Jewell, 23. Nick Scott.



Saturday 8th September

Bath v London Wasps 14:15 ESPN

Preview

Bath Team:
Abendanon; Eastmond, Hipkiss, Banahan, Biggs: Barkley, Claassens
Catt, Mears, Wilson; Hooper (capt), Day, Taylor, Fearns, Skirving.

Batty, James, Palma-Newport, Attwood, Ovens, McMillan, Devoto, Cuthbert.


Wasps Team:
Southwell (capt); Varndell, Daly, C Bell, Wade; Robinson, Simpson;
Payne, Lindsay, Stainbano; Palmer, Wentzel; Haskell, Poff, Vunipola.

Rhys Thomas, McIntyre, Taulafo, Launchbury, Johnson, Davies, T Bell, Mayor.


Leicester Tigers v Worcester Warriors

Preview

Leicester:
Murphy (capt); Hamilton, Tuilagi, Allen, Goneva; Flood, Harrison; Stankovich, T Youngs, Castrogiovanni; Kitchener, Parling; Mafi, Salvi, Waldrom.

Replacements: Hawkins, Mulipola, Cole, Andrew, Crane, Phibbs, Ford, Smith.


Worcester:
Pennell; Drauniniu, Grove, Matavesi, Lemi; Goode, Perry; Mullan, Lutui, Andress, Percival, Schofield (capt); C Jones, Betty, Taulava.

Replacements: Hayes, C Jones, Currie, Gillies, Kvesic, Arr, Carlisle, Howard.


London Irish v Gloucester

Preview

London Irish:
Homer; Ojo, Joseph, Tagicakibau, Yarde; Shingler, O'Leary; Lahiff, Lawson, Halavatau; Skivington, Evans; Danaher (capt), Treviranus, Fisher.

Replacements: Blaney, Aulika, Ryan, Low, Gray, Watson, Geraghty, Moates.


Gloucester:
May; Sharples, Trinder, Twelvetrees, Simpson-Daniel; Burns, Robson; Wood, Dawidiuk, Knight; James, Hamilton (capt); Savage, Hazell, Morgan.

Replacements: Edmonds, Murphy, Harden, Kalamafoni, Qera, Lewis, Tindall, Thomas.


Sale Sharks v Saracens 16:30 ESPN

Preview

Sale:
Miller; Addison, Leota, Tuitupou, Cueto; Cipriani, Peel; Lewis-Roberts, Ward, Cobilas; Gray, Myall; Gaskell, Seymour (capt), Vernon.

Replacements: Taylor, Dickinson, Thomas, McKenzie, Easter, Cliff, Macleod, Uys.


Saracens:
Goode; Ashton, Tomkins, Barritt, Wyles; Hodgson, Wigglesworth; Vunipola, Brits, du Plessis, Borthwick (capt), Botha, Brown, Fraser, Joubert

Replacements: George, Saunders, Nieto, Hargreaves, Wray, De Kock, Farrell, Short.



Sunday 9th September

Northampton Saints v Exeter Chiefs 15:00 Sky

Preview

Northampton:
Foden; K Pisi, G Pisi, Waldouck, Artemyev; Lamb, Dickson; Tonga'uiha, Hartley (c), Mujati; Manoa, Day; Dowson, Wood, van Velze.

Replacements: Haywood, Waller, Mercey, Sorenson, Oakley, Roberts, Myler, Burrell.

Exeter Chiefs Team:
15 Luke Arscott 14 Josh Tatupu 13 Ian Whitten 12 Phil Dollman 11 Matt Jess 10 Ignacio Mieres 9 Will Chudley;
1 Brett Sturgess 2 Chris Whitehead 3 Craig Mitchell 4 Tom Hayes (capt) 5 Aly Muldowney 6 Tom Johnson 7 James Scaysbrook 8 Richard Baxter

16 Simon Alcott 17 Ben Moon 18 Chris Budgen 19 James Hanks 20 James Phillips 21 Kevin Barrett 22 Gareth Steenson 23 Sireli Naqelevuki

Is PDJ injured or was e dropped by Saints? I'm sorry but I just don't rate him at all. Anonymous around the park & barely adequate at scrum time.
Better youngsters coming through & lucky to part of the Saxons

i thought saints vs chiefs was a great game of rugby involving two decent sides, i expect both to be fighting at the top of the table come may.

bit surprised to see some negative comments. exeter do get away with going of their feet at rucks but usually when they have earned some momentum, many refs seem to let it go in those situations, including in test rugby.

the young SA 8 (van velze?) needs to work on his tackling technique, could have been red card.

HQ matt wrote:i thought saints vs chiefs was a great game of rugby involving two decent sides, i expect both to be fighting at the top of the table come may.

bit surprised to see some negative comments. exeter do get away with going of their feet at rucks but usually when they have earned some momentum, many refs seem to let it go in those situations, including in test rugby.

the young SA 8 (van velze?) needs to work on his tackling technique, could have been red card.

the thing with the chiefs going off their feet, was they were never in contact with a player and they always sealed off the ball. However it is only illegal if the ref pings it.

Pretty disappointed with Saracens. A win is a win I suppose but the handling was shocking and the lineout was a disaster.

Backrow again excellent though and scrum working well with Vunipola getting stuck in.

The backs weren't great except for Goode who teed up Ashton for a virtual walk in.

The interesting thing I noticed about Saints is two weeks in a row they made some brainless plays near the end of each match which led to yellow cards. Easier victories against good clubs became harder than it should have been. If they don't get better about closing out matches, then they will surely lose one of these.

Doctor grey you should be pleased. 9 points from Gloucester away and Exeter home is very good. There's always things teams can work on.

I thought Wasps outplayed Bath for a lot of the game on Saturday without actually deserving to win. They contained Wade well. The Biggs try was a disaster with a pass rebounding off of Palmer!

Wasps desperately need a win against Irish next week & hopefully that will kick start our season.
Our defence definitely needs tightening up in the centre but we have been unlucky to lose both Masi & Bell to injuries in the first 2 games and for me they would be our starters with Daly on the bench.
Good performance by Ashley Johnson when he came on which will keep Billy V on his toes at 8. It's hard to believe he is still only 19!
Maybe Stephen Jones to come in at 10 if he's fit for next week.

All in all I'm still very positive especially compared to last season but of course that first W is a must.

LI will be equally desperate to break their duck. An interesting few weeks coming up all round.

I was particularly pleased to see that Oxford Welsh have now recieved two spankings on the bounce.

That'll teach 'em...

beshocked wrote:Pretty disappointed with Saracens. A win is a win I suppose but the handling was shocking and the lineout was a disaster.

Backrow again excellent though and scrum working well with Vunipola getting stuck in.

The backs weren't great except for Goode who teed up Ashton for a virtual walk in.

Agree with that. Been very impressed with Saracens as a whole, and Will Fraser has really caught the eye. He's been excellent.

beshocked wrote:Doctor grey you should be pleased. 9 points from Gloucester away and Exeter home is very good. There's always things teams can work on.

Right, mate! Clearly happy about the results. Great start to the season.
I just go nuts when I see mental errors give quality opponents a chance to get back into a match.

bluestonevedder thanks.

the backrow is Saracen's bread and butter in my opinion. I see it actually as quite possibly the most important factor in winning rugby matches and is the key to our success.

If it's functioning properly it makes it very difficult for the opposition to put points on us - they force the penalties,turnovers, slow down the opposition etc. It's part of why our defense is so strong - the backrow gives time for our team to align. It's why we have beaten the teams with in my opinion stronger front fives.

Yes Will Fraser has been very good but it's also helped having unsung hero Brown putting in the work too.

doctor_grey wrote:

beshocked wrote:Doctor grey you should be pleased. 9 points from Gloucester away and Exeter home is very good. There's always things teams can work on.

Right, mate! Clearly happy about the results. Great start to the season.
I just go nuts when I see mental errors give quality opponents a chance to get back into a match.

Trust me it's harder being a Saracens fan! Probably the most frustrating side to watch! Our backrow and scrum lay down the platform for the backs to strut their stuff yet again and again we make silly errors with the try line begging. Even when we try and attack we lack the cutting edge.

White line fever!

No problem beshocked, they seem to have added another string to their bow, and looked good.

Very true about Brown- great to see him back playing, and performing so well. I like the balance of your current backrow, and hopefully Fraser can just build game upon game.

On a side note, where do you see Short fitting in throughout the rest of the season?

I really like the Sarries backrow options. We also have Saull,Burger and Melck to come back too. The injuries last season were a blessing in disguise as Wray and Fraser have been blooded.

I would have picked Short by now. Unfortunately I think he'll be confined to the bench. If I had my way Wyles would be confined to the bench as the versatile player who can play FB,wing and outside centre. Short would be moved to the wing and employed in a similar role to Ashton - allowed to roam.

I think Saracens will go back to selecting Strettle when he's fit though he's completely off the boil.


Will be interesting to see what changes are made for Leicester.

Pleased with Quins getting their second bp, 10 points from a home and an away game isn't to be sniffed at and the team is looking very well balanced.

Can't wait for Botica to get some proper game time for us, there have been rave reviews for him on CAW and it'll be good to see a bit of him soon.

All in all happy days so far.

I was thinking the same as you regarding Short. He's a cracking player, and surely must have been on a rich vein of form coming off of the 7s. I would like to see what Ashton and Short are like in the same starting 15. Could have the potential to be lethal.

Regarding the Leicester game, I can't wait. Should be quite a challenege for both. I reckon it's going to be a gritty, forward-orientated game. Vunipola could thrive, and both backrows will have to be at their best. Hopefully Parling's line out calling sorts itself out. I'd like to see Kirchener start again because he showed up very well on Saturday, especially in the lineout.

Should be a great game

Agree Yappy.
B.Botica has had some excellent touches and I'm looking forward to seeing more of him.
Presumably he will be starting more of the LV games with Clegg on the bench.
It appears that Clegg has dropped down a peg to 3rd choice and is going to really have to work hard to get back in contention.

Yea i think I'll have to get along to a few of those LV matches, plenty of talent to see. Does it start in Nov?

It's a shame about Clegg but he does seem to have stalled, it could be blamed on Quins not backing him enough though and always going for Evans even when not totally fit. Still if Nev doesn't stay (I dread that) at least we have two young, probably cheap and pretty talented options to come in.

Hopefully we'll see a lot more of Guest, Chisholm and Hopper as well over the course of the season and Sinckler should get some serious game time over the Int periods.

Nov 10th I think is first LV round.
Yes, I had forgotten about the ? over NEV's contract renewals.
What deal is Glegg on? How much longer does he have left?

Guest, Chisholm, Sinkler and Hopper are all coming along nicely.
Buchannan looks uselful and if Brooker can come back from injury then we have good options at no.2.

Sam Smith and Seb Stegman to continue to develop. Happy days.
I'm still not convinced about Charlie Matthews - we need a good replacement for Kohn.

I'm sure Clegg just renewed his contract last season so is with us for another season or two probably.

Charlie Matthews could be good, but when you look at say the young Saints and Leicester locks he has a long way to go. I do wish we'd purchased an experienced player to cover for Kohn. maybe if we don't keep Evans then we'll be able to afford one.

Not too sure about Stegmann either, he seemed to do as much bad as good last season. I rate Smith a lot more to be honest and Lindsey-Hague plus Chisholm. Don't forget Charlie Walker as well.

Bloody hell the strength in depth for a lot of positions is good. The guy in charge of the academy is a genius

Quins do have the advantage of being the closest Prem club for a LOT of rugby schools though. Wasps get a few too

I had forgotten Charlie Walker.
Stegman was still a bit 50:50 last season I thought after that previous bad injury. We tend not to see too much of Lindsey Hague, has he finally decided to focus on 15's or is he likely to be away with England 7's again?

Yes, I do recall Clegg signing some sort of extension - hopefully its short term!
The way I see it he has had time to proove himself over a good number of years and its never happened for him - after having some of the best mentors on the planet for 10.

yappysnap wrote:Pleased with Quins getting their second bp, 10 points from a home and an away game isn't to be sniffed at and the team is looking very well balanced.

Can't wait for Botica to get some proper game time for us, there have been rave reviews for him on CAW and it'll be good to see a bit of him soon.

All in all happy days so far.

Let's be honest the Twickenham game might have counted as an away game but it definitely wasn't. 10 points is good but don't carried away. You just about got a victory over a side who came 11th last season, they put 40 points past you. Very good comeback admittedly.

Oh also you hammered the red hot favourites for relegation at your other home - the stoop. Fair play for securing the try bonus though.

Keep on winning then you can be confident.

beshocked wrote:

yappysnap wrote:Pleased with Quins getting their second bp, 10 points from a home and an away game isn't to be sniffed at and the team is looking very well balanced.

Can't wait for Botica to get some proper game time for us, there have been rave reviews for him on CAW and it'll be good to see a bit of him soon.

All in all happy days so far.

Let's be honest the Twickenham game might have counted as an away game but it definitely wasn't. 10 points is good but don't carried away. You just about got a victory over a side who came 11th last season, they put 40 points past you. Very good comeback admittedly.

Oh also you hammered the red hot favourites for relegation at your other home - the stoop. Fair play for securing the try bonus though.

Keep on winning then you can be confident.

I think we can still take positives from the game at Wasps - that kind of comeback reveals that when the team clicks they can score for fun, get bored of scoring and then keep doing it.

Nobody is getting overly confident but we have gotten the best possible results from our first 2 games. Obviously other games will be harder but we'll play better as our defense was awful against Wasps and our attack was awful against Welsh. We've got to max our points now as well, before we lose our big players and start up in Europe so I don't see anybody getting carried away

And if Twickenham can be seen as a home fixture, that is surely a massive advantage to us?

ChequeredJersey wrote:And if Twickenham can be seen as a home fixture, that is surely a massive advantage to us?

Especially as you insist on playing it as an away fixture every year

ChequeredJersey of course it is. Smart ol' Mark Evans made sure you are never the home side in the double header.

It seems like yappysnap is overly confident but 10/10 is good admittedly.

It's the best we can do results wise so far. We will need to improve. I rate Matthews and have faith in our youth in the long term. I feel thi may be a season too early for them and I expect to finish in the top 4 but more likely 3 or 4th than in the top 2. Hopefully we can abuse the playoff system to win anyway but I fear our squad may be too tired

beshocked wrote:ChequeredJersey of course it is. Smart ol' Mark Evans made sure you are never the home side in the double header.

It seems like yappysnap is overly confident but 10/10 is good admittedly.

I had not realised that Quins are always the away team in these fixtures. That is a bit off.

As to results so far - Quins, Tigers and Sarries have all achieved two wins against teams with no form to speak off. In fact none of the opponents look as if they know where their next win will come from - so I guess that means the LW v LI match this weekend will be a draw.

LondonTiger wrote:

beshocked wrote:ChequeredJersey of course it is. Smart ol' Mark Evans made sure you are never the home side in the double header.

It seems like yappysnap is overly confident but 10/10 is good admittedly.

I had not realised that Quins are always the away team in these fixtures. That is a bit off.

As to results so far - Quins, Tigers and Sarries have all achieved two wins against teams with no form to speak off. In fact none of the opponents look as if they know where their next win will come from - so I guess that means the LW v LI match this weekend will be a draw.

How are they allowed to be the away team every year? Surely that gives them an unfair advantage? WE may have to declare last season's win null and void

beshocked wrote:

yappysnap wrote:Pleased with Quins getting their second bp, 10 points from a home and an away game isn't to be sniffed at and the team is looking very well balanced.

Can't wait for Botica to get some proper game time for us, there have been rave reviews for him on CAW and it'll be good to see a bit of him soon.

All in all happy days so far.

Let's be honest the Twickenham game might have counted as an away game but it definitely wasn't. 10 points is good but don't carried away. You just about got a victory over a side who came 11th last season, they put 40 points past you. Very good comeback admittedly.

Oh also you hammered the red hot favourites for relegation at your other home - the stoop. Fair play for securing the try bonus though.

Keep on winning then you can be confident.

Agreed 100% shocked. Positives come in the form of self belief at the moment; if we didn't there's no way we would have pulled the Wasp's game out of the bag in R1, and putting 40 past OW was almost to be expected finishing as champions last season.

Sale will be more of a test this weekend, but the first big test will be against your lot on the 30th and i think most Quins supporters will attest to that. Argueably the same could be said for Sarries though, putting 40 past a rebuilding side followed by being your own worst enemy at Sale isn't exactley a red hot start - it is your lot that the pundits are calling the team to beat this season more than us though after R2.

We both picked up 10/10 from slightly dubious starts though (As did the Tigers), on that basis those 3 teams should be in the play offs ..... nothing for sure though!

AlastairW wrote:
Sale will be more of a test this weekend, but the first big test will be against your lot on the 30th and i think most Quins supporters will attest to that. Argueably the same could be said for Sarries though, putting 40 past a rebuilding side followed by being your own worst enemy at Sale isn't exactley a red hot start - it is your lot that the pundits are calling the team to beat this season more than us though after R2.

We both picked up 10/10 from slightly dubious starts though (As did the Tigers), on that basis those 3 teams should be in the play offs ..... nothing for sure though!

So the first big test for Quins and Sarries is the meeting on 30th September?

Depressing how fast the Tigers are written off as also rans


Ps we face Sarries on 15th Sept, and Quins on 22nd Sept - so before Sarries and Quins first big test.

LondonTiger wrote:

AlastairW wrote:
Sale will be more of a test this weekend, but the first big test will be against your lot on the 30th and i think most Quins supporters will attest to that. Argueably the same could be said for Sarries though, putting 40 past a rebuilding side followed by being your own worst enemy at Sale isn't exactley a red hot start - it is your lot that the pundits are calling the team to beat this season more than us though after R2.

We both picked up 10/10 from slightly dubious starts though (As did the Tigers), on that basis those 3 teams should be in the play offs ..... nothing for sure though!

So the first big test for Quins and Sarries is the meeting on 30th September?

Depressing how fast the Tigers are written off as also rans


Ps we face Sarries on 15th Sept, and Quins on 22nd Sept - so before Sarries and Quins first big test.

Apologies LT

i forgot you were playing Sarries first. Interesting few weeks! I'll see if my gold fish memory will allow me to turn on the telly-box at the right time!

AlastairW I would love if we had picked up the try bonus against Sale. Unfortunately it was just the 4. You are right LI and Sale haven't exactly shown up well have they?

True - our first tough test is the Tigers.

2 wins out of 2 for Quins,Leicester,Saracens and Saints - coincidence that these are the likely top 4 contenders?

I'm not sure how anyone can think that I was being arrogant! All I did was point out that I was pleased with the fact we'd managed 10 points in the first two games of the season, one of which we could easily have lost.

I'm still massively nervous about Saracens and Tigers, yes we managed to finally beat you both last season but we also lost to you guys as well, I'll go in to those games expecting the worst!

As to the LDH situation Quins can reasonably expect 14000+ fans for their first home game of the season which is probably double any of the other "London" sides. Evans just stated when it was first proposed that we'd be losing money if we treated it as a home game and would be making money for the other clubs. Seems reasonable to me, you guys still get to have bumper crowds thanks to us and we get to have our guaranteed income of a home game later in the season.

I'll also say that I expect Quins to lose away to both Saracens and Tigers but win at home to them.

yappysnap wrote:I'm not sure how anyone can think that I was being arrogant! All I did was point out that I was pleased with the fact we'd managed 10 points in the first two games of the season, one of which we could easily have lost.

I'm still massively nervous about Saracens and Tigers, yes we managed to finally beat you both last season but we also lost to you guys as well, I'll go in to those games expecting the worst!

As to the LDH situation Quins can reasonably expect 14000+ fans for their first home game of the season which is probably double any of the other "London" sides. Evans just stated when it was first proposed that we'd be losing money if we treated it as a home game and would be making money for the other clubs. Seems reasonable to me, you guys still get to have bumper crowds thanks to us and we get to have our guaranteed income of a home game later in the season.

Honestly, you win the Championship and you get a big time attitude!!

More seriously you should be very pleased with your start. You can only beat what's in front and you and you've taken maximum points.

I can understand your Chairman's point, but there is still an element of having an unfair advantage over the other 3. As you rightly point out you'll have the most fans there, but it also overlooks the often stated notion that moving the big games to HQ helps build support for the teams involved. But having said that, I've always said I'd be up in arms if Glaws ever did one of these games and I'd only want it if it were an away game, therefore you should be congratulated for achieving that!

I spent all of last season monitoring Beshocked's attitude and before that the Tigers posters and now that we're champs thought i'd combine the two!

HongKongCherry wrote:

yappysnap wrote:I'm not sure how anyone can think that I was being arrogant! All I did was point out that I was pleased with the fact we'd managed 10 points in the first two games of the season, one of which we could easily have lost.

I'm still massively nervous about Saracens and Tigers, yes we managed to finally beat you both last season but we also lost to you guys as well, I'll go in to those games expecting the worst!

As to the LDH situation Quins can reasonably expect 14000+ fans for their first home game of the season which is probably double any of the other "London" sides. Evans just stated when it was first proposed that we'd be losing money if we treated it as a home game and would be making money for the other clubs. Seems reasonable to me, you guys still get to have bumper crowds thanks to us and we get to have our guaranteed income of a home game later in the season.

Honestly, you win the Championship and you get a big time attitude!!

More seriously you should be very pleased with your start. You can only beat what's in front and you and you've taken maximum points.

I can understand your Chairman's point, but there is still an element of having an unfair advantage over the other 3. As you rightly point out you'll have the most fans there, but it also overlooks the often stated notion that moving the big games to HQ helps build support for the teams involved. But having said that, I've always said I'd be up in arms if Glaws ever did one of these games and I'd only want it if it were an away game, therefore you should be congratulated for achieving that!

Yea I don't particularly like the Double Header myself. I've been three times now and always the atmosphere is off, it's mainly just groups trying to get hammered and Twickenham to me is one of the worst stadiums to go to. I'd much prefer a packed out Stoop to start the season as i'm sure you enjoy starting off at the Shed.

I rather enjoyed this years LDH Yappy

Then again i dragged the old man along (Sarries supporter), so was therefore dreadfully disappointed with LI's performance

I think that banter made it more worthwhile! Likewise he was most let down with Wasps last 20 minutes

Simple things is, if the other clubs aren't happy with Quins' stance then they can scrap the LDH. But they won't as they feel they benefit for it. I'd expect Quins to pull out (and be replaced with London Welsh ?) next year if they were forced to have it as a home game.

True true.

I just remember last time I was there some tool in front of us spent about 20 mins drunkenly shouting at people to join in a mexican wave when blatently no one wanted to. Add to that all the people getting up for drinks during and rushing to get out 10 mins before the game ends it just winds me up!

Anyone leaving a game before the final whistle , unless they urgently need to because they have a flight or a wedding or something, shouldn't watch the game IMO

yappysnap wrote:True true.

I just remember last time I was there some tool in front of us spent about 20 mins drunkenly shouting at people to join in a mexican wave when blatently no one wanted to. Add to that all the people getting up for drinks during and rushing to get out 10 mins before the game ends it just winds me up!

They help pay the bills, mate. We need them. And, if that's how they get their jollies, then good for us. More people coming out and eventually we will win them over for real. And maybe, just maybe, they will end up drinking the same poison as the rest of us and become addicted as we are.............

propdavid_london wrote:
Yes, I do recall Clegg signing some sort of extension - hopefully its short term!
The way I see it he has had time to proove himself over a good number of years and its never happened for him - after having some of the best mentors on the planet for 10.

Ah, but the best mentor is the pitch - if you don't play you don't improve. He should have seen the writing on the wall last season and asked to leave. We may never know how good he could have been.

DaveM wrote:

propdavid_london wrote:
Yes, I do recall Clegg signing some sort of extension - hopefully its short term!
The way I see it he has had time to proove himself over a good number of years and its never happened for him - after having some of the best mentors on the planet for 10.

Ah, but the best mentor is the pitch - if you don't play you don't improve. He should have seen the writing on the wall last season and asked to leave. We may never know how good he could have been.

Completely true, I was dissappointed with how little we played him last season. It's the whole Allan/Twelvetrees situation again.

Maybe Saints will pick him up, they seem to like fly halves who struggle at clubs and can't ever nail the shirt down.

ChequeredJersey wrote:Anyone leaving a game before the final whistle , unless they urgently need to because they have a flight or a wedding or something, shouldn't watch the game IMO

Rubbish. It probably means they've had enough, would like to beat the rush or have a busy day. They've paid for their ticket, its entirely up to them .

Anyway, what are we going to do about the LDH next year after the Not Nots are relegated?

Yappysnap I am flattered you monitor my posts.

I agree that the atmosphere in the LDH can sometimes be a bit flat - you're going to get that when fans are there to see their team mainly and the non fans are just there to drink beer and do mexican waves.

I see Mexican waves as a sign of boredom. I don't particularly like them. They only work if started by a sport star.


In regards to Clegg why not loan him to London Welsh? Alternatively get him playing some championship rugby as starting FH.

I enjoy the LDH. I have no allegience to any of the four teams, but its good value for money (well, the 1st match was this year anyway) and whether we like it or not, does make the sport accessible to lots of people who might be attending for the first time. I personally know several people for whom this year's LDH was their 1st attendance at a live game, and they very much enjoyed it.

Its oft been said on here that moving the games to big stadia is a good way of spreaing the 'brand', I can't argue with that (although I do think that moving your home fixtures to half a dozen different venues in one season disenfranchises the loyal supporters - something the Saracens board have never been afraid of doing, thats for sure).

Personally, I would prefer it if on the opening day, all the home teams played at their home grounds.