Aviva Premiership Round 4 Preview

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Friday 21st September

Sale Sharks v London Welsh, Salford City Stadium, Salford 20:00 local

Sale Team: 15Rob Miller,14 Tom Brady,13 Johnny Leota,12 Sam Tuitupou,11 Mark Cueto,10 Danny Cipriani,9 Dwayne Peel,1 Eifion Roberts,2 Joe Ward,3 Vadim Cobilas,4 Richie Gray,5 Kearnan Myall,6 Mark Easter,7 David Seymour,8 Andy Powell

16 Tommy Taylor, 17 Ross Harrison, 18 Tony Buckley, 19 Fraser McKenzie,20 Richie Vernon, 21 Will Cliff, 22 Nick Macleod, 23 Corne Uys

London Welsh Team: 15 Tom Arscott, 14 Phil MacKenzie,13 Sonny Parker,12 Hudson Tonga'uiha,11 Nick Scott,10Gordon Ross,9 Tyson Keats,1 Franck Montanella,2 Neil Briggs,3 Paulica Ion,4 Jonathan Mills,5 Matt Corker,6 Daniel Browne,7 Mike Hills,8 Ed Jackson

16 Dan George,17 Tom Bristow,18 Arthur Joly,19 Kirill Kulemin,20 Ed Williamson,21 Nick Runciman,22 Ryan Davis,23 Seb Jewell


Saturday 22nd September

London Irish v Bath Rugby, Madejski Stadium, Reading 15:00 local

London Irish Team: 15. Tom Homer; 14. Topsy Ojo*13. Jonathan Joseph*; 12. Steven Shingler; 11. Marland Yarde 10. Ian Humphreys; 9. Tomás O’Leary*; 1. Max Lahiff; 2. Scott Lawson*; 3. Halani Aulika*; 4. Bryn Evans; 5. Matt Garvey; 6. Declan Danaher (Captain); 7. Jamie Gibson; 8. Ofisa Treviranus*

16. David Paice*; 17. Jerry Yanuyanutawa*; 18. Alan Cotter; 19. George Skivington; 20. Jon Fisher; 21. Anthony Watson; 22. Shane Geraghty*; 23. Jack Moates

Northampton Saints v Worcester Warriors, Franklin's Gardens, Northampton 15:00 local

Gloucester Rugby v London Wasps, Kingsholm, Gloucester 15:15 local

Gloucester Team: Rob Cook; Jonny May, Henry Trinder, Billy Twelvetrees, James Simpson-Daniel; Freddie Burns, Dan Robson; Nick Wood, Darren Dawidiuk, Rupert Harden; Tom Savage, Jim Hamilton (capt); Sione Kalamafoni, Andy Hazell, Ben Morgan

Huia Edmonds, Dan Murphy, Shaun Knight, Will James, Akapusi Qera, Dave Lewis, Mike Tindall, Martyn Thomas

Wasps Team: 15 Tommy Bell14 Tom Varndell13 Elliot Daly12 Andrea Masi11 Christian Wade10 Stephen Jones9 Joe Simpson1 Tim Payne2 T Rhys Thomas3 Zak Taulafo4 Tom Palmer5 Marco Wentzel (c)6 James Haskell7 Jonathan Poff8 Ashley Johnson

16 Tom Lindsay17 Simon McIntyre18 Fabio Staibano19 James Cannon20 Billy Vunipola21 Charlie Davies22 Nick Robinson23 Jack Wallace


Leicester Tigers v Harlequins, Welford Road, Leicester 17:30 local

Leicester Tigers Team: 15 Scott Hamilton 14 Niall Morris 13 Matt Smith 12 Anthony Allen 11 Vereniki Goneva 10 Toby Flood 9 Sam Harrison 1 Boris Stankovich 2 Tom Youngs 3 Martin Castrogiovanni 4 Graham Kitchener 5 Geoff Parling 6 Steve Mafi 7 Julian Salvi 8 Jordan Crane (c)

16 George Chuter 17 Dan Cole 18 Logovii Mulipola 19 Rob Andrew 20 Thomas Waldrom 21 Patrick Phibbs 22 George Ford 23 Adam Thompstone


Harlequins Team: 15. Mike Brown14. Tom Williams13. Matt Hopper12. Jordan Turner Hall11. Ugo Monye10. Nick Evans9. Danny Care1. Joe Marler2. Joe Gray3. James Johnston4. Olly Kohn5. George Robson6. Maurie Fa'asavalu7. Chris Robshaw ©8. Nick Easter

16. Rob Buchanan17. Darryl Marfo18. Will Collier19. Charlie Matthews20. Tom Guest21. Karl Dickson22. Rory Clegg23. Ross Chisholm


Sunday 23rd September

Exeter Chiefs v Saracens, Sandy Park 14:15 local, 13:15 GMT

Some interesting match ups this weekend, i'll post teams when they're put up by the clubs.

Quins have signed a new young fly half to our academy- Louis Grimoldby

- http://www.quins.co.uk/news/6458.php

LondonTiger wrote:

yappysnap wrote:Tigers were looking like try scoring machines till they got to Saracens, so their easier games against weaker sides meant little.

I think it'll be the same for Quins, we'll make it difficult for Leicester but at home I expect them to edge it.

I'll take a repaeat of the "dull" match at Stoop earlier this year.

I'd prefer a repeat of the "dull" match at Welford Road last autumn. ;-)

One of my benchmarks for Quins' journey from mediocrity to really quite good was whether they could beat Tigers in a match that mattered, something they hadn't done since records began. It happened twice last year and I am pleased to say I was there for both of them... but sadly also for the two we lost!

LondonTiger wrote:

yappysnap wrote:Tigers were looking like try scoring machines till they got to Saracens, so their easier games against weaker sides meant little.

I think it'll be the same for Quins, we'll make it difficult for Leicester but at home I expect them to edge it.

I'll take a repaeat of the "dull" match at Stoop earlier this year.

I was about to agree and then realised we lost that one... Still i'll take a repeat performance of the game at your place earlier in the season, or at HQ.

ChequeredJersey wrote:Quins have signed a new young fly half to our academy- Louis Grimoldby

- http://www.quins.co.uk/news/6458.php

Yea sounds promising, must admit I didn't see him in the 7's like the article mentions and didn't catch any U18 action so haven't actually seen him play. I imagine he'll probably get some A league game time this season and then maybe some LV time next season.

So any one changing their match predictions now that Sale and Welsh have their teams up?

yappysnap wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:

yappysnap wrote:Tigers were looking like try scoring machines till they got to Saracens, so their easier games against weaker sides meant little.

I think it'll be the same for Quins, we'll make it difficult for Leicester but at home I expect them to edge it.

I'll take a repaeat of the "dull" match at Stoop earlier this year.

I was about to agree and then realised we lost that one... Still i'll take a repeat performance of the game at your place earlier in the season, or at HQ.

Your guys were good at Twickenham (and Stoop for the AP game), but actually I thought theye were off their game at Welford Road - just we were dreadful.

yappysnap wrote:So any one changing their match predictions now that Sale and Welsh have their teams up?

Sale on a Friday night at home, with a pretty strong team, shoudl be too good.

yappysnap wrote:

ChequeredJersey wrote:Quins have signed a new young fly half to our academy- Louis Grimoldby

- http://www.quins.co.uk/news/6458.php

Yea sounds promising, must admit I didn't see him in the 7's like the article mentions and didn't catch any U18 action so haven't actually seen him play. I imagine he'll probably get some A league game time this season and then maybe some LV time next season.

He can be in competition with Glegg and Botica for those LV games.
Whats your thoughts so far on COS's selection of 10's yappy? Has Clegg dropped down the pecking order a touch. Do we think COS will have a rotation policy for the replacement 10's.
Botica was on the bench for the first couple of games - got on for a bit and showed some good touches.
Clegg was on bench for the Sale game and didnt feature at all! Even when the game was pretty safe I thought that COS would have wanted to give Clegg a bit of game time and protect NEV.
I'm not sure how COS is thinking at the moment.
One real issues with Clegg last season was the lack of game time and when he did get a shot he was rusty - looks like the same may happen again.

LondonTiger wrote:

yappysnap wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:

yappysnap wrote:Tigers were looking like try scoring machines till they got to Saracens, so their easier games against weaker sides meant little.

I think it'll be the same for Quins, we'll make it difficult for Leicester but at home I expect them to edge it.

I'll take a repaeat of the "dull" match at Stoop earlier this year.

I was about to agree and then realised we lost that one... Still i'll take a repeat performance of the game at your place earlier in the season, or at HQ.

Your guys were good at Twickenham (and Stoop for the AP game), but actually I thought theye were off their game at Welford Road - just we were dreadful.

Both teams were good for their tries but other then that at WR it was pretty poor, I was just over joyed to actually see a win in my lifetime at Welford Road!

propdavid_london wrote:

yappysnap wrote:

ChequeredJersey wrote:Quins have signed a new young fly half to our academy- Louis Grimoldby

- http://www.quins.co.uk/news/6458.php

Yea sounds promising, must admit I didn't see him in the 7's like the article mentions and didn't catch any U18 action so haven't actually seen him play. I imagine he'll probably get some A league game time this season and then maybe some LV time next season.

He can be in competition with Glegg and Botica for those LV games.
Whats your thoughts so far on COS's selection of 10's yappy? Has Clegg dropped down the pecking order a touch. Do we think COS will have a rotation policy for the replacement 10's.
Botica was on the bench for the first couple of games - got on for a bit and showed some good touches.
Clegg was on bench for the Sale game and didnt feature at all! Even when the game was pretty safe I thought that COS would have wanted to give Clegg a bit of game time and protect NEV.
I'm not sure how COS is thinking at the moment.
One real issues with Clegg last season was the lack of game time and when he did get a shot he was rusty - looks like the same may happen again.

Agree with those points, i've been surprised with how much we've played Nev already. I really expected him to be benched for the LW match and Botica to start but apparently COS thinks he'll be good for the whole season so we'll see.

As to the pecking order it does look like Clegg has slipped, going by reports and game time so far I can see Botica as second choice now and Clegg as third which is a real shame as his only real failing is not getting ahead of the best fly half in the NH! He's also unlucky in that he seems to be one of these players that needs a run of games to get in to gear rather then just 10 mins off the bench, a lot of that is probably down to his age though.

Tbh I can see him leaving next season when his contracts up, it'd be the smart thing to do if he ever wants to get a starting shirt.

All depends on Nev, Yappy. If he goes, Clegg might be 1st choice. If he goes that might also explain getting the most out of him now!

Or wait and see if NEV stays with Quins as that would bump him back up to the no.2 spot.
I seem to remember that NEV played pretty much every game pre-christmas last season with that good run of wins - perhaps COS is looking for a similar run of performances and momentum by continuing to play NEV.

Selection later today will be a good indicator of who is no.2 - I'm expecting Botica to be on that bench - he also offers the versatility that Clegg doesnt by covering centers.

Ha, you got there just before me CJ. Agree, if the signs are that NEV is leaving then perhaps COS is maximising the NEV effect while he is here.

Glaws:
Rob Cook; Jonny May, Henry Trinder, Billy Twelvetrees, James Simpson-Daniel; Freddie Burns, Dan Robson; Nick Wood, Darren Dawidiuk, Rupert Harden; Tom Savage, Jim Hamilton (capt); Sione Kalamafoni, Andy Hazell, Ben Morgan

Replacements:

Huia Edmonds, Dan Murphy, Shaun Knight, Will James, Akapusi Qera, Dave Lewis, Mike Tindall, Martyn Thomas

Hopefully another big game from the Glaws' forwards will stiffle any ball getting out to the Wasps backs.

15. Mike Brown
14. Tom Williams
13. Matt Hopper
12. Jordan Turner Hall
11. Ugo Monye
10. Nick Evans
9. Danny Care

1. Joe Marler
2. Joe Gray
3. James Johnston
4. Olly Kohn
5. George Robson
6. Maurie Fa'asavalu
7. Chris Robshaw ©
8. Nick Easter

16. Rob Buchanan
17. Darryl Marfo
18. Will Collier
19. Charlie Matthews
20. Tom Guest
21. Karl Dickson
22. Rory Clegg
23. Ross Chisholm

Clegg selected over Botica! Perhaps COS is operating a rotation policy.
No George Lowe!

London Irish team...

15. Tom Homer; 14. Topsy Ojo*13. Jonathan Joseph*; 12. Steven Shingler; 11. Marland Yarde 10. Ian Humphreys; 9. Tomás O’Leary*; 1. Max Lahiff; 2. Scott Lawson*; 3. Halani Aulika*; 4. Bryn Evans; 5. Matt Garvey; 6. Declan Danaher (Captain); 7. Jamie Gibson; 8. Ofisa Treviranus*

Replacements: 16. David Paice*; 17. Jerry Yanuyanutawa*; 18. Alan Cotter; 19. George Skivington; 20. Jon Fisher; 21. Anthony Watson; 22. Shane Geraghty*; 23. Jack Moates


Great to have Garvey, Paice and iHumph back from injury/suspension. Surprised with a couple of selections, notably Evans retained over Skivington who is benched and Treviranus moved to 8 with Fisher benched and Gray out of the 23 altogether. Big Trev has looked unfit, and I think needs a big performance to keep the jersey much longer. Looking forward to seeing Jerry off the bench, as Max has struggled a bit this season and needs to work on his scrummaging a lot.

15 Scott Hamilton
14 Niall Morris
13 Matt Smith
12 Anthony Allen
11 Vereniki Goneva
10 Toby Flood
9 Sam Harrison
1 Boris Stankovich
2 Tom Youngs
3 Martin Castrogiovanni
4 Graham Kitchener
5 Geoff Parling
6 Steve Mafi
7 Julian Salvi
8 Jordan Crane (c)

Replacements
16 George Chuter
17 Dan Cole
18 Logovii Mulipola
19 Rob Andrew
20 Thomas Waldrom
21 Patrick Phibbs
22 George Ford
23 Adam Thompstone

That's probably exactly what COS is thinking!

I do hope Nev does stay though, the other two althoug good don't fill me with the same confidence.

It'll be interesting to see how Hopper goes with Manu running at him on Saturday, If he gets plenty of ball though he could cause Tuilagi plenty of problems.

We def needed Kohn back as well, although i'm not sure if i'd have preferred to see Guest starting ahead of Mo.

yappysnap wrote:That's probably exactly what COS is thinking!

I do hope Nev does stay though, the other two althoug good don't fill me with the same confidence.

It'll be interesting to see how Hopper goes with Manu running at him on Saturday, If he gets plenty of ball though he could cause Tuilagi plenty of problems.

We def needed Kohn back as well, although i'm not sure if i'd have preferred to see Guest starting ahead of Mo.

Not a match up we will be seeing

It will be a real pleasure, in Geordan's absence, to see Crane lead the team out to the strains of "Smoke on the Water"


Harrison has to play better than he has so far this season, or Quins defence will have a lot of time to close down anything Flood tries.

Francois Louw back for Bath:

15. Nick Abendanon

14. Kyle Eastmond

13. Dan Hipkiss

12. Ben Williams

11. Tom Biggs

10. Olly Barkley

9. Michael Claassens

1. Nathan Catt

2. Lee Mears

3. Anthony Perenise

4. Stuart Hooper (c)

5. Dominic Day

6. Carl Fearns

7. Francois Louw

8. Simon Taylor

Replacements

16. Ross Batty

17. Paul James

18. Kane Palma-Newport

19. Dave Attwood

20. Ben Skirving

21. Mark McMillan

22. Stephen Donald

23. Jack Cuthbert

NORTHAMPTON SAINTS TEAM TO PLAY WORCESTER
Aviva Premiership Rugby Round 4
Franklin's Gardens
Saturday, September 22nd, 2012
Kick off 3:00pm
15 James WILSON
14 Ken PISI
13 George PISI
12 Luther BURRELL
11 Vasily ARTEMYEV
10 Stephen MYLER
9 Lee DICKSON
1 Soane TONGA'UIHA
2 Dylan HARTLEY (capt)
3 Paul DORAN JONES
4 Samu MANOA
5 Christian DAY
6 Courtney LAWES
7 Phil DOWSON
8 Rhys OAKLEY

Replacements
16 Mike HAYWOOD
17 Alex WALLER
18 Brian MUJATI
19 Mark SORENSON
20 Tom WOOD
21 Martin ROBERTS
22 Ryan LAMB
23 Dom WALDOUCK

Wow, Saints have got a lot of Impact to come off that bench! The Myler/Lamb rotation continues.

Interesting to see Steven Donald back for Bath. I would like to see Eastmond continue on from his last game.

Tigers still look very strong, as ever a very good replacement front row to come on in 2nd half. No Youngs, no Manu and no Murphy. Expect them to try and bully quins up front. Quins only really missing G.Lowe - but he is instrumental to Quins defence - hopefully Hopper doesnt miss too many tackles.

Gloucester look good and will score a few tries.
LI - is a must win game, as with previous rounds they look good on paper but havent delivered yet.

Exeter: 15 Luke Arscott, 14 Phil Dollman, 13 Ian Whitten, 12 Sireli Naqelevuki, 11 Matt Jess, 10 Ignacio Mieres, 9 Haydn Thomas, 8 Richard Baxter, 7 James Scaysbrook, 6 James Phillips, 5 James Hanks, 4 Tom Hayes (capt), 3 Carl Rimmer, 2 Chris Whitehead, 1 Brett Sturgess.
Replacements: 16 Simon Alcott, 17 Ben Moon, 18 Chris Budgen, 19 Aly Muldowney, 20 Ben White, 21 Will Chudley, 22 Gareth Steenson, 23 Jack Nowell.

Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Duncan Taylor, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 James Short, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Neil de Kock, 8 Jackson Wray, 7 Will Fraser, 6 Kelly Brown (capt), 5 Mouritz Botha, 4 Alistair Hargreaves, 3 Carlos Nieto, 2 Jamie George, 1 Mako Vunipola.
Replacements: 16 Schalk Brits, 17 Rhys Gill, 18 Matt Stevens, 19 Steve Borthwick, 20 Ernst Joubert, 21 Richard Wigglesworth, 22 Charlie Hodgson, 23 Joel Tomkins.

Interesting to see how 36 will work with Trinder.

Duplicate.

15 Chris Pennell
14 Nikki Walker
13 Alex Grove
12 Joe Carlisle
11 David Lemi

10 Andy Goode
9 Shaun Perry

1 Matt Mullan
2 Aleki Lutui
3 John Andress
4 James Percival
5 Dean Schofield (c)
6 Chris Jones
7 Sam Betty
8 Semisi Taulava

Replacements
16 Ollie Hayes
17 Ceri Jones
18 James Currie
19 Craig Gillies
20 Matt Kvesic
21 Jonny Arr
22 Josh Matavesi
23 Josh Drauniniu

I have changed my prediction of all home wins and as much as it pains me to say it I can see winning at Irish. I just don't think the Irish pack is up to much at present with the injuries they have.

Looking at the Sarries sheet, i'm glad McCall is giving Farrell a second start after his shocker last week. He's been off form since the summer tour and i hope he finds his form again through club outings.

that sarries bench is impressive. if they are ahead at the 60 min mark i would expect them to win.

will be intersting to see how courtney lawes goes.

burrell continues in the midfield with pisi returning at the expense of waldouck. Burrell has performed well so far and looks like he will have a big impact this season.

Is Geraghty fully over his injury yet? Would like him to at least put his hand up for an EPS/Saxons spot at the troublesome positions of 10 and 12 (though I think our woes there are not all that bad) and Shingler has hardly been setting the world alight!

Bloody hell, didn't see that performance coming from Welsh.

And amusingly Redpath's come out blaming the players for it. Nice!

Battle for the bottom not looking very one sided now!

Wuss, LI, Welsh and Sale should all be worried!!

Chequered did you hear that Quins broke another record this season? First team to get three bp wins in their first three games. Another this afternoon maybe???

LondonTiger wrote:Francois Louw back for Bath:

15. Nick Abendanon

14. Kyle Eastmond

13. Dan Hipkiss

12. Ben Williams Olly Barkley

11. Tom Biggs

10. Olly Barkley Stephen Donald

9. Michael Claassens

1. Nathan Catt

2. Lee Mears

3. Anthony Perenise

4. Stuart Hooper (c)

5. Dominic Day

6. Carl Fearns

7. Francois Louw Ben Skirving

8. Simon Taylor

Replacements

16. Ross Batty

17. Paul James

18. Kane Palma-Newport

19. Dave Attwood

20. Ben Skirving Josh Ovens

21. Mark McMillan

22. Stephen Donald Sam Vesty

23. Jack Cuthbert

Some late changes to the Bath line-up, looks like Williams is crocked.


EDIT Louw is out with an illness, they're going down like flies.

Gloucester vs. Wasps looks like it is going to be a good game, lots of attacking intent being shown early on.

Loads of mistakes in the game so far though.

Then JSD goes and scores an excellent solo effort

Why on earth is he not an england legend alongside Jason Robinson etc....

Glos have sorted themselves out and are running away with it now...

BUt Daly has scored a nice try,,,,ha ha what a game...

GeordieFalcon wrote:Then JSD goes and scores a fabulous solo effort

Why on earth is he not an england legend alongside Jason Robinson etc....

Bad luck with injuries GF, whenever he got near an England shirt he got crocked.

HT at the Madejski, Irish 19 - 13 Bath.

Very true mate...

Loads of young England lads on show at Glos today

Simpson, Daly, Wade etc
Savage, Burns, May, Trinder, Twelvetrees etc

Some great players in that Glaws backline GF (winces) it would be nice to see some of those break through into the EPS.

2nd half underway at Madejski, LI 19 - 16 Bath.

LI score through Joseph after Bath fail numerous attempts to clear their lines, Bath continue to gift points through poor decision making and execution and have pretty much failed to test the worst defence in the AP.

LI 26 - 16 Bath.

Actuallty PJ

There should be a few young England pretenders in that game aswell...anyone standing out?

Not really GF, JJ has scored for Irish and Eastmond for Bath, they're probably the pick of the bunch. Fearns is fairly anonymous as Bath haven't had much forward ball, Gibson's in the bin for Irish after a couple of naughty penalties in the red zone.

Bath are shooting themselves in both feet, the forwards have given away too many penalties and Donald/Barkley have booted away too much ball again.

Attwood's just come on for Day so maybe he can make a difference?

Ah i see...theres been loads of mistakes in this game aswell...

Johnny May has put his team in trouble the odd time after being caught a few times running everything from everywhere...needs to learn just a little bit discipline..

Daly and Trinder have both missed some tackles..
Simpsons passing for a SH has been eratic at times...
Twelvetrees has looked very good in parts but also tremendously laid back in others having kicks blocked etc...

Both teams are attacking mind to give them credit.

Burns looks quite authorative.

GeordieFalcon wrote:Ah i see...theres been loads of mistakes in this game aswell...

Johnny May has put his team in trouble the odd time after being caught a few times running everything from everywhere...needs to learn just a little bit discipline..

Daly and Trinder have both missed some tackles..
Simpsons passing for a SH has been eratic at times...
Twelvetrees has looked very good in parts but also tremendously laid back in others having kicks blocked etc...

Both teams are attacking mind to give them credit.

Burns looks quite authorative.

Bath boy, standard.

Shingler takes it back out to a 7 pointer. 29-22 with 7 to play.

When he's good Twelvetrees looks the player England could really do with at 12.

But whens he's "half hearted" or just a bit careless hes far off it. Hopefully regualr playing time will erradicate that side of his game.

Credit to him...hes been a monster in defence today...

Get in!!!

Off the bottom of the table. That is a massive win for us and with players coming back from injuries/suspensions hopefully can kickstart our season.