Aviva Premiership Round 6

First topic message reminder :

Sorry folks, this is nowhere near the standard that LondonTiger produces for these things, but he appears to have done a runner, and I thought people may like a thread for the matches, so here they are.
 
Bath Rugby (4th) vs. Gloucester (10th)

Exeter Chiefs (6th) vs. Worcester Warriors (12th)

Harlequins (7th) vs. Sale Sharks (5th)

Northampton Saints (2nd) vs. Saracens (1st)

London Wasps (11th) vs. Leicester Tigers (3rd)

Newcastle Falcons (9th) vs. London Irish (8th)
 
For what it's worth (very little I know) I see wins for Bath, Exeter, Sale, Saints, Wasps and Irish, with nobody picking up a try bonus point, and all losing sides other than Worcester getting the LBP.

It seems the Saints lock combination is Manoa and Day.  I think the lineout should be OK. And, I think the back row is fine, too.   I am not sure how the centres match up.  Saints should be better at out half.  Sarries have a better bench which is where Saints are most vulnerable.

BT Sport is free this weekend so I'm watching Saints v Sarries.
What's up with Sarries away kit? Nice blue stripes coupled with a colour that resembles my late grandad's 25 year old white Y - fronts.

Yuk!

not looking good for Sarries.

They have been royally humped today.

Not looking to great for Worcester either. Smashed 40-6 by the Chiefs!!!

Goode has played well in a losing team.

nathan wrote:Goode has played well in a losing team.

Not so sure. I thought he looked poor before moving to 10. Matt Stevens also got mullered at scrum time by some random loosehead filling in for Corbisiero.

Ben Foden - I thought had an excellent game, if I were an England fan I'd want him at 15 for England in November.

Foden played very well, but Mike Brown has been top class all season and will rightfully start for England next week.

Ozzy3213 wrote:Foden played very well, but Mike Brown has been top class all season and will rightfully start for England next week.

There's a divergence of opinion on that, Oz.

Ben Foden's star is definitely in the ascendant at the minute.

But Luther Burrell i getting just better and better.

Good to see the Barnet panzer division stopped in its tracks as soon as Adolf Wray announces his plans for global domination.

Well played Saints  

Quins got a convincing 24-3 win over Sale to continue the turn around of their season. Tries by Wallace and Clifford, which is nice to see and I'm happy we didn't seem to struggle whilst playing an under strength side.

If only Glos had managed to beat that woeful Bath side, then we'd almost be sneaking into the top4.

Good win by Quins, 24-3 suggests that the acadmey A team can happily hold it's own against the weaker Prem sides. Interesting that Botica took the kicking for Nev as well, I guess it makes sense as he's a machine at that particulay skill while Nev's always been a little wayward. On Twittter there was a lot of love for Care, apparently tearing it up for us as usual. I wonder if he's still going to make that bench spot and SL just wants him on tip top form or if he is going with Dickson.

Congrats to Harry Allan on his first ever Quins appearance.

Nev took a knock early on so Botica took the kicks

this should be an interesting match with the wind being a strong factor. Looking forward to it, good luck wasps!

17 players down, there's a lot of Tigers players with a point to prove today. Now is the time the fringe players need to try and make a claim on a starting shirt.

formerly known as Sam wrote:17 players down, there's a lot of Tigers players with a point to prove today. Now is the time the fringe players need to try and make a claim on a starting shirt.

didn't really know the injury list was that long.

Williams kicking hasn't been the best yet, although i'm sure the wind is playing a part.

very slow start from tigers.

good decision by the refs there.

beginning to think we're not going to win this game

well milked by simpson there.

notice how everyone has been growing a beard ready for next month.

Big game of the day about to kick of at Kingston Park.

Skivs a late injury withdrawal, so Bryn Evans comes into the second row and Decland Danaher onto the bench.

 COME ON YOU IRISH!!!  

great work by Simpson.

awful reffing!

i counted about 3 penaties they gave away incluing palmer not releasing, the bloke with a fro not releasing on the floor.

missed knock on too?

Waldrom not playing well at all.

Big Ofisa Treviranus in for the try. Conversion missed.

All us so far.

Goode has it on a string!

Ozzy3213 wrote:Big Ofisa Treviranus in for the try.  Conversion missed.

All us so far.

see you don't even need O'Conner!

Goode gets another drop goal, 19-9 to Wasps

Williams having a poor game too, we can't get out of our own half.

Metra on, hopefully he can show what he can do!

nathan wrote:

Ozzy3213 wrote:Big Ofisa Treviranus in for the try.  Conversion missed.

All us so far.

see you don't even need O'Conner!

We'll take him though. Can't wait to see him running out for us.

Ozzy3213 wrote:

nathan wrote:

Ozzy3213 wrote:Big Ofisa Treviranus in for the try.  Conversion missed.

All us so far.

see you don't even need O'Conner!

We'll take him though.  Can't wait to see him running out for us.

is it confirmed then?

Not officially, but is definitely happening. Official confirmation this week.

Ozzy3213 wrote:Not officially, but is definitely happening.  Official confirmation this week.

ah cool! looking forward to seeing him the AP.

19-12 to the wasps, Tigers starting to get a bit better now but theres still so many errors.

Commentators on BBC Radio Newcastle having a real moan about the TMO usage. Apparently has taken about 8 replays to sort out relatively straightforward decision on a lat tackle.

Falcons lead 6-5.

Sounds like we got a bit over excited by the early score and have tried to play too much rugby and put ourselves under pressure. Mike Blair the key man for Falcons with Clegg looking a little short on confidence.

knock on then...

Dawson is so pro Wasps!

62m penalty kick from Andy Goode. What a performance by him  

Morris loses the ball whilst running, pretty much sums up our game today!

GLove39 wrote:62m penalty kick from Andy Goode. What a performance by him  

Can't agree more! He's had a brilliant game!

Irish held up over the try line and we go back for a penalty advantage right on the stroke of half time.

Awww, that's nice, Goode's daughter racing on to the pitch to congratulate him

We were awful. Disjointed in every department. Outside of Ed Slater no starter played well.

What was with the TMO decisions in the second half? Scully gets pinged for challenging for the ball in the air and then Simpson knee drops a prone player's head and no card? I thought they were supposed to help get the correct decisions.

Andy Goode showed why an experienced 10 is a valuable commodity.

formerly known as Sam wrote:We were awful. Disjointed in every department. Outside of Ed Slater no starter played well.

What was with the TMO decisions in the second half? Scully gets pinged for challenging for the ball in the air and then Simpson knee drops a prone player's head and no card? I thought they were supposed to help get the correct decisions.

Andy Goode showed why an experienced 10 is a valuable commodity.

Simpson decision did look a bit dodgy, his leg was held though but still no need for the knee drop. We were indeed awful, i doubt we'll get much better without players coming back from injury.

Much needed win for Wasps & well deserved MOM for Andy Goode. He really is a top bloke ( interview on BT Sport) & as mentioned above nice to see his daughter Grace at the end.

Thought our defence was great today & we took our chances well. Tigers suffered through missing players and the half backs had a particularly bad time though the conditions didn't help.

nathan wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:We were awful. Disjointed in every department. Outside of Ed Slater no starter played well.

What was with the TMO decisions in the second half? Scully gets pinged for challenging for the ball in the air and then Simpson knee drops a prone player's head and no card? I thought they were supposed to help get the correct decisions.

Andy Goode showed why an experienced 10 is a valuable commodity.

Simpson decision did look a bit dodgy, his leg was held though but still no need for the knee drop. We were indeed awful, i doubt we'll get much better without players coming back from injury.

There was no knee drop, nathan. Simpson's foot/ankle was being held and his momentum and in his attempt to clear himself, he toppled at the knee.

The Tigers were pretty abject all over. And I question the key overseas players players' intensity in the the absence of the central players. Them and Crane who was hardly inspirational.

How long is it since the Tigers completed any game without at least one bonus point in any competition?

Only Salvi (6) deserved more than 5/10 imo.