Aviva Premiership Round Ten

First topic message reminder :

Sale Sharks vs London Irish - AJ Bell Stadium
Bath Rugby vs Harlequins - Recreation Ground
Exeter Chiefs vs Newcastle Falcons - Sandy Park
London Wasps vs Northampton Saints - Adams Park
Saracens vs Leicester Tigers - Allianz Park
Gloucester Rugby vs Worcester Warriors - Kingsholm

Home wins all round? Clash of the weekend between Sarries & Tiggers, or between Bath & Quins? Can Wuss win a game?

What's the tigers game been like guys?

Tigers defence is still awful. Two wingers in the centre isn't going to help that.

Nathan, full of wind and rain with multiple errors for both sides. Sarries are in control but Barnes has successfully made it more about him than the players.

Just keeps getting better for the 'in form' B Youngs

Still playing the same tune i see hood!

Take it back, Youngs gets a number of plus points for dumping that gobs**te Borthwick on his behind.

nathan wrote:Still playing the same tune i see hood!

It's more of a relentless drum beat nathan   

He's a good player, who could be very good, but in my opinion gets rave reviews regardless of the reality of his performances, which are fairly regularly pretty average.

BY getting pinged for typical scrum half behaviour, smarties are playing well and Tigers didnt desevre they try but Barnes is useless as usual.

Apparently It's completely legal for Borthwick to swim up the side of a maul and then slip off the tail and block Ben Youngs but It's illegal for Ben Youngs to push him out the way. Also no yellow card for dragging down a maul less than a metre from the line.

Well won Bath, we lacked any cutting edge today and were beasted in the tight. Hope Collier and Care come back soon, but bath were the better team by the sounds of it and Ford apparently controlled the game very well

What happened to care

Watching this game as a neutral I think Barnes is doing fine.

Arrrgh, how high are Youngs passes? Seriously am I the only person seeing this?!!

Your probably the only person looking at him under a microscope!

Care is injured, he wasn't playing today. We don't know exactly what

I am enjoying the game as well.

My biggest grip with youngs can be those huge passes.

TJ you cannot be serious.

Tigers showing signs of life to late. Next week is now the target.

Farrel knocked cold.

I think Youngs is chronically overrated, but I'm biased in an indirect way

nathan wrote:Your probably the only person looking at him under a microscope!

It's hard to miss the 9, but I am, you're right. Just wish others would as well.

Mele on for youngs let see what he can do.

Not a lot it seems.

Hope Owen Farrell is ok, looked like he was out before he hit the floor.

Tigers have been really poor. We desperately need an inside centre and Flood back in the side. Lamb has done nothing to indicate he should be the starting 10. The Sarries intensity is going to win them this game, their complete commitment to everything shows a team really in tune.

ChequeredJersey wrote:I think Youngs is chronically overrated, but I'm biased in an indirect way

Hallelujah! Me too, minus the bias I'd hope.

Hood83 wrote:

nathan wrote:Your probably the only person looking at him under a microscope!

It's hard to miss the 9, but I am, you're right. Just wish others would as well.

He's been poor today Hood, I'll agree with you there. But I do think in previous games he played well. Consistency has been Youngs' biggest issue IMO.

Apparently it's been 6 pens in 12 mins by sarries.

Agreed sarries have wanted it more today we deserved no pouts really.

Manu's Boxing Coach wrote:

Hood83 wrote:

nathan wrote:Your probably the only person looking at him under a microscope!

It's hard to miss the 9, but I am, you're right. Just wish others would as well.

He's been poor today Hood, I'll agree with you there. But I do think in previous games he played well. Consistency has been Youngs' biggest issue IMO.

That's pretty much my thinking, consistency is an issue. Probably an issue for all our 9s.

Can't watch this now it was never a team to beat saracens but it still ha a lot of potential just lacked that bit of desire saracens had. Last week may have taken a lot out of them who knows.

I hate Borthwick...sounds like everyone else does as well.

No Hood you don't think he's overrated you're just upset he said no when you asked for a date.

That's an embarrassing try to concede. Gibson needs to start showing a bit more of the top two inches. Oh please don't select Ryan Lamb again!

TJ, I'd say the yellow card in the first half was no more than a penalty and Ashton's try was a mile forward. How does Waldrom get a yellow for a cynical foul when Sarries only got a warning at the other end? No consistency. Can't blame him for our limp wristed tackling though, that's just embarrassing.

No need for that from Borthwick, some graciousness would be nice.

These last 10 minutes could be hard to watch. As much as this is a scratch side, still really disappointed with this performance.

formerly known as Sam wrote:No Hood you don't think he's overrated you're just upset he said no when you asked for a date.

That's an embarrassing try to concede. Gibson needs to start showing a bit more of the top two inches. Oh please don't select Ryan Lamb again!

TJ, I'd say the yellow card in the first half was no more than a penalty and Ashton's try was a mile forward. How does Waldrom get a yellow for a cynical foul when Sarries only got a warning at the other end? No consistency. Can't blame him for our limp wristed tackling though, that's just embarrassing.

I asked ever so nicely as well.

Manu's Boxing Coach wrote:No need for that from Borthwick, some graciousness would be nice.

These last 10 minutes could be hard to watch. As much as this is a scratch side, still really disappointed with this performance.

Borthwick always been a tall guy with a huge chip on his shoulder, always been behind the likes of Kay, Johnson. Never made in the England squad.

Yellow was right.  Once he goes beyond the horizontal it has to be yellow.  Try - its in the guidance and the wording.  You hear it a lot.  It has to be clear and obvious as a forward pass and the angle of the hands is used as a guide. benefit of the doubt to the attacking side.

The fact that we haven't scored a single point in the second half is embarrassing and not good enough and the sooner Lamb leaves the better. Barnes was pretty horrendous at times and that didnt help us but we were so poor. We needed a good performance to come close with that side and we didn't get it.

Shouldn't have too much long term damage though.

Haven't seen the try but there is no such thing as benifit of doubt to the attacking side

how did tait play anyone?

nathan wrote:Haven't seen the try but there is no such thing as benifit of doubt to the attacking side

how did tait play anyone?

Tait look good IMO considering the scoreline and strength of the opposition.

Matera also look very good.

Tait was Tigers best player. Certainly didn't look like he was the one who hadn't played in months.

Think Hill called it correctly when he said the MOTM should go to the Sarries 9 shirt, both Wigglesworth and de Kock were excellent. Farrell showed some nice touches and played the conditions well which is a positive for England. I think Bosch is really giving him more confidence.

Lamb really blew his chance to stake a claim for the 10 shirt. Surely our academy 10s couldn't be worse than that.

Well I thought Sarries might win but not by that much! I'm not sure where Lamb goes from here, he has proved time and time again he isn't a man you can rely on.

From a Bath point of view a very pleasing win, not many teams restrict Quins to so few points and the way their 2nds beat our 1sts last year it's good to see improvement. The pack in particular sounded very strong. Ford did leave 14 points out there though, his boot is going to costs us games some time, but his game management is very good.

Lamb goes somewhere other than Leicester I hope. Throwing a blind switch pass which results in a knock on rather than clearing his lines 10m out from the try line summed up his game today.

I know Tigers were poor by their standards but that Sarries performance was outstanding; as a neutral it was a real joy to watch.

Dear old Lamby has had too many games like that, he just doesnt seem to learn. Should Burns go to Tigers I hope we don't do a swap!

Sometimes tigers can give a new lease of life to players. It seems lamb is a lost cause.

HongKongCherry wrote:I know Tigers were poor by their standards but that Sarries performance was outstanding; as a neutral it was a real joy to watch.

Dear old Lamby has had too many games like that, he just doesnt seem to learn. Should Burns go to Tigers I hope we don't do a swap!

Absolutely correct, HKC. Sarries were awesome today and Tigers (especially at fly-half), pretty clueless. Tait and T Youngs for me, our best players amongst a pretty mediocre bunch.

And I'd prefer Burns to Priestland or any other foreigner. But Lamb has to go or at best be consigned to minor details in the squad.
Alas, Floody never developed like I'd hoped when he first arrived especially with his hot/cold boot although his defence, tackling and distribution have improved. Good luck to him in France.

No chance of getting Wilko? Just for a farewell season whilst Burnsy settles in? Too much money I suppose...

Sam look I know you are a die hard Tigers fan who believes your side are always hard done by
You didn't lose because of either a blatantly obvious yellow card or a 50-50 forward pass decision. By the way you and Cockerill are two peas in a pod.

You lost because you sent the wrong message - you sent out a side not looking to win, you offered very little in general. Your only try came from a chargedown. That was the only meaningful time you threatened the Sarries line. Also there was a lack of leadership - not helped by injuries of course but you need some of your squad to step it up.

Cockerill is to blame in my opinion not Barnes.

I am sure leicester will bounce back when you get some key players back but please don't act as if you lost because of Barnes. Just makes you and Cockerill look stupid.

Well done Sarries on the win.

Congrats Bath as well, totally out muscled Quins in what sounds like very poor game from us. Just couldn't get any ball from that nasty Bath pack!

Actually if you read the whole of my posts you'll see I blame our inability to put in a meaningful tackle and Lamb's inability to think under pressure as the key to our downfall. I also credit the Sarries team. I guess you didn't read that far...

Beshocked shooting from the hip again!

only watched the first half, but hood needs to explain himself. He was constantly moaning about ben young's slowness, well if you have yo dig the ball out everyone what do you expect!

As a neutral who wants to see England players go well, I thought Ben Youngs was poor. His service was erratic, and he seemed to spend a lot of time dithering.

nathan wrote:Beshocked shooting from the hip again!

only watched the first half, but hood needs to explain himself. He was constantly moaning about ben young's slowness, well if you have yo dig the ball out everyone what do you expect!

Nathan...what Ozzy says. I think you're absolutely right about his having to dig for the ball, that's not his fault and seems to have been a problem with Tigers rucking for a little while. Other teams seem to ruck further past the contact point. But Youngs was also dithering, then doing his little reach, pick up, hold for half a second, then distribute. Or worse, crab, although that happened less this match.

For me, he's gone backwards, his distribution is slower and less accurate, he's sniping less and he's taking longer to make decisions. Can't all be blamed on him when his pack is getting battered, but he can't be completely let off either. I think he's a player that gets rave reviews for average performances more than any other I know.

I apologise Sam. You're right, it's just the excuses stand out.

To be fair to B.Youngs he didn't exactly get much support from his team mates though he was poor. Never seen Wigglesworth play that well, he's been good this season.

Farrell getting the better of Lamb - well that wasn't surprising at all. It's ironic that after Cockerill announced Flood is leaving he, he and Leicester could really do with keeping Flood!

Not convinced Burns or Priestland are the answer. Perhaps Heathcote might be an option or trying to coax Hodgson from Sarries.

Portnoy's Complaint wrote:

HongKongCherry wrote:I know Tigers were poor by their standards but that Sarries performance was outstanding; as a neutral it was a real joy to watch.

Dear old Lamby has had too many games like that, he just doesnt seem to learn. Should Burns go to Tigers I hope we don't do a swap!

Absolutely correct, HKC. Sarries were awesome today and Tigers (especially at fly-half), pretty clueless. Tait and T Youngs for me, our best players amongst a pretty mediocre bunch.

And I'd prefer Burns to Priestland or any other foreigner. But Lamb has to go or at best be consigned to minor details in the squad.
Alas, Floody never developed like I'd hoped when he first arrived especially with his hot/cold boot although his defence, tackling and distribution have improved. Good luck to him in France.

No chance of getting Wilko? Just for a farewell season whilst Burnsy settles in? Too much money I suppose...

I always thought his kicking was pretty damn steady Portnoy, in fact as much as I hate to admit it I think he did kick on hugely from the Falcons and became a far better player than given credit. Always felt like he got poorly timed injuries for England that held him back a bit. I think this is a major loss for England, I really don't think the young pretenders will be anywhere near ready by 2015. Maybe I'm being overly pessimistic.