Aviva Premiership Round 20

First topic message reminder :

Table:

Pos	Team	__Pld__	__Won__	_Drawn_	_Lost_	__For__	_Against_	__TF__	__TA__	__TBP__	__LBP__	__Pts__
1	Saracens	19	17	0	2	535	284	56	30	8	0	76
2	Northampton Saints	19	14	1	4	475	297	55	25	5	3	66
3	Leicester Tigers	19	13	2	4	449	357	47	32	5	2	63
4	Bath Rugby	19	13	1	5	428	330	42	33	3	2	59
5	Harlequins	19	12	0	7	364	300	36	28	3	3	54
6	Sale Sharks	19	11	0	8	335	323	33	29	2	5	51
7	Exeter Chiefs	19	8	0	11	362	382	33	38	2	6	40
8	London Wasps	19	7	0	12	356	391	35	37	2	9	39
9	Gloucester Rugby	19	7	0	12	345	443	34	48	2	7	37
10	London Irish	19	6	0	13	323	402	30	37	1	6	31
11	Newcastle Falcons	19	3	0	16	212	454	15	51	1	6	19
12	Worcester Warriors	19	1	0	18	257	478	22	50	1	7	12

Fixtures:


Fri 18th Apr 14
19:45 Harlequins  v   Leicester Tigers BT Sport

Sat 19th Apr 14
15:00 Bath Rugby  v   Worcester Warriors
15:00        Exeter Chiefs  v   Sale Sharks
15:15        London Wasps  v   Gloucester Rugby BT Sport

Sun 20th Apr 14
14:00 Northampton Saints  v   London Irish BT Sport
15:00 Newcastle Falcons  v   Saracens

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Wigglesworth is really bad, almost as bad as Rose

I like him, to be fair I think he got everything spot on.

Scrumpy wrote:

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Wigglesworth is really bad, almost as bad as Rose

I like him, to be fair I think he got everything spot on.

What game were you watching?  He was appalling.

I disagree I think he is very calm under pressure and gets the big calls correct.

.

No sarcasm intended.

He made no more mistakes than any other ref, after the glaws bath game he was always going to be over scrutinised by the commentators and fans alike.

He did well, after the farce of the bath vs sale game where the ref was afraid to give a penalty try it was nice to see a ref award it straight away as they were going to score.

What a result. Commiserations, Tigers. Gonna be a close run in but I'm beginning to feel like this is meant to be

Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse
When you're chewing on life's gristle
Don't grumble, give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best

<All together now>...

That Quins/Tigers game last night was immense. Mike Brown was looking a bit edgy! Quins are a joy to watch when they're recycling quick ball. Not a fan of Botica's haircut though. It's worse then Care's  

Keeps everything very interesting up at the top of the table.

I'm still not convinced Quins will make the play offs. I fully expect Bath to get 5 points against Worcester today, which will leave Quins 5 points off Tigers in 4th with two to play. I can't see Tigers losing their remaining two games, even if they are both tough assignments.

Bath play us and Saints though so if they lose both those matches we will overtake them if we win vs Exeter

Sale put nine tries on the Chiefs.

That'll put a cat amongst a few pigeons.

Dayglo is such a moron on commentary.

Yes he is. And at times the Wasps bias can be overwhelming

That's an absolute hammering for the Chiefs. I can't imagine Rob Baxter is too happy after that.

EnglishReign wrote:Dayglo is such a moron on commentary.

In Dayglo, BT have their own version of S. Barnes esq.

Ozzy3213 wrote:That's an absolute hammering for the Chiefs.  I can't imagine Rob Baxter is too happy after that.

At least it gives hope to all four regional Divisions of the RFU.

It's ridiculous - he questions TMO uncertainty over a Jonny May offside (after the try is given), despite not having a clue himself, and later calls a blatant Wasps high tackle "not intentional or malicious, so it's alright". So daft.

He was overrated as a player, too. silly billy (not my words, but those of the auto-editor).

Anyway, well played Wasps. And despite what Dayglo says, I think we gifted you a few points as well but the better side won.

Is that the end for Worcester?

7 pts behind with 2 games to go.....1 of those an away game to Saracens.

Depends if Sarries rest players and Worcester sneak something. That is probably them down.

Enjoyed the Wasps vs Glaws game especially the first half. A bit of sunshine and the ball was being thrown about left right and centre. Burns looked rejuvenated as well which is positive for this Tigers fan.

Anyone watching Rotherham vs. Leeds in the Championship? Leeds playing some cracking attacking rugby. Great offloading skills.

Yea just seen the 1st, even bloody Leeds play better rugby than us

They certainly seem to want to chuck it about a bit, although that is obviously easier to do against Rotherham than it would be in the prem. The number 8 Burrows looks decent, their back row is just too strong for Rotherham.

Just watched the Quins v Tigers game. Really impressed by Quins physicality in standing up to the Tigers forwards. We knew they'd be tough to break down and went in with the right attitude to get the win. Bit niggly at times but all done in good spirits in the end.

A few musings...

Surprised Care got MoM though, I really thought Ward or Synckler deserved it, both continually put Quins on the front foot, turned ball over and defended across the park.

Evans apparently had a dodgy foot, but even with that looks the best we've seen in a season or so.

The JTH/Molenaar centre combo is brilliant, still only 3 games in but they look a thousand times better then Casson or Hopper, far more solid, reliable in attack and set a platform for our backs.

Brown looked confrontational all game which is odd, but a couple of times Tigers players were looking to irritate him, he's allowed one Mr Hyde game every season so we'll let him off he still kept control, scored the conclusive try and did all the basics well. Tait looked very sharp for Tigers too.

yappysnap wrote:Just watched the Quins v Tigers game. Really impressed by Quins physicality in standing up to the Tigers forwards. We knew they'd be tough to break down and went in with the right attitude to get the win. Bit niggly at times but all done in good spirits in the end.

A few musings...

Surprised Care got MoM though, I really thought Ward or Synckler deserved it, both continually put Quins on the front foot, turned ball over and defended across the park.

Evans apparently had a dodgy foot, but even with that looks the best we've seen in a season or so.

The JTH/Molenaar centre combo is brilliant, still only 3 games in but they look a thousand times better then Casson or Hopper, far more solid, reliable in attack and set a platform for our backs.

Brown looked confrontational all game which is odd, but a couple of times Tigers players were looking to irritate him, he's allowed one Mr Hyde game every season so we'll let him off he still kept control, scored the conclusive try and did all the basics well. Tait looked very sharp for Tigers too.

for me Ward should of been given MOM, Synckler struggled at scrum time in the second half.

No shame in struggling against Ayerza, especially after besting him by the end of the first half

Ozzy3213 wrote:Anyone watching Rotherham vs. Leeds in the Championship?  Leeds playing some cracking attacking rugby.  Great offloading skills.

Leeds have played some good stuff this season - the best team we have seen at Vallis Way (Ealing are my 2nd team).

And the boys in green are no longer bottom after a win at Plymouth

Back to the Prem. It was an error strewn game at HQ with both teams gifting tries to the oppo.

Nathan Hughes was superb at no. 8 and Morgan had a good game for Gloucs too.

nathan wrote:

yappysnap wrote:Just watched the Quins v Tigers game. Really impressed by Quins physicality in standing up to the Tigers forwards. We knew they'd be tough to break down and went in with the right attitude to get the win. Bit niggly at times but all done in good spirits in the end.

A few musings...

Surprised Care got MoM though, I really thought Ward or Synckler deserved it, both continually put Quins on the front foot, turned ball over and defended across the park.

Evans apparently had a dodgy foot, but even with that looks the best we've seen in a season or so.

The JTH/Molenaar centre combo is brilliant, still only 3 games in but they look a thousand times better then Casson or Hopper, far more solid, reliable in attack and set a platform for our backs.

Brown looked confrontational all game which is odd, but a couple of times Tigers players were looking to irritate him, he's allowed one Mr Hyde game every season so we'll let him off he still kept control, scored the conclusive try and did all the basics well. Tait looked very sharp for Tigers too.

for me Ward should of been given MOM, Synckler struggled at scrum time in the second half.

Very true.

From that game Ward, Synckler and Slater have put themselves in contention for a space on the plane to NZ. Slater was out standing again, the captaincy seems to have transformed him.

The insider rumours are that Cockers has decided to build the pack around him and Slater will be club captain next season.

Getting slightly fed up of having tries given against us where the ball hasn't been grounded!!!

ChequeredJersey wrote:No shame in struggling against Ayerza, especially after besting him by the end of the first half

We must have watched different games CJ. I felt both LHs had dominance over the THs throughout the game.

Does JP Doyle actually know the laws?

I doubt it, given the way he's refereed virtually every game we've had him for.

Nothing going our way today. Sums our season up. Saints deserve to be ahead, but not by 24 points, we've actually played alright.

Monstrous bad luck for LI. Been a far closer game than the score line is showing. Some good stuff from Geraghty.

Story of our season fkas. Saints are a better side than us, but not 30 points better on performance today.

only 8pts in it now

Absolute joke. Hands go backwards. That has been the deciding factor on forward passes all season and now all of a sudden it's not.

that's a disgrace, simple as. hands clearly go backwards. Then again, it's been such a homer reffing performance I'm not surprised. 14 point swing on two awful decisions...

London Irish have been on the wrong end of two questionable key decisions by the ref.

Ball traveled a long way forward (I know not strictly relevant) - but I have seen worse than that allowed on TMO review.

beshocked wrote:London Irish have been on the wrong end of two questionable key decisions by the ref.

We're losing by 8 and those two decisions are a 14 point swing. Tough to take.

Well Londontiger Tigers did get a try from a forward pass on Friday....

Admittedly Tigers did get a harsh penalty try against them.

Absolutely gutted with that result today.

Not surprised Ozzy, LI played brilliantly in that second half and I can't believe they got nothing from the game. I'd have thought Geraghty at least would have been mentioned in the MOTM he was excellent for LI, where's that form been for the last few years?

It's been hidden away behind constant changes in personnel and and an inability to play under pressure. The shackles were off today with nothing to play for so we saw them play with a bit of freedom.

With a stronger squad next season, particularly up front, I hope we can see us play a more expansive game again.

Next season I hope teams have to ground the ball to be given a try against us as this year it's seemed optional ...

Really difficult to summarise this weekend’s games. Overall I don't think the standard was better than average with perhaps Quins/Tigers the game of the round, but even this was effected by Mr Wigglesworth’s binary interpretations - he's seems to be either very right or very wrong and neither ruling is troubled with empathy.

Tackling was often optional and generally there appeared to be a number of exhausted players putting it out there.

Nathan Hughes apparently has been dialled up for a future England cap, makes you wonder why Bath would spend half a million quid when you can fix it with a Samoan Fijian on a dodgy residency - you got love the rfu.

Sinckler played the pupil and appeared to take a good schooling from the Tigers at scrum time, which is actually excellent for him and crucial to his professional education; however is it just me (yes!) who thinks that Wards size may have contributed to Sincklers difficulties? Shades of Mears....sorry but I just don't think Ward should be thought of as an international option, and that’s simply based on his size and offering at scrum time.

Cipriani got away with some cute flat/forward passes against Exeter and may have played his way onto the plane, but I doubt it. Next up against the Tigers, once both sides have had a rest week, will be a very different game.

And finally, technically/realistically Flood is still playing his rugby in the premiership so could be available for a game down under?

semi finals - Saracens v's Harlequins & Northampton Saints v's Leicester Tigers = Saracens v's Leicester Tigers final = Saracens to win

One Problem for London Irish is that they didn't vocally contest the grounding of the ball in regards to Elliott. Perhaps a more streetwise side might have persuaded Doyle to consult the tmo or at least put enough doubt in the mind. The tmo is there to stop these sort of decisions happening. I think it's one of the only times it wasn't used.