Leicester Tigers 2014/15 Thread.

[Welly]

First topic message reminder :

Current Tables Positions:
 AP: 5th
 CC: 2nd in Group 3
 LV: 1st in Pool 3 

Last Game: V Bath @ Welford Road (Won 17 - 8) (Att: 24,000)
Next Game: V Harliquins @ Twickenham Stoop (15:15 KO) Sat 10 January 2015, (Live on BT Sport)


Official 1st XV squad 2014/15: ( Injured, Internationals, Suspension, "Knocked", )
 Head Coach/DoR: Richard Cockerill
 Assistant coaches: G. Murphy, R. Blaze, P.Blake,
 Captain: Ed Slater
 Props: Ayerza, Balmain, Bristow, Brugnara, Cole, Mulipola, Pasquali, Rizzo

 Hookers: Briggs, Ghiraldini, Thacker, Youngs .

 Locks: Deacon, De Cheves, Kitchener, Parling, Price, Slater, Thorn, Peterson

 Back Row: Barbieri, Crane, Croft, Gibson, Matera, Pearce, Salvi, Whetton

 Scrum Half: Harrison, Mele, Youngs

 Fly Half: Burns, Williams

 Centres: Allen, Bai , Heptema, Loamanu, Pohe, Roberts, Smith, Tuilagi ,

 Back 3: Benjamin, Camacho, Goneva, Hamilton, Morris, Scully, Tait, Thompstone, Bell

Development Players 2014/15:
 Oliver Bryant, George Catchpole, Jake Farnworth, Tom Hudson, Ed Milne, Will Owen, Aniseko Sio, George Tresidder, Rhys Williams.


 New Deals 2014/14
 Dan Cole (Long term)
 Marcos Ayerza (3 years)
 Tom Youngs (Long Term)
 Owen Williams
 Graham Kitchener
 Fraser Balmain
 Tiziano Pasquali
 Harry Thacker
 Riccardo Brugnara





 Transfers in 2014/15:
 Brad Thorn (Highlanders)
 Tommy Bell (Jersey)
 Jack Roberts (Rotherham Titans)
 Aaron Mauger (Canterbury Crusaders)
 Jack Whetton (ACT Brumbies)
 Greg Peterson (Manly)

 Transfers Out 2014/15:
 Paul Burke (N/A)
 Neil McCarthy (N?A)
 Mathew Tait (Bayonne)

 Rumours:
Nyanga -----> Leicester, Touion or Metro(http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,2588 ... 29,00.html)
Fonua ------> Leicester
Dusautoir ----> Leicester, Irish, Bath Saracens
Albacete -----> Leicester, Irish, Bath Saracens
(both https://twitter.com/pauleddison)
Liam williams -> Leicester (Rugby Paper)
Jerome Kaino --> Leicester
Willem Alberts --> Leicester (Gillingham)
Mike Williams ---> Leicester (Fissler)
Justin Tipuric --> Leicester (TRP)
 

Home tickets can be brought Here:

[b]Premiership rugby 7's[/b]:

Leicester Finish as Plate winners of the 2014 Premiership Sevens!!!!!!!!!

Pre-season games 2014 + friendlies:
 Sat Aug 16th 15:00: Nottingham v Leicester Tigers @ Lady Bay Sports Ground, Nottingham's training ground, in West Bridgford (Lost 26-19)
 Sat Aug 23th 14:00: Edinburgh V Leicester Tigers @ Melrose. (Won 10 -11)
 Fri  Aug 29th 19:30: Leicester Tigers V Cardiff Blues @ Welford Road (Won 21 - 17)
 Tues Nov 4th 19:30: Leicester Tigers V Barbarians @ Welford Road (Lost 26 - 59)

 Fixtures AP 2014/15:
R1: Saturday 06 /09/14, 15.00 – Newcastle Falcons (H) – Welford Road (Won 36 -17)   (Att: 22,639)
R2: Saturday 13/09/14, 15.15 – Exeter Chiefs (A) – Sandy Park (BT Sport) (Won 20 - 24)  (Att: 9,721)
R3: Saturday 20/09/14, 15.15 – Bath Rugby (A) – The Rec (BT Sport) ( Lost 45-0)  (Att: 12,817)
R4: Saturday 27/09/14, 15.00 – London Irish (H) – Welford Road (Lost 19-22)  (Att: 21,682)
R5: Saturday 04/10/14, 15.15 – Gloucester Rugby (A) – Kingsholm (BT Sport) (Lost 33 - 16)  (Att: 15,127)
R6: Friday 10/10/14, 19.45 – Harlequins (H) – Welford Road (BT Sport) (Won 22 - 16)  (Att: 21,510)
R7: Saturday 15/11/14 – 15.00 – Saracens (H) – Welford Road (BT Sport) (Draw 21 - 21) (Att: 21,680)
R8: Sunday 23/11/14 – 14.30 – London Welsh (A) – Kassam Stadium (BT Sport) (Won 5 - 26) (Att: 3,249)
R9: Saturday 29/11/14, 15.00 – Wasps (H) – Welford Road (Won 18 - 16) (Att: 21,907)
R10: Saturday 20/12/14 15.00 – Northampton Saints (A) – Franklin's Gardens (Lost 23 - 19) (Att: 13, 362)
R11: Saturday 27/12/14, 14.00 – Sale Sharks (A) – AJ Bell Stadium (Won 30 - 32) (Att: 11, 247)
R12: Saturday 03/01/15, 15.00 – Bath Rugby (H) – Welford Road (Won 17 - 8) (Att: 24,000)
R13: Saturday 10/01/15, 15.15 – Harlequins (A) – Twickenham Stoop
R14: Saturday 14//02/15, 15.00 – Gloucester Rugby (H) – Welford Road
R15: Saturday 21/02/15, 15.00 – London Irish (A) – Madejski Stadium
R16: Saturday 28/02/15, 15.00 – Sale Sharks (H) – Welford Road
R17: Sunday 08/03/15, 15.00 – Newcastle Falcons (A) – Kingston Park
R18: Saturday 28/03/15, 15.00 – Exeter Chiefs (H) – Welford Road
R19: Saturday 11/04/15, 15.00 – Saracens (A) – Allianz Park
R20: Saturday 25/04/15, 15.00 – London Welsh (H) – Welford Road
R21: Sunday 10/05/15, 14.00 – Wasps (A) – Adams Park
R22: Saturday 16/05/15, tbc – Northampton Saints (H) – Welford Road
Fixtures in Rounds 1-6 are confirmed. From Round 7 onwards they are subject to television selections.

 Champions Cup pool + Fixtures 2014/15:
 Pool 3
 Toulon
 Leicester Tigers
 Ulster
 Scarlets.

European Champions Cup fixtures
Round 1: Saturday, October 18 (7.45pm) Leicester Tigers v Ulster Rugby (Won 25 -18) (Att: 19,943)
Round 2: Saturday, October 25 (7.45pm) Scarlets v Leicester Tigers (Lost 15 - 3) (Att: 8,235)
Round 3: December 5/6/7 Leicester Tigers v RC Toulon (Won 25 - 21) (Att: 22,114)
Round 4: December 12/13/14 RC Toulon v Leicester Tigers (Lost 23 - 8) (Att: 15, 045)
Round 5: January 16/17/18 Leicester Tigers v Scarlets
Round 6: January 23/24/25 Ulster Rugby v Leicester Tigers

 
LV Cup

 Pool 3
Leicester Tigers
Wasps
Newcastle Falcons
Scarlets

 LV Cup fixtures
 Round 1: Saturday, November 1 (3:00PM) London Irish V Leicester Tigers (Won 16 - 17) (Att: 5,131)
 Round 2: Sunday, November 8 (3:10PM)  Leicester Tigers V Sale sharks ((Won 29 - 13)) (Att:)
 Round 3: 30/31 Jan/ 1 February Leicester Tigers V Northampton Saints
 Round 4: 6/7/8 February Cardiff blues V Leicester Tigers

 
Fixtures
Round 1 - 31 October/01/02 November: London Irish v Leicester Tigers
Round 2 - 07/08/09 November: Leicester Tigers v Sale Sharks - Sunday, November 9, KO 15:15. Live on Sky Sports
Round 3 - 30/31 January/01 February: Leicester Tigers v Northampton Saints
Round 4 - 06/07/08 February: Cardiff Blues v Leicester Tigers
Semi Finals - 13/14/15 March
LV= Cup Final - 22 March (venue to be confirmed)

 

[b]A League Fixtures[/b]:

 
 Academy Squad 2014/15:
 

Spoiler:

[formerly known as Sam]

Paul Grant and a young Kiwi lock called Whetton are set to be signed up until the end of the season. Given Crane picked up an injury vs the Baabaas this might be a good idea. We had Wells on loan from Bedford to help cover the last two weeks.

[Welly]

Whetton certainly has the pedigree.

[Welly]

Found some highlights, looks like a great baabaas match! Good tour for them, great to see

Leicester Tigers v Barbarians highlights: https://youtu.be/TyCYo5Ot514

 That move was so funny wished it worked out TBH.

 Great spirits, as said it was expensive but worth the money imo.

[formerly known as Sam]

It was a shame they didn't offer it at fifteen quid a ticket and get a full house. A lot of the people I spoke to hadn't bought tickets initially because they didn't expect such a good Barbarians team to turn up. There really was some awesome talent in black and white. After Saturday and Tuesday I think a lot of chairman will be holding discussions and waving cheque books at some of those players. Particularly Saili he was incredible vs Australia and on those highlights looks absolute class.

[yappysnap]

Funnest.Rugby.Game.Ever

[formerly known as Sam]

Really good ethos around this Barbarians team. Big emphasis on fun, a work colleague went to the game and said for entertainment value the barbarian centres were worth the admission fee on their own.

[yappysnap]

On those highlights; the grumpy old Tigers fan's response to the first try is brilliant, he was not pleased!!

[formerly known as Sam]

Probably thought here we go again Yappy some of our defence this season has been tear inducing.

Leicester Tigers (v Sale Sharks, Welford Road, Sunday 3.15pm)

15 Tommy Bell14 Adam Thompstone13 Matt Smith12 Oli Bryant11 Miles Benjamin10 Freddie Burns9 Sam Harrison (c)1 Tom Bristow2 Harry Thacker3 Tiziano Pasquali4 Joe Maksymiw5 Sebastian De Chaves6 Harry Wells7 Charlie Beckett8 Ed Milne

Replacements16 Jake Farnworth17 Riccardo Brugnara18 Dan Cole19 Aniseko Sio20 Stone Priestley-Nangle21 David Mele22 Jack Roberts23 Charlie Thacker

Sale Sharks: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Tom Arscott, 13 Andy Forsyth, 12 Sam James, 11 Phil MacKenzie, 10 Nick McLeod, 9 Nathan Fowles; 1 Eifion Lewis Roberts, 2 Marc Jones, 3 Ross Harrison, 4 Andrei Ostrikov, 5 Michael Paterson, 6 Dan Braid (c), 7 David Seymour, 8 Josh Beaumont

Replacements: 16 Cameron Neild, 17 Darren Fearn, 18 James Flynn, 19 Magnus Lund, 20 Andy Hughes, 21 Chris Cusiter, 22 Joe Ford, 23 Charlie In gall

Sale clearly missed the LV description as development tournament. Our back row Is going to take a humping.

[quinsforever]

what a great highlight reel. i am sure more clubs would be interested in filling their stadium for that kind of spectacle.

loved that "up the jumper" penalty move.

[Welly]

Bristow (23) V Lewis Roberts (33)
 Thacker (20) V Jones (27)
 Pasquali (20) V Harrison (22)
 Maksymiw (19) V Ostrikov (27)
 De Cheves (24) V Paterson (29)
 Wells (21) V Braid (33)
 Beckett (19) V Seymour (30)
 Milne (19) V Beaumont (22)

 Average Age of pack Tigers 20
                                Sale   27

[Sgt_Pooly]

Teams use the LV for different reasons.

Falcons for example seem to be using it get some 1st teamers fit and building confidence between combinations. Each to their own end of the day, that's not Sale's best pack but there's a fair bit of experience.

You don't get extra points for putting out a younger team.

[formerly known as Sam]

Tongue was firmly in cheek, Sgt. Giving the young guns experience now is crucial for us so it's largely immaterial as to who we play. A more even contest would be preferable but they'll learn a lot against this Sale team. Diamond is playing with fire a touch. Seymour has played a lot of rugby this season and would be a big blow if injured, ditto the second rows and Roberts.

Some of the young guys really showed up against a more experienced LI side so can only hope for more of the same. Bryant is starting to make a name for himself be interesting to see if he can play as effectively at 12, be a prime time to display ability in that position.

[Ozzy3213]

Not sure our side was massively more experienced fkas, we had our fair share of youngsters out as well. Did you go to the game? I missed it but on the highlights they seemed to intimate that we dominated for long periods but failed to convert that into points and got hit with a couple of sucker punches.

[formerly known as Sam]

No couldn't afford the trip sadly. From what I've heard you guys dominated up front which isn't a surprise with our front five all being under 25. The radio show in the week praised us for being clinical and taking our two chances. The young hooker making his first team debut with 100% line out was bigged up as well.

I'd Imagine the LI coaches will have been ruing missed chances where as our coaches would have been praising the defence and commitment.

[formerly known as Sam]

Well we've got no chance in this game. Ref has already decided we don't have the team for this. We drive over the ruck and Smith gets sin binned. They wheel the scrum to exploit the blindside and we get pinged. Sale are much stronger they don't need a helping hand.

[Guest]

Did you forget about Cole? Looking like the man he was 18 months ago before he was over played.

[formerly known as Sam]

Ref has done a but if a u turn at half time. Just given Smith a try that was 100% a knock on.

Dan Cole has come on and is destroying the Sale scrum.

[Guest]

Agree re ref. Felt he was harsh on Tigs first half but now is being very kind.

[formerly known as Sam]

Slightly harsh yellow coming for the Sale 15. Letter of the law I suppose.

Sensational try for Benjamin. Didn't think we really deserved to be in it after the first half but the young lads seem to be made from real old school Tigers grit this year. Brilliant stuff from them. Our inside centre options looks less pressing with Bryant and Thacker both playing well. The other Thacker and Farnworth have both been excellent at hooker. The list goes on.

[Guest]

Really pleased with that performance from the youngsters. Expected the much stronger Sale pack to grind Tigers for the full 80 but the second half turnaround was great to see.

Well deserved motm for Milne as well. Enjoyed watching him squirm in front of the camera.

[Welly]

He didn't know what to do was nice to see someone smiling when the camera is on them for MothM.

 If crane is out he should def be on the bench for the Sarries game.

 What a great performance esp H.Thacker, Farnworth, Beckett, Milne, Benjamin, Harrison, Pas so on and so on.

 Also c.Thacker looks a promising 12 havn't been this ecitedabout the academy players for a while.

 Also feel Cockers will use them a lot more.


 Harrison for me should get some time starting now he is a lot quicker from the breakdown than Youngs and less temperamental than Mele.

 Again what a game the Defence has come on leaps and bounds esp in the first half.

[Sgt_Pooly]

Cole looked fantastic, great to have him back firing. You're scrum looked impressive, especially when you didn't have to carry Thacker, it really ramped up when he went off.

[Welly]

Thacker didn't go off till 70 mins.

 Farnworth came on for Wells in the first half at around 30 mins and Thacker went to the flank (but was still the throwe) in where he played extremely well but the scrum still struggled.

 Thacker will prob start against Sarries next weekend (it's on BT).

 The scrum didn't go forward till Cole and Bruganara so don't act like thacker brought it down.


 Side note when Cole is 100% fit and starting I expect Balmain to be coming on with 25 mins left or so he has proved himself this season. But god Cole looks good.

[Sgt_Pooly]

It looked like he'd never been away tbh. Early days but he was certainly impressive.

[formerly known as Sam]

Cole did disappear from the loose play for the last five minutes. He was an absolute beast in the scrum though. He'll take a little bit of time to get back to his peak fitness but the time off will have allowed him to get some much needed rest after last season where he had a Lions tour and then a lot of big games to play.

Thacker had a lot of line outs and only slightly over threw the one (jumper still got fingers to it but knocked it on). He hooked the ball well at scrum time but Sale had more bulk and Roberts was able to drive in and pop up the young tight head Pasquali. Cole was stronger than that and kept him in line.

Thought Bryant was excellent. Took me 15 minutes to realise it wasn't Allen defending at 12 and when he did get the ball he showed to very nice footballing skills. Then the younger Thacker came on and looked quick and abrasive. Think we'll see more of those two in the next year or so.

Might be too early for Milne to play against Sarries. He had a great work rate but needs to finish filling out before getting thrown in against the Wolf Pack.

[Welly]

Don't know about that Sam RE Milne.

 Who else is there if Crane is out?

 We only have in the back row fit ATM.

 Gibson
 Salvi
 Pearce
 Milne
 Beckett

 The lock are in a similar situation if Lawes is unfit for the SA and Kitchener is on the bench.

[LondonTiger]

Well that was fun.

With about 3 minutes to go in first half I turned to my dad and said how impressed i was with the young lads and their fight in the face of a strong and experienced sale 8. The Sale got their second try and my mood dropped, until the ref was persuaded to go to the TMO. That was a clear turning point.

All of a sudden we were on the front foot and Burns suddenly looked an international quality player. Dan Cole was of course phenomenal. Poor Pasquali was targeted by Lewis-Roberts and Jones who pincered him. Matters not helped by some appalling bod positions from DeChaves behind Pasquali.

Extremely naive in defence Benjamin is certainly a beast when he gets a sniff of the try line.

Great fun.

[LondonTiger]

Ps what was smith carded for? Was not clear to us in the goldsmiths stand.

[Welly]

The YC was a team YC he was judge to be attacking the ruck from a offside position.

 But as said it was a team YC.

 Benjamin I feel was wanting to prove himself after a couple of blunders in the previous weeks but hopefully his confidence will stay like this now.

[formerly known as Sam]

Hmm good point. Would still be a little unsure about throwing him that far in the deep end. Loamano could always cover the back row if required he's done that before.

I thought Smith was gone for tackling the scrum half from the bottom of the ruck?

[nathan]

Cole played very well, was certainly blowing by the end

[formerly known as Sam]

No new backs coach until next summer. So either we've agreed to bring someone in and they aren't available until then or Cockers has decided that bedding in a new attacking strategy will take too long. The new defensive strategy took the best part of a month and we need results now.

[Welly]

I reckon it is a bit of both the person we want may be in contract till end of season, and the decision is that Blake and Murphy are doing fine as it is that we don't have to rush to get someone for the hell of it.

 Still hopeful of Mauger esp if it is a Head coach position as the merc have said. As I can't see Mauger becoming HC at Crusaders with Blackadder there and SH teams don't tend to have a DOR.

[formerly known as Sam]

You'd have thought now was the ideal time for Mauger to move though. Between Super 14 competitions as opposed to the end of the season when the new season down South will underway.

[Welly]

Unless he is contracted for another season with crusaders.

 The super rugby season ends in the summer so that would make sense imo.

[formerly known as Sam]

Doesn't it end towards the end of August start of September time? That'll be leaving it pretty late for influencing our game plan. I suspect you're right in that one.

[Welly]

It finished early July this season.

[formerly known as Sam]

That would be pretty much ideal. I'd envisage an early finish again what with the RWC. We'll probably start late as well. Just hoping for no repeat of the Blake situation where we were stuck with no cohesive plan for a month or so.

Another year working with Blackadder and Carter et al won't hurt Mauger's vision and experience.

[Sin é]

Tigers Head To America As New Professional League Gathers Pace

12 November 2014 by Mark Tilley

The National Rugby Football League (NRFL) in America has announced it has reached an agreement with Leicester Tigers to play the NRFL 'Rough Riders' in the first professional major league rugby game in the U.S.

The match will be played during Leicester's pre-season on Saturday 1st August 2015 with the host city and stadium to be announced prior to the NRFL's Player Combine in Los Angeles in January 2015.

The Rough Riders will be a composite team of elite American athletes that have been recruited from professional and collegiate ranks of football, basketball, hockey, domestic and international rugby players all trained to compete in professional major league rugby union.

The NRFL is owned by RugbyLaw, LLC., a Minneapolis, Minnesota based sports and entertainment company. RugbyLaw is currently in the process of selling NRFL franchises within major cities which have happen to have NFL Stadiums, with the intention to begin the NRFL in 2015 with between 6 and 12 franchises.

RugbyLaw states that the franchises will be owned by current owners of major league franchises, foreign professional teams expanding their brand in the U.S. market, professional athletes from the major league sports, entertainment – motion Picture professionals and investor groups interested in owning a major league professional franchise.

Another crucial process in the planning of America's first professional rugby league is the need to expand upon the huge professional athletic talent pool in the country and to harvest the best of those as future stars of the American game.

The National Rugby Football League Combine will take place in January 2015 in Los Angeles at the historical L.A. Memorial Coliseum, following the 2014 combine earlier this year which took place in Baltimore.

Leicester chief executive Simon Cohen said: "The name of Leicester Tigers travels across the world and we're delighted to have been invited to witness the appetite for the game in the USA at first hand.

"Sporting facilities and the pool of talent in so many sports in the USA are the envy of organisations across the world and it should prove a very interesting trip for the club.

"Rugby is making massive strides in America and the fixture against a team selected from the National Rugby Football League clubs will provide an excellent platform both for the home-based players and also for our squad as they prepare for a new season."

The Tigers already have one American link with the signing of USA Eagles wing Blaine Scully and they evidently keen to be amongst the first European clubs to expand into what has been described as 'America's fastest growing sport'.

[formerly known as Sam]

Does that mean we're going to team up with some American corporate entity to get a franchise over there? Pack off a couple of ex players to manage them. Maybe loan out a couple of academy players. Steal the best talent and try to expand the club?

Could be ambitious but could be good.

[Guest]

Figured it might be better to talk about the Tigs squad here rather than the general round 7 thread.

Leicester Tigers (v Saracens, Welford Road, Sunday 1pm)
15 Mathew Tait
14 Blaine Scully
13 Matt Smith
12 Anthony Allen
11 Miles Benjamin
10 Owen Williams
9 David Mele
1 Michele Rizzo
2 Harry Thacker
3 Dan Cole
4 Brad Thorn (c)
5 Graham Kitchener
6 Jamie Gibson
7 Julian Salvi
8 Jordan Crane

Replacements
16 Jake Farnworth
17 Tom Bristow
18 Fraser Balmain
19 Sebastian De Chaves
20 Paul Grant
21 Sam Harrison
22 Freddie Burns
23 Tommy Bell

In my initial excitement at seeing Cole started I missed a few things. Seems maybe a bit harsh on Sam to not get the 9 shirt this week, think he's ahead of Mele atm and has had a good month or so. Thought we'd be seeing Pearce on the bench this week, tactical decision or is he injured? Also expected to see Thompstone on the bench given that Scully could drop back if Tait has to come off.

Very scary team Saracens have managed to put out.

[LondonTiger]

Thompstone looked, noit unexpectedly, rusty while Bell looked very good. Harrison has done well in the LV games - but Mele, for me, is much sharper. I still feel that Harrison farts around too much at the breakdown and often has his FH stretching to catch the ball.

[Welly]

Thompstone looked, noit unexpectedly, rusty while Bell looked very good. Harrison has done well in the LV games - but Mele, for me, is much sharper. I still feel that Harrison farts around too much at the breakdown and often has his FH stretching to catch the ball.

 Not what I have seen of Harrison of late.

[LondonTiger]

Happy with two points - anyone know what the problem with Scully was?

[formerly known as Sam]

He took a series of knocks in that first half. Could have been any one of those. Could have also been tactical as Bell gave us a very valuable tactical kicking option from full back though you'd have thought we'd have subbed Benjamin if that was the case.

A satisfactory result with some of the younger guys again putting their hands up. Thacker in particular showed up really well. Bell looks like a potential successor to Murphy long term and Balmain a realistic impact sub for Cole.

[Welly]

Bell looks to be a very good pick up.

 Glad that Balmain got around 25 mins on the pitch and showed he can certainly handle it.

 Thacker looks very good, made 8 tackles missed none near perfect in the lineout. Considering he was the youngest forward by 4 years starting was a  very good showin against one of the bigger packs of the AP.

[Welly]

Salvi is rumoured to be off to Bayonne.

[LondonTiger]

Salvi is rumoured to be off to Bayonne.

That would be a huge loss - though we have some young players I would like to see progress.

[formerly known as Sam]

We've got some good young flankers and Barbieri. Matera is likely to head South after the RWC. Just hope we tapped up Brussow or Todd the other week.

[Welly]

Matera may well be off to Argentina though end of season.

 I feel that if we could get Dusautoir (As rumoured), with Beckett and Owen then being looked at over say 2 seasons I would be happy.

 Todd would be very good Brussow for me has lost it a bit imo.

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