Aviva Premiership Round Twelve

Exeter seem to have forgotten how to pass at the moment. so many wayward passes.

Well I make it a point to never criticise the ref...however I did voice my concerns in the recent Falcons v Sarries game. Thought the ref was watching a different game to what I was seeing.

But hey it is a difficult job.

I like the way you "voice concerns" rather than "complain"

Absolutely Hammer...would never complain.

Oh and just for the record...that Ref was flipping blind and a not worthy of being a Premiership Ref

GeordieFalcon wrote:Oh and just for the record...that Ref was flipping blind and a not worthy of being a Premiership Ref

thats more like it!

Is anyone watching this Exeter / Glos game....dear me ive been putting off papering my living room...but I think that would be more entertaining.

GeordieFalcon wrote:Is anyone watching this Exeter / Glos game....dear me ive been putting off papering my living room...but I think that would be more entertaining.

lots and lots of errors. have Gloucester actually improved at all this year?

They just look poor don't they Nathan. Even Morgan looks poor....nothing like his thunderous performances for England.

All that pace in the back three and they just look ponderous and rudderless.

LondonTiger wrote:Jeez, how many times am I going to see the ref blamed when frankly a team was completely outclassed.

I haven't seen the game, so can't comment on the ref, but reading the comment posted it was about a specific decision that the referee got wrong and didn't blame the ref for anything other than that. it was also supported by GF who is a neutral, so I suspect there may be something to the comment and the ref may have actually made a mistake, which people are of course free to discuss. And a final point, I'm pretty sure that after Tigers defeat by us earlier in the season you were on here slating the referee, so your post is possibly one of the most hypocritical I've seen on here. "Irish gash, Tigers gasher, referee gashest" I believe was one of the comments from you!

Wow...and the sludgefest continues at Sandy Park....

Good drop goal by Twelvetrees there though,.

Finally a try by Nowell....but by god the tackles were poor especially by Ben Morgan.

Gloucester are just pants. Shocking tackle attempt from Morgan.

Wow another try for Jess.....Glos really are appalling.

Why on earth did Twelvetrees throw that pass.....another reason why he should be nowhere near the England side.

Pants. Just pants.

Bloody hell....Glos score...3 tries inm 3 minutes

TT is having a shocker.

Morgan showing his power for another try.

And another try...Waldrom.

Well at least the second half has improved.

Well that's a big win for Glos.

Well that makes up for the game at Kingsholm. The better side who played the vast majority of the rugby lost, so sincere commiserations to Chiefs. But we've been due a slice of luck for sometime, I am under no illusions about where we're at but I'll gladly take that win.

HKC,

Exeter really let you off the hook by their complete failure to maximise countless overlaps. Time after time you would see half the width of the pitch occupied by one man in red and often 4 chiefs - and they threw long passes. While this allowed the wingers to make innumerable easy yards it also allowed Glaws to scramble back. Hill and Slade show a lot of promise, but they were extremely naive in attack today. Both looked much better when they were in congested areas.

Gloucester though showed spirit and determination. So while things were not perfect, far from it, at least they looked like they wanted to win.

good result for Tigers mind you, hopefully we can win tomorrow.

Yep a good result puts us 4th and 3 points behind 3rd.

 And I Bath get a LBP it would be 8 points behind them.

 Although a 45 -0 reverse result would put us 6 points behind them.  

 But I fear we will lose tomorrow.

LT, I completely agree. Our performance was pretty poor and we certainly played better in recent weeks, however, at this moment in time the result is the only important factor.

HongKongCherry wrote:LT, I completely agree. Our performance was pretty poor and we certainly played better in recent weeks, however, at this moment in time the result is the only important factor.

My impression of Gloucester, mostly from afar, is that the win-lost record is less than the sum of the parts.  I really believe that when they turn it on, they can be very good.  I didn't see the match today, but it seems there were hints of the talent showing through.  

Welly wrote:Yep a good result puts us 4th and 3 points behind 3rd.

And I Bath get a LBP it would be 8 points behind them.

Although a 45 -0 reverse result would put us 6 points behind them.  

But I fear we will lose tomorrow.

I would appreciate Leicester to score three tries and win by 8 points.
Don't be selfish:  Please do it because I am asking nicely.  
Thank you for your support.

Tigers lucky there for my money.

First Salvi looked off his feet, probable penalty.

Then that looked flat to me. Not many camera angles and the ref was in good position to call it but from what replays they have Bath were unlucky there.

Good try from Bath wiped out by the Leicester crowd!

Ozzy3213 wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:Jeez, how many times am I going to see the ref blamed when frankly a team was completely outclassed.

I haven't seen the game, so can't comment on the ref, but reading the comment posted it was about a specific decision that the referee got wrong and didn't blame the ref for anything other than that.  it was also supported by GF who is a neutral, so I suspect there may be something to the comment and the ref may have actually made a mistake, which people are of course free to discuss.  And a final point, I'm pretty sure that after Tigers defeat by us earlier in the season you were on here slating the referee, so your post is possibly one of the most hypocritical I've seen on here.  "Irish gash, Tigers gasher, referee gashest" I believe was one of the comments from you!

Thanks Ozzy, you are correct I was pointing out a clearly duff call by the ref (supported by GF) and at no point blamed the ref for Irish being beaten - in fact at that point it was nil all.  

LT there is a difference between pointing out specific refereeing errors and blaming them for a team losing, and unfortunately the scrum lottery is one area that particularly bugs me. I do however still believe there are some matches where the refs can/do affect the outcome - but this wasn't one of them.

Really poor penalty from Ben Youngs at the ruck there with the ref screaming at him.

Then great play by Owen Williams over the ball followed by some histrionics and handbags. Far too much pushing and shoving off the ball in this game so far. It really is a frustrating trend in the game.

A brilliant touch kick from the penalty by Ford and a really well executed line-out by Bath followed by more idiotic scuffles from both sides...

Poor missed penalty by Ford with the last play there.

Tigers 11 - 3 Bath and half time.

Ben Youngs is right next to a stand with ten thousand screaming fans. He doesn't hear anything the ref says. You can see him look round at the ref for the Bath player not letting go and sees the ref had his arm out.

Bath are very lucky not to have picked up a card. The number of penalties they've given away in the red zone with two warnings to accompany them.

Balmain looms extremely fired up, someone may want to cool him down a little bit. He's bossing James so far but if he keeps being in the middle of the scuffles then we only have a twenty year old tighthead on the bench.

Great game so far.

formerly known as Sam wrote:Ben Youngs is right next to a stand with ten thousand screaming fans. He doesn't hear anything the ref says. You can see him look round at the ref for the Bath player not letting go and sees the ref had his arm out.

Bath are very lucky not to have picked up a card. The number of penalties they've given away in the red zone with two warnings to accompany them.

Balmain looms extremely fired up, someone may want to cool him down a little bit. He's bossing James so far but if he keeps being in the middle of the scuffles then we only have a twenty year old tighthead on the bench.

Great game so far.

To be fair, Tigers have gotten away with a lot at the breakdown and that was never a forward pass from Devoto to Burgess for the 'try' that never was.

Speaking as a neutral, I think the game is good but will be improved if the ref shows some balls and bins somebody for the 'niggle'.

nathan wrote:

... most likely the London Irish one. It does seem to be a common theme on here that they are always hard done by.

At the risk of being shot, down compare the swinging arm to the face that Webber simply got penalised for today as a reaction to being driven too far out of a ruck to the red card and ban for Leo's reaction to getting an elbow to the face.  Doesn't seem like consistent refereeing to me ... in fact Ben Kay called the Leo red card a travesty.

Just because we're paranoid it doesn't mean they're not out to get us

This ref is weak, mind you his wearing the right colour for a coward.

someone recently got a red card and three week ban for an elbow to the face.

Cumbrian wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:Ben Youngs is right next to a stand with ten thousand screaming fans. He doesn't hear anything the ref says. You can see him look round at the ref for the Bath player not letting go and sees the ref had his arm out.

Bath are very lucky not to have picked up a card. The number of penalties they've given away in the red zone with two warnings to accompany them.

Balmain looms extremely fired up, someone may want to cool him down a little bit. He's bossing James so far but if he keeps being in the middle of the scuffles then we only have a twenty year old tighthead on the bench.

Great game so far.

To be fair, Tigers have gotten away with a lot at the breakdown and that was never a forward pass from Devoto to Burgess for the 'try' that never was.

Speaking as a neutral, I think the game is good but will be improved if the ref shows some balls and bins somebody for the 'niggle'.

Both teams got away with a lot at the breakdown. To be fair Tigers got away with conceding a few pens in the 22 in the second half. Good game especially considering it's blooming freezing in Leicestershire today.

Excellent display from Balmain at tighthead that's good to see. The painful period earlier in the season when we were getting stuffed up front not wasted as he's clearly benefited from the experience.

We've been waiting for 80 mins of fired up Tigers forwards and it's only taken half the season. Now the backs...

Good scrappy forwards based game. Glad we came out on top and finally in the top 4.

Didn't see all the game as the bt sport app was playing up on this internet connection.

I think Bath really missed Eastmond. Attack was a bit stunted and Tigers were able hold them out comfortably.

I think Bath struggled once their forwards game didn't come to fruition. They chased the forwards dominance as opposed to changing the game plan and maybe played for more territory with Ford at ten. Young half backs maybe didn't have the experience to stand up to the club captain and insist a change in strategy on the field.

Burgess looked solid but unspectacular. If Eastmond had been there then things may have been different.

I'm away. Did eastmond not start at 12? Thought he was in the original team but did he drop out late for Devoto?

Went off injured

nathan wrote:Good scrappy forwards based game. Glad we came out on top and finally in the top 4.

Didn't see all the game as the bt sport app was playing up on this internet connection.

Are you sure nathan? Forgive me if I can't count but Wasps went 4th having beaten Sale 41-16 with a tbp. That put us on 35 pts with a pd of +118.

Tigers also on 35 pts but with a pd of -1; both teams have won 7 games.

Hound of Harrow wrote:

nathan wrote:Good scrappy forwards based game. Glad we came out on top and finally in the top 4.

Didn't see all the game as the bt sport app was playing up on this internet connection.

Are you sure nathan? Forgive me if I can't count but Wasps went 4th having beaten Sale 41-16 with a tbp. That put us on 35 pts with a pd of +118.

Tigers also on 35 pts but with a pd of -1; both teams have won 7 games.

Your correct, I was going on what the pundits on bt sport said, I guess the wasps game wasn't taken into account when they said it.

Bathite wrote:I'm away. Did eastmond not start at 12? Thought he was in the original team but did he drop out late for Devoto?

Looked to have twisted his ankle as he got dragged into touch by Benjamin. Agulla went off in similar circumstances in the second half on the other side of the pitch. He went off fairly early I think inside 20 minutes.

Benjamin is looking much better since that Saints game.

 Balmain is one to watch though.

Didn't see anything today, will be able to watch the Leicester-Bath match later. What was going on with Harlequins?
Match seemed too close for comfort at the half.