Aviva Semi 2: Bath Rugby v Leicester Tigers, 23 May

           
Bath Rugby v Leicester Tigers
Saturday 23 May 2015
KO: 17:00
The Recreation Ground

Live on BT Sport
Referee: JP Doyle (97th Premiership game).
Assistant Referees: Paul Dix and Ashley Rowden.
TMO: Graham Hughes.

A. Head to Head - Aggregate

56 Played 56
19 Wins 32
32 Losses 19
5 Draws 5
91 Tries 98
58 Conversions 62
146 Penalties 171
6 Drop Goals 13
1,027 Points 1,166
26 Avg. Age 28

B. Head to Head - This Season

Sat 20th Sep 14: Bath Rugby 45 - 0 Leicester Tigers

Sun 4th Jan 15: Leicester Tigers 17 - 8 Bath Rugby

C. Run-In

Bath Rugby

16/05/15: Bath 50 - 30 Gloucester

08/05/15: Quins 26 - 27 Bath

24/04/15: Bath 43 - 18 L Irish

Leicester Tigers

16/05/15: Tigers 22 - 14 Saints

09/05/15: Wasps 21 - 26 Tigers

25/04/15: Tigers 38 - 17 L Welsh

D. Teams

Bath Rugby

15 Anthony Watson
14 Semesa Rokoduguni
13 Jonathan Joseph
12 Kyle Eastmond
11 Matt Banahan
10 George Ford
09 Peter Stringer

01 Paul James
02 Ross Batty
03 David Wilson
04 Stuart Hooper (c)
05 Dave Attwood
06 Sam Burgess
07 Francois Louw
08 Leroy Houston

16 Rob Webber
17 Nick Auterac
18 Henry Thomas
19 Dominic Day
20 Matt Garvey
21 Carl Fearns
22 Chris Cook
23 Ollie Devoto

Leicester Tigers

15 Niall Morris
14 Adam Thompstone
13 Mathew Tait
12 Christian Loamanu
11 Vereniki Goneva
10 Freddie Burns

09 Ben Youngs (c)
01 Marcos Ayerza
02 Tom Youngs
03 Dan Cole
04 Brad Thorn
05 Graham Kitchener
06 Ed Slater
07 Julian Salvi
08 Jordan Crane

16 Neil Briggs
17 Michele Rizzo
18 Fraser Balmain
19 Sebastian De Chaves
20 Jamie Gibson
21 Sam Harrison
22 Tommy Bell
23 George Catchpole

I thought you may go for Indira Varma, though really Bill Bailey would be more fitting

I think that any bloke with (a) good eyesight and (b) good taste would go for Indira.

Who is going to win this, then? I am looking for Jeff fans to contribute to this thread to help out us Guinness Pro12 people who haven't been following the Aviva Prem season all that closely. Isn't it just as simple as saying that Bath are going to beat Leicester like they owe them money?

I think that based on the season as a whole, Bath are favourites to win. They're at home and Leicester just are not consistent enough to give me confidence. They huffed and puffed against Saints this weekend, despite Saints putting out a second choice side and being down to 13 men at one point. On the other hand, Tigers have proved they can go away and put in magnificent performances, as against Wasps when down to 14 men. If they play like that, they'll win. If they don't - and the season's law of averages says they probably wont, then it's Bath's to lose.

I think the general consensus amongst Tigers' supporters is that even being in the play-offs is a bonus after the way this season has gone. So getting to the final would be an amazing achievement. However, losing in the semi-final away to Bath, would still be a good return on their emotional investment.

Bath wont have it all their own way, Tigers will compete well up front. Its in the backs where Tigers have lacked a cutting edge this year, and Bath have been so effective. This will be the difference.

Bath by 5 - 10 points.

Bath should win comfortably.

BUT Tigers have won 8 of our last 9 AP games, Bath have won 6 of there last 9 games.

Points conceded in that time period
Leicester 133 points
Bath 181 points

Points scored
Leicester 191
Bath 213

Record against top 6 sides
Leicester W 6 L 3 D 1
Bath W 4 L 6 D 0

It will basically go down to Our Scrum and defends V Bath attack.

Salvi V Louw being the key one on one in the forwards

And

Burns V Ford in the backs.

Surely Mary Berry or Deborah Meaden would be more representative of Bath?

Both are Bath rugby fans.

Can't argue with Jimpy's assessment. Bath should win but as I think Flatman said recently - "write off Tigers at your peril".

Bath have had a relatively easy run of matches in the last few weeks with the toughest of them being Quins away - Quins gave Bath a good scare.

I don't think any of the teams in the playoffs are unbeatable - the home teams will of course be the favourites but both away teams have the ability to front up to their opposition and could cause some real problems.

If Bath play to their potential, they will win probably comfortably.

Leicester need to stop that happening, though perhaps the biggest threat to Bath is their own temperament.

Londontiger Problem for Bath is that all three teams left in the playoffs can all potentially outmuscle them. Tigers probably have the least amount of firepower in the backs of the 4teams left but Tigers have enough grunt in the pack to take down Bath.

Bold statement but I think Tigers have been scrummaging best in recent weeks out of the teams in the playoffs. This is where I think they can attack Bath.

Tiger's traditional strength is the set piece - set a strong platform and go from there.

Contrast in styles will be interesting.

Leicester need to treat this as we did Wasps and try and spoke them early IMO and stop Bath from getting into the game to stand a chance of winning.

For what i think our team will be like this
1) Ayerza, 2) Youngs, 3) Cole
4) Thorn/Slater, 5) Kitchener
6) Slater/Gibson, 7) Salvi, 8) Crane
9) Youngs, 10) Burns
12) Loamanu, 13) Tait
11) Goneva, 14) Thompstone, 15) Morris

16) Thacker, 17) Rizzo, 18) Balmain, 19) De cheves/Thorn, 20) Gibson/Pearce, 21) Harrison, 22) Bell, 23) Roberts/Allen

The Bath fans should dress up as female Police officers to keep the Tigers in check.

TightHEAD wrote:The Bath fans should dress up as female Police officers to keep the Tigers in check.

tedious

TightHEAD wrote:The Bath fans should dress up as female Police officers to keep the Tigers in check.

Fair cop guv.


Of course all Leicester need to do is make sure the pitch is marked with fresh white lines.

TightHEAD wrote:The Bath fans should dress up as female Police officers to keep the Tigers in check.

Aren't there some windows that need licking somewhere for you to attend to?

LondonTiger wrote:

TightHEAD wrote:The Bath fans should dress up as female Police officers to keep the Tigers in check.

Fair cop guv.


Of course all Leicester need to do is make sure the pitch is marked with fresh white lines.

Ouch.

Some one call the fire dept because he just got burned...

yappysnap wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:

TightHEAD wrote:The Bath fans should dress up as female Police officers to keep the Tigers in check.

Fair cop guv.


Of course all Leicester need to do is make sure the pitch is marked with fresh white lines.

Ouch.

Some one call the fire dept because he just got burned...

The fire fuelled, no doubt, by unexplained piles of cash stashed in the home players' changing room.

I usually like new blood in the finals and winning the league. But Craig comes across as a bit of a knob and Bath are big spenders. Then I thought about who they had brought in. A lot of promising young players (very promising ones) mostly from Irish, but then they did follow the coaches. Ford went to be with his dad. In terms of big names who is there really? Lowe? (perfect example of bringing in excellent foreign players). Burgess? So, I'm thinking I'm rooting for Bath to win overall. But don't really care (ABS)

I have absolutely no idea what any of you are talking about, but I am completely on board with the discussion:

Jimpy wrote:

yappysnap wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:

TightHEAD wrote:The Bath fans should dress up as female Police officers to keep the Tigers in check.

Fair cop guv.


Of course all Leicester need to do is make sure the pitch is marked with fresh white lines.

Ouch.

Some one call the fire dept because he just got burned...

The fire fuelled, no doubt, by unexplained piles of cash stashed in the home players' changing room.

Theres a limited number of restaurants that could be bought in Bath you see.

Bathman_in_London wrote:

Jimpy wrote:

yappysnap wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:

TightHEAD wrote:The Bath fans should dress up as female Police officers to keep the Tigers in check.

Fair cop guv.


Of course all Leicester need to do is make sure the pitch is marked with fresh white lines.

Ouch.

Some one call the fire dept because he just got burned...

The fire fuelled, no doubt, by unexplained piles of cash stashed in the home players' changing room.

Theres a limited number of restaurants that could be bought in Bath you see.

I'd heard that was the case. One called the Celery Cap, has been empty for ages though, completely ignored by the Bath management.

Jimpy wrote:

Bathman_in_London wrote:

Jimpy wrote:

yappysnap wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:

TightHEAD wrote:The Bath fans should dress up as female Police officers to keep the Tigers in check.

Fair cop guv.


Of course all Leicester need to do is make sure the pitch is marked with fresh white lines.

Ouch.

Some one call the fire dept because he just got burned...

The fire fuelled, no doubt, by unexplained piles of cash stashed in the home players' changing room.

Theres a limited number of restaurants that could be bought in Bath you see.

I'd heard that was the case. One called the Celery Cap, has been empty for ages though, completely ignored by the Bath management.

I'm sure once they have scoured the surrounding countryside for farms for sale they will come back to it.

Jimpy wrote:

Bathman_in_London wrote:

Jimpy wrote:

yappysnap wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:

TightHEAD wrote:The Bath fans should dress up as female Police officers to keep the Tigers in check.

Fair cop guv.


Of course all Leicester need to do is make sure the pitch is marked with fresh white lines.

Ouch.

Some one call the fire dept because he just got burned...

The fire fuelled, no doubt, by unexplained piles of cash stashed in the home players' changing room.

Theres a limited number of restaurants that could be bought in Bath you see.

I'd heard that was the case. One called the Celery Cap, has been empty for ages though, completely ignored by the Bath management.

Naughty

Jimpy wrote:

TightHEAD wrote:The Bath fans should dress up as female Police officers to keep the Tigers in check.

Aren't there some windows that need licking somewhere for you to attend to?

There would be but the Tuilagi family got there first!

TightHEAD wrote:

Jimpy wrote:

TightHEAD wrote:The Bath fans should dress up as female Police officers to keep the Tigers in check.

Aren't there some windows that need licking somewhere for you to attend to?

There would be but the Tuilagi family got there first!

Does your username refer to the method with which you self-abuse?

I think this game will depend on the Bath strategy. They try the power route they are slightly obsessed with and then it becomes the arm wrestle that Tigers can win. They come out with the plan to play wide and fast and then the Tigers could be in trouble, especially if we play with three second rows again.

I'm really looking forward to this game. Agree that Bath will come out on top if they get tactics right and also providing Tigers don't suck them in to an arm wrestle type match and the weather and pitch is decent. You don't think that Slater or Parling at 6 are good enough even if Bath move the ball around? Both seem mobile enough to me and Gibson seems off the boil since he signed for Saints (damn).

From an England point of view I hope Bath decide to rest Ford and Joseph for this game and the final should they get there. Dan Cole & Ben Youngs too would be good. No need to risk players like that in these out of season friendlies .

Get practising, gents. I'm starting mine tomorrow morning and not stopping 'til the final whistle on Saturday. See how well Bath's silky backs go when we've turned the pitch into a bog

Nice bog of a pitch. Get Loamano running at Ford and Eastmond. Lovely.

If Tigers can find that intensity we had at Wasps then I think we'll be just fine. Personally I'd like to see Slater in the second row with Kitch and Pearce moved to 6. Thorn and Gibson on the bench.

formerly known as Sam wrote:I think this game will depend on the Bath strategy. They try the power route they are slightly obsessed with and then it becomes the arm wrestle that Tigers can win. They come out with the plan to play wide and fast and then the Tigers could be in trouble, especially if we play with three second rows again.

Bath obsessed with the power route? You really think so? Up front, I don't think we are anymore than any of the traditional big guns like Saints, Tigers and Sarries. We used to get over powered a lot of upfront and now we have a position to gain parity with those types of sides. When you look at our backline though, that's very much a fast agile team, almost the opposite of power obsessed with Ford, Cook, JJ, Eastmond, Watson all small light guys. Only Banahan and Agulla are the exceptions to that really.

Not sure if Bath are obsessed by going down the power route, however when the came to Welford Road they seemed determined to try and show they were stronger and failed to use their backs at all.

Don't think that performance was representative of our season. I like to think that the return fixture was, but i guess you guys like to forget that one!

Yeah, but really our only chance is if Bath feel their macho pride was hurt and again try and outmuscle us.

Bath Rugby team to face Leicester

15 Anthony Watson
14 Semesa Rokoduguni
13 Jonathan Joseph
12 Kyle Eastmond
11 Matt Banahan
10 George Ford
9 Peter Stringer
1 Paul James
2 Ross Batty
3 David Wilson
4 Stuart Hooper (c)
5 Dave Attwood
6 Sam Burgess
7 Francois Louw
8 Leroy Houston

Replacements

16 Rob Webber
17 Nick Auterac
18 Henry Thomas
19 Dominic Day
20 Matt Garvey
21 Carl Fearns
22 Chris Cook
23 Ollie Devoto

Mike Ford goes for a 6/2 split on the bench.

Leicester Tigers (vs Bath Rugby, away, Saturday 5pm)
15 Niall Morris
14 Adam Thompstone
13 Mathew Tait
12 Christian Loamanu
11 Vereniki Goneva
10 Freddie Burns
9 Ben Youngs (c)
1 Marcos Ayerza
2 Tom Youngs
3 Dan Cole
4 Brad Thorn
5 Graham Kitchener
6 Ed Slater
7 Julian Salvi
8 Jordan Crane

Replacements
16 Neil Briggs
17 Michele Rizzo
18 Fraser Balmain
19 Sebastian De Chaves
20 Jamie Gibson
21 Sam Harrison
22 Tommy Bell
23 George Catchpole

Only change to starting XV from last week sees Ayerza starting. Logo ruled out by injury and Parling still not fit - shame as what has been excellent career for us ends on a whimper.

Referee: JP Doyle (97th Premiership game).
Assistant Referees: Paul Dix and Ashley Rowden. TMO: Graham Hughes.

Bodes well for Tigers that Bath are going to try and overpower them....

Bath do have the stronger bench though and that's what they'll count on to see them home.

If I had to pick a 23 out of those players it would be:

1) Ayerza
2) Youngs
3) Cole
4) Thorn
5) Attwood
6) Slater
7) Louw
8) Houston
9) Youngs
10) Ford
11) Goneva
12) Eastmond
13) Joesph
14) Thompstone (Close but i have a soft spot for Thompstone)
15) Watson

16) Webber
17) Autrac
18) Thomas (Just)
19) De Cheves
20) Garvey
21) Harrison
22) Bell
23) Devoto

LondonTiger wrote:Only change to starting XV from last week sees Ayerza starting. Logo ruled out by injury and Parling still not fit - shame as what has been excellent career for us ends on a whimper.

Parling will probably win the final for you instead

Sorry Welly, although I agree with how you have ranked the 2 sides together for the first 15 (other than maybe 14) I think the entire Bath bench is stronger than their Tigers counterparts. I would maybe put Bell in front of Devoto as looks a better kicker in case either 10 has to leave the field although I understand the Bath 6/2 split means you have selected both together.

I prefer Harrison to Cook and De Cheves to Day TBH.

Bath bench is fairly formidable - but that doesn't mean those guys will automatically get onto the field.
Still think it will be incredibly tight and the Leicester pack could still bring this one home.

If Bath lose they'll be gutted. They have a pretty much full squad where as Tigers are currently missing some key personnel with Mulipola a particular blow as his ball carrying ability in first phase from the line out was really getting us over the gain line.

Bath have opted for power up front again and with that big pack they need to have a game plan so they can utilise the backs and not get sucked into an arm wrestle. They should blow Tigers out the water (though it pains me to say it). If they try and go for the set piece then they'll be fecking up.

It must be a joy to play outside Ford and JJ. A winger's dream!

Jj sets up banahan for a try already. This is going to be a long day

Still annoys me that ford left the tigers

Not a day for burns to have an off day with his kicking

Paul James up to his usual self then

JP Doyle just said "if he dives at his feet its a penalty". How does Lydiate always get away with it then? :/

I thought it was ok if your use your arms like a normal tackle, but you can't dive players feet