Aviva Premiership - PreSeason updates

Guys, how are your teams doing so far?

Leicester

Lost to Argeintina 34-55
Thumped away to Sale 38-5
Won home and away against Falcons 36-19 & 28-30

Attack looking good, but struggling at the set piece - most noticeably against Sale and first 40 at home to Falcons.

No-one got anything?

Ah well may as well point out that Saracens pre-season arrangements seem to have been a touch disorganised and not very successful so far.

A reasonably strong team was well beaten by Ospreys at the HAC club, but with Ospreys only a week out from their first Pro12 match not a huge surprise they were more ready.

A slightly stronger side, captained by NBT Itoje, was well beaten at Allianz by a strong Saints team.

Next up they face Worcester at Bramley Rd and then to somewhere in France to face Aurillac.

In the Tractor Boys cup, Bath were hammered at Kingsholm and Sandy Park - but secured a narrow win at home to Glaws.

not sure of the relative strengths of the various sides.

Bath have a home fixture against Exetr left befor starting the AP.

Falcons:

Hard to judge, we've put a lot of kids out at times. However they have shown that we should be in good stead over the next few years.

However the scrum has looked good. Especially young Scott Wilson...really looks like he's starting to become the Carl Hayman he idolises....  

Has that young lad Auterac been playing for Bath at LH much? He looks a beast...Marlers days maybe numbered.

Oh and despite my reservations of signing Botha, he looked like he might be a useful signing right enough.

GeordieFalcon wrote:Oh and despite my reservations of signing Botha, he looked like he might be a useful signing right enough.

Did you see his attempt to smash wee Harry on Friday?

No I think I missed that one. Was it bad?

LondonTiger wrote:In the Tractor Boys cup, Bath were hammered at Kingsholm and Sandy Park - but secured a narrow win at home to Glaws.

not sure of the relative strengths of the various sides.

Bath have a home fixture against Exetr left befor starting the AP.

The team we put out at Kingsholm and Sandy Park was very weak, pretty much an academy team. The team that we played at home to Glaws was near to full strength. Not sure that 30-21 is a narrow win though! :)

GeordieFalcon wrote:No I think I missed that one. Was it bad?

I think his try will have embarrassed a fair few Falcons, but Botha had foirst hit:

https://amp.twimg.com/v/c3cb36e7-3eff-448a-973a-34ee3d423885

LondonTiger wrote:

GeordieFalcon wrote:No I think I missed that one. Was it bad?

I think his try will have embarrassed a fair few Falcons, but Botha had foirst hit:

https://amp.twimg.com/v/c3cb36e7-3eff-448a-973a-34ee3d423885

That's funny. Quite some hit but I guess it just goes to show that you should actually try and grab the guy you are trying to tackle...

Dear me that was bad, but so was the two attempted tackles after that for Harrys try.

Appalling defence.

PS Surely Thacker should be a flanker and not a 2.

GeordieFalcon wrote:Dear me that was bad, but so was the two attempted tackles after that for Harrys try.

Appalling defence.

PS Surely Thacker should be a flanker and not a 2.

I would love to see him get a real go at 7 - certainly felt his little bits there last season worked. He can bring something really special and feel he would be better there. Not many chances to try him though - certainly not in low pressure games.

He looks like he could be a real live wire 7...offering something totally different to the robotic League style standard players coming around at the moment.

He might not make that level, but look what Tipuric offers to Wales...a totally different livewire.

Why was he not trialled at these kings of the north games etc?

We've put a lot of kids out. These would be good games to see how he goes at 7. Then you can also try him in the season when they play small clubs like London Irish, Gloucester or Saracens....

Agreed Thacker is a live wire with real potential on the open side. He's playing at hooker still because our options are limited with two hookers at the RWC, a hooker new to the club and a 19 year old who doesn't seem physically ready just yet.

Added to that we have two sevens already in the squad including age grade Will Owen who is a real breakdown specialist.

Glaws
Exeter (A) lost 41-38 - we had the full academy out against a surprisingly strong chiefs side
Bath (H) won 50-7 - it was actually at the Memorial Stadium due to the RWC being staged at Kingsholm. We had a strong side out against their kids
Bath (A) lost 30-21 - 2 relatively strong sides from the looks of it

Injury wise Billy Burns was injured against Exeter and may be out for a few more weeks. James Hudson is out for the season after an ACL injury. Henry Trinder won't make an appearance until December and it is rumoured new signing Tom Marshall won't appear until January.

The club is still up for sale and apparently we have 4 suitors after us. 1 is a consortium from the UK, 1 is from Oz, apparently involving ex-internationals and another is from Japan, quite possibly to do with Mitsubishi, our new main sponsors. I've no idea who the 4th party is.

The usual over-optimism abounds amongst supporters, but no doubt we'll just be fed the usual jam tomorrow line and we'll be looking forward to 20/16/17 by the end of November...

Whats the crack with Stooke HK.

Will he get back to the form we all thought would propel him to the England squad?

He did suffer from 2nd season syndrome slightly and was definitely overweight at the start of last season. His pre-season form suggests he's back on form. He is going to have a tough ask getting ahead of Thrush, Savage and Galarza but he should get a run of a few games to stake a place. He does need to improve his lineout work but his scrummaging and loose work are already of a high standard. This could well be his year...

Quins beat London Irish twice, apparently the team looked pretty good and tbh on paper we look great.

I'm excited about this season, at the same time though trying to stay grounded as it can all unwind very quickly!!

HongKongCherry wrote:He did suffer from 2nd season syndrome slightly and was definitely overweight at the start of last season. His pre-season form suggests he's back on form. He is going to have a tough ask getting ahead of Thrush, Savage and Galarza but he should get a run of a few games to stake a place. He does need to improve his lineout work but his scrummaging and loose work are already of a high standard. This could well be his year...

With Galarza banned till the end of November he may have a sniff?

Absolutely LT. Thrush also isn't going to join until November and will need some form of rest before starting. As a result he should get a run and will no doubt be tasked with calling the lineout, so should hopefully be a good experience all round for him.

yappysnap wrote:Quins beat London Irish twice, apparently the team looked pretty good and tbh on paper we look great.

I'm excited about this season, at the same time though trying to stay grounded as it can all unwind very quickly!!

We also beat the good ol' US of A away - not quite up there with Tigers beating Argentina, but a decent result nonetheless.

Setpiece has generally looked more robust than last year (albeit with a lot of changes), attack has been excellent when it's fired, defence probably needs a bit of tightening up - given the number of new personnel, that's pretty much what we'd expect.

The new signings have generally looked pretty handy - Adam Jones looks at home in a Quins shirt, Horwill has had an immediate impact, Luamanu looks raw but has consistently broken the gainline, Winston Stanley seems to have slotted into the centre mix well and Tim Swiel, while not entirely new, has looked handy at full back (and an interesting alternative to Mike Brown).

We have a couple of players on the injured list - Collier and Matthews are the main ones who don't look fully fit) - but in the main the sicklist from last season seem to have recovered. Most important returnees are Sinckler (who seems to have added more power) and Lowe. Also, no injuries from the RWC, Netani Talei went very well for Fiji and the England contingent have in the past been fired up by hurt pride.

The big issue last season was that we weren't able to keep enough senior players fit to hold the squad together, particularly during international windows. If we can fix that, we could have a good season.

If only, Poorfour. 55-34 to Argentina but certainly a good effort from a much weaker Tigers team.

What are people expecting their clubs starting line-up to be for the start of the season and at full strength? I know there will be some question marks over both with RWC returnees, injuries and new players coming in but a best guess would be interesting.

Given how many sides have a significant turnover of players with some exciting signings coming in it will be interesting to see how posters feel their side will settle over the course of the season.

For Tigers at the start of the season I expect something like:

1.Mulipola/Brugnara
2.Bateman
3.Balmain
4.Fitzgerald
5.Kitchener
6.Croft
7.McCaffery
8.Fonau

9.Harrison
10.Burns

11.Betham
12.Bai
13.Loamanu or Smith
14.Thompstone
15.Tait

16.Ghirildini or Youngs
17.Brugnara
18.Cole
19.De Cheves
20.Williams
21.Youngs
22.Bell
23.Goneva

Depending on when/where the RWC returnees slot in there will likely be some chance between bench and starting. I'd expect things to look pretty much like that for the first couple of games though.

Is Slater injured? Copied from the LI thread, but I would expect something like this for the Leicester Game:

I'm assuming the following are likely to be unavailable due to injury:
Waldouck, Trayfoot, Guest (not sure I've heard it confirmed he's injured, but he has had no pre season involvement), Skivington, Palframan, Rouse (assume he's also injured)

The following are involved in the WC:
Franks (will go through to the knockout stages)
Maitland (Likely to go through to knockout stages)
Cowan (Likely to go through to knockout stages)
Treviranus (Likely to go out in group stages but looks in need of a rest)
Aulika (Going out in group stages. Possibly available as has had limited gametime)
Tikoirotuama (Tournament already finished. Possibly available)
Sinclair (Tournament finished. Possibly available)

Which leaves us something like this
Court
Paice
Halavatau
Symons
Sheriff
Narraway
Gilsenan
McCusker
McKibbin
Geraghty
Ojo
Mulchrone
Fowlie
Lewington
Fenby

Smallbone, Ellis, Aulika, Sinclair, Sisi, Steele, Noakes, Tikoirotuama

A decidedly second string look to the back row and as mentioned before, Palf likely being out is a real pain at TH.

Margin_Walker wrote:Is Slater injured?

Yep, his knee still isn't quite right from what I've gathered. Looks like he won't be available for the start of the season but hopefully won't be too long.

Those are some unfortunate injuries given the guys already away on RWC duty Margin.

The backline looks exciting. I'm very interested to see if Lewington can carry his excellent form last year into this season. McKibbin also comes with a good reputation.

Symons is going to be a great player to have in the Prem and could find himself in the England set up pretty swiftly if things play out for him. Not least if Wayne Smith ends up being tempted as coach!

Yeah, looking forward to seeing how Symons goes. Badly need some stand out players in the tight five, hopefully he and Franks can go some way to addressing that.

Lewington has been in great form in pre season (losses to Munster and Quins x 2) with 4 tries in the 3 matches and looking very sharp.

Will hopefully be a big year for Slater, who I'm sure would have been involved in the WC squad were it not for that injury. Good to see your second string front row hopefully lining up against us, given how these games usually go...

Imagine a second row of Slater and Symons. Power, mobility and know their way round the set piece. More like an England second row.

Anyway I think Tigers will go Bai and Betham in the centres with Catchpole and Thompstone out wide and Loamano on the bench. That would be in keeping with our pre season so far. Have to see what team takes the field vs Sale. Pearce may also get the nod over Fonua early doors as he's had more game time with the rest of the squad.

Logo will be in the squad for Sale game according to cockers

Quins have Collier and Matthews not quite back from injury, and Marler may need some recuperation time after the RWC. Can't see Robshaw, Brown, Easter or Care needing time off, as long as they come through Saturday unscathed.

Other than that, I think the squad is in good shape and has fewer injury worries than it has for some time. The only other question marks I have are that I'd like to see George Lowe play a full game before too long, and Sinckler put in a hard shift (I think both of them subbed off comparatively early in the warm-ups).

Exeter made a comprehensive statement to Bath with their final game of the West Country Challenge Cup at the Rec. Both teams pretty much as strong as available, but Bath having Houston missing and Eastmond at flyhalf. Exeter scored 29 unanswered points in the second half for a 16 - 43 win.

Bath have plenty of RWC talent returning for next week's identical Prem opening fixture - how much have they hidden this week and how much will they gamble with the returnees?

Fortunately our players got rid of that RWC sideshow nonsense quickly, we can now concentrate on the proper rugby this week

HongKongCherry wrote:Fortunately our players got rid of that RWC sideshow nonsense quickly, we can now concentrate on the proper rugby this week

Yes, very charitable of them. COS has said that all of Quins' England players (plus Netani Talei from Fiji) will be available for the opening game against Wasps except Robshaw, who's being given a couple of weeks to recover.