Aviva Premiership - Round 1

First topic message reminder :

Finally it is back. Welcome to the first Round thread for the 2015/16 premiership.

After a summer full of acrimony, threats and toys most definitely thrown out of prams, what can we expect from the new season. The launch will probably slip a little under the radar for the general public. Non-english rugby fans will be paying attention to the World Cup, while the casual follower within England will assume that rugby has gone into hibernation again for 4 years.

Most of the teams have seen a fair few comings and goings, with champions Saracens being the quietest in the “transfer” market and seemingly not using their second marquee signing. Pretty sure their lawyers will find a way to incorporate that allowance into their spend though.




Fixtures:

Fri 16th Oct 15
19:45 Harlequins  v   Wasps Twickenham Stoop
19:45 Worcester  v   Northampton Sixways BT Sport
20:00 Newcastle  v   Gloucester Kingston Park


Sat 17th Oct 15
14:00 Bath    v   Exeter   Recreation Ground BT Sport
14:00 Saracens  v   Sale Allianz Park


Sun 18th Oct 15
15:15 London Irish  v   Leicester Madejski Stadium




Major Movements:

Bath

In: Nikola Matawalu, Rhys Priestland
Out: Paul James, Olly Woodburn,  Micky Young, Dave Sisi, Peter Stringer, Carl Fearns


Exeter
In: Geoff Parling, Olly Woodburn, Michele Campagnaro, Julian Salvi, James Short
Out: Tom James, Greg Bateman, Dean Mumm, Fetu'u Vainikolo, Joel Conlon to England Saracens, James Scaysbrook


Gloucester
In:  Jeremy Thrush, Paul Doran-Jones, Tom Lindsay
Out:  Dan Robson, Tom Palmer, Shaun Knigh, Shane Monahan


Harlequins
In:  James Horwill, Adam Jones from Wales, Tim Visser, Winston Stanley, Jamie Roberts, Mat Luamanu
Out: Paul Doran-Jones, Joe Trayfoot, George Robson, Ugo Monye, Asaeli Tikoirotuma, Darryl Marfo, Tom Williams, Tom Casson, Jordan Turner-Hall


Leicester
In:  Opeti Fonua, Mike Williams, Brendon O'Conno, Peter Betham, Michael Fitzgerald, Lachlan McCaffrey, Jono Kitto, Greg Bateman, Dominic Barrow
Out:  Jamie Gibson, Geoff Parling, Neil Briggs, Pablo Matera, Louis Deacon, Blaine Scully, Brad Thorn, Scott Hamilton, Robert Barbieri, Julian Salvi, David Mele, Anthony Allen


London Irish
In:  Ben Franks, Sean Maitland, Brendan McKibbin, Joe Trayfoot, Dominic Waldouck, Dave Sisi, Matt Symons, Asaeli Tikoirotuma, Rob McCusker
Out:  Tomas O'Leary, Tom Home, Kieran Low, Eamonn Sheridan, Daniel Leo, Jamie Hagan, James Short, Michael Mayhew

Newcastle
In: Micky Young, Mike Delany, Marcus Watson, Sonatane Takulua, Taione Vea, Jon Welsh, Nili Latu, Giovanbattista Venditti, Mouritz Botha, Todd Clever
Out:  Kieran Brookes, Mike Blai, Andy Saull, Phil Godman, Chris York, Dominic Barrow, Rory Clegg, Oliver Tomaszczyk, Noah Cato, Jamie Helleur, Warren Fury


Northampton
In: JJ Hanrahan, Kieran Brookes, Jamie Gibson, Michael Paterson, Pat Howard, Paul Hill, Victor Matfield
Out:  Salesi Ma'afu, Samu Manoa, Phil Dowso, Dominic Waldouck, Tom Mercey


Sale
In:  Neil Briggs, Peter Stringe, Bryn Evans, Brian Mujati
Out:  Marc Jones, Mark Cueto, Michael Paterson, Will Cliff, Nathan Hines, Andy Forsyth, Alberto De Marchi , Luke McLean


Saracens
In:  Samuela Vunisa, Michael Rhodes, Joel Conlon
Out:  David Strettle, James Johnston, Nick de Jager


Wasps
In: Jimmy Gopperth, Dan Robson, Frank Hala, Brendan Macken, James Downey, George Smith, James Johnston, Charles Piutau
Out: Tom Varndel, William Helu, Charlie Davies, Tom Lindsay, Chris Bell, Andy Goode


Worcester

In: Andy Shor, Phil Dowson, Carl Kirwan, Tom Heathcote, Sam Lewis, Cooper Vuna, Na'ama Leleimalefaga, Bryce Heem, Donncha O'Callaghan, Tevita Cavubati, Africa Wynand Olivier
Out: Mike William, Agustin Creevy, Leonardo Senatore, Josh Drauniniu, James Percival, Ofa Fainga'anuku, Ignacio Mieres, Jonathan Thomas



Pre-Season Form

Bath: LLWL
Exeter: WWWW
Gloucester: LWLL
Harlequins: WWW
Leicester: LWWWW
London Irish: LLL
Newcastle: WLLLL
Northampton: WW
Sale: WWWL
Saracens: LLWL
Wasps: LWL
Worcester: LLL

Wow - Duncan Taylor already back for Sarries.

That's great news - we thought that he'd be out for much longer with that injury. He would have made the World Cup squad of quite a few Scottish posters here.

So nervous.

Hope we can atatck as well as we have been in pre-season despite Burns injury.

Awful pass from Noakes, easily intercepted by Betham.

Has anyone mentioned Odogwu is on the bench?

Good start by tigers

Scrums appear to be a lottery with Carley alternatiug between pinging Balmain and Court.

10-16 to the visitors atm.

Bell has a lovely kicking motion.

Not a 10 but a good goal kicker.

Pretty scrappy game so far. LI shading the play if not the scorecard.

LI rolling maul a thing of beauty.

Matt Smith pulled out after his wife went in labour and gave birth I think last night or early this morning.

Gives Odowgu the chance to make his mark with a possible debut. Little surprised he's travelled as back up as opposed to Loamano.

G'aaarrrggghhh


fonua drops one when easier to score. Guess the fates have just evened it up from when Narraway did the same.

LondonTiger wrote:G'aaarrrggghhh


fonua drops one when easier to score. Guess the fates have just evened it up from when Narraway did the same.

Steve Johnson saying it was still under control and only lost it after touching it down

Owen williams on, forgot he actually played for us. Great to see him back

Pretty much all the attacking from us in this half - but to no avail so far. 6pts up 7 minutes to go, can we hang on?

Time to look for a drop goal. A three pointer would make that score look a lot nicer.

And the 9pt gap courtesy of Geraghty's neck tackle.

Oh dear

Well, result better than the performance.

LI will be disappointed with their performance after the break.

What was our attack and defence like LT?

An away win is an away win. Third of the starting line up were making their debut and down to our third choice ten. I'll take it. Did Wheels get on?

nathan wrote:What was our attack and defence like LT?

Defence generally good. Attack in second half better (first half mainly one up runners), but a lack of composure in the 22 saw a few chances go begging. Betham looks threatening but really needs to consider the pass sometimes. Kept carrying into contact.


Did not see Odogwu or White come on. Pretty sure Balmain played the full match too.

LondonTiger wrote:Scrums appear to be a lottery with Carley alternatiug between pinging Balmain and Court.

10-16 to the visitors atm.

Just got home. I said the same about the refereeing of the scrum. Carley looked like he was guessing.

Just watching the highlights, appalling attempt at a tackle by wade

nathan wrote:Just watching the highlights, appalling attempt at a tackle by wade

Wait till you see Ojo in our game

Not sure what Topsy was doing. Just launched himself. Could have no complaints with the yellow card.

LondonTiger wrote:

nathan wrote:Just watching the highlights, appalling attempt at a tackle by wade

Wait till you see Ojo in our game

Lol, not sure what he was attempting. A flying tackle around the neck was always asking for trouble

nathan wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:

nathan wrote:Just watching the highlights, appalling attempt at a tackle by wade

Wait till you see Ojo in our game

Lol, not sure what he was attempting. A flying tackle around the neck was always asking for trouble

I think he may have been watching Smackdown

nathan wrote:Just watching the highlights, appalling attempt at a tackle by wade

I'm guessing you meant the one on NEv after the box kick through. Very poor all round. Given his pace he should have been looking to get to the ball before it bounced but then seemed to misjudge it and hang back. The bounce admittedly was harsh for him and great for Quins but still such a soft effort.

On the other hand I must say that it was lovely to see a basic 2 on 1 executed as simply and slickly as Wade and Daly did for Daly's try. Having watched the terrible basic handling and attacking skills on show from the England squad during the RWC it was refreshing to see some English backs with those basic instincts.

I've only seen the highlights, but after seeing Lowe finish his try as well as he did plus Daly get one and look sharp with another half break I'd be very interested to know how they both got on over the course of the match from anyone who watched the full 80?

Also on the Wasps vs Quins game, did anyone else think Gaskell was looking a lot bulkier?

Daly and Lowe both played well, but it was mainly a day for the big lads. Lots of power running from the locks and back rows, and a massive tackle count from Quins, especially Wallace (24 if memory serves).

Mostly it's just great to see Lowe back after a horrendous injury. I expect we will see much more from him and from Daly over the course of the season.

king_carlos wrote:Also on the Wasps vs Quins game, did anyone else think Gaskell was looking a lot bulkier?

I finally watched the game, and remember thinking that all the Wasps players looked pretty massive, Gopperth never used to be that solid. Definitely done some serious strength condition at Wasps in pre-season.

Not sure it's a good thing, our (quins) powderpuff backline (walker, OLH) beat them. Our scrum looked reasonably solid too for the first time in years.

I thought Daly certainly looked a lot bulkier - and was quite sharp in attack.
I've only seen the highlights but it looks as if Wade had a few defensive lapses again! It must be so frustrating to know that all he needs to do is sort 1 thing out and he would be straight back in England contention.

On a related note...I was very impressed with the ref, forget his name now. Very clear communicator, always explained his decisions, listened to the players who wanted to raise something or get clarification. Hope to see more of him.

EDIT looked him up.. Luke Pearce.