Aviva Premiership - Round 7

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Table

Team	--P--	--W--	--D--	--BP--	Points
Saracens	6	6	0	3	27
Exeter	6	5	0	4	24
Leicester	6	5	0	1	21
Harlequins	6	4	0	4	20
Northampton	6	3	0	4	16
Wasps	6	3	0	2	14
Gloucester	6	3	0	1	13
Sale Sharks	6	2	1	3	13
Bath	6	2	0	3	11
Worcester	6	2	0	2	10
Newcastle	6	0	1	0	2
London Irish	6	0	0	0	0

Fixtures

SATURDAY 26TH DECEMBER 2015
14:30 London Irish v Northampton
15:00 Exeter v Sale
15:00 Leicester v Newcastle

SUNDAY 27TH DECEMBER 2015
14:00 Wasps v Saracens
14:30 Bath v Worcester
16:30 Harlequins v Gloucester

Newcastle starting very well.

London Irish suddenly coming to life. That was a very good try

I thought he was pretty fair from the bits I seen Heaf.

Both the bottom clubs looking pretty good. We're playing some good stuff and are 10-0 up after 20mins. Tigers looking dangerous on the counter and I'm sure they will bag a try soon.

Tigers getting most of the calls as expected. Strong defence from us though, we've certainly improved from the beginning of the season.

Overall yes Sgt but I can't help thinking at least one of the LI reset scrums would have been given as a penalty if it was a Saints scrum - maybe it's my persecution complex

Welly wrote: Newcastle starting very well.

Farcical yellow for Balmain and several attempted rolling mauls got them over. Tigers looks more dangerous and Falcons appear to be on final warning for pens in their own 22 though ref seems incompetent so far. The Falcons ten looks good.

Haha...yea maybe mate. I thought it was pretty tight with Saints getting on top at the start but Irish coming back well in the set piece. I'm on the Falcons game now so can't comment.

Stupid by Agulla

Line-out is proving a problem as expected though - lost one that ultimately led to the Saints try - worried that could be an issue in the 2nd half

lovely kick by Burns.

FFS

How many penalties do Falcons give in there own 5m.

Deserved yellow for Agulla. Cracking kick from Burns, had no right to make that. He 100% dropped the ball though, this is not a hard decision.

Wilson the plank.

Welly wrote: Stupid by Agulla

Lifts well past the horizontal and Croft lands on his neck. To the letter of the law should have been red. Another yellow for cynically killing the ball. No idea why our try was disallowed though.

We're not getting much from the ref. Tigers knock on, Tigers scrum. Leicester repeatedly holding on at the breakdown but nothing given.

Either Deano should et a Bolloking for employing there breakdown tactics in their own 22,

or

The players need a bollking for doing on their own accord.

Pointless penalties by them stopping nothing TBH.

This 'dummy' running is getting on my nerves too - clear obstruction of the tackler and nobody bats an eyelid ..

Great offloading.

This TMO is getting on my nerves.

Leicester Tigers grounding is even more getting on my nerves.

Wilson aside (clear yellow) our breakdown work has been impressive. Ref should have pinged Leicester numerous times for holding on (which would have negated at least one yellow). You never get much at Welford Road though.

Another knock on by Tigers, they should be kicking themselves for basic errors.

and now a try from a position that should have been a penalty to LI ...

Welly wrote:This TMO is getting on my nerves.

Leicester Tigers grounding is even more getting on my nerves.

Great spot though!

Sgt_Pooly wrote:

Welly wrote:This TMO is getting on my nerves.

Leicester Tigers grounding is even more getting on my nerves.

Great spot though!

Aye it was.

Thacker should look to move in the backs TBH.

Willis is having an impressive game for such a young lad.

Finally a scrum penalty to LI

Sgt the ref us currently Falcons best asset. From my seat he's letting you get away with murder. Two yellows is generous.

Very strange game. All Falcons for the first 20mins getting 10 up. Leicester should have had 20+ pts on the scoreboard in the 2nd 20mins.

I'd be happy to go away with a LBP currently but we usually fall to bits in the last 20mins. Tigers backs look dangerous bar the dropping of the ball over the 22

formerly known as Sam wrote:Sgt the ref us currently Falcons best asset. From my seat he's letting you get away with murder. Two yellows is generous.

Can't agree with that Sam. Numerous holding ons from Tigers went unpunished, we deserved what we got but certainly no more. The breakdown is a bit of a free for all tbh.

Sam, we all have our own biases because from where I am sitting the ref is allowing Leicester to enter the ruck from any angle they like and allowing them to hold on for as long as possible on the floor.

Could see the argument for Agulla being a red card.

The ref has been pretty crap handling the Breakdown for both teams.

Tigers holding on a fair amount of times.

Falcons lying on the other side an equal amount of times.

Fair assessment Welly, we've both been naughty at the breakdown. I thought Agulla only lifted one lag and Croft kind of fell back (he made a bit of drama of it tbh), I may be wrong.

Worse tackle in the LI game coincidently and he gets a yellow.

Well he gave you your try with a penalty from a tackle that was shoulder high and the after 8 phases of possession. Without that penalty you weren't going over. Had those high tackle penalty decisions been consistent I doubt Latu would seen out the first half. There's a lot of consternation over a lack of consistency in the stand around me. Five Newcastle pens in their 5m line.

Tigers would be out of sight if we could only catch and ground the thing.

LI must be getting worried now.

Ref doing LI no favours though - line-out which LI win he goes again as Saints closed the gap - and then LI lose the rethrow and end up giving away a penalty - why not let LI play on when they've won the line-out?

Have you got a restricted view Sam? It was high tackle, I'm not sure you can defend that.

You got lucky with that dummy jump Heaf lol.

Finally.

Nice build up play.

Twice in that attack Tiger held on for a number of seconds. You could hear the Falcons players shouting "Sir!!!"

There's no point going for the turnover when the ref is taking no notice, totally bizarre way of policing the breakdown.

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Have you got a restricted view Sam? It was high tackle, I'm not sure you can defend that.

You got lucky with that dummy jump Heaf lol.

Yep but should never have been there in the first place - the ref should have played on down the other end when LI actually managed to win a line-out rather than going again due to Saints closing the gap and giving them the change to turn it over ... as I thought the line-out is going to cost us this game as two of the Saints tries have come from turned over line-outs.

Please don't tell me we were penalised for holding on there??? What a farce.

Can't see the falcons hands (Mainly due to moderate stream).

Although players shouting sir isn't a trustworthy indicator.

It was in disgust Welly. He's just penalised us for the exact same thing. Great work from Latu but we got nothing.

Bloody refs!

Veainu is so dangerous when given space.

We are just not being allowed to compete at the breakdown at all...

Totally agree Cumbrian, he's only policing one side.

Very dangerous Welly, he's some player. It's a shame Sinoti is out for us as that would have been some spectacle.

Again the ref blows for Saints closing the gap when we've won the ball - just let us play on FFS!

Yessss Well done Irish.

OMG Pearce WTF was that!!!!!!

At least we're getting on top in the scrum Cumbrian.

Well done Irish!

and a blatant knock-on by Dickenson 10m from their line is called knocked back (my ar@se) and they go 60m up the field ... jeez give us a break