Aviva Premiership - Round 11

So we reach the halfway point in the Premiership season as the 6 Nations arrives. The next 7 weeks tend to see some surprising results as teams struggle to cope with both a mounting injury list and international call ups.


Fixtures

Fri 5th Feb 16 19:45 Bath Rugby Bath  v   Gloucester Rugby BT Sport

Sat 6th Feb 16 14:00 Harlequins Quins  v   Northampton Saints
Sat 6th Feb 16 14:00 Wasps Wasps  v   Newcastle Falcons
Sat 6th Feb 16 15:00 Leicester Tigers Tigers  v   Sale Sharks

Sun 7th Feb 16 13:00 Exeter Chiefs Chiefs  v   Saracens BT Sport
Sun 7th Feb 16 13:00 London Irish L Irish  v   Worcester Warriors


Match of the Round
This weekends fixture list is bookended by two massive matches, the derby game at the Rec and the relegation 8 pointer at the Madj, however the visit of table topping Sarrries to second placed Exeter takes pride of place. Last season Exeter beat their visitors home AND away, but finished level in the table and ceded the last place in the play-offs to the eventual champions. By such small margins are titles won! Chiefs have a worrisome injury list, while Saracens are missing a lot of key players - so the outcome is anyone's guess. Whoever wins this match will top the table.

Glos
Quins
Wasps
Chiefs
Tigers
Wuss

To keep a healthy gap in the table Quins must win their game. Lots of pressure on the team after the last two games, lots of pressure on the coaches to sort out the slip in performances before it gets worse. Must win.

If Saints lose it will be their 7th premiership defeat of the season (5 in the whole of last year) and could in a worst case scenario see them 15pts behind the play-off spots.

While quins will be missing a number of key players (Marler, Robshaw, Clifford, Care, Brown & Roberts all in 6N duty) Saints will be missing players too (Hartley, Hill, Lawes & North).

Interesting times.

Care's the biggest loss IMO. Turns out he's intrinsic to how we play, and he's dug us out of a number of holes this season already.

Doesn't help that his replacements have all turned out to be a bit, meh.

Dickson has had a bit of a slump in form - last few seasons he was coming on and adding a bit more stability at times.
At the moment there isnt much zip....
You sound confident Yappy....I am not convinced that we will turn over Northampton. Confidence is knocked a bit by last weeks result.

Christian Wade back playing this weekend after injury.
Make sure you've got it recorded Eddy!

propdavid_london wrote:Dickson has had a bit of a slump in form - last few seasons he was coming on and adding a bit more stability at times.  
At the moment there isnt much zip....
You sound confident Yappy....I am not convinced that we will turn over Northampton.  Confidence is knocked a bit by last weeks result.  

I'm hopeful. I hope after such a poor result last week losing to a team we should never have lost to, the players will have the self respect to want to perform this week. If they do then I think we can beat Saints, all season they've looked clueless when beaten up front so it's another game where our forwards need big games.

Well it's a bit late now - we needed you to win last weekend 

yappysnap wrote:

propdavid_london wrote:Dickson has had a bit of a slump in form - last few seasons he was coming on and adding a bit more stability at times.  
At the moment there isnt much zip....
You sound confident Yappy....I am not convinced that we will turn over Northampton.  Confidence is knocked a bit by last weeks result.  

I'm hopeful. I hope after such a poor result last week losing to a team we should never have lost to, the players will have the self respect to want to perform this week. If they do then I think we can beat Saints, all season they've looked clueless when beaten up front so it's another game where our forwards need big games.

The whole Saints team is in a season long slump. Only real bright spot was an early season win against Newcastle. Mallinder really let into the team this week, but I am not sure that's going to solve anything. They have been slower getting to the breakdown and the ball has been coming out slower. Myler and the overrated JJ are getting slow ball and the rest of the backs (except Foden) aren't really doing anything when there is the rare gap. North doesn't create opportunities and it's been rare to see him looking for work. Just hanging outside working on his manicure. So not a big loss. And the rest of the backs are missing clear try scoring opportunities, with a bad pass or a drop. Having Wood available throughout the 6 Nations will help. As will having Brookes. But, the team is clearly missing Calum Clark. Can see it every day.

Likely the first 15-20 minutes will tell all.

Quins vs Saints - if one team actually plays to ability and the other like they did last week, either team could win by 50. I'm hoping that as our general form this season has been much better, we will win by at least a few, but last week has battered my optimism

yappysnap wrote:Care's the biggest loss IMO. Turns out he's intrinsic to how we play, and he's dug us out of a number of holes this season already.

Doesn't help that his replacements have all turned out to be a bit, meh.

Care, Brown, Robshaw, Roberts, Marler all huge losses! If I could pick any one, it would be Care or Robshaw though, one helps out Nev and brings the tempo and is a huge step up from his replacements, the other just does everything

ChequeredJersey wrote:Quins vs Saints - if one team actually plays to ability and the other like they did last week, either team could win by 50. I'm hoping that as our general form this season has been much better, we will win by at least a few, but last week has battered my optimism

Methinks you have better attacking players. We have better defenders. They cancel each other out. The final score might be 6-3.

Bath:

Homer; Rokoduguni, Banahan, Eastmond, Agulla; Bowden, Cook; Lahiff, Webber, Wilson, Hooper (capt), Day, Garvey, Louw, Houston.

Replacements: Dunn, Catt, Thomas, Ewels, Ellis, Faosiliva, Matawalu, Clark.



Gloucester:

Burns; Sharples, Meakes, Twelvetrees (capt), McColl; Hook, Heinz; McAllister, Hibbard, Afoa, Savage, Galarza, Kalamafoni, Rowan, Morgan.

Replacements: Dawidiuk, Wood, Thomas, Stooke, Kvesic, Braley, Atkinson, Moriarty.

Just two backs on the Glaws bench

Be interesting to see how we go against wasps.

Leicester Tigers (v Sale Sharks, Welford Road, Saturday 3pm)
15 Tommy Bell
14 Peter Betham
13 Mathew Tait
12 Matt Smith
11 Telusa Veainu
10 Freddie Burns
9 Sam Harrison
1 Logovi'i Mulipola
2 Tom Youngs (c)
3 Fraser Balmain
4 Dom Barrow
5 Graham Kitchener
6 Mike Fitzgerald
7 Lachlan McCaffrey
8 Jordan Crane

Replacements
16 Leonardo Ghiraldini
17 Riccardo Brugnara
18 Greg Bateman
19 Ed Slater
20 Tom Croft
21 Jono Kitto
22 Gonzalo Camacho
23 Jack Roberts

Sale team

15. Mike Haley, 14. Will Addison, 13. Sam James, 12. Sam Tuitupou, 11. Nev Edwards, 10. Danny Cipriani, 9. Chris Cusiter, 1. Ross Harrison, 2. Tommy Taylor, 3. Vadim Cobilas, 4. Bryn Evans, 5. Andrei Ostrikov, 6. Cameron Neild, 7. TJ Ioane, 8. Josh Beaumont (capt).

Replacements: 16. Neil Briggs, 17. Eifion Lewis-Roberts, 18. Brian Mujati, 19. Jonathan Mills, 20. David Seymour, 21. Peter Stringer, 22. Joe Ford, 23. Tom Arscott.

On the Leicester side, interesting to see Bateman in as a substitute at prop, guess he must have played there before but could severely hamper us in the scrum come the last 20 mins. Great to see Slater back...again, just hope he can stay fit for the remainder of the season

Wasps team to play the Falcons

15. Rob Miller
14. Christian Wade
13. Brendan Macken
12. James Downey
11. Josh Bassett
10. Jimmy Gopperth ©
9. Dan Robson
1. Simon McIntyre
2. Edd Shervington
3. Jake Cooper-Woolley
4. James Gaskell
5. Kearnan Myall
6. Alex Rieder
7. Thomas Young
8. Nathan Hughes

Replacements
16. Ashley Johnson
17. Matt Mullan
18. Phil Swainston
19. James Cannon
20. George Smith
21. Jamie Stevenson
22. Ruaridh Jackson
23. Siale Piutau

Jimmy Gopperth made captain against his old team & Andy Goode is playing against his old team.


EWCASTLE FALCONS: S Hammersley, A Tait, A Powell, JP Socino, G Venditti, A Goode, M Young; R Vickers, S Lawson, T Vea, M Wilson, S Robinson, W Welch (captain), N Latu, A Hogg. Replacements: G McGuigan, A Rogers, P Ryan, M Botha, R Mayhew, T Takulua, C Willis, M Watson.

Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys. Kick-off: 2pm

Saracens team to face Exeter Chiefs 15 Ben Ransom (56*) 14 Mike Ellery (14) 13 Nick Tomkins (27) 12 Brad Barritt (c) (157) 11 Chris Wyles (192) 10 Charlie Hodgson (121) 9 Richard Wigglesworth (141) 1 Richard Barrington (67) 2 Schalk Brits (158) 3 Petrus Du Plessis (116) 4 Hayden Smith (55) 5 Jim Hamilton (35) 6 Jackson Wray (128) 7 Kelly Brown (120) 8 Samu Vunisa (3) Replacements 16 Jared Saunders (26) 17 Rhys Gill (152) 18 Titi Lamositele (9) 19 Maro Itoje (43) 20 Jacques Burger (107) 21 Ben Spencer (64) 22 Nils Mordt (54) 23 Nathan Earle (3) - See more at: http://www.saracens.com/news-article/saracens-name-side-to-face-exeter-chiefs#sthash.Vui0u8Jn.dpuf

CHIEFS SIDE TO FACE SARACENS 15 Phil Dollman 14 Olly Woodburn 13 Ian Whitten 12 Sam Hill 11 James Short 10 Gareth Steenson 9 Will Chudley 1 Ben Moon 2 Jack Yeandle (capt) 3 Moray Low 4 Ollie Atkins 5 Geoff Parling 6 Don Armand 7 Julian Salvi 8 Thomas Waldrom 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie 17 Alec Hepburn 18 Harry Williams 19 Lewis Stevenson 20 Kai Horstmann 21 Dave Lewis 22 Will Hooley 23 Max Bodilly - See more at: http://exeterchiefs.co.uk/news/chiefs-side-to-face-saracens-3/#sthash.9yylcrMi.dpuf


Going to be tough against a mostly full strength Exeter pack.

Itoje named on bench I see. Should have been given the week off completely.

killer938 wrote:Leicester Tigers (v Sale Sharks, Welford Road, Saturday 3pm)
15 Tommy Bell
14 Peter Betham
13 Mathew Tait
12 Matt Smith
11 Telusa Veainu
10 Freddie Burns
9 Sam Harrison
1 Logovi'i Mulipola
2 Tom Youngs (c)
3 Fraser Balmain
4 Dom Barrow
5 Graham Kitchener
6 Mike Fitzgerald
7 Lachlan McCaffrey
8 Jordan Crane

Replacements
16 Leonardo Ghiraldini
17 Riccardo Brugnara
18 Greg Bateman
19 Ed Slater
20 Tom Croft
21 Jono Kitto
22 Gonzalo Camacho
23 Jack Roberts

Sale team

15. Mike Haley, 14. Will Addison, 13. Sam James, 12. Sam Tuitupou, 11. Nev Edwards, 10. Danny Cipriani, 9. Chris Cusiter, 1. Ross Harrison, 2. Tommy Taylor, 3. Vadim Cobilas, 4. Bryn Evans, 5. Andrei Ostrikov, 6. Cameron Neild, 7. TJ Ioane, 8. Josh Beaumont (capt).

Replacements: 16. Neil Briggs, 17. Eifion Lewis-Roberts, 18. Brian Mujati, 19. Jonathan Mills, 20. David Seymour, 21. Peter Stringer, 22. Joe Ford, 23. Tom Arscott.

On the Leicester side, interesting to see Bateman in as a substitute at prop, guess he must have played there before but could severely hamper us in the scrum come the last 20 mins. Great to see Slater back...again, just hope he can stay fit for the remainder of the season

A repeat of the KotN result would suit me just fine: http://www.leicestertigers.com/rugby/23571.php

There are four changes to the team which played Newcastle last week.

Matt Hopper starts at outside centre in the only change to the back line.

Among the forwards, Kyle Sinckler and George Merrick will start as Nick Easter returns at number 8.

Among the replacements, Calum Waters will look to make his senior debut for the Club.

Harlequins team
15. Ross Chisholm
14. Marland Yarde
13. Matt Hopper
12. Harry Sloan
11. Charlie Walker
10. Nick Evans ©
9. Tito Tebaldi

1. Mark Lambert
2. Rob Buchanan
3. Kyle Sinckler
4. George Merrick
5. James Horwill
6. Mat Luamanu
7. Luke Wallace
8. Nick Easter

16. Joe Gray
17. Owen Evans
18. Will Collier
19. Charlie Matthews
20. Dave Ward
21. Calum Waters
22. Ben Botica
23. Tim Swiel

I'd have done things a bit differently, but if we play like most of the season and saints do too we should win. If we play like last week - nope


Good to have Easter back though

LondonTiger wrote:Itoje named on bench I see. Should have been given the week off completely.

Why?

Not confident about this saints game now, their team looks very good, on paper. I hope they're as disjointed as they've been all season this weekend.

I am worried about Brookes. Otherwise they just aren't that good right now including Wood

If Saints can get an advantage in the front row where they are very strong, there is enough beef in that pack to make life difficult for Quins.

Is Mallinder the Younger away with the U20s, I hope so as if he has been omitted from the squad, Mallinder the Older needs his head examining.

We need to get the forwards taking the ball from Dickson flat and at speed. not a yard back standing still like we have been all season.

Saints when going forward with quick ball are a nightmare to stop. Saints standing still taking slow ball nowhere are a nightmare.

WELL-PAST-IT wrote:If Saints can get an advantage in the front row where they are very strong, there is enough beef in that pack to make life difficult for Quins.

Is Mallinder the Younger away with the U20s, I hope so as if he has been omitted from the squad, Mallinder the Older needs his head examining.

We need to get the forwards taking the ball from Dickson flat and at speed. not a yard back standing still like we have been all season.

Saints when going forward with quick ball are a nightmare to stop. Saints standing still taking slow ball nowhere are a nightmare.

Yes, Mallinder The Younger (future captain of England and Lions) is away with U20s. Forwards standing around with their thumbs up their bums does nothing for us. Dickson used to rail at the forwards and keep them moving. Not sure where the failure is coming from. The pack has enough power to do well in the scrums and skill to win the lineouts. I agree the key is open play. If the forwards open even a few gaps and do not try that one extra offload, then we should be OK. Otherwise, doom on us.

beshocked wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:Itoje named on bench I see. Should have been given the week off completely.

Why?

Because he has:

A) He is a young man who has played a lot of rugby this season - 14 of Sarries 16 matches (that was too hard to find out, mainly because Sarries website sucks)
B) He is with England all week.
C) At some point tomorrow, or maybe Sunday morning, he will have to travel from Edinburgh to Exeter.

doctor_grey wrote:

WELL-PAST-IT wrote:If Saints can get an advantage in the front row where they are very strong, there is enough beef in that pack to make life difficult for Quins.

Is Mallinder the Younger away with the U20s, I hope so as if he has been omitted from the squad, Mallinder the Older needs his head examining.

Yes, Mallinder The Younger (future captain of England and Lions) is away with U20s.   

While MTY is in the U20s EPS, he is not in the 23 that was selected earlier this week to play Scotland today. I am not even sure he met up with them. When I saw the U20s match squad, I assumed MTY was being released to Saints.

Why all the confusion over Mallinder? He starts at 12 for Saints...

Yeah that's what I was thinking. Happy about that, brings some balance to our centres.

I did not look at the teamsheet, just assumed WPI and Doc were correct.

The initial team sheet I saw showed Burrell at 12, I assume they thought MTY would be in the 23.

Pisi a late withdrawal? Maybe being dropped will provide him with a kick up the back side.

Not sure, but England's loss is Saints gain. MTY has the makings of an excellent 12, the like of which we have not seen before in an England side.

Think George North playing 12, with pace, distribution skills and a good boot from hand or ground. Move over Owen!

Three starts this season in a struggling side, two MotM awards and a decent showing in a bad loss that could not be blamed on him.

I would expect him to kick on and challenge for a full England spot next season............................... then Captain........................................then Lions.



It's written in the wind, or was it on one of Doc's posts.

England under 20s ranks below AP in terms of importance so if Saints wanted him he'd be available for them. Helps England have another bright prospect at 12 in Charlie Thacker.

LondonTiger wrote:

doctor_grey wrote:

WELL-PAST-IT wrote:If Saints can get an advantage in the front row where they are very strong, there is enough beef in that pack to make life difficult for Quins.

Is Mallinder the Younger away with the U20s, I hope so as if he has been omitted from the squad, Mallinder the Older needs his head examining.

Yes, Mallinder The Younger (future captain of England and Lions) is away with U20s.   

While MTY is in the U20s EPS, he is not in the 23 that was selected earlier this week to play Scotland today. I am not even sure he met up with them. When I saw the U20s match squad, I assumed MTY was being released to Saints.

Last I had heard - and read - MTY was in the U20 side.  That was Monday.  Now I see he is starting for Saints.  Better for Saints, but the U20 side would have been better for Prince Harry.

Dark days at the Rec, but on the bright side Bruce Craig's weekends been ruined.

TightHEAD wrote:Dark days at the Rec, but on the bright side Bruce Craig's weekends been ruined.

That's funny. And I think a lot of people agree with you.

Can we chill on the Mallinder stuff? What I assume started as parody is now starting to look serious. He looks decent but calm it...

I can't imagine the neutrals enjoyed that game but that result has made my season. We may still be a poor side but I don't care anymore!

Bath fell apart when Eastmond went off. Glass grew into the game and when Nick Wood came on had control at scrum and around the park with Kvesic's introduction.

HongKongCherry wrote:

I can't imagine the neutrals enjoyed that game but that result has made my season. We may still be a poor side but I don't care anymore!

I enjoyed it immensely. Anything that made Bruce Craig look that annoyed and upset has to have been a thing of beauty!

Scottrf wrote:Can we chill on the Mallinder stuff? What I assume started as parody is now starting to look serious. He looks decent but calm it...

Scottrf, it is just a little fun.

He has a great future, I think, but after three games he is not ready for anything other than a run in the side in his preferred position of 12 as he is playing better then Burrell. Hopefully Burrell being pushed out to 13 will rekindle some of the form he had there for England a coupe of years ago. The good thing is nothing seems to phase him even when he makes an error, he forgets it and gets on with the game.

What Doc thinks however is another thing, he seems to be elevating him to be a member of the royal family. Either that or MTO has got some relations we don't know about in very high places. King of Yorkshire perhaps?

WELL-PAST-IT wrote:

Scottrf wrote:Can we chill on the Mallinder stuff? What I assume started as parody is now starting to look serious. He looks decent but calm it...

Scottrf, it is just a little fun.

He has a great future, I think, but after three games he is not ready for anything other than a run in the side in his preferred position of 12 as he is playing better then Burrell. Hopefully Burrell being pushed out to 13 will rekindle some of the form he had there for England a coupe of years ago. The good thing is nothing seems to phase him even when he makes an error, he forgets it and gets on with the game.

What Doc thinks however is another thing, he seems to be elevating him to be a member of the royal family. Either that or MTO has got some relations we don't know about in very high places. King of Yorkshire perhaps?

Mercia.
Harry is the future King of Mercia.  

Just having a bit 'o fun with it all.

Sloan has been looking pretty decent with his chances so far.

Cracking game this! Lovely quins try there.

Both sides hitting the line hard and straight, great offloading.

In fact, pretty good game for EQ centres! Burrell has been excellent.

Mid_gen where are you watching?

Stream, not sure if I can post link?

Basically impossible for Quins' to kick in this wind! They have to attack!