Aviva Premiership Round 15

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I couldn't see a topic this week so I thought I'd make one.

Friday 4th March
Newcastle Falcons v Worcester Warriors  - BT SPORT - KO 19:45

Saturday 5th March
Sale Sharks v Harlequins - KO 2:30 pm
Gloucester V Wasps - KO 3 pm
Bath v London Irish - KO 3:15 pm
Saracens v Northampton Saints - KO 3:15pm BT SPORT

Sunday 6th March
Leicester Tigers v Exeter Chiefs - KO 3pm BT SPORT

Silly mistake you Thacker, should of gone for a simple drive

If any of Parling, Slater, Barrow (or Kitchener when he comes on) are in the running to replace Lawes in the EPS then Ed is probably winning at the moment. I believe he's calling the line-out and doing a good job of that and jumping plus he's showing up well around the park.

Parling has been busy too but I feel that Slater has been a touch more influential so far.

We are still trying to play a little bit too much. A bit more simple driving play would work better.

Lewis through the ball forward into Thacker for that penalty.

Looked like a neck roll on the far side

formerly known as Sam wrote:We are still trying to play a little bit too much. A bit more simple driving play would work better.

Lewis through the ball forward into Thacker for that penalty.

Agree with that, especially with Parling off we should be using the bulk of our 3 second rows plus Logo and wearing their pack down.

Lawrence really confuses himself sometimes lol

Just 40 minutes for munipola, guessing he still isn't 100%

Defence got that try

Lovely set piece try

And then silly errors

That lineout was lovely. Pin point throw from Thacker that makes that look so clean. It's a massive throw.

That's a Poopie decision

Is the TMO allowed to do that?

Actually seeing that, I think Exeter are hard done by

The yellow card decision was poor. The maul goes down because Croft is through and fighting for the ball with the Exeter player the Exeter players loses his balance and we drive them back as they go down.

Should have been a penalty try but no yellow card for the Fitzgerald offside.

Burns very fortunate that Carley blew the whistle early there. He plays advantage and that's a Burns deliberate knock on.

Thank god for that, although an Exeter player detached at the front and tackles a tigers player.

But I don't care as I want to watch something w bit more entertaining

We look knackered. Need Williams on to start us playing intelligently and kicking to the corners.

I can still see us losing this

Lol, what is Baxter on about on about that penalty lol

YC clear YC

Don't know what Kay was on about he wrapped his arms around him.

Leicester have been very luck this half with the ref.

That's a red card. Grabbed the player in the air and brings him down on his head. Yellow card is a massive let off. No attempt to play the ball, very reckless.

Tackle in the air, yellow for me

formerly known as Sam wrote:That's a red card. Grabbed the player in the air and brings him down on his head. Yellow card is a massive let off. No attempt to play the ball, very reckless.

Think it was his shoulder to be fair, I think a yellow is fair

Burns has had a good game

Shoulder then the head bounces off the floor. He grabs the legs and doesn't follow the man down. Red for me.

Burns has played much better. Williams looking solid at 10 though with t'other Williams looking a brute as well.

Feel sorry for the lad, other than his tackle in the air though he played well

Grrrr, why is kitto so Frak slow

And then he goes and intercepts the ball

Really poor decision there. Two players on the floor and one is obviously holding the other.

Well, a lot better from the tigers. Showed some nice handling and some good intensity. Shame we fell to sleep a few times to let them in.

A pleasing win for the Tigers there. It's so nice to watch the slick handling and good support lines from all players this season. Definitely an area where Mauger has delivered on what we expected from his as head coach.

Giving up the LBP at the end is frustrating but also deserved by Exeter from the game as a whole.

Harry Thacker really is one hell of a player.

Also it was interesting to see Wig sat next to Cohen in the stands!

Perhaps he could be heading back to Welford Road in some capacity - with Cockers already there, Blaze his assistant and Stanko rumoured to be coming back as scrum coach I'm not sure what capacity he'd return in though. Perhaps either he or Stanko will work with the academy/development squads.

The whistle had already gone Baxter, that's why!

Can't see Wig coaching the academy.

Stanko maybe but Dragons are keen on him as a coach I think.

I think Exe can definitely feel hard done by that advantage wasn't played a second longer for the Burns knock down. Burns was marshaling things well and a YC could have really affected the game.

Welly wrote:Can't see Wig coaching the academy.

Stanko maybe but Dragons are keen on him as a coach I think.

He coached the academy before joining England. We have no director of the academy, our head scout is doing that job amongst several others. Wigg would be a good overall boss to work with Brett Deacon and Ant Allen in developing the next generation.

Agree totally Nathan the whistle had already gone but Dayglo is more interested in hearing his own voice than actually discussing the decision or offering anything meaningful on the Fitzgerald decision. Fitzgerald is bound in at the ruck and breaks away as the ball is lifted out, does he have to retreat to the back foot given its open play? Carley had a good look and said no. I don't like TMO's offering those opinions. If the ref doesn't ask they should only intervene for foul play.

Where was the match analysis. I don't have BT sports to listen to boldy bang on about nothing in particular!

Carlos we were definitely saved by the ref's whistle with Burns. He plays advantage and he walks.

Concerns continue over our scrum. As soon as Brugnara came on we went back at a rate of knots. Thacker was superb again. Shame Kitch only got 5 minutes. He seemed to give a hint of backbone to the scrum when he came on.

I was expecting Wig to jump straight into another job similarly to how Farrell did. He had a really good reputation from his two Lions stints. The forwards falling apart at the RWC definitely knocked that but if it was a case of over conditioning taking away their power then it might well have been something that Wig didn't approve of that was under the control of other areas of the staff.

The fact that he took some time off may be indicative that he wanted a bit of break, if so he may also be happy to take a step back with a lower profile role.

As for the reffing decisions, I can see both sides of the argument. With the Burns knock down the whistle had gone so there wasn't much the ref could do but had the boot been on the other foot I would have been fuming that the advantage wasn't played longer in that situation.

Similarly with Fitz it was borderline and the Carley made a call that he wasn't offside. Again however Fitz was well in front of the back feet and had made no effort to retreat prior to the tackle, again I feel I'd have been frustrated not to at least see a penalty had I been a Chiefs fan.

Cockerell apparently just said that Slater is joining the England squad this week

Agree Carlos. Those are close calls and you tend to get the rub of the green at home. I seem to remember them getting a tight call and Thommo having a try chalked off at their place.

Still, we were a lot better. Defence looked stronger and we weren't as scatter gun in our offloads as previous weeks.

BamBam I would be surprised. He's a big lad with a good skillset, adds ballast to the scrum, jumps in the line out and can play several positions. Slater is also a good captain and intelligent bloke, you always want leaders like that. Makes sense to call him up and have a look at him.

Glyn = Head of player development and player transition
Deacon = Academy head coach
Allen = Academy Back coach
Wills = Academy manager
Plus others

Could see Boris coming in as Academy scrum coach Wig as senior scrum coach as a short term position, with Boris being groomed for senior coaching role after. That might work

Stanko went because he was being offered the opportunity to coach as well as play. So considering he's already having some input into the Dragons scrum will he want to step back and work with our youngsters?

I wonder if Wigg and his family are so settled in Leicestershire that he doesn't want to move away and so hasn't found another job that'll allow him to work without having to move.

Stanko still lives in Leicester as well, reckon he would be up for it.

I just don't see Rowntree coaching the academy.

Carley had a shocking 5 minutes. Fitz should have been binned - however Carley's bad spell started earlier.

1) He should have binned the Exeter winger for deliberate knock on.
2) after our 4th try he penalises Locky after the ball bounces off burns straight at him.
3) From the lineout he bins Barrow, but when he watches it on the bigh screen he realises he was wrong and admits that the slater during a skippers chat (was right in front of me)
4) he then evens the score by not binning Fitz.
5) Lets burns get away with a blatant deliberate knock on, bringing them back for offside. Pretty sure he had not blown the whistle - but perhaps intended to

Hopefully we can get both involved in some capacity. They are two guys who know the club very well and judging by the mixed performances of our scrums this season a new input could be very helpful.

Especially with the academy/development sides given how we've seen the progress of Brugnara, Tiz and Sio stall. Brugnara once again struggled in the scrum when he came on today.

Our depth at prop is a real concern currently. Logo clearly isn't full fit at the moment, Balmain went of today and Marcos has played a lot of rugby and is starting to look tired (although he was strong as always today). Add in Cole being away, Aguero/Rizzo out long term and Brugnara/Tiz/Sio seemingly not trusted - it isn't great. Genge may be fast tracked into the 23 at this rate.

I suspect we might want to avoid playin Genge

Has Carley ever not made at least one shocker? Certainly every match I've seen him in he seems to. I know he has been fast tracked and it's a tough job but still...

Having brought him in on loan I don't see why the coaches wouldn't if they rate him Welly.

Over the next 4 games leading up to Stade QF they will need to rest Marcos and at this rate probably Logo as well.

Wasps and Sarries aren't good fixtures to be going into with depleted front row. Sarries have lost 4 of the tight 5 to England which does deplete their scrum significantly but Wasps have got a near enough full strength front row. Davies is an important anchor for them to be missing though.

My thought process is:
We do rate him
But if we play him and he does look good
1) More clubs might try and make a move
2) Bristol asking price will go up

The coaches in interviews talk more about this loan as having a chance to look closer at him than actually playing him.