Aviva Premiership - Round 6

First topic message reminder :

Created in response to London Tigers request on the Round 5 thread. Will not be anything like LT's standard, just doing it as a thanks for the effort he puts in on a weekly basis. Due to location thought I would list the fixtures in North American format . All kick off times taken from BBC Sport website (so don't blame me if they are wrong).

Friday 7th Octiober

Sale at Bath (Kick Off 7.45pm).
Both teams coming off a morale boosting wins last week. First thought is that Bath should be too strong at home but that could be doing a disservice to Sale, who must be the most underrated side in the league.

Saturday 8th October

Gloucester at Exeter (3.00pm)
Opposite of the first game with both teams coming off a narrow (ish in Gloucester's case) loss in round 5. Can't see anything other than a Chiefs win at home. If HKC is really lucky then PDJ will start if Afoa is in fact injured after limping off last weekend.

Northampton at Harlequins (3.00pm)
Two sides who would have hoped for better starts but two teams who have beaten last years finalists between them. Won't call it as a Saints fan but hoping for an away win.

Worcester at Leicester (3.00pm)
Tigers have looked unconvincing at times in defense but not seen anything from Warriors to suggest they will outscore them, especially at Welford Rd. Seem to remember hearing that Toomua has arrived in the UK with the Aus squad but is out with concussion and that it's not his first in recent times. Not verified and I hope it's not accurate.

Bristol at Newcastle (3.00pm)
Newcastle must surely win this one as Bristol's defense hasn't looked even close to Premiership standard. Could be a good moral boosting victory for Newcastle but expect Bristol have been targeting this game since the fixtures were announced.

Sunday 9th October (3.00pm)

Wasps at Saracens (3.00pm)
Without doubt game of the round. Wasps playing the more attractive rugby but Saracens are at home and have been able to rotate some players already. Does it come down to Saracens defense against Wasps attack?  Hard to call this one.

Any new coach would have had the same effect. Just needed a change. Credit really due to booth and hooper and the players.

Is faletau back anytime soon?

Banahan for England 12.....

GeordieFalcon wrote:Banahan for England 12.....

Only EQ centre left??

Only joking, but he did pretty well yesterday. Scary proposition.

He is a wing filling in at centre, let's not get too excited!

Very pleasing win last night, Sale are a good team although they seemed to have brought a lot of niggle with them. Credit to the younger guys and to Toby Booth who led pre season.
Who needs the big names?!

Sale hoped to bully the Bath scrum and failed as the local lads Catt, Dunn & Thomas put the squeeze on and at the end of the first half Sale's Mujati and co just went low and collapsed the scrums as their only counter.

Zach Mercer has been a real star and gave a top physical and mobile presence that belied his years.
George Ford still looks like he has so much time on the ball and Macginty never got close to competing..
All the backs looked dangerous, Homer looks to have hit a vein of form too.

All very encouraging and with a dozen or so players to come back from injury, the next set of AP games with Wasps, Sarries, Exeter, Quins doesn't look quite so daunting..
Nearly 14 thousand packed into our ground last night - with very few Sale fans, shows local demand for tickets remains high. All good.

Bathman_in_London wrote:He is a wing filling in at centre, let's not get too excited!

Very pleasing win last night, Sale are a good team although they seemed to have brought a lot of niggle with them. Credit to the younger guys and to Toby Booth who led pre season.
Who needs the big names?!

He is a wing filling in at center but its a positional switch that has been talked about for years. He won't make the England squad so its all academic, but as a big lump to punch holes and create space with offloads he'd be pretty useful given the current injury problems.

I'd add that what I hadn't quite realised is that he is only 3 weeks or so older than a certain ex NZ RL prospective England center...

Yeah I was a bit tongue in cheek there....

He has played well though.. 2 moms in a row.

doctor_grey wrote:

GeordieFalcon wrote:Banahan for England 12.....

Only EQ centre left??

Only joking, but he did pretty well yesterday.  Scary proposition.

If Williams becomes EQ him and Banahan would be a really good 10/12 axis for England.

mikey_dragon wrote:

doctor_grey wrote:

GeordieFalcon wrote:Banahan for England 12.....

Only EQ centre left??

Only joking, but he did pretty well yesterday.  Scary proposition.

If Williams becomes EQ him and Banahan would be a really good 10/12 axis for England.

Owen Williams? He's tied to Wales. Is also far to proud a Welshman to play for England.

Quins looking good, although Nick Evans has missed 3 out of 4. Yarde has got his game face on, best chasing I've ever seen from him, putting saints under all sorts of pressure.

Leicester 6-0 up..

Tigers really really need to keep hold of Owen.

Yess Brady!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Falcons 12-0 Bristol

2 tries to nil and we look better with ball in hand. Bristol have had plenty of ball but no real chance bar a few missed pens. Bristol defence not great and making us look threatening, although our tactical kicking is better this week.

Worryingly, or scrum is getting hammered again, no idea how Vickers keeps getting selected.

Veainu had no right to score that try.

Wuss not going well. Leicester super comfortable. 20-0.

Welly wrote: Veainu had no right to score that try.

He is incredible. Should Wuss have made the tackle stitck though?

Another try, cutting through the Bristol defence with ease. Could have the TBP by halftime

19-0

Blimey Sgt. Bristol are in all kinds of trouble..

Kitto having a great game will be tough to keep all our 9's happy.
Youngs 27
Harrison 26
Kitto 24
White 19
Simmons 19 (Although been playing 15 in A league)

Kitto V Harrison is certainly an interesting one.

stub wrote:

Welly wrote: Veainu had no right to score that try.

He is incredible. Should Wuss have made the tackle stitck though?

It was a stunning score, well worth watching on highlights

stub wrote:Blimey Sgt. Bristol are in all kinds of trouble..

Not good Stub. Their defence is a bit of a shambles really, Hammersley is walking past defenders at will. Their set piece is tidy and counter-ruck impressive, but you defend like that in the AP.

Bristol are appalling... They really are.

We've scored 3 but still should have been more.

Can delayney please f#"k off he's woeful!!!

Bristol had terrible defence before they were promoted. They finally went up because they scored more than everyone else when it mattered. Why they didn't do more to shore up that weakness is a mystery.

GeordieFalcon wrote:Bristol are appalling... They really are.

We've scored 3 but still should have been more.

Can delayney please f#"k off he's woeful!!!

Did you see the 2 on 1 he fluffed? How is that guy an AB. Joel has looked tidy since he came on mind.

Vickers is really struggling, his body position is just all wrong, he's just not up to this level. Love to have a look at Lockwood.

Bristols problems
1) Robinson isn't up to it and he is surround by an inexperienced coaching team IMO.
2) They brought in the wrong players.

Honestly Bristol need to spend money on a relevant coach, Jake White would be great for them (Even if relegated).

They've got a good few players, Lam and Hurrell are handy. I'd take Hurrell on at Falcons.

Sgt_Pooly wrote:They've got a good few players, Lam and Hurrell are handy. I'd take Hurrell on at Falcons.

The trouble is at the key positions IMO esp front row.

Welly wrote:

Sgt_Pooly wrote:They've got a good few players, Lam and Hurrell are handy. I'd take Hurrell on at Falcons.

The trouble is at the key positions IMO esp front row.

Well they're hammering us in that department today!

Sgt_Pooly wrote:

stub wrote:Blimey Sgt. Bristol are in all kinds of trouble..

Not good Stub. Their defence is a bit of a shambles really, Hammersley is walking past defenders at will. Their set piece is tidy and counter-ruck impressive, but you defend like that in the AP.

It's going to be a miserable season for them if they don't sort things out in a hurry. You'd think they'd have the resources to be better prepared really. Fair play to the Falcons though - enjoy the rest of the match!

LondonTiger wrote:

stub wrote:

Welly wrote: Veainu had no right to score that try.

He is incredible. Should Wuss have made the tackle stitck though?

It was a stunning score, well worth watching on highlights

I'm watching on a tiny screen so couldn't really see any detail. Will watch on a larger screen later.

And they have scored a try.

Says alot about us!!!!

Still tight at the Stoop, 11-6 to Quins. Quins the better team.

Swiel's passing has been superb, kicking as well, looking like a real solid replacement for Nev.

Delayney misses ANOTHER kick. The guy is gash!!!

Bristol score again.

We are as bad as them dear Lord.

Gloucester leading Exeter 14-27.

Quins have left loads of points on the pitch...

Great comeback from Bristol, a changed side. Their breakdown work has been very impressive with Crane leading the way. I can't believe their back in it after the first half showing.

Another missed kick for Falcons.....this is not going to plan.

Adam Jones playing virtually a full match at loose head for Quins.

Sgt I'm sorry but we are SH#te

Nothing much else to say.

TBP for Tigers.

22-27 now at Exeter v Gloucester

Wuss down to 14 due to more injuries - just what we need!

Well we won, but that was a dreadful 2nd half. Just glad to get the 4pts, can't believe it wasn't more after the first 40.

Exeter Gloucester ended a 27-27 draw.

Exeter with a late try but missed the winning conversion.

Another good lead blown by Gloucester.

ChequeredJersey wrote:Quins have left loads of points on the pitch...

Good solid win for Quins!

Brown was immense today, Saints defence just couldn't deal with his aggression and physicality, busting the gainline at will and brushing off tacklers. Yarde had a very good game as well although the chase tailed off in the second half. Visser also good but not quite able to finish a few chances, he just needed a bit of better support.

Sinckler, Chisholm, Robshaw and Roberts all had big physical games.

Our breakdown work was much improved on last week.

Rugby Fan wrote:Adam Jones playing virtually a full match at loose head for Quins.

Hehe he looked every one of his years at the end, but his side of the scrum demolished saints in the dying minutes to secure a penalty and make the game safe, he's still got it

Adam Jones 75 mins at Loosehead as well!

Really happy with that performance, both sloppy and imo unlucky not to win by much more but the foundations were there and the ref messed things up for Saints too