Aviva Premiership Round 12 - The second half begins..........

First topic message reminder :

Just realised London Tiger has not performed his duty to country and Her Royal Majesty  Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, Northern Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas Queen, Defender of the Faith (Elizabeth II, Dei Gratia Magnae Britanniae, Hiberniae et terrarum transmarinarum quae in ditione sunt Britannica Regina, Fidei Defensor) by creating the Aviva Premiership Round 12 forum.  
Such dereliction of duty, though a severe act of malfeasance, can be excused by too much holiday cheer, too little holiday cheer, having daughters (they give orders which cannot be disobeyed), having to work, or family obligations.  


I present myself, your humble servant, as an unworthy (ie. sh!tty)replacement for this week.  

 

	Team	P	W	D	L	Pts
1	Wasps	12	10	0	2	47
2	Saracens	11	9	0	2	42
3	Bath	11	8	0	3	36
4	Exeter	11	6	1	4	35
5	Leicester	11	7	0	4	31
6	Harlequins	11	6	0	5	27
7	Newcastle	12	5	0	7	25
8	Northampton	11	5	0	6	24
9	Gloucester	11	3	2	6	24
10	Sale	11	3	1	7	18
11	Worcester	11	1	2	8	10
12	Bristol	11	1	0	10	8

 

31-Dec-16
19:25 (GMT)	Aviva Premiership	Newcastle	Wasps
31-Dec-16
15:00 (GMT)	Aviva Premiership	Bath	Exeter Chiefs
1-Jan-17
14:30 (GMT)	Aviva Premiership	Sale Sharks	Bristol
15:00 (GMT)	Aviva Premiership	Worcester Warriors	Harlequins
15:00 (GMT)	Aviva Premiership	Gloucester	Northampton Saints
15:00 (GMT)	Aviva Premiership	Leicester Tigers	Saracens

I predict Newcastle-Wasps will be a great match, with Newcastle coming out very strong alsmost as if Wasps were still in their holiday cups.  Then sure as the tide encroaches on the beach Wasps will come back, take the lead, giving another opportunity for Newcastle to almost snatch it at the end.  Alas and alack, I predict Newcastle 30-Wasps 34.  I have taken the liberty to already include that result in the table above.  

Bath-Exeter:  Today's New year's Eve match is a big one, Bath hosting Exeter.  The just too pretty owner of Bath has threatened to cancel New year's Eve unless Bath win.  He has THAT kind of money (and real good hair).  Exe had a big win last match and Bath were crushed under a swarm of Wasps.  With heart in hand (very messy to type that way) I predict Bath at home by 7.

The Big New year's Day matches (get your fix before we all go back to work next week)

Sale - Bristol:  Steve Diamond has proven his detractors wrong by once again taking a middle of the table team and put them in a fight for relegation.  Good thing they are hosting Bristol, who may have simply blown their wad in their last game.  I predict Sale by a scoreline of 3-0.

Worcester - Harlequins:  Ahh Harlequins, a good team following the Steve Diamond concept and instead of pushing for the top four are making a good attack on the mid-table.  Got away with one last week with two penalties not called within 10 seconds of each other at the death and Gloucester attacking on the line.  Not being satisfied with their luck, they fail to kick the ball out and end the game.  The good news for Quins fans was the ball was kicked to Jonny May who ran 70 yards across the pitch before buggering it up.  (I think that lad could be quite good if he knew (1) to run to the posts forming the letter 'H', and (2) pass to teammates). Worcester, one of the Premiership's favourite teams because (1) they have a great ground, (2) their supporters are great, and (3) they usually lose, will lose by 10-21


Gloucester - Saints:  Do I have to write about this?  Maybe I can get on the pitch with Saints, bang my head and forget this whole season.  Gloucester found yet another way to lose last week (at least they know what they are doing).  Saints game plan is to kick the ball to Jonny May and tell him the goal line is  'here, no there, no behind you' get him running in circles until he gives up the ball.  Saints will lumber forwards, slowly, aimlessly for 60 minutes, then bring off the bench Prince Harry (who will score 6 tries) and Estelles to add some Latin flair.  Final score Gloucester 27-Saints 30. 

Tigers-Saracens:  Tigers are at home defending the Kingdom of Mercia from the invasions of tribes from South Africa accumulating in the southern capital London.  Can they do it?  Saracens are crafty fighters.  But Leicester are defending the pride and history of our nation.  On the very special first day of the year, I expect Leicester to put Cockerill back at Number 2 (he is the best they have) and he will personally face down the challenge (Freddie Burns sure as sh!t won't).  Fight, scratch, and claw in the finest Leicester/Mercian tradition.      Tigers to win 21-20.

Heaf wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:How many high tackles on Burns this half? JP hasn't even looked. Managed to miss the Sarries knock on in the bungled Tigers break as well.

You are   kidding me JP. You ping that high tackle after the Sarries half dozen.

Steady on - I won't hear a bad word said against the fine JP Doyle

What are the dates for the Championship Playoff Finals again?

Brookes isn't fit enough or doesn't do enough work for Jones to pick him IMO.

Scottrf wrote:Brookes isn't fit enough or doesn't do enough work for Jones to pick him IMO.

I think Jones is keen to get a large number of players into the programme and be able to influence their workloads. Hence we're seeing a steady rotation of the squad members but not the core team. He's then got around 50 to 60 players in the AP where he's had some degree of management over but still a fairly settled 23.

Scottrf wrote:Brookes isn't fit enough or doesn't do enough work for Jones to pick him IMO.

I agree. Brookes has been decent at times, but seemingly less so this season, and really does seem out of shape. I would guess he has fallen pretty down the pecking order.

As an aside, I wonder if this is part of the overall malaise at Saints or just another player who looked better before we signed him (remember PDJ?).

doctor_grey wrote:

Scottrf wrote:Brookes isn't fit enough or doesn't do enough work for Jones to pick him IMO.

I agree.  Brookes has been decent at times, but seemingly less so this season, and really does seem out of shape.  I would guess he has fallen pretty down the pecking order.  

As an aside, I wonder if this is part of the overall malaise at Saints or just another player who looked better before we signed him (remember PDJ?).  

Thought he was playing very well before his injury/surgery, especially his scrummaging. Doesn't seem to have that dominance since. And for a player of his power just doesn't have the impact he should anywhere else, carrying, tackling or the breakdown. It's a shame that Hill hasn't pushed more for a spot, even in terms of rotation. Same front row every week.

Scottrf wrote:

doctor_grey wrote:

Scottrf wrote:Brookes isn't fit enough or doesn't do enough work for Jones to pick him IMO.

I agree.  Brookes has been decent at times, but seemingly less so this season, and really does seem out of shape.  I would guess he has fallen pretty down the pecking order.  

As an aside, I wonder if this is part of the overall malaise at Saints or just another player who looked better before we signed him (remember PDJ?).  

Thought he was playing very well before his injury/surgery, especially his scrummaging. Doesn't seem to have that dominance since. And for a player of his power just doesn't have the impact he should anywhere else, carrying, tackling or the breakdown. It's a shame that Hill hasn't pushed more for a spot, even in terms of rotation. Same front row every week.

Good point - Hill has almost disappeared from view. I think a young guy like him needs a run of games to get some momentum going, but who knows what the coaches see in training sessions.

So that was awful by all accounts (was at a wedding so unable to see the match. Probably for the best). How are we so so so bad away? Even Robshaw subbed off, was he injured or just not performing? If the latter, that's pretty much the first time he's played so badly that I can think of at any level and it seems to indicate some horribly pervasive problem...


From what I heard, Brown was solid, Swiel, Ward and Walker ok off the bench, every one else including England Internationals were dire and Care probably not even deserving to start for Quins. Is that right?

Oh, and Chisholm and Clifford injured, yay!


Congratulations to Wuss, though, important win for you guys and clearly, by every account i've read, the better side with Quins lucky to get a LBP

http://www.espn.co.uk/rugby/story/_/id/18388299/chris-robshaw-injured-harlequins-defeat-worcester

ffs. Hope he's back for England

Quins are going to nosedive this 6N, by the way. Can't see us staying above 8th at the end of the season

ChequeredJersey wrote:http://www.espn.co.uk/rugby/story/_/id/18388299/chris-robshaw-injured-harlequins-defeat-worcester

ffs. Hope he's back for England

Quins are going to nosedive this 6N, by the way. Can't see us staying above 8th at the end of the season

Robshaw better be treated with real good care and  not rushed back from whatever kind of injury he has. He is a tough, tough guy, but there are limits for everyone.

Why does it seem we have players dropping like flies?

B91212 wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:2) Ellis Genge, having been left out of this week's training squad, surely impressed Eddie.

I can't see that Nathan Catt is even remotely as good an international prospect as Ellis Genge, so got to think EJ's decision is more to do with sending a message to Genge. Wonder if it's a situation where potentially he didn't work on the specific areas that EJ identifies with each player? Allegedly what some think happened with Kieron Brooks?

He's just an unfit player who doesn't perform consistently. We got him achieving some kind of consistency but he is still only a 30-40 min player at best. When you look at the work rate than Jones expects....then Brookes is a million miles away from international selection.

Just watched the Bath v Exe highlights. Going to be some fierce competition for the 6N wing spots!