Aviva Premiership Round 9

First topic message reminder :

Friday 24th November

19:45 Newcastle Falcons v Gloucester Rugby
A rejuvenated Gloucester team sitting proudly in the top half of the table travel to a Falcons side that will be keen to return to early season form. Gloucester not the best travelers and could easily struggle. I expect to see the home team leapfrog their visitors in the premiership table.


Saturday 25th November

12:45 Bath v Harlequins
Quins often struggle in international windows. Expect them to struggle again on their second trip west this week.

15:00 Leicester v Worcester
Both teams won last week. Worcester were perhaps better than Leicester in securing their first win of the season.

17:30 Sale v Northampton
Sale were a tad unlucky last week, but committed far too many penalties. Saints were well stuffed at Sixways. The visitors should be able to out muscle the underpowered Sale pack - but often flatter to deceive and defeat for Mallinder's boys could see them drop into the bottom 3.



Sunday 26th November

15:00 London Irish v Wasps
LI need to be securing points during international weekends. Struggle to see them winning this one with Wasps in improved form.

Saracens v Exeter
Top of the table clash with both sides hit by injury call ups. May well descend into an arm wrestle, though both sides are capable of running the ball.

Sums up LI's luck - can't get a break even in matches we're not part of ...

Although I've been resigned to relegation again after last week where Bath managed to beat us courtesy of a single try that came after a pass that was clearly and obviously forwards except it seemed to the officials and a last minute penalty was awarded to Bath that was complete and utter nonsense when LI were bashing away at their line ...

Worcester better in every single facet of the game.

Ford and Harrison were very poor, but so was the first up tackling from everyone.

LI are going to go down as long as FH is fit for Wuss.

Unfortunately barring some miracle it seems inevitable ...

Fuzzy Dunlop wrote:Worcester better in every single facet of the game.

Ford and Harrison were very poor, but so was the first up tackling from everyone.

I've not seen the game but BBC Radio Leicester were slating Joe Ford and our inability to make a tackle. Why didn't we bring on Hardwick? He was excellent in the AWC where he showed great decision making and a good boot.

The lock combo of Fitzgerald and Kitchener didn't work last week so unsure why we persisted with it when Wells is available.

The only defence for the half backs is that some of the clearout work was pathetic and Sam had to frequently go into the ruck to prevent a turnover.

But even accounting for that, they were still poor at managing the game. Side to side going backwards, the only intelligent kick for territory that I can remember came from Owen. After some Poopie box kicks Sam gave up completely and just shipped it back to Ford regardless of how much pressure he'd be under. Joe kicks beautifully out of hand for penalties but in open play he's absolutely aimless. I was calling for White and Hardwick after half an hour.

Owen when fit looks a very handy signing.

Lineout - SHAMBLES

Half backs - INCOMPETENT

Organisation - NON-EXISTANT

Workrate - LAZY.



Worcester superior in pretty much every way. Could be a painful December.

With about a half dozen international players to return hopefully December won't be that bad LT. Ben and George will give us a lot more direction and Toomua should hopefully help with the organisation.

It is frustrating that we kept the team playing in the same way even though we needed a change of direction. Either we trust the young guns or not and if not why have we not recruited other options?

Interesting to see that Sam Harrison was voted man of the match through the Tigers website with Mapapalangi and Thacker coming in second and third.

Saints turn down a kick to post and lose but I think we needed to gamble.

formerly known as Sam wrote:With about a half dozen international players to return hopefully December won't be that bad LT. Ben and George will give us a lot more direction and Toomua should hopefully help with the organisation.

It is frustrating that we kept the team playing in the same way even though we needed a change of direction. Either we trust the young guns or not and if not why have we not recruited other options?

Interesting to see that Sam Harrison was voted man of the match through the Tigers website with Mapapalangi and Thacker coming in second and third.

Tough run of games coming up next month. Wasps,Munsterx2, Exeter and Sarries.

Harrison could not be faulted for effort, but his passing was ponderous and loopy and kicking poor.

It's a tough run but some of those games are winnable if we turn up. Wasps tight five isn't the greatest and I feel we could definitely get something there. We need a home win vs Munster and hopefully a LBP away.

Makes the relegation battle look very different with LI suddenly very much up against it.

6 points adrift with a game in hand (today).  We have to get something from today's game, even if only a bonus point. to keep us within one win of being level pegging.

From Tigers POV really need Irish to win this to stop Wasps momentum for next week.
Also keeps a healthy 6 point buffer from 6th place.

Can't see it happening unfortunately - Tigers should have beaten Warriors

LI should have beaten Bath of course - but we conspired to lose that with some help from the officials too ...

Heaf wrote:Can't see it happening unfortunately - Tigers should have beaten Warriors  

If we had been better than them, then we might. But we were not.

But you probably should have been? Was it selection, just poor performance or too many missing players?

Heaf wrote:But you probably should have been?  Was it selection, just poor performance or too many missing players?

Mix, we were very poor in defence.
Missing over half our starting team didn't help but Worcester where the better team their attack was relentless and defence (whilst got away with some things) just as aggressive.

FH changes them as a team.
Thats the power a marquee player should have on a squad.

11 of the first 15 missing Heaf but even with that in mind Worcester were very good and well worth the win. Tigers well below par but Worcester didn't look like relegation material. I'm looking forward to a good battle between them and Irish.

I doubt I will be

LI 10 NIL up atm - but we've put PDP on so they're bound to overtake us now ...

I'm physic - they score almost immediately following the subs

oh dear Irish.

Yep - managed to blow it again ... haven't seen the match but hope none of Wasps tries were following forward passes to add insult to injury like last week ... not that I expect it will make any difference in the end as we'll probably end up well short of 11th place

No it is was poor tackling for the decisive try. No dodgy calls this week.

At least that's something - I'd rather lose fairly than get done by a dodgy call ... please don't tell me it was PDP that missed the tackle ...

No it wasnt. Bell and Marshall were culprits i believe and one or 2 others cant remember who

Quin's help set a record for the season so far, fastest tbp in 19 mins. Shame it was against us...

Worcester are a whole different animal with Houghard back...

propdavid_london wrote:Worcester are a whole different animal with Houghard back...

Hougaard at 9 and Lance at 10 looks to be a combination that works well. Mills and Pennell both being back fit makes a difference as well, high quality players giving their half backs options. If they can get Te'o back and slot him in at 13 that backline starts to look mid table or higher. Just need the pack to keep giving them a platform.

Hougaard is a great example of how to spend your marquee money and make a difference to the team.

Josh Adams on the wing looked a threat every time he got the ball. Not noticed him before, but was impressed.

Hougaard always makes such a difference to Wuss, though they should be worried just how poor they are when he is absent.

Mills is class. Really like watching him play.

SirBurger wrote:Mills is class. Really like watching him play.

I can only presume it was his injury record that stopped bigger teams trying to sign him in the summer when he was out of contract. He's got the skills to be an AP 10, can comfortably play 12 and has the pace and physicality to carry the ball as well as distribute. He might not reach international level but at club level he is very good. I was hoping we'd acquire him instead of Joe Ford but unfortunately he signed on for an extended stay at Worcester.

Agreed LT, Worcester have a good stable of outside backs and with Hougaard there to organise the forwards and get them some ball they are cutting loose. I'd seen Adams play at centre before and been underwhelmed but out wide he knows where the try line is.

So pleasant (and so novel) to see Worcester being discussed in more positive terms again. From a Wuss point of view it's been brilliant to have Hougaard, Mills, Pennell back as it seems to give the team some real confidence and go forward. Lance won't be with us for much longer however and I think we'll miss him, especially with Heathcoate pretty much always injured.

Sale will be interesting on Friday - if we win that one I might just start to allow myself some measure of optimism.

Maybe Worcester will splash the cash to get Lance out of his Rebels contract. He's made a difference since he arrived and he can play multiple positions (which is always handy). I can't imagine Lance is that keen to go and lose week in week out for the Rebels, he might be keen to get back to the Aussie sunshine though.

Much easier to speak of Worcester more positively when they are playing positively. They still concede a few too many penalties and so do Sale, it might be a case of who can maintain their discipline best comes out on top on Friday.

Would love to think Worcester will be able to persuade him to stay - it feels like the back room side of things is closer to getting sorted now so funds may become available.

Regarding positivity - I completely agree with your comment - there has been nothing of real note to be positive about up until the Northampton game. Really hope that Wuss can keep it going and make it 3 on the trot this Friday.

i think you will stub, which will be bad news for us irish fans, especially as I expect Glos to beat us and we will then be really up against it to beat you at Sixways on the 22nd.

I think we aren't far away from a win, but really could done with beating a weakened Bath side and slightly weakened Wasps side at home, or at least 1 of. thankfully the second half of the season we do have winnable games in the form of Worcester, sale, Newcastle and Glos at home.

stnick88, I agree that Irish are not far off winning again - Bath was so close and you pushed Wasps hard. Let's hope that both Wuss and Irish can pick up some wins and make it really interesting at the bottom.

I am revising my Quins expectations for the season down to bottom 5.
Good news is the improved international performances from Brown and Care.
Robshaw is as industrious as ever, but there is a concern that as a team they are becoming overly reliant on the 'Old Guard'.

Little confidence in the coaching set up doesn't help - Kingston.......well, not sure the players are buying into what he is selling.
Minty - I am yet to see the benefits of his coaching.

Another positive is Francis Saili....for the brief minutes he has played he showed glimpses of class. Just need to get him on the pitch.

I have to revise my expectations - again.......its so frustrating being a Quins fan.

Could be worse - you could be a London Irish fan

I am sure that Irish will win a few more games this season - if they can channel the physicality they had in the opening game (against Quins) then they stand a chance. The gap isn't massive.

I thought their centre - Mulchrone was great in their first few games before injury - does anyone know if he is back yet?

Its the topsy turvey performances from Quins that are frustrating.

Yep he's back finally - losing him and Coman to injury really screwed our defence ...

Woo woo.....C5 first ever terrestrial broadcaster to show Premiership rugby, first of five games 30th Dec Quins v Saints.
Good date, hopefully they'll successfully promote this game. Torybloid have the story.