Leicester Tigers 18-19

by **LondonTiger** Wed 11 Jul 2018, 11:53 am

First topic message reminder :

Fixtures

Pre-Season

Saturday 11th August - Cardiff Blues (a)
Friday 17th August - Benetton Treviso (a)
Friday 24th August - London Irish (h)

Gallagher Premiership

SEPTEMBER
Saturday 1st 16:30 Exeter Chiefs (a)
Saturday 8th 15:00 Newcastle Falcons (h)
Sunday 16th 15:00 Wasps (a)
Sunday 23rd 15:00 Worcester Warriors (h)
Sunday 30th 15:00 Sale Sharks (h)

OCTOBER
Saturday 6th 15:00 Northampton Saints (a - Twickenham)

NOVEMBER
Friday 16th 19:45 Gloucester (a)
Sunday 25th 15:00 Saracens (h)
Friday 30th 19:45 Bristol (a)

DECEMBER
21/22/23 Harlequins (H)
28/29/30 Bath (A)

JANUARY
4/5/6 Gloucester (H)

FEBRUARY
15/16/17 Saracens (A)
22/23/24 Worcester Warriors (A)

MARCH
1/2/3 Wasps (H)
8/9/10 Sale Sharks (A)
22/23/24 Northampton Saints (H)

APRIL
5/6/7 Exeter Chiefs (H)
12/13/14 Newcastle Falcons (A)
26/27/28 Bristol (H)

MAY
3/4/5 Harlequins (A)
18 Bath (H)
24/25 Semi

JUNE
1st Final

European Champions Cup
12/13/14 October - Round 1
19/20/21 October - Round 2
7/8/9 December - Round 3
14/15/16 December - Round 4
11/12/13 January - Round 5
18/19/20 January - Round 6
29/30/31 March - 1/4 Finals
19/20/21 April - Semis
11th May - Final

Premiership Rugby Cup

Saturday October 27th 15:00 Saracens (a)
Saturday November 3rd 15:00 Worcester Warriors(h)
Friday November 19th 19:45 Sale Sharks
January 25/26/27 Northampton (a)
February 9th Semi-finals
March 16th Final

Squad and Coaching Team:

Head Coach: Matt O'Connor
Forwards Coach: Mark Bakewell
Assistant Coach: Geordan Murphy
Scrum Coach: Boris Stankovich
Senior Development coach: Brett Deacon
Team Manager: Teresa Carrington
Head of Rugby Operations: Ged Glyn

First Team Squad:
(as on Tigers website)

Props: Greg Bateman, Dan Cole, Gaston Cortes, Ellis Genge, Facundo Gigena, Owen Hills
Hookers: Jake Kerr, Tatafu Polota-Nau, Jimmmy Stevens, Tom Youngs
Second Row: Mike Fitzgerald, Graham Kitchener, Will Spencer, James Voss, Harry Wells
Back Row: Dave Denton, Will Evans, Sione Kalamafoni, Valention Mapapalangi, Brendon O'Connor, Guy Thompson, Fred Tuilagi, Mike Williams

Half Backs: Joe Ford, George Ford, Sam Harrison, Matt Toomua, Ben Youngs
Outside Backs: Jonah Holmes, Jonny May, Gareth Owen, Matt Smith, Matthew Tait, Charlie Thacker, Adam Thompstone, Manu Tuilagi, Telusa Veainu, George Worth

Development Squad:

Forwards: Taylor Gough, Sam Grahamslaw, Joe Heyes, Cameron Jordan, Henri Lavin, Sam Lewis, Keston Lines, Harry Mahoney, Tommy Reffell, Thom Smith
Backs: Sam Aspland-Robinson, Tom Hardwicke, Jordan Olowefela, Harry Simmons, Ben White

by Brendan Wed 19 Dec 2018, 6:58 pm

The 8 game loss though is 2 against one of the 4 teams in Europe, 3 cup games so only 3 matter. I think the run of games while hard will help fix the squad' s minds.

This whole situation is worse because of the rubbish management of MOC at the start of the season. Will any heads roll for that.

by formerly known as Sam Fri 21 Dec 2018, 12:04 pm

Leicester Tigers (v Harlequins, Welford Road, Saturday 3.00pm)

15 George Worth

14 Jonah Holmes

13 Manu Tuilagi

12 Matt Toomua

11 Jonny May

10 George Ford (c)

9 Ben Youngs

1 Ellis Genge

2 Tatafu Polota-Nau

3 Dan Cole

4 Harry Wells

5 Will Spencer

6 Mike Fitzgerald

7 Guy Thompson

8 Sione Kalamafoni

Replacements

16 Jake Kerr

17 Campese Ma’afu

18 Joe Heyes

19 Mike Williams

20 Brendon O’Connor

21 Ben White

22 Gareth Owen

23 Jordan Olowofela

by nathan Sat 22 Dec 2018, 6:47 pm

Better...

Hope we can build on it.

by formerly known as Sam Sat 22 Dec 2018, 6:52 pm

TBP win is very welcome. Has given Welford Road something to celebrate over Christmas as well. Hope we can build on this.

by king_carlos Sat 22 Dec 2018, 9:37 pm

That sums up how tight the league is from 3-12. One win and we sit 6th, albeit with fixtures tomorrow.

Anther good performance from Ford. His kicking to touch from pens has impressed me this season, it's a shame the line-out hasn't capitalised on it as it should have.

by Brendan Sat 22 Dec 2018, 11:10 pm

Crisis what crisis.

Well done tigers.

by formerly known as Sam Sun 23 Dec 2018, 10:57 am

I wonder if Eddie was watching that game with interest. Genge Vs Sinckler and Cole Vs Marler at the scrum. Genge Vs Cole seemed to finish on top. I think most England fans would like to see Genge and Sinckler in tandem at some point soon.

by king_carlos Sun 23 Dec 2018, 3:45 pm

Genge's scrummaging often gets overlooked. He really dominates tight-heads. It's no coincidence that Sinckler didn't make as much impact with his carrying after being folded in half for much the game.

Cole is playing his best rugby for 3 or 4 seasons IMO.

With Heyes playing better than the squad props I hope that a few of them are cut next season to bring in higher quality back-up on one side. Simon McIntyre or Paul Hill would be great additions. Feao/Leatigaga (I don't see room for both to be honest) and Bateman can play both sides, then look to Heyes and Grahamslaw to fill out the squad.

by formerly known as Sam Sun 23 Dec 2018, 5:04 pm

I like Fe'ao, I think he's fairly inexpensive but reliable at the scrum and a good carrier. Would be a great carrier if he'd not knock on in the opposition 22. A couple of PI props would work well for us. Our pack doesn't carry well enough and a couple of PI bruisers would help that along. Add Bateman and Heyes and that's six decent props who you could happily rotate.

The PI boys cover both sides so we could release Gigena and Cortes to free up cap.

by Geordie Mon 24 Dec 2018, 12:03 pm

So is Genge the long term England LH?

by formerly known as Sam Mon 24 Dec 2018, 1:31 pm

GeordieFalcon wrote:So is Genge the long term England LH?

Yes. Quite frankly. The lad can scrummage, he has a slight tendency to try and milk the penalty when he should just back his ability. He carries better than most 8s and he's solid round the park and in the tight. Antagonistic as well which you need a bit of up front.

by king_carlos Mon 24 Dec 2018, 2:13 pm

I just hope Gengeys body stands up to being a prop. His recent (and very interesting) rant about the downsides of being a pro rugby player stated he has no cartilage left in his knee. His shoulder injury was nasty as well. Both very tough injuries to keep coming back from if they re-occur.

The only reports of Leatigaga scrummaging aren't promising to be honest. Feao has been a good signing. McKenzie would be a cracking signing IMO.

by formerly known as Sam Mon 24 Dec 2018, 7:25 pm

king_carlos wrote:
The only reports of Leatigaga scrummaging aren't promising to be honest. Feao has been a good signing. McKenzie would be a cracking signing IMO.

Fe'ao was supposed to susceptible to giving penalties away the scrum. Not seen any sign of that. Get Stanko on the case and get them up to AP match fitness should be fine.

by **LondonTiger** Fri 28 Dec 2018, 9:28 am

Injury list mounting. Spencer (knee) and Thompson (hand) will be missing for a few weeks, while the likes of Bateman, Denton, Harrison and Thompstone are still recuperating. Add in long term injuries to Veainu, Smith and Tait and it is to be hoped Manu recovers from his virus.

by king_carlos Fri 28 Dec 2018, 11:14 am

Thompson and Spencer are blows with Denton already out. Got to hope that Genge doesn't get relied on too much as a carrier.

Smurf mentioned in his Merc interview that Denton is back soon which will be a boost. Thompson missing will hurt against Bath though, I'd start two opensides against Louw and Underhill.

1.Genge 2.TPN 3.Cole 4.Williams 5.Wells 6.Fitzgerald 7.Evans 8.O'Connor
9.Youngs 10.Ford 11.May 12.Toomua 13.Manu 14.Holmes 15.Worth

16.Kerr 17.Feao 18.Heyes 19.Kitchener 20.Kalamafoni 21.White 22.Owen 23.Olowofela

by formerly known as Sam Fri 28 Dec 2018, 12:02 pm

Leicester Tigers (v Bath Rugby, away, Sunday 3.00pm)

15 George Worth

14 Jonah Holmes

13 Manu Tuilagi

12 Matt Toomua

11 Jonny May

10 George Ford (c)

9 Ben Youngs

1 Ellis Genge

2 Jake Kerr

3 Dan Cole

4 Harry Wells

5 Graham Kitchener

6 Mike Fitzgerald

7 Brendon O'Connor

8 Sione Kalamafoni

Replacements

16 Tatafu Polota-Nau

17 Campese Ma'afu

18 Joe Heyes

19 Mike Williams

20 Will Evans

21 Ben White

22 Gareth Owen

23 Jordan Olowofela

Still no Fe'ao. Otherwise much as expected. Good to see Kerr rotated in for a game.

by formerly known as Sam Fri 28 Dec 2018, 12:10 pm

Bath Rugby team to face Leicester Tigers

15. James Wilson

14. Semesa Rokoduguni

13. Max Wright

12. Jamie Roberts

11. Ruaridh McConnochie

10. Freddie Burns

9. Will Chudley (co-captain)

1. Nathan Catt

2. Tom Dunn

3. Henry Thomas

4. Matt Garvey (cc)

5. Elliott Stooke

6. Tom Ellis

7. Sam Underhill

8. Francois Louw

Replacements

16. Ross Batty

17. Jacques van Rooyen

18. Max Lahiff

19. Charlie Ewels

20. Zach Mercer

21. Max Green

22. Rhys Priestland

23. Cooper Vuna

by king_carlos Sat 29 Dec 2018, 1:12 pm

Sounds like Varndell is a done deal. If Walker comes in as well then Smurf will have seriously strengthened the back three and added a lot of pace. Both moves that need making.

It will also free Holmes up to play full back whilst TV is out.

11.May, Varndell
14.Sarto, Walker
15.Holmes, Olowofela, Worth

With the current injuries building up that would be some very solid patchwork by the club going into the New Year.

by formerly known as Sam Sat 29 Dec 2018, 1:37 pm

I'd keep Worth at 15 personally. He's looked solid and offers a big boot at the back in the bad weather we're going to see over the next couple of months. Holmes is great on the counter but positionally a little suspect. Worth more reliable under the high ball.

I get see us signing two of the three not all three. Walker might wait until the summer. Sarto and Varndell are currently without a club. Good cover for the 6N when we could see Holmes and May with TV and Thompstone potentially still injured.

by king_carlos Sat 29 Dec 2018, 3:42 pm

Worth could be getting lined up for centre cover. Smith and Tait injured, Manu will be with England if fit, Toomua will likely play a bit of 10 whilst Ford is away. That leaves Eastmond, Owen and Thacker.

by formerly known as Sam Sun 30 Dec 2018, 11:43 am

Very true. He came off the bench and played centre last season a few times towards the end of the campaign. Can't see Thacker getting a look in but wouldn't be surprised to see Hardwick given a go if we're short.

Shame Andre Dunn seems to be no longer in the academy. If he was still ripping it up there was an outside chance of him getting a go at 13.

by king_carlos Sun 30 Dec 2018, 12:39 pm

Visa problems for Dunn at the minute. He's playing club rugby in the area I believe. His brother played for Wasps A-team recently, hopefully Andre comes back into the system once his visa issues are cleared up.

by **George Carlin** Sun 30 Dec 2018, 5:29 pm

Just to give Tigers fans some good news, Sarto was injured a fair bit but was nothing but class when he played for Glasgow and I'm gutted that he left, to be perfectly honest.

by formerly known as Sam Sun 30 Dec 2018, 5:34 pm

George Carlin wrote:Just to give Tigers fans some good news, Sarto was injured a fair bit but was nothing but class when he played for Glasgow and I'm gutted that he left, to be perfectly honest.

I do remember him shredding our defence a couple of seasons back in Europe. Sadly he might find little platform to work from.

by **BigGee** Sun 30 Dec 2018, 5:35 pm

Great to see Leo get another crack. If he can stay fit, he is a fantastic player and will be z great asset.

I bet you got him for a song as well. If he plays and stays fit, he will put himself back in the shop window for next year.

by formerly known as Sam Mon 31 Dec 2018, 12:19 pm

Presumably he was cheap. He must fancy his chance for game time given how young a lot of our back three players are. He's in the A team this afternoon so will see how he gets on.

by formerly known as Sam Mon 31 Dec 2018, 2:34 pm

Sarto sin binned 2 minutes into his A league debut.

More concerning is young Tom Hardwick stretchered off with a nasty head knock. He's being treated by paramedics in an ambulance pitch side.

by TightHEAD Wed 02 Jan 2019, 2:49 pm

What a win for Bath though. Well played lads I don't think we miss Ford anymore.

by king_carlos Wed 02 Jan 2019, 4:05 pm

formerly known as Sam wrote:More concerning is young Tom Hardwick stretchered off with a nasty head knock. He's being treated by paramedics in an ambulance pitch side.

He's been cleared of any serious neck injury, going through HIA protocols. Early reports sounding like it's not nearly as bad as first feared thankfully.

by king_carlos Wed 02 Jan 2019, 4:11 pm

Eastmond is available again for the Gloucs game, guessing he will come onto the bench instead of Owen.

Kalamafoni will miss out due to the HIA and 6 day turnaround.

It would be a timely weekend for Denton to return given he's meant to be close. Expect Feao will come onto the bench after featuring in the A-league.

1.Genge 2.TPN 3.Cole 4.Wells 5.Kitchener 6.Fitzgerald 7.Evans 8.O'Connor
9.Youngs 10.Ford 11.May 12.Toomua 13.Tuilagi 14.Holmes 15.Worth

16.Kerr 17.Feao 18.Heyes 19.Williams 20.Mapapalangi/Denton 21.White 22.Eastmond 23.Olowofela

by formerly known as Sam Wed 02 Jan 2019, 6:03 pm

TightHEAD wrote:What a win for Bath though. Well played lads I don't think we miss Ford anymore.

I'd say you were very much missing him. Third try aside the backline for Bath did very little despite an armchair ride from the Bath backrow (who were unplayable in the first half). Two no show decisions from the TMO let Bath off the hook from a game where all 5 points should have been sorted by half time. Underhill is a massive loss he was playing out of his skin, our backrow only escaped his pocket when he went off injured.

Might be a bonus for us if a MOC/Evans combination is finally given a go. Evans was excellent off the bench Vs Bath and made more metres than most of our starting forwards. Additional breakdown operator can't hurt.

by formerly known as Sam Fri 04 Jan 2019, 12:08 pm

Leicester Tigers (v Gloucester Rugby, Welford Road, Saturday 3.00pm)

15 Jonah Holmes
14 Jonny May
13 Manu Tuilagi
12 Matt Toomua
11 Jordan Olowofela
10 George Ford (c)
9 Ben Youngs
1 Ellis Genge
2 Tatafu Polota-Nau
3 Dan Cole
4 Mike Fitzgerald
5 Graham Kitchener
6 Mike Williams
7 Will Evans
8 Sione Kalamafoni

Replacements

16 Jake Kerr
17 Greg Bateman
18 Joe Heyes
19 Harry Wells
20 Brendon O’Connor
21 Ben White
22 Kyle Eastmond
23 George Worth

Geordie shuffles the team a little. Very attacking back three, Owolofela looked bright when he came on and was attacking off his wing well. Evans also made a good impact so nice to see they are both rewarded with starts. Wells, Kerr, Worth and BOC all rotated to the bench for a rest makes sense. Good to see Bateman back and I like Heyes on the bench he's a decent impact option.

by **LondonTiger** Sun 06 Jan 2019, 10:39 am

In what has been a poor season so far, both in results and performances, that was not only the best performance of the season but the first genuinely good performance. The team were switched on for the full 80 and pretty much everyone raised their performances to match the efforts Ford and Cole have been showing all season. Those 2 then raised the bar again.

The physicality from the likes of Genge and Bateman is not unexpected, but the efforts of Kitch, Williams and Kerr were encouraging. Would be good if we could get some tries from the forwards. Improving the lineout would help.

We need to back this up with a similar performance at Scarlets. The welsh region will surely not be as hopeless as they were at WR and will probably win, but sinking as we make them work for it I will be happy.

by king_carlos Sun 06 Jan 2019, 11:24 am

Kitchener and Williams had their best games for a long time that's for sure. Mostert and Grobler were still the stronger second row (carrying and counter rucking was strong from both) but the gap was smaller than expected and made a difference in the game.

Olowofela had his best game in senior rugby - smart selection from Geordie to move May to the right wing so Olowofela could play in his more familiar position.

Joe Heyes had another strong cameo too. The lad should become one hell of a player.

by formerly known as Sam Sun 06 Jan 2019, 11:27 am

Jake Kerr has been very good every time he has played. Very much looks like one for the future alongside Heyes.

I was also surprised to see such performances from Williams, Kitch and to a lesser extent Fitzgerald. Really improved performances. If we can take that to Wales and perform well against the Scarlets and then against Ulster at WR the confidence will continue to grow and we'll have a field good factor heading into the 6N period where our backline will be called up almost wholesale.

by Gooseberry Mon 07 Jan 2019, 8:37 am

Much more like it from Tigers. Its the sort of performance and result we should expect when you look at the quality of the side they were able to field against a pretty average Gloucester side, but in terms of the way the seasons gone so far a big step up.
Despite still having a horrible overall record, and still the worst defence in the league, they are close to the playoffs thanks to a large number of bonus points. It would be a heck of thing to make them from the state theyve been in and really very important to the image of the club. Theres also still the danger they could end up outside the European qualification spots, so this upturn is vital for the future of the club.

by **LondonTiger** Wed 09 Jan 2019, 7:04 pm

Phil Blake confirmed as new defence coach. He was with us for the 14/15 season where we conceded the least tries in the League. ( It should be noted though that only LW scored less).

If he can continue the work that seems to have started with the defence (and avoid the bookies of course) it should see a marked improvement. What worries me is that we try to implement a complete new system mid season and see the tries conceded shoot up again as the players struggle to adapt.

by formerly known as Sam Wed 09 Jan 2019, 8:39 pm

I suspect he has been providing analysis and tweaking our defence over the last couple of weeks whilst we've waited for his visa to come through. He's an experienced enough coach to know what he can tweak in the short term. He's surely not stupid enough to scrap the current strategy that's finally starting to work and trying to implement something completely new at a time when our internationals will be off on 6N duty.

by **LondonTiger** Wed 09 Jan 2019, 9:32 pm

formerly known as Sam wrote:I suspect he has been providing analysis and tweaking our defence over the last couple of weeks whilst we've waited for his visa to come through. He's an experienced enough coach to know what he can tweak in the short term. He's surely not stupid enough to scrap the current strategy that's finally starting to work and trying to implement something completely new at a time when our internationals will be off on 6N duty.

I suspect you are right.

by formerly known as Sam Wed 09 Jan 2019, 10:01 pm

Good to hear Denton is back in training and could be back for the Ulster game.

Jimmy Stevens could be back for this weekend where we are rotating some of the squad in order to give some of those that have "bumps and bruises" a break.

by **LondonTiger** Thu 10 Jan 2019, 7:12 am

Genge, TPN, Cole and Kalamafoni all need or deserve a break.

Ford and possibly Lenny and Manu may be due rests according to the England protocols

by formerly known as Sam Thu 10 Jan 2019, 12:12 pm

Genge hasn't been back that long but with Bateman needing game time I'd expect Bateman to start and Genge be on the bench. Cole and Kalamafoni to get a rest, if we have enough backrow players to facilitate that. Forwards of Bateman, Kerr, Cortes, Fitzgerald, Kitchener, Williams, Evans, BOC. Stevens and Heyes on the bench maybe Fe'ao will make a return instead of Genge. Lock and backrow will be a case of whomever is still standing and registered for Europe.

I'd expect to see a backline of something like White, Toomua, Owolofela, Eastmond, Owen, Holmes, Worth. As Manu isn't in the EPS we don't have to rest him but we may put him on the bench just to give him a bit of a rest. Given that Thompstone, TV and Hardwick are likely to be out and Sarto and Varndell aren't registered our options might be a bit slim. Harrison to return to the bench hopefully.

by **LondonTiger** Thu 10 Jan 2019, 12:23 pm

Genge has not been back long, but having been out for quite some time I feel they would have wanted to ease him in a bit more than they have - much due to Bateman's injury.

Mercury suggesting Toomua may be one who has a slight knock.

by king_carlos Thu 10 Jan 2019, 3:36 pm

I'd happily see Heyes start this weekend. The kid has really impressed and a European start would be a good way to reward the youngster.

Tommy Reffell is ready if required as well but may not be needed if Denton is back.

Hoping Toomua is fit I'd be very happy to see:

1.Bateman 2.Kerr 3.Heyes 4.Fitzgerald 5.Kitchener 6.Williams 7.Evans 8.BOC
9.White 10.Toomua 11.Olowofela 12.Eastmond 13.Tuilagi 14.Holmes 15.Worth

16.TPN 17.Genge 18.Cole 19.Wells 20.Denton/Reffell 21.Youngs 22.G Ford 23.Aspland-Robinson

If Shazam is back then it would be a good chance to get him game time and Lenny a break.

by formerly known as Sam Thu 10 Jan 2019, 7:03 pm

Denton not ready for this weekend according to Geordan, maybe next. Don't want him back too soon otherwise Scotland will come calling.

by formerly known as Sam Fri 11 Jan 2019, 12:02 pm

Leicester Tigers (v Scarlets, away, Saturday 5.30pm)

15 George Worth

14 Jonah Holmes

13 Gareth Owen

12 Kyle Eastmond

11 Jordan Olowofela

10 Matt Toomua (c)

9 Ben White

1 Greg Bateman

2 Jake Kerr

3 Joe Heyes

4 Harry Wells

5 Graham Kitchener

6 Mike Williams

7 Will Evans

8 Valentino Mapapalangi

Replacements

16 Ross McMillan

17 Facundo Gigena

18 David Feao

19 Mike Fitzgerald

20 Brendon O’Connor

21 Ben Youngs

22 Joe Ford

23 Sam Aspland-Robinson

by **LondonTiger** Fri 11 Jan 2019, 12:34 pm

SCARLETS

15. Johnny McNicholl,
14. Paul Asquith,
13. Kieron Fonotia,
12. Hadleigh Parkes,
11. Steff Evans,
10. Dan Jones,
9. Gareth Davies,
1. Rob Evans,
2. Ryan Elias,
3. Samson Lee,
4. Joshua Helps,
5. David Bulbring,
6. Ed Kennedy,
7. Dan Davis,
8. Ken Owens (c).

Replacements:

16. Marc Jones,
17. Wyn Jones,
18. Simon Gardiner,
19. Tom Price,
20. Joshua Macleod,
21. Kieran Hardy,
22. Steff Hughes,
23. Ioan Nicholas,

by formerly known as Sam Fri 11 Jan 2019, 12:42 pm

Backrow looks short on options for the Scarlets but outside of that they look pretty strong. Probably too strong for us as we are resting quite a few big names for this one.

Worrying that Harrison hasn't recovered yet and even more worrying is that Joe Ford might actually take to the field.

by **LondonTiger** Fri 11 Jan 2019, 12:58 pm

Got to admit there are a fair few names I do not know in the Scarlets lineup. That Owens is at 8 shows the back row issues they have, however as you say Sam we are resting a lot.

Scarlets must be better than when they came to us, but hopefully we can put up a good fight. This will be a good test for young Heyes but if he performs well against an international front row it will be a good marker for the future.

by formerly known as Sam Fri 11 Jan 2019, 2:11 pm

I recognise more than I thought I would. The backline are all names I know and half the pack. Bench I don't know so they might face as they did at Welford Rd. If they get ball they could cause us problems.

If Heyes can do a job at scrum time here it's imperative we get him on a long term contract.

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