Gallagher Prem - Round 9

Friday
Quins v Exeter

Sat
Bristol v Leicester
Gloucester v Worcester
Northampton v Newcastle
Saracens v Wasps

Sun
Bath v Sale

Teams for Falcons and Saints

15 Simon Hammersley
14 Vereniki Goneva
13 Chris Harris
12 Johnny Williams
11 Sinoti Sinoti
10 Toby Flood (captain)
9 Sam Stuart

1 Sam Lockwood
2 Kyle Cooper
3 David Wilson
4 Calum Green
5 Sean Robinson
6 Mark Wilson
7 John Hardie
8 Nemani Nagusa

Replacements

16 George McGuigan
17 Adam Brocklebank
18 Logovi'i Mulipola
19 Andrew Davidson
20 Gary Graham
21 Sonatane Takulua
22 Brett Connon
23 Pedro Bettencourt

Saints

15 Ahsee Tuala
14 Andrew Kellaway
13 Fraser Dingwall
12 Piers Francis
11 Taqele Naiyaravoro
10 Dan Biggar
9 Cobus Reinach

1 Alex Waller (co-capt)
2 Dylan Hartley (co-capt)
3 Paul Hill
4 David Ribbans
5 Courtney Lawes
6 Jamie Gibson
7 Lewis Ludlam
8 Teimana Harrison

Replacements

16 Reece Marshall
17 Francois Van Wyk
18 Ben Franks
19 Api Ratuniyarawa
20 Mitch Eadie
21 Alex Mitchell
22 Luther Burrell
23 Ollie Sleightholme

Glaws:
15. Jason Woodward; 14. Charlie Sharples, 13. Billy Twelvetrees, 12. Owen Williams, 11. Ollie Thorley; 10. Danny Cipriani, 9. Willi Heinz (capt); 1. Josh Hohneck, 2. James Hanson, 3. Fraser Balmain; 4. Tom Savage, 5. Ed Slater; 6. Freddie Clarke, 7. Jaco Kriel, 8. Ben Morgan

Replacements:

16. Jaco Visagie, 17. Val Rapava Ruskin, 18. Ciaran Knight, 19. Franco Mostert, 20. Jake Polledri, 21. Callum Braley, 22. Henry Trinder, 23. Tom Hudson

Wuss
15 Chris Pennell
14 Bryce Heem
13 Francois Venter
12 Ryan Mills
11 Josh Adams
10 Duncan Weir
9 Michael Heaney
1 Callum Black
2 Jack Singleton
3 Nick Schonert
4 Anton Bresler
5 Pierce Phillips
6 Ted Hill
7 Matti Williams
8 GJ van Velze (c)

Replacements
16 Niall Annett
17 Ethan Waller
18 Gareth Milasinovich
19 Darren Barry
20 Matt Cox
21 Jonny Arr
22 Jamie Shillcock
23 Wynand Olivier

Delighted to welcome Franco Mostert who should prove to be immense. A sell out crowd is expected and hopefully a humdinger of a game.

That Ollie Thorley looks like he could be a bit special HK...?

I see a few Glaws fans have already noticed similarities to one of my favourite players of all time...mr Simpson Daniel.

CHIEFS SIDE TO FACE HARLEQUINS

15 Phil Dollman
14 Tom O’Flaherty
13 Ian Whitten
12 Sam Hill
11 Alex Cuthbert
10 Joe Simmonds
9 Nic White
1 Moray Low
2 Jack Yeandle (capt)
3 Greg Holmes
4 Mitch Lees
5 Dave Dennis
6 Dave Ewers
7 Don Armand
8 Matt Kvesic

16 Elvis Taione
17 Billy Keast
18 Marcus Street
19 Ollie Atkins
20 Tom Lawday
21 Jack Maunder
22 Gareth Steenson
23 Ollie Devoto

Geordie, I think their main similarity is they get injured!!

Thorley has improved enormously in the last year. He always looked dangerous, but he would aim to run through players. He is now running into space, holding the ball in two arms and changing his pace. I do think he has huge potential, but I've not bought into the similarities others have flagged with Sinbad. This isn't a slight on Thorley, more just a reference that Sinbad was a one off. He had such a low centre of gravity that he could just glide through people, but more importantly you could tell he spent his early life at FH as his skillset was far beyond that of an average winger - his lovely pop pass dummy that he sold to Lomu et al was just a thing of beauty.

Ah im with you...Sinbad should have been one of Englands greatest ever players I honestly think he was that good. But that's another story that's been covered many times before.

Well I will watch his development with interest.

'Oliver Andromeda Thorley'. Has someone edited his wiki page or did his parents have an interest in strange names?

Very entertaining game this evening, but I'm increasingly bored of players like Danny Care trying to con cheap penalties - in such a circumstance, the one trying to con should be penalised - and the creeping levels of dissent in the game.

Great win for Quins, dont think anyone saw it coming tbh. Looks like another up down season.

I don't know how the lads did it , 10th min of injury time (I would have been fuming if it had been the other way around!), but it was a very important win for Falcons.  We were almost adrift at the bottom, we are now one win from 6th place!  It is a crazily tight league this season!  Very exciting.

Wow...we won. Unreal

Well done lads !!

Wow just seen the Bristol v Leicester score....ouch.

Harry Thacker is on fire at the moment.

Going back 6 seasons to 2012-13 the most points a relegated side has had is 23 (London Welsh in the 2012-13 season). 2011-12 prior to that saw Falcons relegated with 32 points.

With Bath vs Sale still to finish (0-0 at HT) the Prem sees 7 teams sitting between 18 and 14 points in the table.

Either one or two clubs are going to drop off dramatically or we are going to see a side relegated with a significant points total come the end of the season.

I am still trying to get my head around how Eastmond managed to get sent off for a high tackle?

Is madigan particularly short or something?

lostinwales wrote:I am still trying to get my head around how Eastmond managed to get sent off for a high tackle?

Is madigan particularly short or something?

He ducked a bit into contact and Eastmond made virtually no effort to dip his shoulder.

lostinwales wrote:I am still trying to get my head around how Eastmond managed to get sent off for a high tackle?

Is madigan particularly short or something?

It is because we have got to the ridiculous position where intent counts for nothing. Just happen to be standing where another player jumps and you could end up with a red card. Attempt to punch a player and miss nd you are likely to receive no punishment. The current system goes against al the tenets of justice.


What makes it even more ridiculous is that if players do tackle much lower the increased risk to the tackler means the overall injury rate is liable to be even higher

lostinwales wrote:I am still trying to get my head around how Eastmond managed to get sent off for a high tackle?

Is madigan particularly short or something?

Fully deserved red card, and not the first time for Eastmond. Last season for Wasps he was cited twice in one game for challenges somehow missed by the officials and got two bans. Being little I feel he is trying too hard to put in a big hit.

Not that it matters but neither tackle was missed by the officials. The TMO was looking at the first tackle whilst play continued then Eastmond put in an even worse hit on Smith. Barnes immediately blew his whistle, both tackles were looked at and Kyle red carded. Well, that's if you meant the game against Quins. It wouldn't surprise me if there was another game I'm forgetting about where he put in 2 red card tackles.

Agree entirely with the main point of your post though, he seems to be trying too hard to compensate for his size. His tackles are much worse than the one that saw Spencer banned as he actively drives his shoulder up, almost jumping into it.

Fuzzy,

It may well be my memory that is failing not yours.

Duty281 wrote:Very entertaining game this evening, but I'm increasingly bored of players like Danny Care trying to con cheap penalties - in such a circumstance, the one trying to con should be penalised - and the creeping levels of dissent in the game.

Well, Ian Tempest agreed with you - he marched Quins back 10 for dissent twice, and in his distaste for Care's reaction didn't give two penalties that Ben Kay (usually an accurate and pretty unbiased observer) was adamant were clear penalties in favour of Quins.

I'm not sure what Care should have done differently, though. In one incident Armand stuck his head in the path of Care's pass from an offside position, in another the Exeter player rolled away from the ruck into Care's legs (and there was a third where he was tackled while trying to pick up the ball, but that was more marginal because arguably the ruck had ended). His exaggerated response was a bit annoying, but on the other hand it looked to me as if Exeter had been encroaching further and further over the line into harrassing the scrum half and he was getting no protection from the ref. The Laws don't strictly protect the 9, but it's been best practice for over a decade (literally - it's in Ed Morrison's Better Rugby Refereeing, Pub 2007) to give the scrum half protection to get the ball away so that the game can flow.

If the ref's not doing that, the scrummy is going to get his knickers in a twist - though it does seem to happen to Care more often than most. I can remember a game where he reached in to pick the ball up from a ruck on the goal line and was tackled before he'd even touched it. The ref on the day waved play on, declaring "There's no law against tackling the scrum half" while forgetting that there most definitely is a law against tackling the man without the ball...