Gallagher Premiership Round 13, 14, 15 & 16

First topic message reminder :

Friday 8th March


19:45 Bath v Saracens BT Sport
19:45 Sale v Leicester


Saturday 9th March


14:00 Wasps v Newcastle
14:45 Northampton v Bristol
15:00 Worcester v Exeter


Sunday 10th March


13:00 Harlequins v Gloucester BT Sport

Season decider......

Newcastle Falcons team to face Worcester Warriors (Sunday, 3pm, Kingston Park Stadium)

15 Simon Hammersley
14 Zach Kibirige
13 Chris Harris
12 Johnny Williams
11 Sinoti Sinoti
10 Toby Flood
9 Sonatane Takulua

1 Sam Lockwood
2 George McGuigan
3 Logovi'i Mulipola
4 Calum Green
5 Andrew Davidson
6 Will Welch (captain)
7 Gary Graham
8 Callum Chick

Replacements
16 Kyle Cooper
17 Adam Brocklebank
18 David Wilson
19 Will Witty
20 Nemani Nagusa
21 Sam Stuart
22 Brett Connon
23 Josh Matavesi

Referee: Wayne Barnes

Warriors
15 Chris Pennell
14 Bryce Heem
13 Francois Venter
12 Ryan Mills (C)
11 Tom Howe
10 Duncan Weir
9 Francois Hougaard

1 Ethan Waller
2 Jack Singleton
3 Nick Schonert
4 Anton Bresler
5 Michael Fatialofa
6 Ted Hill
7 Sam Lewis
8 Marco Mama

Replacements
16 Isaac Miller
17 Callum Black
18 Gareth Milasinovich
19 Pierce Phillips
20 Matt Cox
21 Michael Heaney
22 Jono Lance
23 Ollie Lawrence

We had a really low quality game with Wuss last week. That looks largely the same side so every chance for a Falcons win.


Really worried about the Leicester game, other than issues at 10 Wasps look strong, we look weak on paper and so far we have been even worse on the pitch. While the pack looks largely decent - so hop they will rouse themselves, the back line is shockingly poor.

We were hardly inspiring ourselves LT...

Hmm, it doesn't look good for us. I presume Hardwick and Owolofela have got knocks. Be odd to drop them. I hoped we'd seen the last of Joe Ford at 10 but here we are again.

My optimism from yesterday has evaporated seeing the two sides.

I was hopeful until seeing the issues at 10. It sums up Tigers season that in a game where Wasps are fielding a full back at fly-half, that he will be challenged by Joe Ford. Not a slight on selection as George, Toomua and Hardwick being unavailable make it necessary but it's so typical that it's happened at this point.

10.J Ford
12.Eastmond
13.Owen

That's the weakest midfield I've seen Tigers field for a Prem game in many years. A nice sequel to last weeks worst back row Tigers have fielded for years.

With Saints away to Sarries it's a good chance for Wasps to regain a playoff place. This could be another tough one to watch.

formerly known as Sam wrote:Hmm, it doesn't look good for us. I presume Hardwick and Owolofela have got knocks. Be odd to drop them. I hoped we'd seen the last of Joe Ford at 10 but here we are again.

With just two backs on the bench we have to think they are not fit. Only, tiny, hope is that Wasps are also down to their 4th choice 10.

Rob Miller is an underrated player. I'd be happy if he joined Tigers for next season. I'd also be surprised if he stayed at Wasps, he's good enough to be playing more rugby then he has this season.

Would we be better if Joe Ford pulled up in the warm up? Move Worth to 10 SAR to 15 and Sarto onto the wing? Kicking percentage wouldn't be as good but defence and attacking intent would be. Might see a late call up for Costelow as well.

Miller is a much better FB though, imo.

He is but Miller is a bit like Goode in that his kicking game and passing skills allow him to move to 10 without much difficulty. He's always been decent in front of goal as well. He might not have the vision of a natural 10 and hasn't played much this season so we should be looking to block off his wide options by getting into his eye line on the outside and applying plenty of early pressure.

Wasps have been very lucky with the number of penalties they've conceded. Yellow could have easily come before now.

Tigers defence has been a bit dodgy and the breakdown work has been an invitation for Wasps to slow the ball down or force turnovers.

Wasps have only had two real attacks. The 70m run in from Watson was both very impressive but head banging against wall frustrating as a Tigers fan.

Tigers have lost both 9s and have a flanker in the backs as a result.

We have been poor. 4 penalties for high tackles, 2 offsides within 5m of line could easily have led to a yellow or two.

Jonah Holmes at scrum half and Will Evans in the centre could be interesting.

The two mauls pre Tigers tries should have both seen yellow cards. Had Taylor not just gone to the bin I think they would have done.

Much needed win in the end.

Best game from Joe Ford in a Tigers shirt.

Just watched the Tigers Wasps game, massive amount of errors by both sides, but very entertaining for the neutral. I have not seen much of Jack Willis before, but now I can see where the hype comes from. He looks strong in every area, probably more of a ground hog than either Underhill or Curry, looks a bit heavier as well.

I could easily see him with Underhill or Curry playing  6 & 7 with the unlucky on the bench, he seems to have the frame to make 8 an option as well.

WTFlyingF happened today.

That Wasps were unable to score in that second half is really rather appalling. While it was the best I have seen him play, and he was easily the best players on the pitch, Joe Ford winning MotM is a very good indicator on the quality of the game.

Anyone heard anything about ringfencing?

I've heard a couple of mutters....

LondonTiger wrote:WTFlyingF happened today.

That Wasps were unable to score in that second half is really rather appalling. While it was the best I have seen him play, and he was easily the best players on the pitch, Joe Ford winning MotM is a very good indicator on the quality of the game.

Tigers got very lucky with the lack of camera angles

Very lucky indeed although wasps need better discipline uf they are going to win games.

nathan wrote:Very lucky indeed although wasps need better discipline uf they are going to win games.

They need to improve so much if they are to mount t a top 4 challenge. With the issues we were having they should have been scoring tries for fun. As it was s mix of continued penalty offences and shocking passing allowed us to keep our heads above water. Even then by buggering up that last lineout we gave them one more chance. We may well have gotten lucky at the end, but Wasps could have been out of sight if they had played with any cohesion.

No idea how Tigers won that game. One of the lowest quality displays of Prem rugby this season.

A significant win for Tigers season. That places Tigers 1 point of the top 6 instead of separated at the bottom.

Sale (A), Saints (H), Chiefs (H), Falcons (A), Bristol (H), Quins (A), Bath (H)

Tigers are playing pish rugby but the opportunity for a late surge is there with that run in.

I would like us to win at least 4 of those, but finish 7th and miss out on the Champions Cup. Then we can properly look to rebuild rather than trying to apply sticking plasters to severed limbs.

GeordieFalcon wrote:Anyone heard anything about ringfencing?

I've heard a couple of mutters....

Other than Falcons making noises no.

king_carlos wrote:No idea how Tigers won that game. One of the lowest quality displays of Prem rugby this season.

A significant win for Tigers season. That places Tigers 1 point of the top 6 instead of separated at the bottom.

Sale (A), Saints (H), Chiefs (H), Falcons (A), Bristol (H), Quins (A), Bath (H)

Tigers are playing pish rugby but the opportunity for a late surge is there with that run in.

Well good luck in the rest, but there is one I hope you don't win, but I can see you struggling with Chiefs. Sale and Quins as well.

I can see us struggling with all of them personally. If we can hammer Bath and Saints and scrape a win against Bristol then I'm fine with the other results coming as they do.

If we could scrape into sixth though that would be handy for our budget next season. By the looks of things there will be a full clear out in the summer with a number of players moved on and we'll need the cash to replace them.

Some good stuff from Falcons, and Flood looks like he has finally lost the lbs he put on while in France.

Wuss looking very poor unfortunately.

Let’s hope the replacements can change things.

Falcons look hugely committed and are coming off best in the collisions and defence.

And everything....

Congratulations to Falcons, by far the better team won.

Wuss need to do much better.

That weekends results make the table even more interesting than before. It's lining up to be a thrilling end to the regular season.

king_carlos wrote:That weekends results make the table even more interesting than before. It's lining up to be a thrilling end to the regular season.

It's a really close lower half of the table, especially with the way the remaining fixtures fall, but it's unusual to have the top 4 this far clear this early.

Great to see Dombrandt score again, the Dominator just can't stop winning at the moment. So much winning, all the win.

yappysnap wrote:Great to see Dombrandt score again, the Dominator just can't stop winning at the moment. So much winning, all the win.

Winning Bigly? Most winningest ever?

I see sarries are being investigated again over how they pay there players.

So frustrating being a wasps supporter. Our high tempo game is off the boil. Stars we signed are pap and as for defence forget it. Can't wait to finish this season as hopefully a decent off season with players who actually want to be there might get that spark back. As for saracens and salary cap

LondonTiger wrote:

yappysnap wrote:Great to see Dombrandt score again, the Dominator just can't stop winning at the moment. So much winning, all the win.

Winning Bigly? Most winningest ever?

The best wins

OP updated with this weeks fixtures.

I can see Saracens coming a cropper again on the road and Exeter building a good lead at the top of the table. Newcastle will, despite Wasps recent woes, need to play well if they are to take any advantage of Exeter probably beating Worcester.

Most interesting game at the Stoop on Sunday. A quins win will open up the fight for 4th place and leave teh home team with one foot in the playoffs.

Leicester Tigers (v Sale Sharks, away, Friday 8.00pm)

15 Jonah Holmes
14 Leonardo Sarto
13 George Worth
12 Kyle Eastmond
11 Sam Aspland-Robinson
10 Joe Ford
9 Harry Simmons
1 Facundo Gigena
2 Tom Youngs (c)
3 Joe Heyes
4 Will Spencer
5 Graham Kitchener
6 Mike Williams
7 Guy Thompson
8 Sione Kalamafoni

Replacements
16 Jake Kerr
17 Campese Ma’afu
18 David Feao
19 Harry Wells
20 Will Evans
21 Sam Lewis
22 Tom Hardwick
23 Jordan Olowofela

Sale Sharks: 15 Luke James; 14 Denny Solomona, 13 James O’Connor, 12 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 11 Arron Reed; 10 Sam James, 9 Faf de Klerk; 1 Valery Morozov, 2 Rob Webber, 3 WillGriff John, 4 Bryn Evans, 5 James Phillips, 6 Jono Ross (c), 7 Ben Curry, 8 Josh Beaumont.

Replacements: 16 Curtis Langdon, 17 Tom Bristow, 18 James Jones, 19 Matt Postlethwaite, 20 Cameron Neild, 21 Gus Warr, 22 Cameron Redpath, 23 Paolo Odogwu

Oh dear. The injuries have taken their toll. Need Joe Ford to again play out of his skin and hope for no more injuries. If the forwards turn up and play hard like last weekend we might stand a chance.

At least the young lads are getting more game time.

That Sale backline though .

A big challenge for Harry Simmons coming back from a long term lay-off to play 80 minutes against Faf de Klerk.

I like the look of Tigers back three and interested to see how Worth does at 13. He has stepped up in recent weeks at 15 but I do wonder if 13 could be his best position.

If Sale get front foot ball then Rohan Janse van Rensburg will challenge Eastmond in defence.

I don't know why we haven't at least given ourselves the option of an academy 9 on the bench. Holmes passing was decent last weekend but his kicking was non existent and Ford ended up at the base instead of organising play and we lost all game management because of it in the second half. The only difference this week is that if that happens we can bring on Hardwick at 12 and use his boot as an alternative so that it's not as blatantly obvious where our one kicking option is.

Sam Lewis is a bit like the forgotten man of his development squad. Not seen anything of him whilst White, Hardwick, Heyes, Kerr and Owolofela have all been in and around the first team. He's mobile and good in the lineout, I wonder if he's bulked up enough to step into senior rugby yet as when he appeared earlier in the season the sleeves on his shirt were flapping around which certainly isn't the case for any other senior second row in the league.

I rate Lewis, think he will be a good addition to the squad next season. You could argue that he hasn't featured less than the development boys do but others have played more under Smurf - a very good thing IMO. He's featured the least along with Grahamslaw (who is out injured now sadly) and Mahoney (who I believe has had injury problems all season?) form that year group though I believe.

Jonny Law would be the next 9 in the line - he featured in a Prem Cup game - I'd guess that the coaches have simply decided it's not worth the risk for him yet. Probably a similar conversation to Costelow last week when we had no real 10 cover.

If the Tigers lineout doesn't fire here then I'll despair. Youngs has thrown well since returning, Spencer and Kitchener are together as jumping options. Beaumont is a terrific jumper but Jono Ross has been Sale's main target this season. Tigers really need the second row to have a good game.

With our five lineout options including four who can and have played lock at this level we really should be targeting the lineout. Our front row should be looking to have a crack at the Sale scrum as well.

Really we need to keep the ball away from their backline. The forwards on our bench are better than the forwards on theirs and we have one more. Go hard and go high tempo up front and out them under lots of pressure. Their pack is good but as they tire we should be able to refresh and go again where they will hopefully struggle.

True with Law. I didn't see the prem cup game but if the coaches have decided he struggled at that level it might be best to give him some more development time.

It'd be great to get the win v Glos. Usually these are really entertaining games too so let's hope this one lives up to that.

Wasps v Falcons teams

Wasps:

15 Willie Le Roux (49)
14 Marcus Watson (22)
13 Juan de Jongh (42)
12 Gaby Lovobalavu (28)
11 Josh Bassett (98)
10 Rob Miller (97)
9 Joe Simpson (250)
1 Ben Harris (41)
2 Tommy Taylor (45)
3 Will Stuart (29)
4 Will Rowlands (69)
5 James Gaskell (103)
6 Ashley Johnson (c) (180)
7 Jack Willis (35)
8 Nizaam Carr (30)

Replacements
16 Tom Cruse (56)
17 Tom West (12)
18 Biyi Alo (1)
19 Charlie Matthews (12)
20 Ben Morris (14)
21 Craig Hampson (29)
22 Jacob Umaga (7)
23 Ross Neal (10)

Falcons

15 Simon Hammersley - 100th game for us
14 Zach Kibirige
13 Johnny Williams
12 Josh Matavesi
11 Sinoti Sinoti
10 Toby Flood
9 Sonatane Takulua

1 Sam Lockwood
2 George McGuigan
3 Logovi'i Mulipola
4 Calum Green
5 Andrew Davidson
6 Will Welch (captain)
7 Gary Graham
8 Callum Chick

Replacements
16 Kyle Cooper
17 Adam Brocklebank
18 David Wilson
19 Evan Olmstead
20 Nemani Nagusa
21 Sam Stuart
22 Brett Connon
23 Pedro Bettencourt

Based on those lineups, Falcons have a real chance.

LondonTiger wrote:Based on those lineups, Falcons have a real chance.

Got potential to be a very close game.

From a Wasps perspective, it's great to see Jack Willis starting for us again, although it probably would have been at 6 but for last week's injury to Thomas Young.

I think Flood has the upper hand over Miller at stand-off, Miller being, what, our fourth choice behind our injuries (Searle, Sopoaga, Gopperth...), but that aside it's pretty even. We need WLR to have one of his good games in both attack *and* defence, the latter being less of a frequent occurrence of late.

Obviously hoping for a Wasps win, but good hunting to both sides.

The key aspect is that we're actually fielding a pretty settled team for the first time this season almost.

I think the pack is now unchanged for 3 games running ( I may be wrong) . That was one of our keys last season, we were a drilled unit, difficult to beat.

We haven't had that this season due to appaliing levels of injuries.

Matavesi needs a big game. When he does, we look a better side.

GeordieFalcon wrote:The key aspect is that we're actually fielding a pretty settled team for the first time this season almost.

I think the pack is now unchanged for 3 games running ( I may be wrong) . That was one of our keys last season, we were a drilled unit, difficult to beat.

We haven't had that this season due to appaliing levels of injuries.

Matavesi needs a big game. When he does, we look a better side.

Haha, luxury

We're still picking up injuries, and with the internationals being away, and some injury returns... I can't think of the last time we put out anything resembling the same side week on week.

You're right though, continuity makes a difference.

We're on bad run - probably one of the best teams to be playing against at the moment.

Tigers lose another player before kick off with in form utility back George Worth being replaced by Owolofela. Academy prospect Freddie Steward coming onto the bench.