Gallagher Premiership 2020/21

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That's not a high tackle. Heyes initial contact is the chest. If you're going to review it, review it properly. It's a legal tackle.

How did the assistant miss that the LI player knocks the ball out of JVP's hands and into touch before the Joseph break. It was right in front of him FFS. Lineout Tigers.

Anyway, Tigers blow what should have been a straightforward win and only get 4 instead of 5 points. LI manage to snatch 2 league points with a TBP at the death. Probably a fair result as LI were the better side in the first half but didn't really show up in the second. Hassell-Collins is looking like a really classy player, shame Parton went off.

scrums are a mess

Since going back into camp for the Six Nations Ford has shown the worst form I've seen from him since his final year at Bath. He's been consistently very good for a long time until the last two months.

The Tigers defence is quickly winning us the ball back each time we lose it thankfully.

king_carlos wrote:Since going back into camp for the Six Nations Ford has shown the worst form I've seen from him since his final year at Bath. He's been consistently very good for a long time until the last two months.

The Tigers defence is quickly winning us the ball back each time we lose it thankfully.

wouldn't say he's having the worst game today although his kicking hasn't been great, but the conditions aren't great for it.

Why is that Joker Eddie Jones there?

Other than one absolutely fantastic kick into the wind he's been way off his best IMO. Tough conditions though agreed. I'm a big Ford fan but just think he's off his best at the minute.

Dan Kelly has been superb so far. With Scott and Taute fit he may still be first choice with this form.

TightHEAD wrote:Why is that Joker Eddie Jones there?

Watching the younger players i guess, Steward?

That kick from Ford would have got Eddie excited.

Make that a second good kick from Ford. Those spiral bombs are a weapon.

That's a ridiculous yellow

king_carlos wrote:Other than one absolutely fantastic kick into the wind he's been way off his best IMO. Tough conditions though agreed. I'm a big Ford fan but just think he's off his best at the minute.

Dan Kelly has been superb so far. With Scott and Taute fit he may still be first choice with this form.

True.

OUt of interest, how much time has he played in this new SB team? well, since the forwards have started to perform better?

TightHEAD wrote:That's a ridiculous yellow

It was number of pens and the player didn't even show any attempt to roll away. At least get a bit of rugby league type rolling.

Can see Newcastle coming out in the second half a completely different team after the hairdryer treatment from Dean Richards

Not a huge amount since the improvements from the forwards due to the England bubbles, nathan. He was involved after the restart but Tigers selections there meant it was largely a preseason to be honest.

I'm hoping we see Martin and JvP fairly early in the second half.

king_carlos wrote:Not a huge amount since the improvements from the forwards due to the England bubbles, nathan. He was involved after the restart but Tigers selections there meant it was largely a preseason to be honest.

I'm hoping we see Martin and JvP fairly early in the second half.

ah cool, fingers crossed he can gain his confidence with a platform in front of him

Yeah RW hasn't been great so far, although it depends what type of game we are aiming to play - kicking, then stick with RW, running go with JvP.

Having said that, i haven't seen much of JvP to say his kicking is weaker than RW.

JvP has got a big boot on him for a scrum-half so he hangs some good height on his box kicks. He's only young but a lot to like in him as a young 9 so far.

Good to see you back by the way nathan!

king_carlos wrote:Other than one absolutely fantastic kick into the wind he's been way off his best IMO. Tough conditions though agreed. I'm a big Ford fan but just think he's off his best at the minute.

Dan Kelly has been superb so far. With Scott and Taute fit he may still be first choice with this form.

Two defence splitting passes and his kicking has kept Falcons in their half of the field for most of the game. He's not at his best but then he's barely trained with the side nor played with that backline.

Wiese once again.....

If Wiese had a thought it would die of loneliness.

Having just finished a four game ban for something similar you'd have really thought he'd have worked hard to change his behaviour. Having said that it wasn't dangerous so a bit of an unnecessary yellow card, a penalty would have probably sufficed. If it was a back rather than a number 8 with Weise's record it wouldn't have been looked at.

How Tigers haven't finished this game I don't know. Falcons have given away so many penalties and could have conceded more because of their refusal to roll away.

It's not grounded....

Is Dickson blind

That's a yellow card but there's been about a dozen of those type of tackles not even penalised. Dickson wasn't so quick to brandish the yellow cards for Falcons 50 minutes of infringements. That been said the Tigers defence looks ropey.

36 phases to score a try...that shouldn't have been given.
Sums us up

GeordieFalcon wrote:It's not grounded....

Is Dickson blind

He's just not very good. The frustrating thing is we had a Championship ref a couple of weeks ago that was excellent. Let the game flow really well. Light-years ahead of Dickson but because Dickson is an ex player he gets all these games an opportunities to be rank average.

Dickson is just an awful ref...

I really like the look of Stevenson. Impresses me every time I've seen him.

And he gives a pen as I type that. It still stands!

I'm confused - apart from the hand under the ball was the player the rear-most player in the ruck or not?

Passman finally makes his bow

And the soon to be new England full back scores

Get JVP in the red zone and he's got the tempo in the pass to make the difference that Wigglesworth couldn't find in the first half.

Wow two players run into each other that's now foul play.

Guess he doesn't

Dickson you spinless you can't see it, you've said you can't see anything in it but you've put the decision purely on the TMO. Waste of space, go and learn in the Championship.

Well taken try

GeordieFalcon wrote:Well taken try

Two of them. Lovely driving maul from Tigers and then that tap and go from Stuart is brilliant quick thinking.

Good win, Dickson is awful.

Didn't want to overall the silly two's decision to rule out the try. Spinless, he's in charge

Happy to get the win but not a great game from either team or the official to be honest.

TMO was poor too.

king_carlos wrote:Happy to get the win but not a great game from either team or the official to be honest.

Agreed, scrappy throughout. A game kept threatening to break out. Ford's control and kicking off the tee maybe the difference, well that and Tigers ability to turn scrums into penalties.

What REALLY annoys me is that Dean has now stated that we looked better in the second half because we (the coaches) allowed them (That falcons) to play more and open it up!!!

maybe it's time for Dean to move on.

We have some cracking young players and yet that first half we were awful as we have been for many games now. Open it up and play for gods sake!!

Of all seasons, with no relegation, this is the time to open up and let players play.  Give the young'uns their opportunities as well.  If not Quins, Bristol, Exeter and a pretender or two, the this is a season to learn and develop without fear or pressure.


Except when Saints have to cross the DMZ and play Leicester.

Hooper out

TightHEAD wrote:Hooper out

Hooper in and new long time contract!

Interesting that Will Muir has been given a 2 match ban as a result of his citing from the Irish, meaning that it was decided that his was a red card offence and not a yellow and that they should have been another man down permanently in the game. I felt at the time that the referee bottled it as he'd just sent Dunn off, which appears to have been the case.

formerly known as Sam wrote:

TightHEAD wrote:Hooper out

Hooper in and new long time contract!

Shake it all about?

Leicester Tigers XV
[club appearances in brackets]

15 Freddie Steward [27]

14 Harry Potter [12]

13 Matías Moroni [11]

12 Dan Kelly [13]

11 Kini Murimurivalu [14]

10 George Ford [100]

9 Ben Youngs [255]

1 Ellis Genge [81]

2 Tom Youngs (c) [208]

3 Dan Cole [256]

4 Harry Wells [116]

5 Calum Green [54]

6 George Martin [10]

7 Tommy Reffell [42]

8 Jasper Wiese [11]

Replacements

16 Charlie Clare [26]

17 Luan de Bruin [12]

18 Joe Heyes [63]

19 Tomás Lavanini [31]

20 Luke Wallace [14]

21 Richard Wigglesworth [10]

22 Johnny McPhillips [17]

23 Matt Scott [18]

Liebenburg misses out his head knock last week. Interesting to see young Dan Kelly come back in at 12, going to be a good examination of him this weekend

15. Anthony Watson, 14. Joe Cokanasiga, 13. Jonathan Joseph, 12. Cameron Redpath, 11. Will Muir, 10. Josh Matavesi, 9. Ben Spencer; 1. Beno Obano, 2. Jack Walker, 3. Will Stuart, 4. Josh McNally, 5. Charlie Ewels , 6. Taulupe Faletau, 7. Sam Underhill, 8. Zach Mercer

REPLACEMENTS
16. Jacques du Toit, 17. Juan Schoeman, 18. Henry Thomas, 19. Mike Williams, 20. Miles Reid, 21. Will Chudley, 22. Orlando Bailey, 23. Alex Gray

The Bath starting XV the Bath bench .

I exaggerate a little but I much prefer the Tigers bench and it could be a factor later in the game if it's a tight one.

On paper, Bath should walk this game.....as they should most games. Such a shame for them that they need to play it on grass.

Alex Grey, U20 captain, Falcons number 8, NFL player........now a centre?? Has anybody seen him play? He's listed as 6'4" and 105kg.

I'd say Bath are favourites, saying they should walk this game is a bit strong. They certainly tend to perform as less than the sum of their parts.

Spencer Vs Youngs will be interesting. There's huge pressure on Spencer as Bath play heavily off 10 and having a makeshift 10 won't help him much. Youngs has only played once since his return from international duty and he was very good Vs Connacht. Spencer has been very good all season though.

Steward Vs Watson. Round 2. Watson was left red faced after their last head to head where Steward made him look like the rookie by dominating in the air and the floor as the game wore on. Better conditions should suit Watson and he looked dangerous for England.

The props, all England capped and I'm sure all out to prove a point. That should be a brutal contest.

Weise Vs Mercer the ball carrying 8s go head to head. I'm expecting lots of big carries from both. Weise will need to keep his discipline and Mercer will need to front up physically for this one.

Really not sure on that assessment of Watson Sam. Ford put on a very good kicking show and since then has had some very good full backs making themselves look silly with spiral bombs. He may well come out of it badly again, Ford vs Matavasi suggests despite what looks a very good team Bath may find themselves pinned back in their half.

formerly known as Sam wrote:I'd say Bath are favourites, saying they should walk this game is a bit strong. They certainly tend to perform as less than the sum of their parts.

Spencer Vs Youngs will be interesting. There's huge pressure on Spencer as Bath play heavily off 10 and having a makeshift 10 won't help him much. Youngs has only played once since his return from international duty and he was very good Vs Connacht. Spencer has been very good all season though.

Steward Vs Watson. Round 2. Watson was left red faced after their last head to head where Steward made him look like the rookie by dominating in the air and the floor as the game wore on. Better conditions should suit Watson and he looked dangerous for England.

The props, all England capped and I'm sure all out to prove a point. That should be a brutal contest.

Weise Vs Mercer the ball carrying 8s go head to head. I'm expecting lots of big carries from both. Weise will need to keep his discipline and Mercer will need to front up physically for this one.

Should win, on paper. That's what I was suggesting, Bath rarely play as the names would suggest, such a strange club.

As a neutral, I would probably only take Ford from the Tigers XV v the Bath lineup. Saying that, I'm going for a Tigers win by 6.