Prem Round 2

First topic message reminder :

Friday 24th
Gloucester v Leicester
19.45

Saturday 25th
Bath v Newcastle
Exeter v Northampton
Quins x Worcester
Wasps v Bristol
All 3pm KO

Sunday 26th
LI v Sale
3pm KO

Dickson is such a bad ref.

Ah that's harsh....

Bath have scored a try through Ojomoh after a concerted period of pressure.  Falcons are tiring, but I think perhaps it is too little too late with only 8 minutes left.

24 -26 Furbank slots another

24-26, Furbank slots another

Just noticed in passing that Wasps were playing Oghre at 7

That's cause he's a woeful hooker...

Final minute of tension, Chiefs get a lineout in Saints 22, 80 minutes up.

TMO calls foul against Chiefs, penalty Saints.

Into touch it goes.

Final score Exeter Chiefs 24 Northampton Saints 26

Great win for Saints, this league is going to be so open this year. Love it.

So Bristol and Exeter will be bottom two?

Games up, but Falcons are going for the 4th try.

Great win....I fancied us for this one.

Still playing, 5 minutes into overtime, Bath nowplaying for the LBP.

That young Wasps hooker Frost has been very impressive since he came on...

Cumbrian wrote:Still playing, 5 minutes into overtime, Bath nowplaying for the LBP.

Keep them out

Bailey kicking for a BP...

Got it, Bath 13-20 Newcastle.

Should have been out of sight earlier.

Brizzle hammered.

Meh...lucky bath. We need to be more ruthless.

But I'm more than happy with the two games so far...

Not a good looking league for the West Country sides!

Bristol aren’t looking too well during these first two rounds. Wasps were pretty good.

It's an odd one, they give their coach a century long contract then rave about how they want to win the league and HC every year, then get puled in their first two game. It's not like they are waiting for a load of Lions to come back either...

I say that as a concerned onlooker, my wife and best friend are Bristolians...

Cumbrian wrote:It's an odd one, they give their coach a century long contract then rave about how they want to win the league and HC every year, then get puled in their first two game.  It's not like they are waiting for a load of Lions to come back either...

It's a dreadful display from Bristol. The wonderful cohesion of last season is definitely lacking. They are waiting on some big names to come back from injury in Radrada, Sinckler, Afoa but there's enough quality there for them to be performing substantially better that they are doing currently.

Wasps look to have some added steel in defence but have retained their free scoring ways. They are missing a number of quality forwards as well so it could get better for them.

Dickson was incompetent as per usual. How he's reffing above Championship level I'm unsure.

WELL-PAST-IT wrote:Into touch it goes.

Final score Exeter Chiefs 24 Northampton Saints 26

Wow.  The 2nd half was completely different than the first half.  
Much more tactical, more possession and simply better play by Saints.  

Quickie observations:
The pack seemed - more than competent.  Nice.
Augustus will be very important as the season gets rolling.
Mitchell and Grayson appear to have taken a step up.  
Furbank is playing at a much higher level than I have seen before (early days yet, to be fair)
The team defense is much better than last year, so far.  In the last two seasons this would have been exactly the type of game Saints would have conceded late on.    Still a lot to improve, but steps in the right direction.

Nice try by sale....Manu on the charge

doctor_grey wrote:

WELL-PAST-IT wrote:Into touch it goes.

Final score Exeter Chiefs 24 Northampton Saints 26

Wow.  The 2nd half was completely different than the first half.  
Much more tactical, more possession and simply better play by Saints.  

Quickie observations:
The pack seemed - more than competent.  Nice.
Augustus will be very important as the season gets rolling.
Mitchell and Grayson appear to have taken a step up.  
Furbank is playing at a much higher level than I have seen before (early days yet, to be fair)
The team defense is much better than last year, so far.  In the last two seasons this would have been exactly the type of game Saints would have conceded late on.    Still a lot to improve, but steps in the right direction.

Also a lot of choice in the backs without weakening the side, Freeman, Big N, Litchfield, Hutchinson, Francis, Tuala all to choose from, plus a back up to Grayson in Furbs. Good to see Tom Wood playing like he was a 25 year old again. The only place we are a bit bare is hooker.

The future is bright, the future is black, green and gold

Wow...Irish what a comeback

I wasn't even going to watch the match but I'll have to now ...

WELL-PAST-IT wrote:The future is bright, the future is black, green and gold

Heaf wrote:I wasn't even going to watch the match but I'll have to now ...

31 all draw. What's not to like.

The AJ McGinty injury was the turning point. Coleman potentially lucky with the colour of the card but probably fair as I don't think there was any intention in it.

formerly known as Sam wrote:

Heaf wrote:I wasn't even going to watch the match but I'll have to now ...

31 all draw. What's not to like.

The AJ McGinty injury was the turning point. Coleman potentially lucky with the colour of the card but probably fair as I don't think there was any intention in it.

Agree about McGinty. Sale were seemingly a different team without him. Also agree the yellow was the right call. Very well explained by Wayne Barnes.

Wow what a 2nd half ... and the last kick from PJ was huge - 58m out and there was still another 10m on it - shame he hit the post as that would have been a legendary win.

Was fun to watch. Possession went back and forth in those last two minutes. Capped off by that monster kick.

https://mobile.twitter.com/therugbymag/status/1443610362750844939?s=19

Sinfield making a good start to life as defence coach!

It sounds like most of England's Lions are getting clearance to return without going through the full 10 week rest period agreed between the RFU, RPA and PRL in 2018.

Watson and Sinckler returning tomorrow. George, Hill and Smith expected to return this weekend as well. Lawes has been confirmed as available this weekend for Saints.

Ah well, there goes the player welfare agreement. I genuinely thought that enforced 10 week rest would be really important for the England team as many players were looking fatigued from being on the constant treadmill.

Also sounds like they won't have to have a rest week during the AIs. It seems the sole rationale behind it is the players not wanting to miss out on a £25k appearance fee though.

Yes you can just imagine the clubs and the RFU agreeing that the players can play all the AIs if they can come back from the rest period early. I'm unsure how much this has to do with the players themselves. Once the agreement has been torn up the pressure on them to then play will be pretty high.

king_carlos wrote:Sinfield making a good start to life as defence coach!

Apparently a 94% success rate Vs Glaws as well which I find surprising.

The line speed is very good. I'd like to see us continue to work on attacking the breakdown cleanly as though it's improved that's an area I think we could still improve in.

formerly known as Sam wrote:Yes you can just imagine the clubs and the RFU agreeing that the players can play all the AIs if they can come back from the rest period early. I'm unsure how much this has to do with the players themselves. Once the agreement has been torn up the pressure on them to then play will be pretty high.

From the rumours trickling out it sounds like the players never liked the rest week in the AIs due to losing the £25k.

I think returning early to the Premiership has been borne out by players who didn't play much in the latter half of the Lions tour justifiably wanting to return earlier, then players who played more in the tests (Watson, Lawes and Sinckler in particular) feeling pressure to return early as well.

It's why I felt it was important to have set in stone rules that they didn't bend. Many felt it was silly for Smith to miss an AI for instance but the second one exception is made, more will almost inevitably follow and I think that's been the case here. Whilst Smith missing an AI after such little Lions game time isn't ideal I'd much rather that less than perfect scenario than just having a lot of players burnt out and/or injured.

I have a horrid feeling that this will result in a situation such as Watson doing his achilles again in the next few weeks followed by the RPA and RFU airing their dirty laundry in public over player welfare.

I see Stuart Hogg is playing for Exeter on Saturday so I would presume Rory Sutherland, King Duhan, Ali Price, Jonny Gray and the other Scottish Lions will be involved for their respective clubs too. That wil be a welcome boost for Worcester because they could be very dangerous with King on the wing, especially with his strength.

Really hoping for more entertaining matches in round 3 because rounds 1/2 certainly didn't disappoint .

This season, I am cheering loud for Leicester (sorry to members who suport other clubs lol) as I am a big fan of their talisman Harry Potter, oh and they have Matt Scott.

king_carlos wrote:From the rumours trickling out it sounds like the players never liked the rest week in the AIs due to losing the £25k.

Is it still £25k? I thought it had reduced after Covid.

MichaelT wrote:

king_carlos wrote:From the rumours trickling out it sounds like the players never liked the rest week in the AIs due to losing the £25k.

Is it still £25k? I thought it had reduced after Covid.

I know they split it between the squad in the 6N to compensate for everyone being in the bubble. Don't know if they took a reduction though

formerly known as Sam wrote:

MichaelT wrote:

king_carlos wrote:From the rumours trickling out it sounds like the players never liked the rest week in the AIs due to losing the £25k.

Is it still £25k? I thought it had reduced after Covid.

I know they split it between the squad in the 6N to compensate for everyone being in the bubble. Don't know if they took a reduction though

Fair enough. I was sure I saw that Eddie Jones had taken a pay cut so assumed it was applied across them all.

MichaelT wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:

MichaelT wrote:

king_carlos wrote:From the rumours trickling out it sounds like the players never liked the rest week in the AIs due to losing the £25k.

Is it still £25k? I thought it had reduced after Covid.

I know they split it between the squad in the 6N to compensate for everyone being in the bubble. Don't know if they took a reduction though

Fair enough. I was sure I saw that Eddie Jones had taken a pay cut so assumed it was applied across them all.

Yeah Eddie definitely took one, not sure if anybody else did.