Premiership Round 6

Cant see a thread for this yet so..

Friday 22nd October (1945 kickoff)
Northampton vs Worcs

Saturday 23rd October (all 1500 kickoff)
Exeter Chiefs vs London Irish
Gloucester vs Newcastle Falcons
Harlequins vs Bath
Leicester Tigers vs Sale

Sunday 24th October (1500 kickoff)
Saracens vs Wasps

I'd bet on home wins apart from Gloucester Newcastle. Tigers Sale should also be competitive.

Based on that the Friday night fixture will be attack practice for Saints. Worcester have looked really poor recently. DVDM doesn't see the ball and Sutherland did not have a great time in the scrum last weekend, it looks grim for them.

Could Quins hit the full ton this weekend? If Bath continue with their optional defending mentality it is a possibility.

Wasps are going to rotate heavily for the Sarries game so expect that one to be an absolute massacre, well as long as Sarries don't also rest players

Kitchener brothers playing together for Worcs

Slightly disappointed that what looks to be the 2 best games aren't the tv picks, oh well. Agree whole heartedly that tonight looks like it could be completely 1 sided which i suppose brings its own challenge to Northampton.

On a plus point any decent to good performance for Worcester could put a marker down, thinking specifically of Lawrence after he's dropped out of the England squad.

How is it getting into Gloucester on a match day, just in case I go there this weekend? Bath last Sunday was terrible.

mikey_dragon wrote:How is it getting into Gloucester on a match day, just in case I go there this weekend? Bath last Sunday was terrible.

Drive a little further and go to Cheltenham. The road works aren't great but it's a bit nicer.

Exeter LI (from the Beeb)

Exeter: Hogg; Nowell, Slade (capt), Hendrickson, O'Flaherty; J Simmonds, Maunder; Moon, Yeandle, Nixon, Witty, Hill, S Skinner, Capstick, S Simmonds

Replacements: Innard, Hepburn, Williams, Lonsdale, Armand, Hidalgo-Clyne, H Skinner, Devoto

London Irish: Parton; Loader, Rona, Hepetema, Hassell-Collins; Jackson, Phipps; Goodrick-Clarke, Creevy, Hoskins, Mafi, Simmons, Rogerson (capt), Pearson, Tuisue.

Replacements: Willemse, Dell, Van der Merwe, Nott, Cooke, White, Jennings, Van Rensburg.

Gloucs - Newcastle

Gloucester: Woodward, Rees-Zammit, Harris, Atkinson, May, Evans, Meehan, Rapava-Ruskin; Singleton, Gotovtsev, Clarke, Alemanno, Ackermann, Ludlow (capt), Morgan.

Replacements: Socino, Ford-Robinson, Balmain, Davidson, Clement, Varney, Twelvetrees, Carreras.

Newcastle: Brown, Earle, Stevenson, Lucock, Carreras, Connon, Schreuder; Brocklebank, McGuigan, Davison, Peterson, Van der Walt, Chick, Welch (capt), Fearns.

Replacements:Blamire, Cooper, Palframan, Merrick, Basham, Nordli-Kelemeti, Hodgson, Wacokecoke.

Saints running through Warriors all over the place at the moment - blew a sitter but just made up for it ...

Heaf wrote:Saints running through Warriors all over the place at the moment - blew a sitter but just made up for it ...

I think some Championship sides could out play Worcester at present. Absolutely dreadful, the two big summer signings have so far been sin binned and thrown an interception pass. This is going to get embarrassing (again).

Saints are explosive, give them the opportunity to run onto the ball at speed and they will create space and flood through the gap. Worcester have got to find some line speed and physicality to stop Saints running amok.

I have Saints by 41 on Superbru so need them to keep it up

Heaf wrote:I have Saints by 41 on Superbru so need them to keep it up

Worcester are so dreadful they might go well past that.

Phew - Saints by 56 - I still just got my bonus point ...

Couple of limping Saints players will be their only concerns about this game. 

Worcester last three games 156 points conceded and only 18 scored. Chiefs, Tigers and Saints top 6 sides but not necessarily teams you'd expect to concede quite so many points against, particularly Leicester at home. There's some big problems at Wuss. They can't keep going as they are with or without relegation, they need to keep the fans and the sponsors happy to keep the cash recovery post Covid.

Given the way Worcester and Bath have just folded over the last two weeks I have real concerns that the absence of relegation will mean those sides aren't under massive pressure to improve and could see us have regular drubbings most weekend. It was always the worry with ringfencing. If sides are so poor early on that they are unlikely to make Champions Cup qualification let alone the playoffs then where is the pressure that forces improvement.

king_carlos wrote:Given the way Worcester and Bath have just folded over the last two weeks I have real concerns that the absence of relegation will mean those sides aren't under massive pressure to improve and could see us have regular drubbings most weekend. It was always the worry with ringfencing. If sides are so poor early on that they are unlikely to make Champions Cup qualification let alone the playoffs then where is the pressure that forces improvement.

I don't lay this at the feet of ringfencing. Worcester have been poor for years. Bath have some talent but they are packing it in, whether because of their coach (whom I hope stays in place until after Saints play Bath) or something else. I think we won't know the impact of ringfencing for a while.

king_carlos wrote:Given the way Worcester and Bath have just folded over the last two weeks I have real concerns that the absence of relegation will mean those sides aren't under massive pressure to improve and could see us have regular drubbings most weekend. It was always the worry with ringfencing. If sides are so poor early on that they are unlikely to make Champions Cup qualification let alone the playoffs then where is the pressure that forces improvement.

If there's no relegation and you are getting beat every week and often badly you won't get television exposure and you won't get fans into the ground. It'll culminate in a lot of lost revenue. Clubs can't afford that post Covid.

Watching a replay of Saints Worcester. The commentators mentioned Worcs have won only 10 times away from home over the last 10 years. Shame.

Harlequins - Bath

Harlequins: Green, Lynagh, Marchant, Esterhuizen, Murley, Smith, Care; Marler, Walker, Collier, Symons, Lamb, Chisholm, Lawday, Dombrandt (capt).

Replacements: Riley, Garcia Botta, Kerrod, Tizard, Wallace, Steele, Jones, Northmore.

Bath: De Glanville, Rokoduguni, Joseph, Clark, McConnochie, Bailey, Simpson; Obano, Du Toit, Stuart, McNally, Ewels (capt), Ellis, Underhill, Coetzee.

Replacements: Dunn, Boyce, Rae, Williams, de Carpentier, Fox, Cipriani, Hamer-Webb.

Tiggers -Fish

Leicester: Steward; Potter, Scott, Kelly, Nadolo; Ford, B Youngs; Genge (capt), Montoya, Cole, Wells, Green, Liebenberg, Van Staden, J Wiese.

Replacements: Dolly, Leatigaga, Heyes, Martin, Reffell, Wigglesworth, Burns, Moroni.

Sale: Hammersley; McGuigan, Tuilagi, Van Rensburg, Yarde; Wilkinson, Warr; Rodd, Taylor, Schonert, C Wiese, De Jager, Ross (capt), T Curry, JL du Preez.

Replacements: Langdon, Harrison, Oosthuizen, JP du Preez, B Curry, Thomas, Curtis, S James.

Saracens - bugs

Saracens: Goode, Maitland, D Morris, Tompkins, Malins; Farrell (capt), Davies; Mako Vunipola, George, Koch, Itoje, Isiekwe, Christie, Earl, B Vunipola.

Replacements: Woolstencroft, Barrington, Riccioni, Swinson, Wray, van Zyl, Lozowski, Lewington.

Wasps: Crossdale; Kibirige, McHenry, Simonds, Minozzi; Gopperth (capt), Hougaard; West, Cruse, Scholtz, Cardall, Morris, Young, Carr.

Replacements: Holling, Hislop, Millar-Mills, Stooke, Curran, Porter, Mathews, Mehson.

According to the Beeb Wasps are playing with 14

This sounds better
15. Ali Crossdale, 14. Zach Kibirige, 13. Alex McHenry, 12. Will Simonds, 11. Matteo Minozzi; 10. Jimmy Gopperth (c), 9. Francois Hougaard; 1. Tom West, 2. Tom Cruse, 3. Pieter Scholtz, 4. Tim Cardall, 5. Sebastian de Chaves, 6. Ben Morris, 7. Thomas Young, 8. Nizaam Carr.

I'm really not sure how to call Tigers vs Sale. It's two really strong sides but with Faf, MacGinty and Quirke missing Tigers should be able to control the game better.

Second row concerns me. If Lood hits the ground running he could cause Tigers issues at the lineout as Isiekwe did which then takes away the maul that has been so vital for Tigers.

If we play well it's definitely winnable but that Sale side should be our toughest challenge yet.

Well Exeter irish isn't going as I'd expect.

And then 14 each.

No 7&1/2 wrote:Well Exeter irish isn't going as I'd expect.

Plenty of time for Irish to gift Exeter a few tries - I'd expect at least one intercept. The officiating inconsistencies continue though - a knock on today by Ex given as a scrum very similar to one Irish were penalised for against Tigers a couple of weeks ago which led to a try.

See - happened as I was typing the last ...

Ha yeah Slade was blatantly trying to stop the ball like.

Did not expect a good game. Well.

Hanro Liebenberg scores a brilliant try for Leicester then immediately goes off injured. Such a shame. If that's long term it's an enormous blow for Tigers. His performances are remarkably consistent.

The Wiese off load, Youngs support line and final pass then Liebenberg finish was a rare spark in what has been a phenomenally physical but attritional game thus far.

I think my Superbru is going to take a beating this weekend. I called Worcester's weekly beating right, but London Irish messing up Exe? Gloucester beating Newcastle? Bath actually playing against Quins? What is this world coming to?

Irish have been really good today.

Did Exeter have a try called off or reversed?

Yup. Knock on. They have scored again but to me Hassell-Collins just blown a great chance in not backing himself to the corner as well. Irish have still looked better to me though.

That score is mind boggling. Not much time left. Would be great for London Irish to nail the win.

Their defence has been great. Giving a few pens away though.

Bonus point win.

Huge win for Tigers.

Sale weren't at their best with the absentees at halfback and Lood looking short of full fitness. Still have to beat them though.

6 from 6 for Tigers.

Great win for Tigers. Youngs and Ford really took control of the game in exactly the way Smith and Care failed to last weekend. For the first time this season Youngs dialled his box kicking in and it provided a great platform for Tigers. Young Warr for Sale played well but with Steward mopping up everything ahead of the Sale chasers it made things difficult for him and Wilkinson to influence the game.

I do love Nadolo running amok in the outside channels he was a great outlet for Tigers to change the point of attack. Sale were overly narrow and got embroiled in an arm wrestle all to easily, particularly Curry who looked like he wanted to fight as much as he wanted to play when what Sale needed was maybe a clear head and a linkman.

The Youngs vision to call the Weise pick up and offload and then the manipulation of the covering defence to put Liebenburg over was top drawer. He tried far to hard in the first half to try and make something happen. He looked fired up needed maybe just to cool it a little.

No 7&1/2 wrote:Bonus point win.

I couldn't watch it live so am sitting down now to relax and watch it all and soak it all in

doctor_grey wrote:I think my Superbru is going to take a beating this weekend.  I called Worcester's weekly beating right, but London Irish messing up Exe?  Gloucester beating Newcastle?  Bath actually playing against Quins?  What is this world coming to?  

Irish and Glaws caught me out too - but I got margins on the Quins and Tigers matches - I didn't think Bath could possibly be as bad as last week again ...

formerly known as Sam wrote:Great win for Tigers. Youngs and Ford really took control of the game in exactly the way Smith and Care failed to last weekend. For the first time this season Youngs dialled his box kicking in and it provided a great platform for Tigers. Young Warr for Sale played well but with Steward mopping up everything ahead of the Sale chasers it made things difficult for him and Wilkinson to influence the game.

I do love Nadolo running amok in the outside channels he was a great outlet for Tigers to change the point of attack. Sale were overly narrow and got embroiled in an arm wrestle all to easily, particularly Curry who looked like he wanted to fight as much as he wanted to play when what Sale needed was maybe a clear head and a linkman.

The Youngs vision to call the Weise pick up and offload and then the manipulation of the covering defence to put Liebenburg over was top drawer. He tried far to hard in the first half to try and make something happen. He looked fired up needed maybe just to cool it a little.

I'm so surprised you managed to big up your half backs! And while talking down 2 players who are performing a country mile better. Takes me back to beshocked talking about Goode outplaying Ford.

Heaf wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:Bonus point win.

I couldn't watch it live so am sitting down now to relax and watch it all and soak it all in

Sorry for the spoilers. It'll be an even more comfortable watch than live at least.

No 7&1/2 wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:Great win for Tigers. Youngs and Ford really took control of the game in exactly the way Smith and Care failed to last weekend. For the first time this season Youngs dialled his box kicking in and it provided a great platform for Tigers. Young Warr for Sale played well but with Steward mopping up everything ahead of the Sale chasers it made things difficult for him and Wilkinson to influence the game.

I do love Nadolo running amok in the outside channels he was a great outlet for Tigers to change the point of attack. Sale were overly narrow and got embroiled in an arm wrestle all to easily, particularly Curry who looked like he wanted to fight as much as he wanted to play when what Sale needed was maybe a clear head and a linkman.

The Youngs vision to call the Weise pick up and offload and then the manipulation of the covering defence to put Liebenburg over was top drawer. He tried far to hard in the first half to try and make something happen. He looked fired up needed maybe just to cool it a little.

I'm so surprised you managed to big up your half backs! And while talking down 2 players who are performing a country mile better. Takes me back to beshocked talking about Goode outplaying Ford.

I said before last week's game the key to stopping Sale is stopping them gaining territorial advantage as that's where their big ball carriers are dangerous, they don't play well from deep and doing so continually or chasing a lot of kicks will tire a big pack. Last week Quins failed to keep them at arm's length. Today Tigers managed it very well with Sale only scoring their try in the 81st minute to make the scoreline look better than it probably should have done. I'm sorry if you don't like the fact that against Sale Youngs and Ford used their experience to control the game but that's what happened it was a major factor in the Tigers victory just like it was a major factor in Quins loss last week. Didn't make for the prettiest game but it wasn't half effective.

Also Tigers are six from six, the only unbeaten team in the league, having beaten Sale, Sarries and Exeter. Whilst Benny's form has been a bit meh so far (or before today at least) to claim that anybody is miles ahead of Ford is laughable, I'm not saying there aren't 10s playing better but he's in amongst the form 10s in the league and if he wasn't Tigers wouldn't have 27 points from a possible 30.

Great win for Irish today. Hopefully a turn in the season now.
Going to the Bristol game next Saturday. Looking for to it, hooefully another 5 pointer.

formerly known as Sam wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:Great win for Tigers. Youngs and Ford really took control of the game in exactly the way Smith and Care failed to last weekend. For the first time this season Youngs dialled his box kicking in and it provided a great platform for Tigers. Young Warr for Sale played well but with Steward mopping up everything ahead of the Sale chasers it made things difficult for him and Wilkinson to influence the game.

I do love Nadolo running amok in the outside channels he was a great outlet for Tigers to change the point of attack. Sale were overly narrow and got embroiled in an arm wrestle all to easily, particularly Curry who looked like he wanted to fight as much as he wanted to play when what Sale needed was maybe a clear head and a linkman.

The Youngs vision to call the Weise pick up and offload and then the manipulation of the covering defence to put Liebenburg over was top drawer. He tried far to hard in the first half to try and make something happen. He looked fired up needed maybe just to cool it a little.

I'm so surprised you managed to big up your half backs! And while talking down 2 players who are performing a country mile better. Takes me back to beshocked talking about Goode outplaying Ford.

I said before last week's game the key to stopping Sale is stopping them gaining territorial advantage as that's where their big ball carriers are dangerous, they don't play well from deep and doing so continually or chasing a lot of kicks will tire a big pack. Last week Quins failed to keep them at arm's length. Today Tigers managed it very well with Sale only scoring their try in the 81st minute to make the scoreline look better than it probably should have done. I'm sorry if you don't like the fact that against Sale Youngs and Ford used their experience to control the game but that's what happened it was a major factor in the Tigers victory just like it was a major factor in Quins loss last week. Didn't make for the prettiest game but it wasn't half effective.

Also Tigers are six from six, the only unbeaten team in the league, having beaten Sale, Sarries and Exeter. Whilst Benny's form has been a bit meh so far (or before today at least) to claim that anybody is miles ahead of Ford is laughable, I'm not saying there aren't 10s playing better but he's in amongst the form 10s in the league and if he wasn't Tigers wouldn't have 27 points from a possible 30.

Not laughable at all when you have Smith in the league.

No 7&1/2 wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:Great win for Tigers. Youngs and Ford really took control of the game in exactly the way Smith and Care failed to last weekend. For the first time this season Youngs dialled his box kicking in and it provided a great platform for Tigers. Young Warr for Sale played well but with Steward mopping up everything ahead of the Sale chasers it made things difficult for him and Wilkinson to influence the game.

I do love Nadolo running amok in the outside channels he was a great outlet for Tigers to change the point of attack. Sale were overly narrow and got embroiled in an arm wrestle all to easily, particularly Curry who looked like he wanted to fight as much as he wanted to play when what Sale needed was maybe a clear head and a linkman.

The Youngs vision to call the Weise pick up and offload and then the manipulation of the covering defence to put Liebenburg over was top drawer. He tried far to hard in the first half to try and make something happen. He looked fired up needed maybe just to cool it a little.

I'm so surprised you managed to big up your half backs! And while talking down 2 players who are performing a country mile better. Takes me back to beshocked talking about Goode outplaying Ford.

I said before last week's game the key to stopping Sale is stopping them gaining territorial advantage as that's where their big ball carriers are dangerous, they don't play well from deep and doing so continually or chasing a lot of kicks will tire a big pack. Last week Quins failed to keep them at arm's length. Today Tigers managed it very well with Sale only scoring their try in the 81st minute to make the scoreline look better than it probably should have done. I'm sorry if you don't like the fact that against Sale Youngs and Ford used their experience to control the game but that's what happened it was a major factor in the Tigers victory just like it was a major factor in Quins loss last week. Didn't make for the prettiest game but it wasn't half effective.

Also Tigers are six from six, the only unbeaten team in the league, having beaten Sale, Sarries and Exeter. Whilst Benny's form has been a bit meh so far (or before today at least) to claim that anybody is miles ahead of Ford is laughable, I'm not saying there aren't 10s playing better but he's in amongst the form 10s in the league and if he wasn't Tigers wouldn't have 27 points from a possible 30.

Not laughable at all when you have Smith in the league.

Who was off the boil last weekend and made to look no better than the rookie at 10 for Sale? I've not had chance to watch the Quins game today but I'm hoping for England's sake he's back to his imperious best.

Just because Smith is excellent doesn't mean he's untouchable. I'm hoping he's learnt his lesson because otherwise the SA game might be tough to watch as an England fan.

We obviously didn't watch the same game last week so fair enough.

Youngs had his best game of the season to be fair. His box kicking was enormously improved. The tap and go debacle in the 22 aside he was very good.

Ford was excellent once again.

There can be more than one good player in each position in the Premiership, 7.5. If Ford performs well it doesn't mean Smith gets put in a crate and shipped to Nova Scotia.