Aviva Premiership 17/18 - Round 1

[TRF_Olyy]

Not really learning the basics of his position when he was a flanker who's never really played wing before both in 7s and at UQ.

Surely that's exactly learning the basics of his position? He's never played there at any level before,
Commentary pointed out a few times where he was in the wrong place or ran the wrong line/did the wrong thing

 

[Hound]

Surely that's exactly learning the basics of his position? He's never played there at any level before,
Commentary pointed out a few times where he was in the wrong place or ran the wrong line/did the wrong thing

My point was more "it's not HIS position in the first place". He's been thrust in a position that isn't what he plays.

Put George Ford in a prop jersey and I'm not going to complain about him learning the basics of his position so much as I'd be wondering what bright spark played him out of position in the first place.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

My point was more "it's not HIS position in the first place". He's been thrust in a position that isn't what he plays.

Put George Ford in a prop jersey and I'm not going to complain about him learning the basics of his position so much as I'd be wondering what bright spark played him out of position in the first place.

I getya,
Has he been signed as a back three player or somewhere else?
They probably thought his extensive 7s experience would translate immediately to the wing

 

[curtbob7]

I getya,
Has he been signed as a back three player or somewhere else?
They probably thought his extensive 7s experience would translate immediately to the wing

He was signed for wing and centre.

Might need him in the backrow if they don't toughen up though.

 

[BPM]

I'm surprised Saints' performance seems to have escaped much attention.

As a fan of a side that's just lost to a promoted side, I appreciate I'm not really in a position to criticise too much, but from everything I've heard about the game Sarries crushed them and all of the question-marks people have raised in the last few months were very much present ...

They need to put in a performance in the derby game, but they'll surely be facing a pi$$ed off, fired-up Tigers side. Could be another tough game ...

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

On Saints I suspect Mallinder's already in X games to save his job territory.

Gotta love Schalk Brits. Savour him while you can.

 

[Hound]

Internstional nic white goes off and maunder comes on.....speed of ball increases...19 year old out doing an international haha

Fair play, he pretty much blanked out Steenson's yellow with his boot and game management alone...

 

[curtbob7]

Some serious change is needed at Saints. Few more losses might actually do them a favour in the long run..

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Some serious change is needed at saints.

How long have we been saying that for? It will all get forgotten after a "big reaction" from saints which usually consists of physically beating the crap out of some lower table team like Leicester Tigers. After which Mallinder and Myler will both get contract extensions.

On wasps, it may be controversial to say but I don't see our back play as anything too "out there". It's extremely structured, we do the basics better than most other sides such as the spacing between players, straightening and passing close to contract, and we swing from right to left and back again but we do it faster and efficiently. And a bunch of our tries against Sale just showed that our support play is good. If the backline individually do the things they're supposed to there should always be space out wide, and we have pace to burn everywhere.

Hurts to say it but I still don't think we're on the level of Scarlets skill-wise from 1 to 15 e.g their offloading game, which is ironic as I really didn't rate Stephen Jones when he was coaching for us...

 

[curtbob7]

'physically beating the crap out of some lower table team like Leicester Tigers.'

Id laugh at this joke but we're the only team to never finish in the bottom half

Yeah Wasps are entertaining but need to work on their defence.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

'physically beating the crap out of some lower table team like Leicester Tigers.'

Id laugh at this joke but we're the only team to never finish in the bottom half

Yeah Wasps are entertaining but need to work on their defence.

If the first week is anything to go by, nothing can be taken for granted (Including not getting 3 yellow cards in the final 10 minutes...)

 

[curtbob7]

If we finish outside the top 6 ill change my pic to a saints shirt

 

[BPM]

If the first week is anything to go by, nothing can be taken for granted (Including not getting 3 yellow cards in the final 10 minutes...)

This is true. Looking at this weekend's fixtures, 4 of the 6 games are pretty hard to call.

I expect Exeter to smash London Irish at Sandy Park and Wasps to tear in to Worcester, but the other 4 games could either way.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

If we finish outside the top 6 ill change my pic to a saints shirt

Screenshotted for future reference

 

[Sixways Cheryl]

What an unreal opening weekend that was! Just a shame I couldn't fully enjoy it due to my Warriors forgetting to turn up at Newcastle.

Do believe it'll be the closest season ever, no obvious ***le winners & no obvious relegation team like there usually is. Some of the tries this weekend felt like I was watching Super Rugby.

 

[BPM]

What an unreal opening weekend that was! Just a shame I couldn't fully enjoy it due to my Warriors forgetting to turn up at Newcastle.

Do believe it'll be the closest season ever, no obvious ***le winners & no obvious relegation team like there usually is. Some of the tries this weekend felt like I was watching Super Rugby.

Welcome to the board Cheryl.

What's your prediction for Worcester this season? Tough game on Saturday but you're always better at Sixways.

What's the latest on Te'o and Olivier's injuries?

 

[curtbob7]

Screenshotted for future reference

Good

 

[Which Tyler]

What's the latest on Te'o and Olivier's injuries?

I'm not Cheryl, but...
Te'o's injury ended up being just a knock, and is fit to play this week
Olivier is out for a fortnight with his hamstring

 

[BPM]

Cool. Thanks for the update.

 

[Sixways Cheryl]

Welcome to the board Cheryl.

What's your prediction for Worcester this season? Tough game on Saturday but you're always better at Sixways.

What's the latest on Te'o and Olivier's injuries?

Thanks BPM!

Well we've still got the optimism around the club from the run we went on under GG to finish last season so I think we'll do OK. Losing so badly to a team like Newcastle wasn't in the script but the scoreline was harsh on us, we had loads of possession & territory but just couldn't turn it into points. Also, we were obviously missing so many players & it felt like maybe the season came a week too early for us whereas Newcastle were straight into it. Definitely expect a big response v Wasps whatever the result ends up being, the fact Sale put 4 or 5 tries past them is our cause for optimism.

Basically we could finish anywhere between 7th-10th I think, it's gonna be a season of consolidation with all the stories surrounding our ownership but there are worse teams than us. Hopefully get a few players back & surprise a few teams along the way!

Just what Tyler said on the injuries, we were worried Te'o had fractured his arm at first but he's back in training already. Pennell should be back for Wasps but I read Denton has had another setback.