Aviva Premiership - Round 2

[TheSaffycen]

Saracens
15. Alex Goode;
14. Chris Ashton,
13. Duncan Taylor,
12. Brad Barritt,
11. David Strettle;
10. Charlie Hodgson,
9. Richard Wigglewsorth;
1. Richard Barrington,
2. Jamie George,
3. Kieran Longbottom,
4. George Kruis,
5. Alistair Hargreaves (c),
6. Jackson Wray,
7. Will Fraser,
8. Billy Vunipola.

Replacements; 16. Scott Spurling, 17. Rhys Gill, 18. Petrus Du Plessis, 19. Mouritz Botha, 20. Kelly Brown, 21. Ben Spencer, 22. Owen Farrell, 23. Chris Wyles.

 

[Patchey]

Is there a reason that Hodgson is keeping Lil' Faz on the bench? I prefer Charlie but had kind of assumed by now that Sarries would have binned their rotation policy and given Farrell all the game time possible.

I could eight or nine positions where I reckon Quins have a better player than Sarries in that role. I'm hopeful.

 

[ratsapprentice]

Their rotation policy runs in two week cycles I believe... they probably decided it was best for Charlie to go first in order to let Fazlet recover from his more recent international duties.

 

[Patchey]

Ah, gotit.

We may have to endure the horror of Fazlet making a cameo at 12 tomorrow night then I guess.

 

[TheSaffycen]

It might also have something to do with Farrell's injury that kept him out of the 3rd test, either way i want Farrell playing instead of Hodgson but if anyone has any ****les now's not the time to try and force them to play through. Also I doubt they would play him at 12, Taylor is pretty adept at playing either 12/13 and so is Wyles. Normally i'm thinking this is a certain win in the bag against Quins but who knows this year, Fraser v Robshaw should be good fun too watch.

 

[Patchey]

It might also have something to do with Farrell's injury that kept him out of the 3rd test, either way i want Farrell playing instead of Hodgson but if anyone has any ****les now's not the time to try and force them to play through. Also I doubt they would play him at 12, Taylor is pretty adept at playing either 12/13 and so is Wyles. Normally i'm thinking this is a certain win in the bag against Quins but who knows this year, Fraser v Robshaw should be good fun too watch.

If you had your full strength front row I would be worried. However I think we've got the match of you there in terms of the set piece and that is going to level the playing field a lot. I'd also rate our 9/10 combo and back three over yours, but you've got the edge in the back five and maybe the centres. I think it has the potentially to be a really good, close game. I'm expecting a losing BP but hoping for more.

 

[Geordie]

Is Fraser fully fit now and over his injuries...or do you fear he could be another Tom Rees...injury prone?

 

[TheSaffycen]

His last injury was an ankle break if i remember correctly ? So can't really be blamed for that
I seriously rate the guy and he came back really well against Wasps making 19 tackles, he also played quite alot of pre season so if he had any problems from his last injury they should have flared up by now. Hopefully he isn't another Tom Rees but you can't always tell

If you had your full strength front row I would be worried. However I think we've got the match of you there in terms of the set piece and that is going to level the playing field a lot. I'd also rate our 9/10 combo and back three over yours, but you've got the edge in the back five and maybe the centres. I think it has the potentially to be a really good, close game. I'm expecting a losing BP but hoping for more.

Front row you might have the upper hand, until the benches get empty, then it should be ours. On terms of individual ability i would say your back three is better but as a unit Ashton+Goode+Strettle have played so much together i think that it's pretty even there. I personally don't rate your centres at all, and if there was any game too play a more creative quicker player this was the one. Turner-Hall should be ineffective up against Barritt, and Taylor looked really good against Wasps. Half back wise you have a huge advantage over us, if Hodgson plays like he did last time out. Wigglesworth is a really good kicking player but I dont see Brown and Lindsay-Hague really minding the ball being booted down too them all the time. If i was to bet on this game I would say
Harlequins 19- 24 Saracens but i wouldn't be suprised if you won, I cant see a blow out by either team though.

 

[ratsapprentice]

Bath Rugby side to face London Welsh
15 Luke Arscott
14 Semesa Rokoduguni
13 Jonathan Joseph
12 Kyle Eastmond
11 Anthony Watson
10 George Ford
9 Chris Cook
1 Paul James
2 Rob Webber
3 David Wilson
4 Stuart Hooper (c)
5 Dave Attwood
6 Carl Fearns
7 Guy Mercer
8 Leroy Houston
Replacements
16 Tom Dunn
17 Nick Auterac
18 Henry Thomas
19 Dominic Day
20 Alafoti Fa'osiliva
21 Peter Stringer
22 Ollie Devoto
23 Matt Banahan

Devoto covering 10/centre from the bench presumably - possibly interchangeably with Kyle - I hope to see a good deal of him there assuming we get an early bonus point.
Chris Cook getting his first premiership start against the team he helped to gain promotion.

Wasps team to play Northampton Saints

15. Andrea Masi
14. Sailosi Tagicakibau
13. Elliot Daly
12. Chris Bell
11. Tom Varndell
10. Andy Goode
9. Joe Simpson

1. Matt Mullan
2. Carlo Festuccia
3. Lorenzo Cittadini
4. Joe Launchbury
5. James Gaskell
6. Ashley Johnson
7. James Haskell ©
8. Nathan Hughes

16. Tom Lindsay
17. John Yapp
18. Jake Cooper-Woolley
19. Kearnan Myall
20. Guy Thompson
21. Charlie Davies
22. Ruaridh Jackson
23. Rob Miller

 

[Tmartin995]

Chiefs side to face Leicester:
1. Carl Rimmer
2. Jack Yeandle (C)
3. Tomas Francis
4. Mitch Lees
5. Ryan Caldwell
6. Dave Ewers
7. Ben White
8. Thomas Waldrom
9. Haydn Thomas
10. Gareth Steenson
11. Matt Jess
12. Sam Hill
13. Henry Slade
14. Ian Whitten
15. Chrysander Botha

16. Elvis Taione
17. Ben Moon
18. Moray Low
19. Damian Welch
20. Kai Horstmann
21. Will Chudley
22. Ceri Sweeney
23. Jack Arnott

Tigers:
1. Logovi'i Mulipola
2. Tom Youngs
3. Fraser Balmain
4. Graham Kitchener
5. Geoff Parling
6. Jamie Gibson
7. Julian Salvi
8. Robert Barbieri
9. Ben Youngs (C)
10. Freddie Burns
11. Vereniki Goneva
12. Anthony Allen
13. Manu Tuilagi
14. Niall Morris
15. Mathew Tait

16. Leonardo Ghiraldini
17. Riccardo Brugnara
18. Tiziano Pasquali
19. Seb de Chaves
20. Jordan Crane
21. David Mele
22. Owen Williams
23. Matt Smith

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Sale Team
15 Luke Mclean, 14 Tom Brady, 13 Will Addison, 12 Mark Jennings, 11 Tom Arscott,10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Chris Cusiter, 1 Ross Harrison, 2 Marc Jones, 3 Vadim Cobilas, 4 Nathan Hines, 5 Jonathan Mills, 6 Michael Paterson, 7 David Seymour Captain, 8 Mark Easter
Replacements 16 Shalva Mamukashvili, 17 Alberto de Marchi, 18 Eifion Lewis Roberts, 19 Andrei Ostrikov, 20 Magnus Lund, 21 Will Cliff, 22 Joe Ford, 23 Andy Forsyth


Gloucester
Rob Cook, Charlie Sharples, Henry Trinder, Billy Twelvetrees (captain), Jonny May, James Hook, Greig Laidlaw, Dan Murphy, Richard Hibbard, John Afoa, Tom Savage, James Hudson, Sione Kalamafoni, Jacob Rowan, Ben Morgan.
Bench: Darren Dawidiuk, Yann Thomas, Sila Puafisi, Tom Palmer, Ross Moriarty, Dan Robson, Mark Atkinson, Steve McColl




Hell of a set of forwards on our bench, going to offer some real fire power when they come on.
We are missing four of our on field leaders (Braid, Cueto, Sam, Johnny), so going to be a big big ask - Braid and the Centres missing, especially.
I reckon a Gloucester win by <10.

Happy to see no Stooke - apparently not injured, as well, just not picked. Don't really rate Glocuesters starting locks, and Palmer's looked past it for the last year or so.

 

[goodNumber10]

Wades out due to yesterdays car crash.

London Welsh:
15. Seb Jewell, 14. Seb Stegmann, 13. Nic Reynolds, 12. Tim Molenaar, 11. Nick Scott, 10. Olly Barkley* (C), 9. Piri Weepu*,
1. Ricky Reeves, 2. Nathan Morris, 3. Taione Vea*, 4. Pete Browne, 5. James Down, 6. Lachlan McCaffrey, 7. Richard Thorpe, 8. Ollie Stedman.

Replacements:
16. Nathan Vella, 17. Shane Cahill, 18. Jack Gilding, 19. Matt Corker, 20. Ben Pienaar, 21. Rob Lewis, 22. Tristan Roberts, 23. Tom May*.


Barkley captain.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Leicester team to face Chiefs:

15 Mathew Tait, 14 Niall Morris, 13 Manusamoa Tuilagi, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Vereniki Goneva, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Ben Youngs (c), 8 Robert Barbieri, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Jamie Gibson, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Graham Kitchener, 3 Fraser Balmain, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Logovi'i Mulipola.

Replacements: 16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Riccardo Brugnara, 18 Tiziano Pasquali, 19 Sebastian De Chaves, 20 Jordan Crane, 21 David Mele, 22 Owen Williams, 23 Matt Smith.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Exeter Chiefs

15 Chrysander Botha, 14 Ian Whitten, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Sam Hill, 11 Matt Jess, 10 Gareth Steenson, 9 Haydn Thomas, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Ben White, 6 Dave Ewers, 5 Ryan Caldwell, 4 Mitch Lees, 3 Tomas Francis, 2 Jack Yeandle, 1 Carl Rimmer

Replacements: 16 Elvis Taione, 17 Ben Moon, 18 Moray Low, 19 Damian Welch, 20 Kai Horstmann, 21 Will Chudley, 22 Ceri Sweeney, 23 Jack Arnott

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

can i ask a question, does anyone know if Steve McColl is any good, i remember he was called up and apparently had a very good season at Leeds (Yorkshire) but never saw him play

 

[ratsapprentice]

Was a very good counter-attacker for Leeds in the Championship.

 

[Patchey]

This weekend is really going to test whether Slade can play 13. He looked good against a poor Welsh but up against Manu will be a different game.

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

This weekend is really going to test whether Slade can play 13. He looked good against a poor Welsh but up against Manu will be a different game.

Just tackle low it's not like Manu will offload or pass lol

 

[Patchey]

Just tackle low it's not like Manu will offload or pass lol

*Manu Passing Debate Klaxon*

Well tacklign him low is easier said than done, and there's also the question of having to run at a 17 stone hunk of meat when you're attacking.

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

*Manu Passing Debate Klaxon*

Well tacklign him low is easier said than done, and there's also the question of having to run at a 17 stone hunk of meat when you're attacking.

as what sam warburton did, that was class