Preseason thread.

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

With that I wasn't comparing him to Waldrom, I was just saying that his try was nothing to rave about.
Waldrom's try scoring is IMO the only thing that kept him in the team over Simmonds last season or over Ewers/Armand at 8 the season before which is ridiculous seeing as, as you say almost all of his tries are from mauls or driving over from 1-2 metres out. He's been the beneficiary of being lazy in a dominant pack for years and has somehow gained a reputation as a dominant carrier and scorer because of it. The sooner he's dropped and the other 7 aren't having to pull his weight the better IMO.

100% agree with that.

The amount of times i have heard Tigers fans saying why did we let Waldrom go etc.
He is good but only a handful of his tries have been from carries over 2m long IMO.

 

[Scotty]

Don't think Hepburn's quite back from injury yet but he was walking around fine so I can't imagine he'll be out for too much longer. On the topics of looseheads, Billy Keast was the replacement in the Dragons game and he actually looked rather impressive. He's looks quite fit for a prop but have nothing away at scrum time. A strong ball carrier too. I could definitely see him overtake Rimmer this season.

Simmonds' try was just from a maul, nothing special there but he was looking impressive throughout the game. Worryingly though it actually looks like he may have trimmed down a bit which is the opposite of what he needs to do. Regardless though he carried very well throughout the game and looked threatening whenever he got the ball. He's a damn good breakdown forward aswell which I don't think many people realise. Waldrom got a good 30 minutes out of the game and it has to be said that Simmonds completely outclassed him. In my eyes Simmonds is the clear choice of those 2 but Baxter may think otherwise.

So who is our first choice 8? (Got simmonds in my fantasy team because he was cheap and i believe he will have a great season)

Waldrom trys from 2m yes but he does have a talant for making that last 2m others cant but point taken in ither replies the guy is past it.

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

So who is our first choice 8? (Got simmonds in my fantasy team because he was cheap and i believe he will have a great season)

Waldrom trys from 2m yes but he does have a talant for making that last 2m others cant but point taken in ither replies the guy is past it.

I'd say Simmonds with Armand and Kvesic flankers. Sadly Ewers is getting to the point with injuries where you can't really plan for him to be in the team. Kvesic is quite a bit bigger than I realised. He was playing 8 vs the Pirates and did a good job in the ball carrying role (albeit against a Championship side) so I don't think that that backrow is as lightweight as it appears; especially seeing as Armand looks to have bulked up aswell, he was significantly larger than the second rows yesterday (rumour has it that he benches the most in the squad, not that that matters a great deal).

On Waldrom I honestly don't believe that he is especially effective from 2 metres out; I genuinely believe that it's a case of him being too lazy to do any work up until the point that he thinks he can go himself and then makes the carry and scores. He's a real glory hunter IMO. I've never seen him score a try that any of LCD, Williams, Armand, Ewers etc. couldn't have scored themselves. He just likes to ensure that he's in the prime position to score rather than being in a ruck.

 

[Scotty]

I'd say Simmonds with Armand and Kvesic flankers. Sadly Ewers is getting to the point with injuries where you can't really plan for him to be in the team. Kvesic is quite a bit bigger than I realised. He was playing 8 vs the Pirates and did a good job in the ball carrying role (albeit against a Championship side) so I don't think that that backrow is as lightweight as it appears; especially seeing as Armand looks to have bulked up aswell, he was significantly larger than the second rows yesterday (rumour has it that he benches the most in the squad, not that that matters a great deal).

On Waldrom I honestly don't believe that he is especially effective from 2 metres out; I genuinely believe that it's a case of him being too lazy to do any work up until the point that he thinks he can go himself and then makes the carry and scores. He's a real glory hunter IMO. I've never seen him score a try that any of LCD, Williams, Armand, Ewers etc. couldn't have scored themselves. He just likes to ensure that he's in the prime position to score rather than being in a ruck.

So
6. Armand
7. Kvesic
8. Simmonds

When ewers is fit (lets pretend hes not made of glass) id like to see armand move to 4 with dennis. Lees for some size on the bench. That gives kevesic and simmonds as more mobile skillful players while retaining bulk and power with armand on ewers both on the field. Just my opinion but i think it could work.

Who do we have in terms of fwd impact off the bench?

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

So
6. Armand
7. Kvesic
8. Simmonds

When ewers is fit (lets pretend hes not made of glass) id like to see armand move to 4 with dennis. Lees for some size on the bench. That gives kevesic and simmonds as more mobile skillful players while retaining bulk and power with armand on ewers both on the field. Just my opinion but i think it could work.

Who do we have in terms of fwd impact off the bench?

Think it's best that we move this discussion to the Chiefs thread.

 

[curtbob7]

I was there Friday night for the Treviso game as were over 14,000 others for a friendly!

Solid performance. Impressed With Joe Ford again. Great to see Toomua back.

 

[Raggs]

For anyone interested, Ulster vs Wasps is here: full game.

Wasps defence has a lot more bite about it than it did last season.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

https://www.leicestertigers.com/news/england-trio-ready-for-run-out-this-week

 

[curtbob7]

https://www.leicestertigers.com/news/england-trio-ready-for-run-out-this-week

*licks lips rather ferociously*

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

*licks lips rather ferociously*

Next story, Manu Tuilagi breaks his leg tying his shoelaces and will be out for a year.

 

[munstermuffin]

We are playing the Warriors tonight. Strange to be playing in a team with Stringer AND Donnacha against us.

 

[curtbob7]

Next story, Manu Tuilagi breaks his leg tying his shoelaces and will be out for a year.

Still probably have more centres than you lot though

 

[curtbob7]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/41032864

Pipe down Mark.

How about you trim some of your expensive imports, go for cheaper options and increase the wages of said home-grown stars?

Or you could just buy them some villas in South Africa...

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Leicester Tigers squad (v Ospreys, Welford Road, Friday 7.45pm)

Forwards: Dom Barrow, Greg Bateman, Ben Betts, Will Evans, Mike Fitzgerald, Ellis Genge, Luke Hamilton, Sione Kalamafoni, Jake Kerr, Graham Kitchener, Joe Maksymiw, Valentino Mapapalangi, Logovi'i Mulipola, Brendon O'Connor, Dominic Ryan, Harry Thacker, Kyle Traynor, Harry Wells, Mike Williams, Tom Youngs.

Backs: Tom Brady, George Ford, Joe Ford, Sam Harrison, Jonah Holmes, Nick Malouf, Jonny May, Matt Smith, Charlie Thacker, Matt Toomua, Manu Tuilagi, Mathew Tait, Telusa Veainu, Ben White, Ben Youngs.

@Groundhog Betts featuring in all 3 of Tigers preseason games, Keep your mitts off him.

 

[Every Time Ref]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/41032864

Pipe down Mark.

How about you trim some of your expensive imports, go for cheaper options and increase the wages of said home-grown stars?

Or you could just buy them some villas in South Africa...

To be fair nothing he says in that article isn't sensible as far as I'm concerned. Once you get past the fact that it's someone who works for Satacend talking about the salary cap, it's just an idea bring out gorward to benefit English rugby and English rugby players.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/41032864

Pipe down Mark.

How about you trim some of your expensive imports, go for cheaper options and increase the wages of said home-grown stars?

Or you could just buy them some villas in South Africa...

To be fair to Sarries, they produce a lot of the talent themselves. They have some big name imports obviously but they do a lot to produce their own home grown talent too. Maybe if the issue is more about stopping big imports then maybe allow players who have come through a clubs own academy to not contribute towards the salary cap? If a club produces the player themself they should then be free to pay them whatever they want.

 

[BPM]

I'm with ragerancher on this. Academy produced players being an exception is an interesting idea. It would definitely reward the clubs that are developing young English players.

I'm no Saracens fan, but I have no problem saying that they've done a brilliant job of developing young English talent and shouldn't be allowed to become victims of their own success with the likes of Itoje etc.

Curtbob criticised their 'expensive imports' but how many do they actually have now? Skelton and Williams are about all I can think of that would fit in to that category. I'm sure Burger is well paid too, but he was always going to be a short term signing as a player and I think they are looking as much for his input off the pitch in helping the development of players like Earl than on the pitch.

Rugby is changing and player salaries are going the way of football. The cap as it is now can't stay the same when the rest of the market is changing.

 

[curtbob7]

Very sensible suggestions. I agree academy graduates should be exempt in some kind of way. Its just when anyone from Sarries pops up about money in any way it just screams hypocrisy.

Pretty sure a fair few of Sarries England internationals didn't actually come through the academy ranks though? The vunipola boys for a start.

 

[McTallshort]

Will Fraser retired

 

[BPM]

OK - maybe not the Vunipolas but Itoje, Farrell, George and Kruis is not a bad return and that's not including all the others coming through such as Isiekwe, Earle, Gallagher, Earl, Malins etc.