Aviva Premiership Round 10

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Fri 19th Dec
19:45        SALE SHARKS  v   EXETER CHIEFS AJ Bell Stadium BT Sport
The weekend opens with 6th hosting 3rd. In the last two rounds, Sale have had two good wins - both on the road. However any momentum they may have built will have dissipated following back to back defeats to Saracens in the ERCC. Meanwhile the Chiefs have been extending their winning run (last beaten mid October by Bayonne) in the Challenge Cup, managing to rest and rotate players. While Chiefs have a nice gap between them and Sarries/Tigers, you do feel that this is the kind of game that clubs with play-off ambitions have to be winning. Sale will not make it easy for them.

Sat 20th Dec
15:00        HARLEQUINS  v   NEWCASTLE FALCONS Twickenham Stoop
After some deeply disappointing performances in the AP, Quins fans will have been heartened by the two matches with Leinster. These games have however come at a cost with key players facing lengthy spells out. Falcons took some decent domestic form into the Challenge Cup and a mainly second string side performed really well against a more experienced Stade Francais team.  Whilst the table shows these two paired together at 9/10 Quins look to have too much class. However should they not perform close to their best, Falcons will make life very uncomfortable and could easily leave Twickenham with a win.

15:00        SARACENS  v   LONDON WELSH Allianz Park
Sarries started the season scoring tries for fun. Since the fantastic match with Clermont though, things have been more of a grind. Welsh are the ideal opponents for a team looking to rebuild their confidence.

15:15        NORTHAMPTON SAINTS  v   LEICESTER TIGERS Franklin's Gardens BT Sport
These have, in recent years, been magnificent, bruising and controversial matches. Saints are in the much better form, and are displaying both power and verve. Tigers set piece is going well, defence is much improved but have no attacking game. Should be an easy win for Saints - but I live in hope.

17:30        GLOUCESTER RUGBY  v   BATH RUGBY Kingsholm BT Sport
Glaws will be looking to return to winning ways against their local rivals, with HKC desperate to regain the crowing rights. While Bath look stronger on paper they have not looked the same team away from home. Mike Ford has some key decisions to make at 12, wing, FB and most importantly front row. Bath's reserve front row went really well during the AIs and outshone their more illustrious counterparts in the fixtures with Castres.

Sun 21st Dec
14:00       WASPS  v   LONDON IRISH Ricoh Arena BT Sport
Wasps first fixture in Coventry. 27k fans. Wasps in stunning form. Could be a classic.

Haven't much hope of a tigers win unless we get lucky. We're starting to pick a bit of steam up but as mentioned above, our attack isn't good enough

I actually fancy us to get something out of this one.

Is my desperation that obvious?! Having been spoilt with the run of 11 wins out of 12 I'm getting my just desserts from all the Bath supporters I know. We're underdogs but I'm hoping sheer passion will get us over the line, as I don't fancy another 12 months of humility

and could easily leave Twickenham with a win.

Say whaaaaaaat?!

Playing at out worst and with Nev and Robshaw out we'll still beat those yocals

Can not wait for that Wasps game. It could be epic

Excited and nervous about our game against Wasps in equal measure. On paper they should win, they are in good form, but we've improved over the last fortnight from where we were against Sale, Bath and Gloucester, and if we put the right team out and take our chances who knows. Agree with others, it could well be a classic, just gutted that i can't go as we are away for our Christmas break this weekend.

yappysnap wrote:

and could easily leave Twickenham with a win.

Say whaaaaaaat?!

Playing at out worst and with Nev and Robshaw out we'll still beat those yocals

Lets hope for your sake you're right Yappy. We're going into this one with confidence so I'm expecting a good showing, I'd take a LBP.

Time to get my bad predictions going right from the first match:

SALE SHARKS  v   EXETER CHIEFS:  First, let me say how much I admire Exe.  Second, i think Sale have more than a punchers chance to squeak this one out.  They were not so bad the last couple of weeks.  Sale and Cippy by 3 at home.  

HARLEQUINS  v   NEWCASTLE FALCONS:  I think if this match was played up norf, I might actually pick Newcastle.  I think they are ripe for an upset and Quins, who played tough, tough Rugby for the last two weeks, may have shot their quiver full of arrows at Leinster.  Not sure what is left in their tank.  But, methinks, they have just enough here.  Quins by a nervous 1.

SARACENS  v   LONDON WELSH:  Time for the biggest upset in Premiership history!   London Welsh were honing their skills against Edinburgh and are now a blade sharpened to the finest cutting edge and ready to rumble.  Fluidity, dynamism, aggression.   London Welsh will...............lose by about 50.  

GLOUCESTER RUGBY  v   BATH RUGBY:  Sooner or later that new boy in the centres for Bath will explode on the scene.  Won't happen against Gloucester this week, though.  This could be a match decided by mental toughness.  Or it could be home field.  Sooner or later Gloucester will put a whole match together. I choose..........Gloucester by 7.  

WASPS  v   LONDON IRISH:  The ultimate worst match to play against Wasps is this one.  New city, new stadium, a boat-load of supporters, adrenalin, excitement.  Almost no team could go in there and win this one.  Wasps are playing pretty good so this is the lock of thr week.  Wasps, starting fast, sleeping in the middle third, waking up at the end to win by about 20.  

Did I forget any matches?  Oh yes, the Bane of any Saints fan's existence.   Leicester.  The team that rises from the near dead every darned season.  Leicester.  The team that made Castrogiovanni so teary-eyed and wistful.  hehehe.
NORTHAMPTON SAINTS  v   LEICESTER TIGERS:  

LondonTiger wrote:Should be an easy win for Saints

I thought taking narcotics was illegal in this country.  

The best time to play either Saints or Tigers is the week after one of these matches.  Thank goodness this is at home for us.  Saints by a tough bloody 3 - a clutch penalty by the best 10 in the Midlands, England, and the world (no, I don't mean Freddie Burns).

Sale Sharks:
Haley; Addison, Leota, Tuitupou, Cueto; Cipriani, Cusiter; Lewis-Roberts, Jones, Cobilas; Mills, Hines; Braid (capt), Lund, Beaumont.
Replacements: Mamukashvili, Harrison, Flynn, Ostrikov, Seymour, Cliff, Ford, Jennings.


Exeter Chiefs:
Dollman; Nowell, Slade, Whitten, Jess; Steenson, Chudley; Moon, Cowan-Dickie, Low; Mumm (capt), Welch; Ewers, White, Waldrom.
Replacements: Yeandle, Rimmer, Brown, Lees, Horstmann, Thomas, Hill, Hughes.

Bai is fully fit for the weekend so do we start him @ 13 or on the bench. He creates that bosh in the middle but also has the distribution of a 10. But defensively he could be found out of place depending how much Blake has had to work with him whilst he has been fit enough.

 Personally I would like to see a team similar to this
 1) Ayerza, 2) Youngs, 3) Cole
 4) Kitchener, 5) Parling
 6) Gibson, 7) Salvi, 8) Crane
 9) Youngs, 10) Williams
12) Allen, 13) Bai
11) Scully, 14) Goneva, 15) Tait

Bench: 16) Leo, 17) Rizzo, 18) Balmain, 19) De Cheves, 20) Croft/Barieri, 21) Harrison, 22) Burns, 23) Benjamin/Smith

I have been singularly unimpressed by what I have seen of Bai and Loamanu so far. Limited viewings I know, but not impressed.

Goneva is a complete defensive liability at 13 and has to stay on the Wing - and get the hell out of the FBs way when he is running in to take the high ball. so I would rather see smith or Thompstone at 13 - heck even Tait with Bell at 15 - than any of the PI guys until Manu (who of course is not PI but Lericester bred )is fit.

We have had Bai for 1 game in the AP.

 Loamanu has played 1 game against the barbarians and he looked good but very rusty.

 Don't know how you can judge them at all.

Not being very adventurous but I would say 5 home wins and Bath to win.

Bananaman in particular impressed for Bath - it wasn't just the 3 tries though getting tries is of course important but he seemed to show a lot of hunger.

Bath do look dangerous. Wouldn't surprise me if it's a Bath vs Saints AP final going from current games this season.


Welly

Was it just me who thought that Allen was woeful vs Toulon? Not sure I would want to start him!

How long is Manu out for?

For Saracens game against LW I hope they start Itoje in the pack and Tompkins at 13 - wishful thinking but I want to see what they can do.

No Beschocked you were not. Allen has been unimpressive so far this season. Against Saints isn't the time to parachute in an academy player though.

Manu us due back next month as is Mulipola.

I'd go for home wins except for my heart telling me Bath will scrap through another ill tempered derby at Glaws and Exeter by a score up in Manchester.

Sarries vs Welsh could be embarrassing for all concerned, they should probably just call off the game once the 50 point barrier is broken.

Would like to see Roberts get a look @ 12 sometime this season for a game or 2. 

Manu + Mulipola 3-4 weeks

Sam agree with that.

Manu is as important to Leicester as Barritt is to Saracens - they both boost their clubs in their own ways. I mention Barritt as he is an important centre also missing.

It does leave a hole in the midfield which is difficult to fill.

You're right - parachuting an academy player against Saints away is not ideal but at some point players need to be dropped if they aren't performing.

I'd still like to see Bryant given another go at 12. Sale threw a lot down his channel in the LV in that first half and he didn't miss a tackle. Made good decisions ball in hand as well, including a great 50m grubber. Add a bit more thought to our back line play as at the minute we're but basic in our midfield attack.

Our options at 12 are limited with Bai only just back from injury and Pohe off form. Hence the discussion over whether a freshly recruited centre from the championship or a 20 year old fly half should be moulded into our next 12.

Manu is a massive loss, with no Loamano either we have no real go to crash option to get us over the gain line and that has limited our attacking momentum.

Big shame Hepetema is injured

NORTHAMPTON SAINTS TEAM TO PLAY LEICESTER
Aviva Premiership Round 10
Franklin’s Gardens
Saturday, December 20th, 2014
Kick off 3:15pm
15 James WILSON
14 Ken PISI
13 Tom STEPHENSON
12 Luther BURRELL
11 George NORTH
10 Stephen MYLER
9 Kahn FOTUALI’I
1 Alex WALLER
2 Dylan HARTLEY (capt)
3 Salesi MA’AFU
4 Courtney LAWES
5 Christian DAY
6 Calum CLARK
7 Tom WOOD
8 Samu MANOA

Replacements
16 Mike HAYWOOD
17 Ethan WALLER
18 Gareth DENMAN
19 Sam DICKINSON
20 Phil DOWSON
21 Lee DICKSON
22 Jamie ELLIOTT
23 Ben FODEN

channels.

Leicester Tigers (v Northampton Saints, away, Saturday 3.15pm)
15 Mathew Tait
14 Blaine Scully
13 Matt Smith 
12 Anthony Allen
11 Vereniki Goneva
10 Owen Williams
9 Ben Youngs (c)
1 Marcos Ayerza
2 Tom Youngs
3 Dan Cole
4 Graham Kitchener
5 Geoff Parling
6 Tom Croft
7 Julian Salvi
8 Jordan Crane

Replacements
16 Leonardo Ghiraldini
18 Michele Rizzo
17 Fraser Balmain
19 Sebastian De Chaves
20 Robert Barbieri
21 Sam Harrison
22 Freddie Burns
23 Miles Benjamin 

Good to see Croft back but shame no space for Gibson

Saracens team to face London Welsh

15 Ben Ransom; 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Duncan Taylor, 11 Chris Wyles; 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Neil De Kock; 1 Mako Vunipola, 2 Brett Sharman, 3 James Johnston, 4 George Kruis, 5 Jim Hamilton, 6 Jackson Wray, 7 Kelly Brown, 8 Ernst Joubert ©.

Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Richard Barrington, 18 Petrus Du Plessis, 19 Mouritz Botha, 20 Billy Vunipola, 21 Richard Wigglesworth, 22 Charlie Hodgson, 23 Nick Tompkins.


Very disappointing selection. Itoje not even in the 23 and Tompkins only on the bench.

If you don't start these players against LW at home then when do you?

Going to be a big clash in the forwards.

Bath team:

15. Anthony Watson
14. Semesa Rokoduguni
13. Jonathan Joseph
12. Kyle Eastmond
11. Matt Banahan
10. George Ford
9. Chris Cook
1. Paul James
2. Ross Batty
3. David Wilson
4. Stuart Hooper ( c )
5. Dominic Day
6. Alafoti Fa'osiliva
7. Francois Louw
8. Leroy Houston

Replacements

16. Rob Webber
17. Nick Auterac
18. Henry Thomas
19. Matt Garvey
20. Carl Fearns
21. Micky Young
22. Ollie Devoto
23. Sam Burgess


Pretty decent team that, Garvey and Fearns will add some serious bulk when they come on.

Falcons for Quins - Saturday

1 Rob Vickers
2 George McGuigan
3 Scott Wilson
4 Calum Green
5 Dom Barrow
6 Mark Wilson
7 Will Welch (C)
8 Ally Hogg

9 Mike Blair
10 Tom Catterick
11 Alex Tuilagi
12 JP Socino
13 Adam Powell
14 Sinotti Sinotti
15 Simon Hammersley

16 Scott Lawson
17 Eric Fry
18 Mark Irving
19 Kane Thompson
20 Josh Furno
21 Ruki Tipuna
22 Andy Tuilagi
23 Noah Cato

Very disappointed to see Will Welch back over Andy Saull. But nice to see Catterick continue at 10.

Can't see the scrum going too well with Wilson but nice to Catterick at 10

Glaws
Steve McColl; Charlie Sharples, Henry Purdy, Billy Twelvetrees (capt), Jonny May; James Hook, Greig Laidlaw; Yann Thomas, Richard Hibbard, John Afoa; Tom Savage, Tom Palmer; Sione Kalamafoni, Matt Kvesic, Ross Moriarty

Replacements:
Darren Dawidiuk, Nick Wood, Sila Puafisi, James Hudson, Elliott Stooke, Dan Robson, Mark Atkinson, David Halaifonua

Glaws by 30

Good win for Sale

Wasps team to play London Irish at the Ricoh Arena on Sunday 21 December, KO 2pm.

15. Andrea Masi
14. Christian Wade
13. Elliot Daly
12. Chris Bell
11. Sailosi Tagicakibau
10. Andy Goode
9. Joe Simpson
1. Matt Mullan
2. Edd Shervington
3. Jake Cooper-Woolley
4. Bradley Davies
5. James Gaskell
6. Ashley Johnson
7. James Haskell (C)
8. Nathan Hughes

Replacements 
16. Tom Lindsay
17. Simon McIntyre
18. Lorenzo Cittadini
19. Kearnan Myall
20. Sam Jones
21. Charlie Davies
22. Alex Lozowski
23. Rob Miller

Steve Diamond has done a great job at Sale. They don't look half the side without Cipriani on the pitch though, he's really integrated with the culture up there. If he leaves it'll be a struggle to replace him.

Saints and Tigers 

NORTHAMPTON			LEICESTER
James Wilson	15	FB	Mathew Tait
Ken Pisi	14	W	Blaine Scully
Tom Stephenson	13	C	Matt Smith
Luther Burrell	12	C	Anthony Allen
George North	11	W	Vereniki Goneva
Stephen Myler	10	FH	Owen Williams
Kahn Fotuali'i	9	SH	Ben Youngs
Alex Waller	1	P	Marcos Ayerza
Dylan Hartley	2	H	Tom Youngs
Salesi Ma'afu	3	P	Dan Cole
Courtney Lawes	4	L	Graham Kitchener
Christian Day	5	L	Geoff Parling
Calum Clark	6	F	Tom Croft
Tom Wood	7	F	Julian Salvi
Samu Manoa	8	N8	Jordan Crane
Replacements			Replacements
Mike Haywood	16		Leonardo Ghiraldini
Ethan Waller	17		Michele Rizzo
Gareth Denman	18		Fraser Balmain
Sam Dickinson	19		Sebastian de Chaves
Phil Dowson	20		Robert Barbieri
Lee Dickson	21		Sam Harrison
Jamie Elliott	22		Freddie Burns
Ben Foden	23		Miles Benjamin

Strong start from Falcons. Tuilagi should have finished in the corner after Sinoti went straight through the middle of Quins defence.

Wilson pinged at first scrum, hope that's not a sign

Got to be red

15 mins in and Hartley has a red. oh dear.

What for?

Smith grabbed him at a ruck and wouldn't let got. Hartley lashed out to free himself and the effect was an upward elbow to Smith's face. JP was going to go with a yellow and he felt Hartley was trying to 'push' Smith away but TMO (Davie) said he felt it was an elbow to the face.

Edit: it looked really bad in slo-mo from one angle, but all the rest looked pretty weak. Understand the red, could have understood if just a yellow.

Ah Tuilagi did you spill that?

Ah that's a try

Get in. And to be honest the possession and territory we've had we needed to turn it into points.

Some lovely stuff again GF, just overplaying a bit too much at times.

3-7 HT, well deserved lead for the Falcons.

Absolutely...playing very well keeping good possession.

Really think Green has been a good signing...an old fashioned tough lock forward who just gets stuck in.

How do you think the front row has gone.

Ok I guess, both TH's have struggled a little.

Agree on Green, he's got better through the season and is nailed on now.

Tom croft yellow for a (marginal) high tackle as it was the second in the half (but really because Saints got a red after 16 mins)

Saints only down 1 point 6-7 at half time.

Sgt_Pooly wrote:What for?

For being an eejit. Again!
Gloucester v Bath next. Marvelous.

Yeah its still an area for us to work on.

McGuigan is really showing himself well in the loose. Once he works on his tight and set piece stuff he will be a very good hooker for us.

Without getting carried away its just nice to see us actually causing teams problems now and not just the team that is an easy bonus point win.

ALso I have been critical of ALex Tuilagis signing...but to be fair he's looking fitter and getting involved now. Not the player of old but he still puts the fear in players when he gets that ball.

He's gave Yarde a real game, impressive so far. Liking Catterick at 10, his distribution is excellent