Aviva Premiership - Round 13

First topic message reminder :

Fixtures

Fri 19th Feb 16
19:45 Harlequins  v   Leicester Tigers BT Sport

Sat 20th Feb 16
15:00 Saracens  v   Gloucester Rugby
15:00 Worcester Warriors  v   Sale Sharks
15:15 Bath Rugby  v   Wasps BT Sport

Sun 21st Feb 16
15:00 London Irish  v   Exeter Chiefs BT Sport
15:00 Newcastle Falcons Falcons  v   Northampton Saints

Cheers, it's going to be an interesting game

I'm predicting lots of errors from tigers tonight

Bryant is more of a 12 than 10 IMO. I rate him highly and glad to see him given a go.

His attacking kicking game when going forward is usually good but it will be a big ask for him to control a game away at the Stoop. It makes NEv missing an even bigger loss for Quins as he would have been in a strong position to control the game.

Hopefully we can given Bryant a good platform because if we're going forward then ne has a great passing game to bring our outside backs into the game.

Bryant also has a nice step as well. I agree he's more of a play making 12 and is more than capable of playing flat and whipping passes away. His kicking game will face some big questions though. Let's see what the young man can do! If he wants to raise his profile now would be a great time with our injuries and Burns in different form.

First question answered there then

The weather look great...........

Hopefully that will settle Bryant now

Kick offs have been very messy from both sides so far!

We are rubbish at the breakdown

What a waste by Leicester and what a poor kick by Visser.

Good tackle too to stop the try

Breakdown is looking a bit better with O'Connor back. Although he's been on the wrong side of Doyles whistle it will happen when a 7 plays on the edge.

Ward is being a royal pain in the *** as always though.

Always easier to tackle if they are expecting to be tackled then put all their energy into fending.

3rd time in a row the Tigers have given three points straight back.

Both sides are trying to play though.

Ooooh Thacker at 7

Not good at all to see O'Connor go off with a hamstring issue again.

Thacker at 7 though!!

You can tell ward is English, can't throw at the lineout

Tigers have gone from kicking nothing last week to aimlessly kicking attacking ball away this week

9-9 half time. I'd have wanted much better than that from a Tigers perspective given the wind.

I've got to go out now as well so will have to deal with phone updates for the second half...

There'll be a fair few teams watching this scratching their heads trying to work out how they can be behind both these teams. Pretty poor showing even with the weather. Couple of mistakes from Bryant early on but he soon eased into it. Quins poor lineout stopping them from picking up a lead but they'll be reasonably confident with this wind in the second half.

king_carlos wrote:3rd time in a row the Tigers have given three points straight back.

Both sides are trying to play though.

Clear knock on before the first, awful call by the TJ for the second and third was harsh as Tait is competing for the ball as Yarde fell over but is deemed tackler.

Quins are great at the breakdown and we're not moving them quick enough. They are good at niggling there and we're letting them. Slightly concerning that JP has warned Harrison for use of boot as he's clearly frustrated with the silly buggers on the floor.

I think Bryant has shown his inexperience not playing for territory and pinning quins into there own 22. Second half against the wind will be a big test for the lad.

I think he's moved us down into the Quins half better than Burns managed last week. Quins had a lot of possession in the first half and they kept it in hand. Other than the two early jitters he's done well.

I do wonder if the ref will ever blow for a turnover

Wallace is never 10m. Not one of JPs best evenings.

Ward is a bit of a plonker

Nothing wrong with that either

I mean Lambert isn't even bound at that scrum and he's going straight across. JP is about two foot away.

nathan wrote:Nothing wrong with that either

I'm starting to understand why Dean Ryan berated him last weekend. He asks for help with that decision then doesn't even look at the replay.

Our scrum is struggling. Quins aren't binding and we're not powerful enough. Time for Logo.

Is he not the tackler?

He's also on the ball before a Quins player gets there hence there's no offside line. The level of officiating is shambolic.

Wish they would calm down on the Manu loving a bit

JP back with the random calls again. Tackled whilst no one touching him.

Tigers need to be a bit cuter. Our kicking hasn't been accurate enough. If Evans was fit he'd be giving us a schooling.

The balls not in and they're pushing us back? How are we conceding a penalty!?!

Referees don't know scrum rules. Hardly any of them are enforced.

I just find that refs (for all teams) are so inconsistent and it's ruining the game. We need to make all refs ref exactly the same

Lack of ambition by Quins almost cost them. Some strange decisions by the officials.

Quins were well on top at the breakdown which I think we are lacking at the moment. 

Reffing in the premiership must be at all time low at the moment

JP with a homer but Tigers only have themselves to blame for that loss. Admirable defence by Quins but Tigers should have won that with ease.

HongKongCherry wrote:JP with a homer but Tigers only have themselves to blame for that loss. Admirable defence by Quins but Tigers should have won that with ease.

We lack intensity at the moment, I'm actually looking forward to th dry weather in the hope we'll chuck it around a bit more and won't need to rely on the physical game as much.

Quins only threatened on turnover ball. We gifted them a couple of great chances and it was a lovely kick from Botica to exploit one.

Wallace an obvious man of the match. Time for him to replace Robshaw in the England squad? I think so.

Thacker, Croft and Manu showed up well. Betham and TV not so much, Thompstone's return is hopefully soon as he's much better in these rough conditions. Kitto should be flown back to NZ he was bloody awful. Just watched Quins break and score, JDV overtook him and nearly got Yarde, Kitto is younger and quicker just unfortunately lazier.

Scrum needs some work. Quins played silly buggers and we were to honest and let them con penalties out of us all game. We've got to be smarter than that.

Once again Tigers have paid the price for the complete lack of ability to control territory. That wind was a 10point wind so the game was lost after not going into half time with any kind of lead. The lack of dog is more concerning for me than any of the Poopie we saw last season. At least people are now running hard and straight before trying to ship it wide but I fear Manu has just played himself into the England squad.

With the lack of international call-ups I thought this would be a great opportunity for them to solidify their top 4 spot and push for a home semi but now it looks like top 4 was probably too optimistic.

Just seen the replay for yardes try, what was kitto thinking jogging back

nathan wrote:Just seen the replay for yardes try, what was kitto thinking jogging back

Prob he was never going to catch him?

That was the worst Tigers/Quins game I've watched for years. Grim, dour and error ridden.

Quins seemed the cuter side to me - played Doyle better. But the first half was utterly forgettable, and we lost it there.

Chuckle - I live in the middle of Quins country, so my mates are all going to be happy. Bugger...

He should of at least tried, the half tackle by burns made yarde stumble which means kitto could of caught him if he was running at full speed

Got going to mention Doyle as to peed off.

I HATE how you can kick the ball out at the ruck, but even more annoying is we seem to be the only side not to do it.

nathan wrote:Just seen the replay for yardes try, what was kitto thinking jogging back

It's just fecking lazy. If JDV is willing to put his face on the line making a desperate lunge on Yarde's ankles but Kitto can't be bothered to break sweat. Shows the difference in mindset between a champion and a third choice who I'd not bother selecting in the 23 next week.

At least we improved on last week. Feel for Brendan O'Connor his tackling was excellent.

Kitto out played Harrison in the distribution by a mile mind.

Yeah he just took twice as long to get there and offered no threat ball in hand. Where's Tressider?

On a side note. How many if our bench were fully fit? Kitch and Crane weren't used, Smith and Burns were supposed to start.