Aviva Premiership - Round 13

First topic message reminder :

Well, the Doc brought a level of humour mixed with cynicism to the round 12 preview that I cannot hope to match (I do wonder if our former military medic has styled himself on Hawkeye Pierce ). so back to the more mundane I am afraid.

Table

POS	TEAM	-PL-	-W-	-D-	-L-	-PF-	-PA-	-DIFF-	-TF-	-TA-	-TB-	-LB-	-PTS-
1	Wasps	12	10	0	2	393	261	132	48	31	7	0	47
2	Saracens	12	10	0	2	299	134	165	33	9	4	2	46
3	Exeter Chiefs	12	7	1	4	324	226	98	40	28	6	3	39
4	Bath Rugby	12	8	0	4	272	192	80	29	19	3	2	37
5	Leicester Tigers	12	7	0	5	269	243	26	25	26	2	2	32
6	Northampton Saints	12	6	0	6	207	209	-2	18	16	1	3	28
7	Harlequins	12	6	0	6	251	285	-34	27	33	2	2	28
8	Newcastle Falcons	12	5	0	7	204	293	-89	23	34	2	3	25
9	Gloucester Rugby	12	3	2	7	264	258	6	28	30	3	6	25
10	Sale Sharks	12	3	1	8	219	293	-74	26	33	3	2	19
11	Worcester Warriors	12	2	2	8	215	354	-139	24	38	1	1	14
12	Bristol Rugby	12	2	0	10	190	359	-169	22	46	0	4	12

Fixtures

Friday 6th

19:45 Newcastle Falcons v Bath Rugby (BT Sport 1)
Falcons fans will be starting to wonder if they can qualify for next seasons Champions Cup. To do that they have to start winning these sort of matches. A misfiring Bath team, hit by injuries, will be stunned at their late collapse to Top 4 rivals Exeter last week and have to correct things very quickly. If Falcons can start as well as they did last week, Bath could be blown away before they have even shaken off the travel lethargy. Joel Hodgson needs to play better than last week (if selected – though if Delaney is in then Falcons surely have no hope.). With the mounting injuries to the Bath front row, Falcons will be looking to gain a significant edge up front and force Hodgson’s opposite number, England’s Ford, onto the back foot. With a significant number of the Bath line-up having been in Brighton for two days this week, their training will have been disjointed.
Falcons fans will be starting to wonder if they can qualify for next seasons Champions Cup. To do that they have to start winning these sort of matches.



Saturday 7th]

15:00 Gloucester v Worcester
Whilst matches with Bristol and Bath have more history, what we shall now call the M5 derby brings Glaws closest neighbours down to Castle Grim. When they are good Gloucester are a match for almost anyone, but when they are poor they are truly awful. Sometimes they manage both in one game. With 3 wins from 12 games you would normally talk about a team as relegation candidates, yet the other 9 matches have included two draws and six LBPs. This has them level on points with Falcons and only 3 behind Northampton who currently occupy the last Champions Cup spot. Start to turn those narrow defeats into wins and top 6 is still possible, though it could make the takeover more of a problem.
Worcester will have been relieved to win last week, and by all accounts were much the better team against Quins Joy however will have been tempered by news of Bristol’s win at Sale. Worcester are still missing some of their big players from last season and could struggle to match the home team this week.

15:00 Harlequins v Sale Sharks
Quins have flattered to deceive, mixing excellent performances with woeful ones. With the players available to them, they should have done better than they have so far. Noises of unease at new DoR John Kingston are surfacing on various forum. With this the last match before the 6Ns, where Quins can expect to lose the spine of their team, they simply have to beat a Sale team that has forgotten how to win.
Sale gave Bristol their first away win in the premiership last week and have not won a game now since the leaves were still on the trees. The takeover of the club has promised money for players for next season – but they have to get there first. The only real consolation for them this week will be that the two teams below them are also likely to lose.

15:00 Northampton v Bristol
Mikey Haywood says that Saints are refinding their mojo. Not sure I can agree with that yet, and the pressure is still on Jim and Doreen to maintain a top 6 position. Of course win this game and they would possibly leapfrog struggling neighbours Leicester into 5th spot. You do feel though that right now 5th spot just puts you at the top of the list of mediocre teams. Saints fans will want new boys Bristol to be despatched with ease and to see a style of play that indicates their team can build from here.
Bristol will probably lose, but have been much more competitive recently, gaining two wins and two losing BPs in their last five games, along with two big wins in the Challenge Cup. They could surprise Saints, but unlikely Varndell to break the Cueto try scoring record may be the only reward they get.

15:00 Saracens v Exeter (BT Sport 1)
In the 2014/15 season Chiefs beat the reigning champions home and away. Since then I think they have now lost 5 matches in a row in all competitions to the boys from Barnet. Both teams will have missed key players for much of this week’s training so impact should be negated.
While Sarries are not at their best at the moment, and will miss the Vunipola boys, Exeter too have not been on top form. If Chiefs can win the set-piece battles, most crucially at lineout, they could maul the champions out of this game. If Sarries can gain close to parity and force Exeter to go wider then their aggressive defence and ability on the counter attack should ease them home.


Sunday 8th

15:00 Wasps v Leicester (BT Sport 1)
Wasps are a good team in form. Leicester are not.

How very nice of you Scott, but then that is the class of a saints supporter....

So sensitive...

Not at all, just being honest

Still thinking Williams should be the first to be yanked

nathan wrote:Still thinking Williams should be the first to be yanked

For who? We've got two academy men on the bench in Worth and Thacker Jnr. For Fitzgerald we have Kitchener.

Mxwell-Keys a Wasps fan? How many let offs do Wasps get at the breakdown?

wow. Wasps are playing as if they know they cannot lose no matter what they do. That is really shocking.

How is that not a pen for tigers!

At the moment I don't care if we lose, Williams isn't putting 100% into it.

Wasps have a cushion and two tries. Makes sense for them to gun for another try. If Tigers come back into it then they'll be more pragmatic but until then they'll aim for the TBP. 

If we lose we lose but I want to see 100% from Tigers.

I just don't think Williams is going that though, pulling out of the first tackle. He's either not putting 100% in or he's scared of making contact with the head

How many Wasps players are allowed to lie on the wrong side? FFS CMW sort yourself out.

nathan wrote:I just don't think Williams is going that though, pulling out of the first tackle. He's either not putting 100% in or he's scared of making contact with the head

which has nothing to do with his thought processes.........

Apparently there isn't a holding on law in this game?

Get cockers back! Haha

nathan wrote:Apparently there isn't a holding on law in this game?

...........sometimes.........

We're a mess. The tackling is shocking. Wasps are getting away with a lot in defence but in attack we're helping them out an awful lot.

How is that not a yellow card!!!!!

Should of been a yellow

Burns looked a lot better there at 10. Could he swap with williams

Low centre of gravity, he's only 4 ft tall. Awful attempted tackle

Burns does that best when he's not facing a defensive line every time I like him coming into the line from 15 as an additional playmaker.

Fitzgerald puts two weak hits in on Wade and falls off both. Shocking.

Matt Smith doing what he does well, solid in defence

Call for another scrum! Keeping marmalising them until one goes to the bin! Kick the ball out and it's half time and we gain nothing.

No idea why Tigers dont play Burns at 10. He's much more effective there and twice the player of Williams.

I'm guessing because the lack of a 15. We need TV or Tait back

Almost seems as if Tigers don't want to be there. Yes, clearly Wasps are terrific, but I have never seen a Leicester team seem so slow.

Sgt_Pooly wrote:No idea why Tigers dont play Burns at 10. He's much more effective there and twice the player of Williams.

Him and Worth are the only 15's left.

Backs injured we have
Toomua
Manu
Roberts
Catchpole
JPP
Veainu
Tait

doctor_grey wrote:Almost seems as if Tigers don't want to be there.  Yes, clearly Wasps are terrific, but I have never seen a Leicester team seem so slow.

Munster game.......

Welly wrote:

doctor_grey wrote:Almost seems as if Tigers don't want to be there.  Yes, clearly Wasps are terrific, but I have never seen a Leicester team seem so slow.

Munster game.......

Glasgow or Exeter games? We've been shocking away all season.

Burns has great potential at 15. The combo of Williams at 10 and Burns at 15 looked good against Sarries. Williams hasn't turned up today.

Williams off then, let's see what burns can do at 10

Maxwell-Keys asks the favourable question for Tigers. If he asks "try yes or no" then there's nothing conclusive.

Fair play to the TJ that's a great call and he backs himself.

Haskell on and off.

Ouch, Haskell out cold first tackle. Hope he stays off.

Poor Haskell. Got to feel for the bloke.

formerly known as Sam wrote:Fair play to the TJ that's a great call and he backs himself.

Should have been a pen to Wasp at the previous line-out anyway as Cole clearly got himself in front of the ball carrier at the maul ...

Far far happier with the performance in the 2nd half. Cole has been brilliant

You mean joined in front?

Smith goes off. One of Tigers best players today. Charlie Thacker has a lot less experience.

That's never a yellow card. Beale doesn't go then Cole should never go for that.

nathan wrote:You mean joined in front?

Yes as the catcher came down he bound in front of him - even under the old laws that was a pen.

It should of been a penalty before to tigers as it was clear a wasps player kicked it out of the breakdown by coming in at the side

They did get pinged for that? - or was that a previous one? - to be honest CMK has let so much go on both sides it's difficult to keep up

No he didn't, it was just before Cole got binned. He has let a lot go

Difference between Smith and the academy boy Thacker. Thacker goes for the optimistic second loopy pass from that there's a turnover and Wasps chip over. If that's Smith it's route one and Tigers recycle and clear.

nathan wrote:No he didn't, it was just before Cole got binned. He has let a lot go

haven't got to that one yet - I'm on slight recording lag as the wife made me go shopping

They need to concentrate on the basics first

Brilliant come back by Tigers. Doesn't look like it'll be enough but there's so much more aggression and direction in this second half it's good to see.

Very happy with the improvement in the second half. If we could catch the ball we could of stolen and unlikely win

On another day then Tigers get a little more luck and we win that. Beale not getting binned and Cole going hurt us but that's the rub of the green.

Slater was HUGE and Eddie Jones will have noted that. The two opensides on the backrow particularly Evans being a pest meant that we were able to hard at the breakdown. Scrum was all us and with Smith leading the defence we slowly got better and better in that department (admittedly not too hard after the opening 10 mins). Positive signs we can hopefully see more of.