[Narbia]

Screenshot 2023-02-22 at 00-09-03 Gallagher Premiership Betting Odds Rugby Union.png (11.03 KiB) Viewed 2381 times

Well the bookies couldn't put a cigarette paper between the two sides.

I like this post from the Tigers' board.

Irish very settled, Jackson pulling the strings and they’re a real “team”. Pearson impresses me. This will be tricky, coming off a 6 day turnaround.

Hmm. We shall see.

Anyway, isn't it about time Kyle Rowe was brought back into the squad?

[Stevie J]

Kyle tore his ACL in the summer. Best case recovery is typically 9 months with us normies typically taking 12 months. As he was injured mid July I'd think our final games against Sarries or Exeter would be more realistic - but maybe he's a quick healer!

Big question for me, especially with Ben Youngs being available is who do you play at 9? Give Powell the shirt and hope last week was a one off, or go with Caolan who (when he gets it right) has the boot to counter Tigers box kicking game?

[Narbia]

That's a good point on the #9 berth. IMHO Joe Powell seems to be lacking self confidence.
If you start young Englefield with Joe on the bench, will that dent his confidence even further?

Tough one. But I'd have CE start as he doesn't ever seem to be lacking confidence, to me.

[Nic Phipps certainly had some howlers before he turned into a seasoned pro in the last 1 or 2 years. ]

[M_W]

I really like Englefield. He's confident and has aspects of his game that are genuinely stand out.

Phipps had the occasional howler, but even when he was getting a hard time from the fans, you could see what he was bringing to the table. He got the the breakdown and cleared the ball very quickly, which was vital for our style of play.

Powell's an experienced guy and will have had decent runs of form in Oz to pick up caps, but he needs to have a few genuinely good games at some point.

[Lazyboy346]

Depends on what game style we go for. Englefield is great at high hanging kicks and a Powell has shown at times that he's got decent game management.

Even with Brown looking in good form for his first game in a year, I'd be considering Englefield to start. Put some pressure on Brown and he's shown a tendency towards making silly mistakes that then affect his wider game. Use hanging kicks to give Stokes, Loader and Cinti opportunities to recover the ball as we've got a pace advantage and can probably exploit the broken field.

[shimmieandshake]

Referee: Jack Makepeace (15th Premiership game).

Assistant Referees: Simon Harding and Jamie Leahy. TMO: Dean Richards.

Citing Officer: John Byett.‌

Works for me. Pretty neutral on them, which will hopefully result in some neutral (by which I mean 70% biased in our favour) officiating.

[GHA]

15 James Stokes
14 Lucio Cinti
13 Benhard van Rensburg
12 Rory Jennings
11 Ben Loader
10 Paddy Jackson
9 Joe Powell

1 Facundo Gigena
2 Mike Willemse
3 Lovejoy Chawatama
4 Api Ratuniyarawa
5 Rob Simmons
6 Juan Martin Gonzalez
7 Tom Pearson
8 Matt Rogerson (c)

Replacements:
16 Agustin Creevy
17 Tarek Haffar
18 Oliver Hoskins
19 Chunya Munga
20 Josh Caulfield
21 Chandler Cunningham-South
22 Hugh O’Sullivan
23 Will Joseph

[GHA]

15 Mike Brown
14 Chris Ashton
13 Matt Scott
12 Jimmy Gopperth
11 Harry Potter
10 Handré Pollard
9 Ben Youngs

1 Tom West
2 Julián Montoya (c)
3 Joe Heyes
4 George Martin
5 Cameron Henderson
6 Hanro Liebenberg
7 Olly Cracknell
8 Jasper Wiese

Replacements:
16 Charlie Clare
17 Francois van Wyk
18 Will Hurd
19 Harry Wells
20 Emeka Ilione
21 Tom Whiteley
22 Charlie Atkinson
23 Harry Simmons

[Narbia]

Well 6:2 split and JP starts the #9 berth. I'm sure he'll be better this week - 'cause the pressure is on.

[SixNineOne]

I’m also hoping that last week was just a blip for Powell, as he had been on a steady, if not spectacular, upward curve until then. Is Englefield injured or has O’Sullivan just got the nod ahead of him? We’re also feeling WGC’s absence - Gigena will probably have to put in a long shift as the coaches will probably be reluctant to chuck young Haffar into the Leicester cauldron too early in the game, however good his skills in the loose!

[Narbia]

Is Englefield injured or has O’Sullivan just got the nod ahead of him?

I've got vague recollection of CE getting a knock and some on-field repair at the Saints cup game. I think HO'S then took over.

[Lazyboy346]

His ankle was strapped when he chatted to us after the game. Was hoping the two weeks off would give him time to recover but presume we don't want to push it given we will need him vs Sale and Exeter.

[M_W]

That end to the 1st half had me pulling out my hair. Twice with the clock in the red we punted down field when in our own corner, rather than nudge it into touch.

Thankfully didn't cost us in the end

[Florida]

Undone by our disdain for taking the three.

[Lazyboy346]

That penalty about 10 mins into the second half was crying out to be picked for points. Go 6 up and force them to chase as Pollard was always going to kick them back into it if it remained tight.

Fairly sure there was a very blatant forward pass in the build up to the penalty they got the second try from. Offside was a tombola at best.

And what was Powell doing at the caterpillar rucks to get charged down twice in a row? No guard either time and they get a try off it. Complete lack of game management by Powell and the available forwards for that.

[M_W]

At the end of the day, it's another tight game we let go for the want of game management.

Easy with hindsight, but even at the time that felt like a 'take the three pen', given that Leicester have a strong pack and aren't a walkover from 5 metres. And then managing he kicking exchanges.

Early stats but, ESPN have us as 57% possession, 52% territory 7/2 on clean breaks, 26/7 on defenders beaten and 96%/87% tackle completion. You have to be getting those games over the line.

[Narbia]

OK. Just back from the game.

Here's my raw take: Joe Powell did pretty good with his distribution, and in general in the first half. In retrospect, why was a scrummy box-kicking from the ruck with no cover. Not a single forward there to protect him? Why? Nowhere else does that happen.

We got seriously close to their try line in a number of occasions - like within a metre and they managed to shut down the attack. Several times! IMO that's where we lost the game.

In terms of game plan, the rapid switching of possession to support runners was just sublime when it came off like 90% of the time.

Frustrating? Yeah sure, but some of the play from us was just top drawer.

etc,... Marginally Disappointed of Tunbridge Wells.

[M_W]

Here's a crazy stat for you all, triggered by a post at the other place.

In the Prem and HC we've been involved in 9 tight games decided by 7 or less points. We didn't win any of them. Not one.

[SixNineOne]

Here's a crazy stat for you all, triggered by a post at the other place.

In the Prem and HC we've been involved in 9 tight games decided by 7 or less points. We didn't win any of them. Not one.

Look on the bright side, that’s 9 losing bonus points…

[Lazyboy346]

Can't help but think a moment of magic from Arundell would have made a difference. 14 seconds against Wales was pointless, they should have capped Murley instead.

Caulfield only came on with 4 mins left so, as much as he's a very good player, I'd rather have had Arundell available to try to open up the game. Fingers crossed we might get either him or OHC back over the next three weeks and able to play.

[M_W]

Here's a crazy stat for you all, triggered by a post at the other place.

In the Prem and HC we've been involved in 9 tight games decided by 7 or less points. We didn't win any of them. Not one.

Look on the bright side, that’s 9 losing bonus points…

True. One was a draw too, so even more points.

[SixNineOne]

Whatever the deficiencies in our game management, it was a very enjoyable game to watch despite the final result. I very much enjoyed the contrast between Tigers’ dour style of play and the thrills of our back line spinning the ball out wide. When Harry Potter was yellow carded I remember saying that it didn’t matter because they don’t use their wings - after all, why would one of the best wings in the country want to sign up for Leicester?! Sometimes, though, I wonder if we’re not a little bit too keen on the long miss-pass to the wing - Ben Loader received several where he had no chance as he caught the ball standing still and was then immediately wrapped up by Ashton and Brown.

A couple of minor observations on the evening. First, why can’t our announcer check out the correct pronunciation of opposition players’ names before he picks up the microphone… surely Jasper Wiese is a well enough known player that one ought to know how to say his name?! Second, there was a big announcement about the Rainbow Laces campaign, and then only one of the 46 players on the pitch had the decency to wear them (Rob Simmons) - somewhat disappointing, and it didn’t reflect well on either club…

[Stevie J]

A lots has been said but that one was a game where you win it and you can start thinking about maayybbeee being top 4. And it just confirmed to me we are still not in that conversation. We can be top 8 again, maybe we'll push up a few slots, and secure another year in the Heineken Cup.

In the first half we attacked several times with real verve and quick passing to make line breaks and get into scoring positions. In the second we got several 5m lineouts and correct me if I am wrong but every time we went for a maul. And we never really got close to pushing it over. We seemed to drift away from getting it out quickly to the backs and fell into the trap of trying to run over one of the better teams at defending their line.

Right up until the last I had hoped we would give the backs a chance at attacking set piece metres from the line to see if we could release Will or Benhard or Loader.

In the cold light of day, despite being 5m out with the time in the red, Tigers having two tries chopped off will probably tell you they deserved it. Certainly they choked the life out of the game.

One more thing - we manged to speak to Caloan as we left and he's aiming to be fit for the Cup Final. So its Powell and O'Sullivan until White is back (thankfully he can play this week against Newcastle) but Powell really needs some coaching. He looked better this week but those chargedowns really pushed us back. And two in quick succession were a killer.

[GC89]

I have only caught up on the first half so far (and actually Powell hasn't been as bad (yet) as I was expecting), but it is clear White is by far and away the number 1 now. Good that he's available for Falcons but with his workload I would be surprised if he is anything more than a sub.

And I totally agree on top 4 Steve. This was the pivotal match - win it and we could dare to dream. Now I expect it will be a bit of a wet limp into the end of the season and a scrap for 8th.

[SixNineOne]

I think 8th is the best we can hope for, given that Quins are two points below us with a game in hand - I can’t see them continuing their current losing streak for too long…
If 8th is the lowest Heineken Cup berth, it’s worth thinking whether we really want it. On the one hand it’s good for recruitment and retention if we can offer top flight rugby, but it also means that we’ll probably get drawn against one of the South African sides, who are not a big attendance draw when they come to the Gtech and involve the club in a serious financial outlay for the away leg…

[GC89]

I'm of the view that we definitely want HC if we can get it. The Challenge Cup fixtures are just quite miserable and if we get an Irish province in particular the extra gate receipts are pretty handy. As you say, I think it is attractive from a recruitment perspective too...

Back to the game. Have now finished and that spell at the start of the second half from Powell was as bad as people said. We never looked like breaking Leicester down once it got tight. Always looked like we were most likely to score from range, as with Powell's try. Creevy looked off the pace and that final line-out move looked really poorly thought through. Overall a slightly flat performance I thought. Hope we see a response against Falcons.