[Olyy]

Weirder than I was expecting - the back 5 of the pack is a bit unbalanced tbh

Looking forward to seeing L.James get a proper run out, the guy is class every time he takes the pitch

[Surbiton_Shark]

Really odd not having a Curry in the starting line-up

Bench is slightly underwhelming is my first reaction

[Basilbullneck]

No Faf, no Lood and no Ajmer, with no updates on any of them.
Also, strange to see a team sheet without a Curry starting.

[Clutch]

Talk of getting the 5 point goes out of the window. I'd take any win now. Their side is no worse off than us, and missing Van R and Faf is just as key to us as Ford is for them.

Hopefully we can get some dominance up front and grind it out.

5/6 of our key players missing!

[stevene]

bit disappointing if I am honest.

still no FDK which is odd/ slightly worrying. missing AVDM and RJVR which removes two potent carriers. also no LDJ.

not adverse to having wilson at 7 looking at the tigers pack. big onus on oosthuizen, DDP and JLDP on carrying hard (ano not turning over the ball).

dont understand why we cant move ashton to 11 and play solomona at 14. how yarde can get a start at 11 with both ashton and solomona fit is beyond me unless both denny and ashy dont want to play on the left.

hopefully cliff puts in a quins performance not a sarries performance. with the expected weather he has to improve his box kicking which is too inconsistent.

interesting to see oosthuizen and cole at the scrum. neither scrummage particular straight. oosthuizen probably has the power advantage but cole the nous.

reckon its going to be a tight game tomorrow but what do I know.

[Olyy]

Leicester Tigers (v Sale Sharks, away, Friday 7.45pm)

15 Telusa Veainu
14 Jonah Holmes
13 Jaco Taute
12 Kyle Eastmond
11 Jordan Olowofela
10 Noel Reid
9 Jack Van Poortvliet

1 Greg Bateman
2 Tatafu Polota-Nau
3 Dan Cole (c)
4 Tomás Lavanini
5 Will Spencer
6 Hanro Liebenberg
7 Tommy Reffell
8 Ifereimi Boladau

Replacements
16 Jake Kerr
17 Nephi Leatigaga
18 Joe Heyes
19 Joe Batley
20 Harry Wells
21 Sam Lewis
22 Harry Simmons
23 Johnny McPhillips

[stevene]

Leicester Tigers (v Sale Sharks, away, Friday 7.45pm)

15 Telusa Veainu
14 Jonah Holmes
13 Jaco Taute
12 Kyle Eastmond
11 Jordan Olowofela
10 Noel Reid
9 Jack Van Poortvliet

1 Greg Bateman
2 Tatafu Polota-Nau
3 Dan Cole (c)
4 Tomás Lavanini
5 Will Spencer
6 Hanro Liebenberg
7 Tommy Reffell
8 Ifereimi Boladau

Replacements
16 Jake Kerr
17 Nephi Leatigaga
18 Joe Heyes
19 Joe Batley
20 Harry Wells
21 Sam Lewis
22 Harry Simmons
23 Johnny McPhillips

hopefully Lavanini has his usual brain fade and gives unless at least 10 mins with a man advantage.

[Clutch]

Cliff performance range has very little to do with him. If we get quick ball he should be decent. If not, he's found wanting.

[SSR]

I am also underwhelmed by the team selection ( and bench). I hope this is a plan
to counteract expected weather conditions and not a sign of unannounced injuries.
Wilson is a useful additional line out jumper, so maybe a plan to ease the lack of Lood.
Wet and windy conditions don't seem to suit "the cannonball" and Luke J is a class player.
Perhaps we might see some backs moves ?
Faf was accepting some Silverware ( yesterday?) so presumably he is still resting his knee.
The Tigers team is a mixed bag. Backs look good, plus some names I am not familiar with.
Fingers crossed the weather does not make it a lottery. The 6 nations does not seem to be the
advantage I hyad hoped for.

[stevene]

Cliff performance range has very little to do with him. If we get quick ball he should be decent. If not, he's found wanting.

Hmmm isnt that partially driven by the quality of the scrum half?

any half decent scrum half should look good with quick ball.

He has to make better decisions/ execute his skills better off the cuff/ when the ruck is messy. Interestingly in the first half the sarries cup game he played really well when we played a controlled structured game. in the second half when the game became quicker and a bit disjointed (even when we were on the front foot) he looked a bit like a rabbit in the headlights to me. that continued last week.

interesting tigers have picked a bright young thing at 9 tomorrow over two more experienced options.

[Timperley Shark]

Well, the bookies are confident we will win easily.
Favourites by 13 points.

[Clutch]

Exactly. Which is why all this Cliff praise has a huge caveat. Faf would have destroyed Quins with all that ball. Not saying that Cliff doesn't deserve praise, but folk were suggesting Cliff should keep his place if Faf was fit!

Cliff is v good in a specific and inflexible way. If the game unfolds to suit that then its all fine. Otherwise, he struggles. Which is why he's so good off the bench last 10 mins, when closing games out. Low error count, good kicking game, low risk plays. Again, all those are admirable qualities.

[Tiggs]

Ben White is injured so we only have the 2 options with Ben Youngs also away with England.

[Clutch]

How confident do you feel Tiggs?

[Tiggs]

Friday night, away at Sale, with our 5 best players away with England, our 2 best backrow players, and main ballcarriers both injured, 2nd choice no.9 also injured, what could possibly go wrong ?
I suspect a Tigers win by at least 20 pts !!

Seriously, we will be lucky to get zero !

[Clutch]

True.

But sales best 5 players are missing as well. I suspect you will struggle if you don’t have ball carriers.

[stevene]

Exactly. Which is why all this Cliff praise has a huge caveat. Faf would have destroyed Quins with all that ball. Not saying that Cliff doesn't deserve praise, but folk were suggesting Cliff should keep his place if Faf was fit!

Cliff is v good in a specific and inflexible way. If the game unfolds to suit that then its all fine. Otherwise, he struggles. Which is why he's so good off the bench last 10 mins, when closing games out. Low error count, good kicking game, low risk plays. Again, all those are admirable qualities.

we are on the same page from reading this. but also the minority reading recent posts!

[Surbiton_Shark]

Any poor kicking to Telusa Veainu will be punished - he's a great player to watch!

[FarnhamShark]

Lood said in an interview that he expected to be ready for Irish. Akker limped off last week; RJVR was replaced at half time, so presumably the pitch caused some damage; and I can see the sense in giving Ben a rest. The only unexplained bit is Faf, so while it's disappointing it's not really surprising. Having said that, I also wonder what Denny has done wrong!

[Clutch]

If the plastic oaf pitch has injured Rohan I’d be annoyed. Just rest him and also Akker if he had knee issues. It wasn’t a must win quite clearly.

[IrishShark]

Lood said in an interview that he expected to be ready for Irish. Akker limped off last week; RJVR was replaced at half time, so presumably the pitch caused some damage; and I can see the sense in giving Ben a rest. The only unexplained bit is Faf, so while it's disappointing it's not really surprising. Having said that, I also wonder what Denny has done wrong!

He looked like he pulled a calf or hamstring just as mcguigan scored the first try.

[H's D]

It's a bit concerning and rather sad when the bookies have more faith in Dimes' selection abilities and our home form than actual Sale supporters.
My prediction. A home win with a BP, provided we settle quickly.
It's the most likely result: bookies are usually correct!
Ye of little faith.

Come on Luke, work with Sam: you can both see the openings and possibilities earlier than most! Launch our wingers with half chances and the rest will follow.

[Clutch]

When it comes to Sale, I think I probably know more than the bookies setting the odds.

I wouldn't be shocked if we won v comfortably, but we are missing key players, and the weather is a good leveler, as it was last week. Genuinely don't think they put that much thought in to it. Leicester bottom, Sale 3rd, Sale home, no Ford, and the odds are churned out.

More thought than rugbypass ratings though!

[tigerburnie]

Tigers are definitely trying to blood some new young players from the academy, always a tough game at yours on a wet and windy Friday night, but this side has some game changers in it, you never know, which is why we all watch the game.

[StalyShark]

Ashton and Ben out at the last minute. Not good.

[eBike]

10 minutes, two knock ons, two penalties, scrum problems and already down 0-3.

Make that 3 knock ons.

[Olyy]

Very similar to last week,
Weather really seems to effect us more than the opposition
Cole in the bin for repeated lineout infringements, hopefully we can make it count

[eBike]

No we didn't as Reffell stripped the ball from Jono 2m from the line. Dire stuff. This is not good viewing.

Handling is terrible. We have the territory, a man advantage and the pressure but we just don't look like scoring.

Camped on their 5m and we get turned over.

Phew ! Evans charges down young Van Portfleet and scores. Wind holds up the conversion

5-3 at 30 minutes

[Olyy]

Charge down try for Bryn!
Bit jammie but a good reward for our scrum dominance leading up to it

Conversion just short, 5-3

[Olyy]

Yarde try!
Cut a great line and big run in from 40+ metres,

Really happy for him, great to see

[IrishShark]

Talk about a game of 2 halves in one half!

[Olyy]

Ross on at halftime

Congrats to him as he overtakes Fridge and becomes our most capped prop

[Olyy]

Our maul is not great tonight - getting turned over more often than not

[StalyShark]

Why are we so so bad playing against 14 men? It’s every time!

[eBike]

How on earth can we butcher such a huge overlap (4 men out wide ?) and end up settling for a 3 pointer !

That has to be the game's biggest brain fade so far.

Let's hope we produce another 20 minutes blitz and get the bonus try

[Olyy]

vs 14men and chasing a try BP is when we seem to lose the top two inches

[Olyy]

Yarde with the BP try!

Great pass from Rob - as flat as can be without going forward

[Olyy]

Hat trick for Yarde, pints are on him!

[Olyy]

Lot of youth on the pitch atm,
Langdon, Postlethwaite, Warr, Curtis, James and Reed

Great to see

[W4rriorz1980]

Glad you beat Tigers! Keeps them below us as I can't see any points being picked up v Briz on sunday.

Tigers were severely depleted but only 1 loss @the AJ Bell in the league speaks volumes for Sale!

[eBike]

Agreed, lots of positives to take from that game at the end. Webber deservedly MoM, Yarde's positioning for his hat-trick, try bonus and a lot of youngsters finishing off the game. I also thought Sam James was again outstanding.

Good but we need to be better to stay top 4 against much better teams than Leicester. I'll take the 5 points though.

Job done IMHO

[Olyy]

First 20 was poor, and first 10 or so after halftime, but all told a good performance
Defence on top, scrum and lineout (but not maul) very good,

Played some really nice rugby and got the 5pts in grim conditions. Can't argue with that.

Up to 2nd in the league and guaranteed top 4 by the end of the round (with a real possibility of staying top 2).

[Yareet]

First 20 was poor, and first 10 or so after halftime, but all told a good performance
Defence on top, scrum and lineout (but not maul) very good,

Played some really nice rugby and got the 5pts in grim conditions. Can't argue with that.

Up to 2nd in the league and guaranteed top 4 by the end of the round (with a real possibility of staying top 2).

Don’t think we can be below 3rd. Bristol are 5pts behind us on one win less and with a far inferior points difference.

[Major Bloodnok]

First 20 was poor, and first 10 or so after halftime, but all told a good performance
Defence on top, scrum and lineout (but not maul) very good,

Played some really nice rugby and got the 5pts in grim conditions. Can't argue with that.

Up to 2nd in the league and guaranteed top 4 by the end of the round (with a real possibility of staying top 2).

Don’t think we can be below 3rd. Bristol are 5pts behind us on one win less and with a far inferior points difference.

Woah, hold your horses: if Briz beat Wuss by 97 points with a try bonus, they'll go above us.

We currently hve the best points difference (+99) in the league.

[iBozz]

BBC Sport report.

[PappjeShark]

There should be a few people who read their pre-match comments and quietly tell themselves to be a little less hasty next time.

Tigers didn’t get in our 22 once tonight. Conditions were atrocious. We got 5 points and did so with several key players missing and a set of bench backs just out of school.

And btw, we’re second in the table.

[Clutch]

I’ll do no such thing. Stand by my comments.

We were poor for large patches but 5 points nonetheless. Delighted.

[Flumpty]

Last season when we played Leicester, I posted "When i first stated coming to Sale games about 7 years ago, Tigers was always one of teh games that I really looked forwards to, as you knew that it would be one hell of a challenge to get anything from the game.

Fast forward to 2019 and that is the weakest Tigers team I have ever seen. At times, it was like watching men vs boys.

If that is a fair reflection of how far Tigers have fallen, the 2019/2020 season could be scary for them. "

I thought that they've gone even further backwards since last season, whereas we've considerably kicked on.
From tonights performance, any Leicester fan who bumps into Nigel Wray in a pub should buy him a pint and thank him for saving them from relegation.

[Flumpty]

BBC Sport report.

Did you spot this snippet in the BBC report ?
"We'll also be announcing three signings over the next two or three weeks who are internationals."

[Clutch]

Kids making their debuts though. Far from a full strength team. Would be better to be playing them away when so weak.