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Leicester Tigers Vs Saints - Saturday 28 Jan - 15:00 -Welford Road
Topic Started: Jan 25 2017, 11:36 AM (948 Views)
Wibble
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Well, Its a big game this. Forget about the fact its the Anglo Welsh and both teams will have fewer first team players. Forget about the fact that Both teams Seasons to this point have been disappointing results and style wise. This is a game of rugby between Saints and Tigers. This is probably both clubs best chance at silverware this season. This is East Midlands bragging rights. This is SERIOUS.

So, We not win often up at Welford road, and thats an understatement. But we are on a pretty good run of form and Tigers are not yet turning the same corner as we (appear to) have. Both teams lost last week but whereas Saints were very competitive and quite entertaining away in France Tigers got mauled by Glasgow at Home. Now Tigers will probably put everything they have into this as lets be honest, they will be embarrassed by the last game and wont want back to back losses at home. That said, Saints are looking better each week and we are a few bits of handling away from putting someone to the sword.

We need to be careful to stick to our game plan, not get dragged into an arm wrestle, or even worse a fight and make sure all tackles are round the legs as those Cheating Tiggers will do everything they can to get one of ours in the bin. Its worked for them too many times and we need to be smart. That said, of our team the only players I think can be got at wont be playing so chances are it will be technical offences we need to be careful of. Tigers get a lot of the rub of the green at home. All good teams do (wish we could rebuild our fortress). So play a clean game, compete in the set piece, tackle strong and enjoy it. We need to not get too pumped up that we rush out of the line 5 mins in and give away an easy try but we do need to come out switched on and not wait until we are behind to join in.

I think we will see a stronger team than usual Anglo Welsh matches but not a first XV by any means. I expect to see Myler on the bench with JJ and Harry starting. I think we will see a lot of the same players in the pack as last week except England players. Probably 5 first teamers, and the rest good young solid tallent.

Either way, a 3pm game on a Saturday should suit us for sure. Lets just hope the weather stays clear and we see a real game.

Squad announcement this week will be very interesting.
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Sarge
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Places still available on the Saints Supporters Club coach if anybody has made a late decision to buy a match ticket.
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flanker
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Wibble
Jan 25 2017, 11:36 AM
Well, Its a big game this. Forget about the fact its the Anglo Welsh and both teams will have fewer first team players. Forget about the fact that Both teams Seasons to this point have been disappointing results and style wise. This is a game of rugby between Saints and Tigers. This is probably both clubs best chance at silverware this season. This is East Midlands bragging rights. This is SERIOUS.

So, We not win often up at Welford road, and thats an understatement. But we are on a pretty good run of form and Tigers are not yet turning the same corner as we (appear to) have. Both teams lost last week but whereas Saints were very competitive and quite entertaining away in France Tigers got mauled by Glasgow at Home. Now Tigers will probably put everything they have into this as lets be honest, they will be embarrassed by the last game and wont want back to back losses at home. That said, Saints are looking better each week and we are a few bits of handling away from putting someone to the sword.

We need to be careful to stick to our game plan, not get dragged into an arm wrestle, or even worse a fight and make sure all tackles are round the legs as those Cheating Tiggers will do everything they can to get one of ours in the bin. Its worked for them too many times and we need to be smart. That said, of our team the only players I think can be got at wont be playing so chances are it will be technical offences we need to be careful of. Tigers get a lot of the rub of the green at home. All good teams do (wish we could rebuild our fortress). So play a clean game, compete in the set piece, tackle strong and enjoy it. We need to not get too pumped up that we rush out of the line 5 mins in and give away an easy try but we do need to come out switched on and not wait until we are behind to join in.

I think we will see a stronger team than usual Anglo Welsh matches but not a first XV by any means. I expect to see Myler on the bench with JJ and Harry starting. I think we will see a lot of the same players in the pack as last week except England players. Probably 5 first teamers, and the rest good young solid tallent.

Either way, a 3pm game on a Saturday should suit us for sure. Lets just hope the weather stays clear and we see a real game.

Squad announcement this week will be very interesting.
Very sensible points. Ever thought of applying for Attack Coach? (Can you kick?)
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Wibble
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My kicking is very poor. Perhaps i could try and displace Myler ;-)
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Ossie Reborn
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Wibble
Jan 26 2017, 02:51 PM
Perhaps i could try and displace Myler ;-)
Many have tried.....
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ElmaFudd
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I doubt you could has displaced geraghty Wibble ;)
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Wibble
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Lol. I probably couldnt displace Bernie.
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big mac returns
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NORTHAMPTON SAINTS TEAM TO PLAY LEICESTER
Anglo-Welsh Cup Round 3
Welford Road
Saturday, January 28th, 2017
Kick off 3:00pm
15 Ahsee Tuala
14 Ken Pisi
13 Nafi Tuitavake
12 Harry Mallinder
11 Juan Pablo Estelles
10 Sam Olver
9 Tom Kessell
1 Ethan Waller
2 Charlie Clare
3 Kieran Brookes
4 David Ribbans
5 Christian Day (capt)
6 Jamie Gibson
7 Ben Nutley
8 Sam Dickinson

16 James Fish
17 Alex Waller
18 Paul Hill
19 Michael Paterson
20 Lewis Ludlam
21 Lee Dickson
22 Rory Hutchinson
23 James Wilson
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Wibble
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Strong team but not many "starters". Happy to see.
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big mac returns
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Is that JJ done then?

not sure Nafi is any good, looked very poor defensively last week.

Surely Dicko should be starting this game! Kessell is not up to is!

interesting to see them unleash Ribbans.

Hill did ok last week, surprised they havent kept with him.
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happyclapper
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I like the look of the team! Lots of youth and exciting players but enough experience as well.

Looks like JJ is done now he's confirmed off. Or highly likely he's broken a nail again!!! (yes I am bitter he's leaving)

Good to see Alex on the bench, should mean he'll start when we're back in the prem and he can keep his run going!
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flanker
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Exciting team! They all have plenty to play for. Live on BT.
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ElmaFudd
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BM don't think we can write of nafi on one showing think I agree about Kelsall but looking forwards to Ribbons. On paper we should do well but matches never one on paper. Good luck lads. Looks like Packman may be moving on shame I would have preferred to see him in the squad.
Edited by ElmaFudd, Jan 28 2017, 12:19 PM.
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happyclapper
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Leicester Tigers
15Mathew Tait14Tom Brady13Jack Roberts12Matt Smith11George Catchpole10Owen Williams9Jono Kitto1Michele Rizzo2Harry Thacker3Fraser Balmain4Harry Wells5Dom Barrow6Tom Croft7Will Evans8Luke Hamilton16George McGuigan17Riccardo Brugnara18Ben Betts19Joe Maksymiw20Will Owen21Ben White22George Worth23Charlie Thacker

Quite a few players I don't know much about! Could be interesting!!!
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danjsaints
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happyclapper
Jan 27 2017, 06:51 PM
Looks like JJ is done now he's confirmed off. Or highly likely he's broken a nail again!!! (yes I am bitter he's leaving)
Think I saw in the Chron he knackered his hand and needs surgery.
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ElmaFudd
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Oh and congrats to Daisy 200 up today. Lets hope its a winning one.
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Wibble
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200 is a great achievement. I wonder how many other players we have close to that
Well the backs were good. Less errors in the forwards and we would have won that. Still good to see some great backs moves. Leicester very dull but effective. Wont do much in the League playing like that.

I think we shot ourselves in the foot today ....

Still, the 12/13/14 combo looked very good. Be nice to see us stick with that.

Still very frustrating.
Edited by Wibble, Jan 28 2017, 06:15 PM.
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flanker
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Good late rally but we didn't deserve to win really. Too many penalties and turnovers conceded. Pisi had an excellent game. Backs looked generally threatening but we rarely gave them the ball early on. Didn't play in their half enough. All good learning experience for a young team. Didn't think Nutley added much.
Looking at the Twitter comments underneath, the BT commentary was dire apart from the Bayf links. I thought the ref had a good game.
Edited by flanker, Jan 28 2017, 07:47 PM.
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big mac returns
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Fought hard but were poor up front. I think with out wood Louis n Lawes we may struggle. Very untidy

Backs look decent on attack, harry makes alot of difference, nice to see ball actually going past 13. Ken was decent

Olver is not good enough with hands for me at this level. Hope he plays next week see if he improves at home.

Tuavaka runs well but one of worst defenders I've seen at this level.

Kessell once again poor. Dicko has to start.

Nutley too many pens
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Bernie15
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A very disappointing result for sure, I was out all day so will watch the recording later, then I may voice an opinion.

I thought the mix of youth and experience in the team was a good one so I'm surprised at the scoreline.
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happyclapper
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So here are my thoughts on the game...

Too many pens in the front row. Needless.
Second row were OK.
Back row were completely dominated by Tigs.
Kessell was awful and it was noticeable the whole team improved when Dicko came on. Enough is enough with Kessell.
Thought Olver did some good things but when we were under the cosh, he needed to steer us out and didn't. Just needs more game time.
Liked 11/12/13/14/15 - thought all played well when they had the ball.
Didn't really see too much wrong with defence but then wasn't watching it too much, was more concentrating on our woeful performance at the breakdown.

Thought the ref had a really good game. Only real criticism would be the scrum feed but see separate thread!!!
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ElmaFudd
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I find myself in agreement with HC. I was very disappointed with the penalty count. Front row just couldn't cope against Tigs. Thought the new lock did ok but the back row were unusually the weakest link. Nutley had a poor outing as did Dickinson.

I've voiced my doubts over Kessel for sometime and Dicko has to start over him.
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danjsaints
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Ref was very good in my opinion. Used the TMO effectively and made calls without him when appropriate. Clear instructions and generally consistent.
Our backs were the high point of the game - how long since we could say that about Saints? Looked genuinely threatening whenever we got the ball in space - only problem was we had no ball!
Pundits giving Brookes a hard time, and difficult to disagree. Scrum was poor and he seemed a bit lazy around the park from what I saw too. Not currently showing he's worth the large amount he's earning. If we had our first choice pack but the same back line I think we'd have won that easily. Will be interesting to see what sort of line up Jim goes for over the next few weeks.

On a side note, I'm genuinely intrigued as to why the backs are now seeming so dangerous. Was King stifling them? Is Dickens simply a better coach? Is it just having two playmakers on the field? Possibly one for another thread but answers on a postcard very welcome!
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flanker
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danjsaints
Jan 29 2017, 02:59 PM
Ref was very good in my opinion. Used the TMO effectively and made calls without him when appropriate. Clear instructions and generally consistent.
Our backs were the high point of the game - how long since we could say that about Saints? Looked genuinely threatening whenever we got the ball in space - only problem was we had no ball!
Pundits giving Brookes a hard time, and difficult to disagree. Scrum was poor and he seemed a bit lazy around the park from what I saw too. Not currently showing he's worth the large amount he's earning. If we had our first choice pack but the same back line I think we'd have won that easily. Will be interesting to see what sort of line up Jim goes for over the next few weeks.

On a side note, I'm genuinely intrigued as to why the backs are now seeming so dangerous. Was King stifling them? Is Dickens simply a better coach? Is it just having two playmakers on the field? Possibly one for another thread but answers on a postcard very welcome!
Good point. Harry brings a lot doesn't he. The new faces bring some sparkle but they're very raw, weak defensively and inconsistent. I've not been a big fan of Burrell over the past couple of years.

I always noticed during a game that King never spoke to Jim or Doreen so whether there was a big falling out or conflict over styles?
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happyclapper
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For next week, we really need to rotate some of the starters back in, get some momentum for the league.
I'd go with:

Alex, Mikey, Brooks, Day, Any of them, Gibson, Clark, Dickinson, Dicko, Olver, Estelles, Harry, Tuitivake, Ken, Foden
Keep Myler in cotton wool. And give Tuitivake another run.
flanker
Jan 29 2017, 04:57 PM
I always noticed during a game that King never spoke to Jim or Doreen so whether there was a big falling out or conflict over styles?
Could well be. And Dickens fits in better?
Maybe similar to Cockers and Mauger, just Jim survived here.
Edited by happyclapper, Jan 29 2017, 06:26 PM.
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ElmaFudd
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My Dad has said for some time that the season we won it the backs played some of their best rugby and that was built on the previous season, the one before kinga arrived and he is adamant when asked that King inherited the backs play from Dickins who was temporary attack coach then as well. So he at least would agree with you Dan. For what it's worth I think you both look right. The backs certainly seem to be playing better together. Just need to tighten their defence up a bit.
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big mac returns
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Lots of praise for the ref, he made alot of good live decisions.

However.....the thacker try should not have stood, he was clearly propelling his body with his legs, the ref only looked at his arms.

I think the backs look dangerous cause of weaker opposition and harry gives alot. Id bring hutch in at 13. Looks a better player. Solid in defence and also finished his try well v tigers.

Alex Waller also looked great when he came on. Id go with same team as hc, but just hutch in for tuavake
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ElmaFudd
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Agree about ref thought he was very good except for thackers try. I saw a lot of harsh criticism on twitter which I thought was unfair In the main he didn't get too much wrong and was pretty consistent.

Re the backs I'm not so sure that it was weaker opponents as we looked far more dangerous in the backs in the montpellier match as well. The next couple of weeks should give us an idea.
Edited by ElmaFudd, Jan 30 2017, 01:38 PM.
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big mac returns
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i definitely think that we have looked better since we've added an extra playmaker in at 12, whether its jj or harry. so there has been an upward turn.

but against tigers our back three looked outstanding, i think we all know in our heart of hearts that they are not as destructive as they looked v tigers.
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happyclapper
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I think you're being a bit harsh on Ken there. He has always looked good in patches, maybe now he's getting some consistency.
And also thriving now he's getting the ball.
Estelles is too new to judge for now. But being a 7s specialist I'd expect him to be good in a broken field.
Agree Ace has never set the world on fire, is just solid.
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