Aviva Premiership - Round 5

[TRF_Olyy]

Round 5 Fixtures

Live on BT Sport

Live on BT Sport

Live on BT Sport​

 

[ratsapprentice]

Bath Rugby side to face Saracens
15. Gavin Henson
14. Semesa Rokoduguni
13. Jonathan Joseph
12. Kyle Eastmond
11. Olly Woodburn
10. George Ford
9. Chris Cook
1. Paul James
2. Rob Webber
3. David Wilson
4. Stuart Hooper ( c )
5. Dave Attwood
6. Alafoti Fa'osiliva
7. Guy Mercer
8. Leroy Houston
Replacements
16. Ross Batty
17. Nick Auterac
18. Henry Thomas
19. Dominic Day
20. David Sisi
21. Micky Young
22. Ollie Devoto
23. Anthony Watson

 

[Patchey]

Go on Super Gavin Henson!

Looking forward to this, hope Bath out in a strong shift.

 

[TheSaffycen]

Saracens starting XV to face Bath:*

15. Alex Goode; 14. Chris Ashton, 13. Duncan Taylor, 12. Chris Wyles, 11. David Strettle; 10. Charlie Hodgson, 9. Neil de Kock; 1. Rhys Gill, 2. Jamie George, 3. James Johnston, 4. George Kruis, 5. Alistair Hargreaves ©, 6. Kelly Brown, 7. Jacques Burger, 8. Billy Vunipola.

Replacements; 16. Scott Spurling, 17. Richard Barrington, 18. Kieran Longbottom, 19. Jim Hamilton, 20. Jackson Wray, 21. Richard Wigglesworth, 22. Nick Tompkins, 23. Ben Ransom.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Brad Thorns first start for leicester!!

Leicester Tigers (vs Gloucester Rugby, away, Saturday 3.15pm)
15 Mathew Tait
14 Blaine Scully
13 Vereniki Goneva
12 Seremaia Bai
11 Miles Benjamin
10 Owen Williams
9 Ben Youngs (c)
1 Michele Rizzo
2 Leonardo Ghiraldini
3 Fraser Balmain
4 Brad Thorn
5 Graham Kitchener
6 Jamie Gibson
7 Julian Salvi
8 Robert Barbieri

Replacements
16 Neil Briggs
17 Tom Bristow
18 Tiziano Pasquali
19 Sebastian De Chaves
20 Jordan Crane
21 David Mele
22 Freddie Burns
23 Matt Smith

Glaws team:

Rob Cook; Charlie Sharples, Henry Purdy, Billy Twelvetrees (capt), Jonny May; James Hook, Greig Laidlaw; Nick Wood, Richard Hibbard, John Afoa; Tom Savage, Tom Palmer; Sione Kalamafoni, Matt Kvesic, Ben Morgan

Replacements:
Aleki Lutui, Yann Thomas, Sila Puafisi, Elliott Stooke, Ross Moriarty, Dan Robson, Mark Atkinson, Tom Isaacs

 

[ratsapprentice]

Just wanted to add - great set of games being broadcast this weekend!

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Looking forward to seeing how Thorn gets on, he's some man!
Also adds a lot of much needed experience in a decimated Tigers side. If anyone can pull them through this then (other than tempting Johnno out of retirement) it's gonna be Thorn.

Just wanted to add - great set of games being broadcast this weekend!

Agreed

 

[TheSaffycen]

Right predictions for this week,
Bath and Saracens to draw. Well I must admit I am not confident in this game, and would have been more confident if Farrell and Barritt were playing. Hodgson and Wyles are more creative and I guess because of the lack of size in the Bath backline we have gone for Wyles instead of Barritt/ Taylor at 12. This game will be between 8 points either side I would guess. Bath have the advantage in the scrum and in the backline. Hopefully as a unit we can try to win this game, probably in the same style as the Quins game.

Quins, Saints, Tigers, Chiefs, Wasps

 

[psychic duck]

@TRF_Olyy: What are your thoughts on de Marchi? In my view he hasn't been all that impressive so far, was played at tighthead early on I think and didn't do all that great, then last week he started loosehead and got destroyed by James Johnston (for the second time in a year). The Sale scrum was getting demolished in the first half and humiliatingly pushed over the line for a penalty try, then changed all the front row in the second half with Harrison and Cobilas on and all of a sudden it was fixed and they were steady again. Playing two quite lightweight second rows might not be helping either though, but it's no surprise to see Harrison and Cobilas as starters this week after the first half struggle against Saracens.

 

[TheSaffycen]

Harlequins: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Marland Yarde, 13 Matt Hopper, 12 Tom Casson, 11 Aseli Tikoirotuma, 10 Nick Evans, 9 Danny Care, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Chris Robshaw, 6 Luke Wallace, 5 George Robson, 4 Charlie Matthews, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Joe Gray, 1 Joe Marler (c)
Replacements: 16 Dave Ward, 17 Mark Lambert, 18 Will Collier, 19 Sam Twomey, 20 Joe Trayfoot,, 21 Karl Dickson, 22 Ben Botica, 23 Ollie Lindsay-Hague

London Welsh: 15 Seb Jewell, 14 Seb Stegmann, 13 Nic Reynolds, 12 Tom May (c), 11 Nick Scott, 10 Olly Barkley, 9 Piri Weepu, 8 Ollie Stedman, 7 Lachlan McCaffrey, 6 Peter Browne 5 James Down, 4 Dean Schofield, 3 Taione Vea, 2 Koree Britton, 1 Ricky Reeves.
Replacements: 16 Nathan Morris, 17 Pablo Henn, 18 Eddie Aholelei, 19 Ben Pienaar, 20 Chris Hala'ufia, 21 Rob Lewis, 22 Tristan Roberts, 23 Rhys Crane.


London Irish: 15 Andrew Fenby, 14 Alex Lewington, 13 Fergus Mulchrone, 12 Shane Geraghty, 11 James Short, 10 Chris Noakes, 9 Tomás O'Leary, 8 Luke Narraway, 7 Blair Cowan, 6 Kieran Low, 5 Jebb Sinclair, 4 George Skivington (c), 3 Halani Aulika, 2 David Paice, 1 Tom Court.
Replacements: 16 Jimmy Stevens, 17 Matt Parr, 18 Leo Halavatau, 19, Dan Leo, 20 Tom Guest, 21 Darren Allinson, 22 Eamonn Sheridan, 23 Topsy Ojo.

Northampton: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Ken Pisi, 13 George Pisi, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 George North, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Samu Manoa, 7 Jon Fisher, 6 Calum Clark, 5 James Craig, 4 Courtney Lawes, 3 Salesi Ma'afu, 2 Mike Haywood, 1 Alex Waller.
Replacements: 16 Ross McMillan, 17 Ethan Waller, 18 Gareth Denman, 19 Phil Dowson, 20 Teimana Harrison, 21 Kahn Fotuali'i, 22 Will Hooley, 23 James Wilson.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Sale Team 15 Luke McLean, 14 Tom Brady, 13 Jonny Leota, 12 Mark Jennings, 11 Tom Arscott, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Chris Cusiter, 1 Ross Harrison, 2 Marc Jones, 3 Vadim Cobilas, 4 Jonathan Mills, 5 Michael Paterson, 6 Magnus Lund, 7 David Seymour, 8 Mark Easter
Replacements 16 Cameron Neild, 17 Alberto de Marchi, 18 Eifion Lewis Roberts, 19 Josh Beaumont, 20 Viliami Fihaki, 21 Will Cliff, 22 Joe Ford, 23 Mark Cueto

Wasps team to play Sale Sharks

15. Rob Miller
14. Christian Wade
13. Alapati Leiua
12. Chris Bell (c)
11. Will Helu
10. Andy Goode
9. Charlie Davies
1. John Yapp
2. Carlo Festuccia
3. Jake Cooper-Woolley
4. James Gaskell
5. Kearnan Myall
6. Ashley Johnson
7. Guy Thompson
8. Nathan Hughes

16. Tom Lindsay
17. Matt Mullan
18. Lorenzo Cittadini
19. Bradley Davies
20. Sam Jones
21. Joe Simpson
22. Andrea Masi
23. Sailosi Tagicakibau


That's a crazily good bench for Wasps! Even missing the likes of Mr.Berry and Haskell

@TRF_Olyy: What are your thoughts on de Marchi? In my view he hasn't been all that impressive so far, was played at tighthead early on I think and didn't do all that great, then last week he started loosehead and got destroyed by James Johnston (for the second time in a year). The Sale scrum was getting demolished in the first half and humiliatingly pushed over the line for a penalty try, then changed all the front row in the second half with Harrison and Cobilas on and all of a sudden it was fixed and they were steady again. Playing two quite lightweight second rows might not be helping either though, but it's no surprise to see Harrison and Cobilas as starters this week after the first half struggle against Saracens.

Yeah, very underwhelmed so far.
I'm hoping it's just taking him a while to bed in, but early signs aren't great. I don't think he's played (much/at all?) with Cobilas, whilst ELR has had major problems propping on the tighthead, so that might be a part of it.
Hines/Ostrikov/Beaumont coming in to the backrow will obviously help, as Paterson/Mills aren't the biggest locks going, but they were our starting locks last season and our scrum was ten times better than now.
Cobilas is our only realy option at tighthead at the moment - ELR (and Di Marchi) have both been completely taken apart there.
Harrison has played very well at 1, and loosehead is easily ELR's best position at the moment but the lack of another tighthead forces our hand there.

Not good times, really.

 

[Jaguares]

I'm waiting for Bath and Saracens...

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Crazy maul defence from sarries - just completely ignored the maul and ran around and stripped the carrier!

They then arse it up completely on a kick and leak a try

 

[Jaguares]

What a bad luck! That kick was poisonous

Bath 7 - Saracens 0

 

[TheSaffycen]

Hahahahahahahahah what is Goode thinking there ?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Nice to see consistency with the shoeing rules.....ahem.....
He even copped a few after the whistle

 

[TheSaffycen]

So strettle played the man in the air ? What makes me laugh is he probably made less contact than Woodburn did on Billy but because neither jumped no penalty.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Terrible call, no chance that was a knock down.

Both hands and his body went for that ball but it bounced off his hand because of the speed of the pass.

 

[Tony Manx]

Terrible call, no chance that was a knock down.

Agree very harsh yellow for the Oik and unfair 3 points!

 

[TheSaffycen]

Great call ref....