Saracens v Bath Sun 3pm

[fivepointer]

Saracens: Williams; Maitland, Lozowski, Barritt (capt), Wyles; Farrell, Wigglesworth; Vunipola, Brits, Figallo, Day, Kruis, Isiekwe, Burger, Wray.

Replacements: George, Barrington, Longbottom, Rhodes, Earl, Spencer, Taylor, Goode.

Bath: Wilson; Banahan, Joseph, Tapuai, Brew; Priestland, Fotuali'i; Obano, Dunn, Knight, Ewels (capt), Stooke, Ellis, Louw, Faletau.

Replacements: Walker, Noguera, Delmas, Phillips, Grant, Green, Burns, Homer.

[Puja]

Itoje injured, or finally rested? You'd've thought it'd make more sense to shift Isiekwe into the row and put one of Rhodes or Earl on the flank, rather than have Day.

Puja

[Digby]

Itoje is rested, unlike Mako who's in breach of the EPS rest guidelines. But with it being a European weekend next weekend and Sarries being out of Europe we have England deciding to basically look the other way this round, and tbh a little give and take doesn't hurt

[twitchy]

Hopefully bath can give them a game but I'm not that confident.

[twitchy]

Wow. Dammit bath.

[twitchy]

Nasty ankle injury for joseph.

[16th man]

Excellent passage of play.

[twitchy]

That deserved a try.

[twitchy]

That kick..........

[16th man]

Are Bath or Quins playing furthest below the level their individual talents suggest they should be at?

[Tigersman]

I don't miss Freddie Burns pointless "attacking" kicks at times .

[Mikey Brown]

Priestland is fucking shite. How has Burns not been able to push ahead of him? What are they actually doing at Bath?

[morepork]

Priestland is fucking shite. How has Burns not been able to push ahead of him? What are they actually doing at Bath?

Don't hold back man. Speak your mind.

[Mikey Brown]

Priestland is fucking shite. How has Burns not been able to push ahead of him? What are they actually doing at Bath?

Don't hold back man. Speak your mind.

Yeah, well have some of this.

"Owen Farrell really never gets a mention because everyone simply expects him to be so brilliant."

[fivepointer]

Heavens Bath were awful. They couldnt have done more to gift wrap that for Saracens. Mistake followed dull option, followed by another stupid error on top of substandard execution.
Blackadder cannot possibly keep his job, can he?
Saracens perfectly efficient and simply picked up the chances that they were presented with. Thought Kruis looked a bit more switched on.

[twitchy]

Sounds silly with the score as it is but bath looked good in the first half.

[Scrumhead]

Heavens Bath were awful. They couldnt have done more to gift wrap that for Saracens. Mistake followed dull option, followed by another stupid error on top of substandard execution.
Blackadder cannot possibly keep his job, can he?
Saracens perfectly efficient and simply picked up the chances that they were presented with. Thought Kruis looked a bit more switched on.

Kruis did look a lot better.

The rumour is that Blackadder is off anyway. I’d rather he didn’t get sacked as I think we’re reaching a point where rugby is becoming a little too close to a football-type or mentality for me.

Although, as a Quins fan, I absolutely sympathise with Bath fans watching their team play so poorly.

[Oakboy]

Heavens Bath were awful. They couldnt have done more to gift wrap that for Saracens. Mistake followed dull option, followed by another stupid error on top of substandard execution.
Blackadder cannot possibly keep his job, can he?
Saracens perfectly efficient and simply picked up the chances that they were presented with. Thought Kruis looked a bit more switched on.

I wonder if Kruis has been prodded by Eddie's 'turn it on for your club or lose your place in the squad' message. Why do players drift into mediocrity in the first place?

[Mikey Brown]

Is that a real question?

[16th man]

Heavens Bath were awful. They couldnt have done more to gift wrap that for Saracens. Mistake followed dull option, followed by another stupid error on top of substandard execution.
Blackadder cannot possibly keep his job, can he?
Saracens perfectly efficient and simply picked up the chances that they were presented with. Thought Kruis looked a bit more switched on.

Kruis did look a lot better.

The rumour is that Blackadder is off anyway. I’d rather he didn’t get sacked as I think we’re reaching a point where rugby is becoming a little too close to a football-type or mentality for me.

Although, as a Quins fan, I absolutely sympathise with Bath fans watching their team play so poorly.

I don't get this. Does anyone seriously think that sticking with Mallinder helped? Would Kingston carrying on have benefitted Quinn's in the short, medium or long term? Is Blackadder getting that set of players to perform anywhere near it's potential, and if not does anyone think another season will make it any better?

If a team is failing then you've basically got 3 options, no personnel change and hope something clicks, change the coach and hope some new ideas will get things working, get shot of all the players and bring in new ones. Given humanity's bias to action, changing the coach is generally always going to be easiest.

As for the football mentality, regularly getting new managers in can work, see Watford, or it can be a disaster, see Leeds. The difference is the former have set their club up to work with that approach, whereas the latter were doing it as they had a lunatic for an owner.

[Stom]

Heavens Bath were awful. They couldnt have done more to gift wrap that for Saracens. Mistake followed dull option, followed by another stupid error on top of substandard execution.
Blackadder cannot possibly keep his job, can he?
Saracens perfectly efficient and simply picked up the chances that they were presented with. Thought Kruis looked a bit more switched on.

Kruis did look a lot better.

The rumour is that Blackadder is off anyway. I’d rather he didn’t get sacked as I think we’re reaching a point where rugby is becoming a little too close to a football-type or mentality for me.

Although, as a Quins fan, I absolutely sympathise with Bath fans watching their team play so poorly.

I don't get this. Does anyone seriously think that sticking with Mallinder helped? Would Kingston carrying on have benefitted Quinn's in the short, medium or long term? Is Blackadder getting that set of players to perform anywhere near it's potential, and if not does anyone think another season will make it any better?

If a team is failing then you've basically got 3 options, no personnel change and hope something clicks, change the coach and hope some new ideas will get things working, get shot of all the players and bring in new ones. Given humanity's bias to action, changing the coach is generally always going to be easiest.

As for the football mentality, regularly getting new managers in can work, see Watford, or it can be a disaster, see Leeds. The difference is the former have set their club up to work with that approach, whereas the latter were doing it as they had a lunatic for an owner.

Of course.

Plus, in these cases (Kingston, Mallinder, Kennedy) it could be argued that the decision was taken too late. Because the club didn't want to change things. But making that change was/will be a positive.

[Scrumhead]

I know what you mean, I just dislike the culture that seems to be creeping in.

The reality is that neither Kingston or Kennedy should have been appointed in the first place. Kingston was never up to it and was always very obviously a compromise choice while Kennedy (by his own admission) is nowhere near ready to be the top man at a Premiership club.

Mallinder is an odd one. I still feel as though his loyalty to West and apparent inability to see the obvious issues there was his undoing.

[Digby]

In the case of Blackadder it's not just what he's done with the current squad, it's what players he wants to let go and bring in, how he sees that adding to what the side can deliver, and whether the board buy into his vision. And it's not an easy call when he's trying something so different. Munster bailed on a similar venture, but that doesn't mean over the next 18-24 months Blackadder mayn't be proved right