Tigers Vs Saints - playoff

[Spiffy]

Opportunist drop goal from Ford seals it. George did not have a great day off the tee but his rugby intelligence, passing skills etc.were again evident. How can Jones assemble the best England squad without this player?

[fivepointer]

Saints should be kicking themselves for not making the most of the opportunities they had. They had the winning of that but didnt build a score like they should have.

[FKAS]

I don't have a voice left. Saints went hard early in the game and faded as predicted later on. George Ford controlled things masterly. Tigers forwards always looked like they had the physical edge on Saints. Skosan not being able to catch certainly helped though.

[Puja]

I think the emotion of the day got to us - we looked bitty and scrappy and trying too hard in places. Having to rearrange the backline in the second minute didn't exactly help with the cohesion either. A few young players will have learned a bit through that - such a shame that we're losing Ford and Genge, as otherwise I'd say that kind of scraped win would improve us as a team for next season, but we are definitely losing the heart of that side.

Well done to Saints who scrapped well through some awful luck with injuries, as well as Skosan's cloghands (although the commentators constantly saying "That was 21 points they could've had" annoyed me, cause they were one after the other, so it would only ever have been 7). The yellow for 18 was utter nonsense, but you got away with more than a few more likely ones, so it all comes out in the wash.

I think we'll struggle in the final unless we pick up quite significantly. Mind, it'll be odd and fun to be the team that all the neutrals are supporting for once.

Puja

[Danno]

Mind, it'll be odd and fun to be the team that all the neutrals are supporting for once.

Puja

With Every fucking fibre of my being

[Spiffy]

I think the emotion of the day got to us - we looked bitty and scrappy and trying too hard in places. Having to rearrange the backline in the second minute didn't exactly help with the cohesion either. A few young players will have learned a bit through that - such a shame that we're losing Ford and Genge, as otherwise I'd say that kind of scraped win would improve us as a team for next season, but we are definitely losing the heart of that side.

Well done to Saints who scrapped well through some awful luck with injuries, as well as Skosan's cloghands (although the commentators constantly saying "That was 21 points they could've had" annoyed me, cause they were one after the other, so it would only ever have been 7). The yellow for 18 was utter nonsense, but you got away with more than a few more likely ones, so it all comes out in the wash.

I think we'll struggle in the final unless we pick up quite significantly. Mind, it'll be odd and fun to be the team that all the neutrals are supporting for once.

Puja

It will be Fazinating. I hope Ford plays him off the park.

[Puja]

See, this is wild to me. I've supported Leicester and England all my life; I'm used to always having the neutrals cheering for the other team. I don't know what to do with camaraderie.

Puja

[Scrumhead]

Mind, it'll be odd and fun to be the team that all the neutrals are supporting for once.

Puja

With Every fucking fibre of my being

+1

[FKAS]

See, this is wild to me. I've supported Leicester and England all my life; I'm used to always having the neutrals cheering for the other team. I don't know what to do with camaraderie.

Puja

Ha yeah it's weird, we normally play the empire type role whilst the opposition are the plucky rebel forces generally supported by everyone. Now it's reversed going to be interesting.

I wonder who the media will make as favourites. In sure they'll be hyping Ford Vs Farrell.

[Puja]

Jasper Wiese has now gone 17 games without receiving a card of any colour: https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/spor ... se-7202450

Pretty impressive turnaround from him and testament to his workrate, dedication, and also the coaching team at Leicester for changing his technique and his reflexes. I was almost ready to write him off at one point as he was such a liability, but the change has been remarkable.

Puja

[FKAS]

Jasper Wiese has now gone 17 games without receiving a card of any colour: https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/spor ... se-7202450

Pretty impressive turnaround from him and testament to his workrate, dedication, and also the coaching team at Leicester for changing his technique and his reflexes. I was almost ready to write him off at one point as he was such a liability, but the change has been remarkable.

Puja

His stats from the weekend were pretty impressive. 11 tackles, 20 carries, 9 defenders beaten for 30+ metres. He's quietly going about his business and putting in some great displays. If he can add an offloading game then he'll be unstoppable.

Interesting that he gave an interview a couple of weeks back saying he bleeds green, red and white. Loves the club and it's his home. Hopefully that means we'll keep hold of him for a while yet at 26 these are going to be his prime years.

[Peej]

Will he make the Bok squad for the July tests though?

[Puja]

Will he make the Bok squad for the July tests though?

They've already named it and he is there.

Puja

[FKAS]

Will he make the Bok squad for the July tests though?

They've already named it and he is there.

Puja

There's some pretty large competition coming out of SA for him with Roos and Louw at the Sharks and Bulls. They are both in the summer international squad as well. Louw is very much in the Vermulen build but nowhere near as polished.

No Marco van Staden, got to be a concern over his long term fitness.

[Scrumhead]

Maybe, but OTOH, why would van Staden be there right now? Competition in the Bok back row is always strong and after no rugby in a very long time, he has no real right to be included at the moment.

[FKAS]

The Boks have loads of great hybrid lock/6s and marauding 6/8s but less natural opensides. Given it's a 43 man squad and if he was fit just not match fit I wouldn't have been surprised to see him included with the Boks looking to get him up to speed ready for the games vs Pumas/NZ/Aus later on in the summer.

He wasn't warming up with the squad at the weekend and Tigers had plenty of spare forwards on the pitch for the warm up adding contest for lineout and maul drills.

[Banquo]

Its quite amusing that Tigers likely wouldn't be in this playoff but for Sarries cheating/relegation in 19/20.

[Puja]

Its quite amusing that Tigers likely wouldn't be in this playoff but for Sarries cheating/relegation in 19/20.

It's a fun stat that the media loves that Leicester would've been relegated if not for Saracens, but it does ignore the fact that the second half of that season (post lockdown) was treated very much as an experiment and Borthwick going through his squad to see what he had to work with. Had it been a gritty fight for survival, I suspect all of the sides at the bottom would've played very differently.

Mind, there's a good argument that that freedom to experiment for half a season was a major part of our rise to the top, so you are probably right, just in a different way to how you mean.

Puja

[Banquo]

Its quite amusing that Tigers likely wouldn't be in this playoff but for Sarries cheating/relegation in 19/20.

It's a fun stat that the media loves that Leicester would've been relegated if not for Saracens, but it does ignore the fact that the second half of that season (post lockdown) was treated very much as an experiment and Borthwick going through his squad to see what he had to work with. Had it been a gritty fight for survival, I suspect all of the sides at the bottom would've played very differently.

Mind, there's a good argument that that freedom to experiment for half a season was a major part of our rise to the top, so you are probably right, just in a different way to how you mean.

Puja

I meant both, really- conjecture can be fun ...and as you said, all the sides would have been playing differently. Sort of ironic in that both sides also breached salary caps.

Out of interest, what was the position at the end of the 1st half of the season, ie up to 16th March 2020?

[FKAS]

Its quite amusing that Tigers likely wouldn't be in this playoff but for Sarries cheating/relegation in 19/20.

It's a fun stat that the media loves that Leicester would've been relegated if not for Saracens, but it does ignore the fact that the second half of that season (post lockdown) was treated very much as an experiment and Borthwick going through his squad to see what he had to work with. Had it been a gritty fight for survival, I suspect all of the sides at the bottom would've played very differently.

Mind, there's a good argument that that freedom to experiment for half a season was a major part of our rise to the top, so you are probably right, just in a different way to how you mean.

Puja

If Sarries hadn't been bottom with a massive points deduction I suspect they'd have been some sort of challenge from the club considering teams like for example Wasps resting players at the weekend so they could take the full TBP mid week Vs us etc. Don't know why but I don't think anybody played their weakened team against us over that period, or it certainly didn't feel like it looking back.

I agree Borthwick would have taken a different approach had he needed to though the backs against the wall mentality required for relegation fight might also have galvanized the side under Steve. I think he knew the players he wanted from the start, Weise was apparently identified early with Steve calling the head of recruitment whilst watching the game where Weise stood up to Vermulen physically saying that's the physicality he wanted.

[Mikey Brown]

Where Sarries would be if it weren't for their cheating feels like a much more interesting question to me. No doubt they've built a fantastic team, not just the players but everything around them, I just can't help but wonder where they'd be now without however many years of squad depth that was completely unattainable for others. I think that's why the redemption story irks me so much, beyond being a bitter, jealous Quins fan, it's not like they had to give their medals back.

It's all well and good playing by the rules now, but the foundation of the current squad is still built on the success of the years prior.

[Mellsblue]

Give Sarries there dues, it has been proven beyond doubt that you can beat the salary cap and still be utter shoite. It doesn’t guarantee success let alone the amount they had.
If the Cheats Cup were on countback rather than a one off match this Saturday, Sarries would win by TKO.

[Mikey Brown]

First sentence is a very good point. Literally haven't a clue what the second one means.

[Mellsblue]

Saturdays final is the Cheats Cup*, winner takes all.
Count back over the past 5 years/their respective periods of cheating and Sarries win buy a substantial margin.

*good to see Bath doing the correct and proper thing by continuing to inflict self-punishment after their (alleged) breaking of the cap.