Falcons Vs Tigers

[FKAS]

Newcastle Falcons team v Leicester Tigers (Saturday, 2pm, Kingston Park Stadium, live on BT Sport).

15 Tom Penny (captain), 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Matias Moroni, 12 Matias Orlando, 11 Mateo Carreras, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Sam Stuart; 1 Adam Brocklebank, 2 Jamie Blamire, 3 Trevor Davison, 4 Greg Peterson, 5 Sebastian de Chaves, 6 Gary Graham, 7 Callum Chick, 8 Carl Fearns.

Replacements: 16 Charlie Maddison, 17 Logovi’i Mulipola, 18 Richard Palframan, 19 Matthew Dalton, 20 Tom Marshall, 21 Michael Young, 22 Tian Schoeman, 23 Elliott Obatoyinbo.

Not available for selection: Sam Clark, Connor Collett, Matt Deehan, Freddie Lockwood, Pete Lucock, Cameron Nordli-Kelemeti, Guy Pepper, Josh Peters, Sean Robinson, Oliver Spencer, George Wacokecoke, Will Welch.

Leicester Tigers: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Harry Potter, 13 Matt Scott, 12 Dan Kelly, 11 Harry Simmons, 10 Charlie Atkinson, 9 Ben Youngs; 1 James Cronin, 2 Charlie Clare, 3 Dan Cole, 4 Harry Wells, 5 Calum Green, 6 Ollie Chessum, 7 Tommy Reffell, 8 Hanro Liebenberg (captain).

Replacements: 16 Joe Taufete’e, 17 Nephi Leatigaga, 18 Joe Heyes, 19 Cameron Henderson, 20 Emeka Ilione, 21 Sean Jansen, 22 Jack van Poortvliet, 23 Jimmy Gopperth.

Falcons at close to full strength (at least start XV wise) Tigers looking rather short on backs and backrow options. Great to see Ilione get a nod on the bench and ditto Henderson. Would like to see them both get a chance to kick on as they are players we could do with. Henderson carries very well for a lock but is still good at the lineout. Ilione is a real menace at the breakdown and bar Reffell and Montoya we aren't great in that area.

[Puja]

We short on backs at the moment? 6:2 split and Simmons on the wing. Wonder where PCokanasiga is. He's either in the black hole of injury news or very much out of favour.

Puja

[Mikey Brown]

Yeah it seemed like Cokanasiga was looking to be part of the first 23, but not seen much of him in a while now.

[FKAS]

It's been confirmed he's not injured, really not sure why he's not getting more opportunities. He's looked bright when given a shot. Perhaps there's something off the field stuff he's got to sort out. Doubt it's down to him being negative as Borthwick praised his contributions over pre season.

[Puja]

Just turned on the game - what the hell happened in the first half? Is this Wigglesworth's way of saying he doesn't want the job full-time?

Puja

[FKAS]

Just turned on the game - what the hell happened in the first half? Is this Wigglesworth's way of saying he doesn't want the job full-time?

Puja

Falcons getting the home team rub of the green but also actually having an attacking game plan per Tigers trying to play the power game without enough power to make it work.

Falcons look better so far and deserve their lead but Cronin in particular should be facing some sort of kangaroo court for giving a penalty away for back chat and then missing the tackle a couple of phases later for Falcons to score their third.

[FKAS]

And another moment of moronic play from Cronin. Blocking a chaser completely unnecessarily in amongst the kick tennis.

[Puja]

Atkinson's on one leg. Why are we keeping him on the pitch to exacerbate his injury?

Puja

[Puja]

Leicester's backline play in a nutshell there. Ball passed behind runners who interested no defender, to Atkinson who is looking for an option but he's only got Steward, who is about 5-6m deeper (or 3 seconds late on his run, depending on how you measure it) than he should be. Ball goes to Steward anyway and there is still space on the outside, but Potter is far too flat for some reason (expecting a kick and just not readjusting?) and the pass then goes forward.

No-one appears to know what the move is, no-one appears to be in synch with each other, everyone is hesitant and confused as to what's happening. It's awful.

Puja

[Banquo]

Falcons excellent. Tigers disjointed and poor esp defence.

[Puja]

On the bright side, from an England perspective, this does say excellent things about the combination of Borthwick's analysis and Sinfield's man-management to get the best out of a team. I had thought that the Leicester title win was against the odds, given the quality of the squad (and thus why it was weird for players like Potter and Dolly to be called up for internationals despite not being anything particularly special) and was a big fan of the BorthField combo's ability to get a performance greater than the sum of the parts, but the way the wheels have come off since they left shows just how big of an effect they had.

Puja

[fivepointer]

Tigers struggling but did at least get a try BP. Felt Chessum played a lone hand up front at times.

Credit Newcastle. Converted their chances and played with a really nice energy. Penny was excellent, so too Carreras and i liked Blamire's all round game.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Just turned on the game - what the hell happened in the first half? Is this Wigglesworth's way of saying he doesn't want the job full-time?

Puja

Same as the second really. Outplayed, outthought in every department. Newcastle superior in every way by a distance.

Also Coka was warming up with the squad, along with Pollard. Hopefully we’ll see him again soon.

[FKAS]

Falcons excellent. Tigers disjointed and poor esp defence.

I feel that's generous to Tigers.

Foley bottling the penalty try before half time limited our inability to get back into the game but quite frankly we didn't deserve to be close and we weren't.

Very few positives from that one. Ollie Chessum was one and Henderson the other. Those two really were very good. Liebenburg was Liebenburg and JVP added tempo nicely. After that I'm struggling. Clare looks knackered having played so many minutes so far this season, Taufete'e looks ridiculously unfit (I thought he was blocked for one of the tries but he was just miles out of position because he couldn't run).

Falcons were well organised, their recruitment of the three Pumas has been fantastic for them. Moving Dean on and giving Walder the reins has seen them playing a much nicer brand of rugby. Had they not been crippled with injuries at the start of the season then they'd probably not be in the bottom three. Blamire looked good for them and seems to be relishing the starting role.

[Banquo]

Falcons excellent. Tigers disjointed and poor esp defence.

I feel that's generous to Tigers.

Foley bottling the penalty try before half time limited our inability to get back into the game but quite frankly we didn't deserve to be close and we weren't.

Very few positives from that one. Ollie Chessum was one and Henderson the other. Those two really were very good. Liebenburg was Liebenburg and JVP added tempo nicely. After that I'm struggling. Clare looks knackered having played so many minutes so far this season, Taufete'e looks ridiculously unfit (I thought he was blocked for one of the tries but he was just miles out of position because he couldn't run).

Falcons were well organised, their recruitment of the three Pumas has been fantastic for them. Moving Dean on and giving Walder the reins has seen them playing a much nicer brand of rugby. Had they not been crippled with injuries at the start of the season then they'd probably not be in the bottom three. Blamire looked good for them and seems to be relishing the starting role.

Yes I was being kind. And tbh Foley also bottled it at the other end after Steward was carded (which I have to say I thought was harsh, but equally could have been a penalty try), from the subsequent lineouts Tigers collapsed at least twice and could have been down to 13....so it could have been worse .
I know Tigers had a lot of injuries, but it was pretty weak for all Falcons are doing really well. I like Blamire too, and De Chaves was fantastic, along with Carreras obviously; Radwan is interesting, pacy, but really naive tbh.

[stepsider]

JVP exudes confidence and could become top class. In contrast to fellow England contender Alex Mitchell who seems very error prone - he's making plenty today for Saints v Ex - and who always looks rather bemused.

[Banquo]

JVP exudes confidence and could become top class. In contrast to fellow England contender Alex Mitchell who seems very error prone - he's making plenty today for Saints v Ex - and who always looks rather bemused.

Yes, Mitchell is talented but dopey. JVP has always looked to the manor born, even taking those horrendous 10 mins v NZ in his stride and putting it behind him; his dad's a top bloke as well so all good

[FKAS]

Falcons excellent. Tigers disjointed and poor esp defence.

I feel that's generous to Tigers.

Foley bottling the penalty try before half time limited our inability to get back into the game but quite frankly we didn't deserve to be close and we weren't.

Very few positives from that one. Ollie Chessum was one and Henderson the other. Those two really were very good. Liebenburg was Liebenburg and JVP added tempo nicely. After that I'm struggling. Clare looks knackered having played so many minutes so far this season, Taufete'e looks ridiculously unfit (I thought he was blocked for one of the tries but he was just miles out of position because he couldn't run).

Falcons were well organised, their recruitment of the three Pumas has been fantastic for them. Moving Dean on and giving Walder the reins has seen them playing a much nicer brand of rugby. Had they not been crippled with injuries at the start of the season then they'd probably not be in the bottom three. Blamire looked good for them and seems to be relishing the starting role.

Yes I was being kind. And tbh Foley also bottled it at the other end after Steward was carded (which I have to say I thought was harsh, but equally could have been a penalty try), from the subsequent lineouts Tigers collapsed at least twice and could have been down to 13....so it could have been worse .
I know Tigers had a lot of injuries, but it was pretty weak for all Falcons are doing really well. I like Blamire too, and De Chaves was fantastic, along with Carreras obviously; Radwan is interesting, pacy, but really naive tbh.

I missed the first 25 mins, sounds like it's not worth going back to watch.

Radwan is an odd one, he looks completely shorn of confidence. Really didn't feature much in the game, particularly compared to Carreras. He's got similar strengths to Carreras as well so in that setup he should be running riot as well.

[Mellsblue]

Double bubble:

[Banquo]

I feel that's generous to Tigers.

Foley bottling the penalty try before half time limited our inability to get back into the game but quite frankly we didn't deserve to be close and we weren't.

Very few positives from that one. Ollie Chessum was one and Henderson the other. Those two really were very good. Liebenburg was Liebenburg and JVP added tempo nicely. After that I'm struggling. Clare looks knackered having played so many minutes so far this season, Taufete'e looks ridiculously unfit (I thought he was blocked for one of the tries but he was just miles out of position because he couldn't run).

Falcons were well organised, their recruitment of the three Pumas has been fantastic for them. Moving Dean on and giving Walder the reins has seen them playing a much nicer brand of rugby. Had they not been crippled with injuries at the start of the season then they'd probably not be in the bottom three. Blamire looked good for them and seems to be relishing the starting role.

Yes I was being kind. And tbh Foley also bottled it at the other end after Steward was carded (which I have to say I thought was harsh, but equally could have been a penalty try), from the subsequent lineouts Tigers collapsed at least twice and could have been down to 13....so it could have been worse .
I know Tigers had a lot of injuries, but it was pretty weak for all Falcons are doing really well. I like Blamire too, and De Chaves was fantastic, along with Carreras obviously; Radwan is interesting, pacy, but really naive tbh.

I missed the first 25 mins, sounds like it's not worth going back to watch.

Radwan is an odd one, he looks completely shorn of confidence. Really didn't feature much in the game, particularly compared to Carreras. He's got similar strengths to Carreras as well so in that setup he should be running riot as well.

Radwan had some good moments and has not had a lot of game time, but he just looks unfinished

[FKAS]

Yes I was being kind. And tbh Foley also bottled it at the other end after Steward was carded (which I have to say I thought was harsh, but equally could have been a penalty try), from the subsequent lineouts Tigers collapsed at least twice and could have been down to 13....so it could have been worse .
I know Tigers had a lot of injuries, but it was pretty weak for all Falcons are doing really well. I like Blamire too, and De Chaves was fantastic, along with Carreras obviously; Radwan is interesting, pacy, but really naive tbh.

I missed the first 25 mins, sounds like it's not worth going back to watch.

Radwan is an odd one, he looks completely shorn of confidence. Really didn't feature much in the game, particularly compared to Carreras. He's got similar strengths to Carreras as well so in that setup he should be running riot as well.

Radwan had some good moments and has not had a lot of game time, but he just looks unfinished

14 games (12 starts) and 3 tries Vs Quins, Bath and Gloucester. Carreras has made 10 starts from 11 appearances but scored 11.

[Banquo]

I missed the first 25 mins, sounds like it's not worth going back to watch.

Radwan is an odd one, he looks completely shorn of confidence. Really didn't feature much in the game, particularly compared to Carreras. He's got similar strengths to Carreras as well so in that setup he should be running riot as well.

Radwan had some good moments and has not had a lot of game time, but he just looks unfinished

14 games (12 starts) and 3 tries Vs Quins, Bath and Gloucester. Carreras has made 10 starts from 11 appearances but scored 11.

thought he'd been out, wrong. Left wings do tend to score more but quite a gap...

[FKAS]

25/23 and 8 tries last season, season before 12/12 and 10 tries. Seems his production started to dip around the time he entered the England set up. Perhaps frustration at making it to his first cap and then not kicking on or perhaps he's focusing so much on his work ons he's not following the instincts that got him all those tries.

[Banquo]

25/23 and 8 tries last season, season before 12/12 and 10 tries. Seems his production started to dip around the time he entered the England set up. Perhaps frustration at making it to his first cap and then not kicking on or perhaps he's focusing so much on his work ons he's not following the instincts that got him all those tries.

playing at Falcons before this season may not have helped that much...

[FKAS]

25/23 and 8 tries last season, season before 12/12 and 10 tries. Seems his production started to dip around the time he entered the England set up. Perhaps frustration at making it to his first cap and then not kicking on or perhaps he's focusing so much on his work ons he's not following the instincts that got him all those tries.

playing at Falcons before this season may not have helped that much...

They were a weird team under Deano. Sometimes more than the sum of their parts, sometimes significantly less. They'd go through patches as well. I mean he managed 10 in 12 at Falcons under Richards so he's got it in him. It's just odd he's not looking for work and getting more involved when Falcons finally have a head coach who can get them playing a bit.