RugbyRebels

Raggs wrote:

Digby wrote:

Raggs wrote:A

PM sent.

Getting nervous now.

Tuilagi out of the XXIII with an injury.



.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Just kidding. Although this probably won't be funny in half an hour when it actually turns out to be true.

Puja

Puja wrote:Tuilagi out of the XXIII with an injury.



.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Just kidding. Although this probably won't be funny in half an hour when it actually turns out to be true.

Puja

Can you please ban yourself.

Lol. Genge!!!

Not sure if it's booze and bias, but ref doesn't seem to like us today

Tigers getting twice as long for (knock on) advantage, when Stooke let's go of the ball he's done for holding on, when Young's does the same, it'd still against bath

Good game in general though

Manu should have given that ball rather than trying to do Joseph on the outside

Nice try there, really nice

Which Tyler wrote:Nice try there, really nice

And another

And a beauty from Roko, just enough pace* to keep May at bay

* Well, guile in the end

Leicester over complicating everything. Bath looking pretty good though.

Genge is looking a handful.

Youngs is kicking Leicester into trouble.

Tuilagi is hell of a player from the neck down but . .

Roko had the gas, to my surprise. Banahan still has something to offer.

Enjoying it.

I'm on holiday so I can only see the text commentary. Looking at the lineups, I was expecting Tigers to dominate - particularly given it's at Welford road. Obviously not the case!

Sounds like Bath are good value for their lead but I'd imagine Tigers will be a different team in the 2nd half.

My take on the foot race; Roko had the legs on Vieanu (who had impressive acceleration, just not enough)
Watson was only slightly making a dent on Roko
May had the most pace, but it looked more "comfortable" for him given that Roko didn't pin his ears back, but kept looking over his shoulder; he knew exactly where May was, and when to step. Had he pinned his ears back I think he'd have made it anyway, but probably scored in the act of being tackled.
Equally, if Roko had just gone for it, I'm not sure Watson would have closed the gap.
Roko a little quicker over 80m than I'd have thought, Watson a touch slower


After last season, I've no idea what anyone's surprised that Banas still has something to offer - probably says more about preconception than evidence

TFFT

Perhaps Tigers needed that to dust some cobwebs off and realise they can't play so much wishy-washy rugby on the half way line now Pre-season is over. Need to be much more direct and sort the lineout.

Bath impressive all round, especially defence. Will be good to see them go up against Sarries next week.

Leicester ultimately killed by their own mistakes (how many dropped passes with the line begging?) and their backrow being outplayed in the first hour.

Some excellent defence by Bath.

Which Tyler wrote:After last season, I've no idea what anyone's surprised that Banas still has something to offer - probably says more about preconception than evidence

Yes, agreed. Always rated him.

I don't know much about that Leicester back row which is why I asked Puja before the game if he rated it. I thought Williams improved it when he came on. Till then, the 8 carried quite well but that was about it. If Croft can get fit, they need him.

Well done Bath. Took the points when available and defended stoically when called upon. Garvey led by example and was comfortably the games best player I thought.

Tigers came to life late on and showed that they will be a force with Ford orchestrating their attack. But they need the pack to step up.

Lots of very new combos in that Leicester team tbf. Early expectations probably a bit ott. They'll take some time to click. Both teams look like they could have good seasons imo.

Timbo wrote:Lots of very new combos in that Leicester team tbf. Early expectations probably a bit ott. They'll take some time to click. Both teams look like they could have good seasons imo.

Yeh fair assessment .
You think between 10,11,12,13,14, they played a total of what 4 games for Tigers last season.

The balance of
6) Williams
7) BOC
8) Kalamafoni

looked better for Tigers.
Hopefully Croft plays on Monday and shows his fitness could do with him on the bench to help the lineout.

We missed Thompstone covering Banners.

Ford was utter class (ignoring off the tee), especially in terms of running. Balance was off with #4-8, needs Mike Williams at 6. Would consider moving Thacker to 7 once McGuigan is back unless O'Connor rediscovers his form at the end of last season. Thacker's open field play and breakdown work I really think outweighs the lineout loss, especially if paired with Williams

Oakboy wrote:I don't know much about that Leicester back row which is why I asked Puja before the game if he rated it. I thought Williams improved it when he came on. Till then, the 8 carried quite well but that was about it. If Croft can get fit, they need him.

Wasn't particularly impressed by Ryan; agree with you that Williams improved it upon coming on. Kalamafoni carried well, but his ball skills at the back of the scrum were atrocious. I lost count of the number of times he screwed up a move off the back by just lack of core 8 skills. It's a specialist position dammit!

Overall, we looked good and bad both in patches, but mostly like a bunch of talented strangers brought together for a game. Which is understandable, given how much change we've had, both from transfers and from long-term injury returnees, but brings me back to our rather odd pre-season routine as I mentioned in the thread. Most of those players only got one run-out, in the Ospreys home game, and they all looked ring-rusty and incohesive. Surely we would have got a lot more value from playing a few more of our first teamers in the other two. As it is, we've got the likes of Joe Ford and Charlie Thacker nicely warmed up and ready to go and George Ford and Toomua are playing like they've never met before.

Puja

I'm not the best theorist when it comes to rugby tactics. Basically, despite some classy individuals against them in one or two positions, it seemed to me that Bath outplayed Leicester in every unit.

After about 20 minutes Tuilagi butchered a chance that Joseph would have taken 9 times out of 10 (whether individually or in terms of team contribution). Cook outplayed Youngs by some distance. Those two examples were a bit of a litmus test, IMO. Nobody would rate Priestland above Ford but Bath just gave their 10 a platform to be effective. Ford was trying to force plays unnaturally and, no matter how much he apeared to sparkle, he was the less effective FH.

Add on the horrendous Leicester line-out and I'm left wondering how good their head coach is.