Gloucester vs Leicester - Sunday

[Puja]

Gloucester: 15 Jason Woodward, 14 Ollie Thorley, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Billy Twelvetrees, 11 Jonny May, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Joe Simpson, 8 Jake Polledri, 7 Lewis Ludlow (c), 6 Ruan Ackermann, 5 Matt Garvey, 4 Ed Slater, 3 Fraser Balmain, 2 Jack Singleton, 1 Val Rapava-Ruskin
Replacements: 16 Franco Marais, 17 Corne Fourie, 18 Jack Stanley, 19 Jordy Reid, 20 Jack Clement, 21 Stephen Varney, 22 Tom Seabrook, 23 Lloyd Evans

Leicester Tigers: 15 George Worth, 14 Harry Potter, 13 Guy Porter, 12 Tom Hardwick, 11 Jordan Olowofela, 10 Zack Henry, 9 Jack Van Poortvliet, 8 Jordan Coghlan, 7 Thom Smith (c), 6 Ollie Chessum, 5 Blake Enever, 4 Tomás Lavanini, 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Charlie Clare, 1 Ryan Bower
Replacements: 16 Jake Kerr, 17 Facundo Gigena, 18 Nephi Leatigaga, 19 Cameron Henderson, 20 Jordan Taufua, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 George Ford, 23 Dan Kelly

[Puja]

What the actual f*ck. We are celebrating our 1st XV just scraping past an understrength Irish in midweek by putting out a side to get absolutely d*cked by one of our theoretical rivals in the bottom half of the table. That back row is an utter travesty - two no 8s and a lock.

On the bright side, looking forward to seeing Henry get a go at 10. Poor JVP is getting another go behind a pack that will likely get buried - hope he survives it.

Puja

[fivepointer]

Could Tigers really do anything else? They dont have much depth and are at least giving chances to some young players. The rest of this season they should just write off. Concentrate on integrating the new players and give some youngsters a chance to see who is likely to make the step up next season.

[Mr Mwenda]

Magic at 14 though.

[Banquo]

What the actual f*ck. We are celebrating our 1st XV just scraping past an understrength Irish in midweek by putting out a side to get absolutely d*cked by one of our theoretical rivals in the bottom half of the table. That back row is an utter travesty - two no 8s and a lock.

On the bright side, looking forward to seeing Henry get a go at 10. Poor JVP is getting another go behind a pack that will likely get buried - hope he survives it.

Puja

Glad Stevie B's brave new era has your full confidence

[Puja]

What the actual f*ck. We are celebrating our 1st XV just scraping past an understrength Irish in midweek by putting out a side to get absolutely d*cked by one of our theoretical rivals in the bottom half of the table. That back row is an utter travesty - two no 8s and a lock.

On the bright side, looking forward to seeing Henry get a go at 10. Poor JVP is getting another go behind a pack that will likely get buried - hope he survives it.

Puja

Glad Stevie B's brave new era has your full confidence

I am reserving judgement until next season, as this one appears to effectively be a bunch of pre-season games and combination tests. However, the back row situation is starting to get irking.

Puja

[Banquo]

What the actual f*ck. We are celebrating our 1st XV just scraping past an understrength Irish in midweek by putting out a side to get absolutely d*cked by one of our theoretical rivals in the bottom half of the table. That back row is an utter travesty - two no 8s and a lock.

On the bright side, looking forward to seeing Henry get a go at 10. Poor JVP is getting another go behind a pack that will likely get buried - hope he survives it.

Puja

Glad Stevie B's brave new era has your full confidence

I am reserving judgement until next season, as this one appears to effectively be a bunch of pre-season games and combination tests. However, the back row situation is starting to get irking.

Puja

I just hope the upshift in overall quality of players materialises.

[Puja]

Glad Stevie B's brave new era has your full confidence

I am reserving judgement until next season, as this one appears to effectively be a bunch of pre-season games and combination tests. However, the back row situation is starting to get irking.

Puja

I just hope the upshift in overall quality of players materialises.

Yes, yes, thank you. Judge me on the world cup, etc etc.

Puja

[FKAS]

What the actual f*ck. We are celebrating our 1st XV just scraping past an understrength Irish in midweek by putting out a side to get absolutely d*cked by one of our theoretical rivals in the bottom half of the table. That back row is an utter travesty - two no 8s and a lock.

On the bright side, looking forward to seeing Henry get a go at 10. Poor JVP is getting another go behind a pack that will likely get buried - hope he survives it.

Puja

Glad Stevie B's brave new era has your full confidence

I am reserving judgement until next season, as this one appears to effectively be a bunch of pre-season games and combination tests. However, the back row situation is starting to get irking.

Puja

I think hands a tied a little with the backrow. Liebenburg played a full 80 mid week and was struggling with cramp in his hamstring so won't be risked. Wallace ended up playing an hour on top of 80 minutes the game before which moves him very close to the max 180 minutes allowed over the three games. Leaves only Reffell and Taufua as crossover options. We've gone with the bigger of the two on the bench. Shame Brink hasn't recovered in time. At least Coghlan can play 7 so he'll compete at the breakdown a fair bit.

[Puja]

Glad Stevie B's brave new era has your full confidence

I am reserving judgement until next season, as this one appears to effectively be a bunch of pre-season games and combination tests. However, the back row situation is starting to get irking.

Puja

I think hands a tied a little with the backrow. Liebenburg played a full 80 mid week and was struggling with cramp in his hamstring so won't be risked. Wallace ended up playing an hour on top of 80 minutes the game before which moves him very close to the max 180 minutes allowed over the three games. Leaves only Reffell and Taufua as crossover options. We've gone with the bigger of the two on the bench. Shame Brink hasn't recovered in time. At least Coghlan can play 7 so he'll compete at the breakdown a fair bit.

Do you know what's happening with Murimurivalu? He seems to be vanished.

Puja

[Tigersman]

I am reserving judgement until next season, as this one appears to effectively be a bunch of pre-season games and combination tests. However, the back row situation is starting to get irking.

Puja

I think hands a tied a little with the backrow. Liebenburg played a full 80 mid week and was struggling with cramp in his hamstring so won't be risked. Wallace ended up playing an hour on top of 80 minutes the game before which moves him very close to the max 180 minutes allowed over the three games. Leaves only Reffell and Taufua as crossover options. We've gone with the bigger of the two on the bench. Shame Brink hasn't recovered in time. At least Coghlan can play 7 so he'll compete at the breakdown a fair bit.

Do you know what's happening with Murimurivalu? He seems to be vanished.

Puja

Just arrived from france starting self isolation, so will be 2 weeks till that's over.
Then will need to get to Walters standard fitness.

[Tigersman]

I guess if we had all our new signings ready now we might be looking at something like
1. Gigena
2. Mamu
3. Heyes
4. Lavanini
5. Enever
6. Smith
7. Wallace
8. Wiese
9. JVP
10. Henry
11. Van Wyk
12. Hardwick
13. Taute
14. Olowofela
15. Williams
For this game.
Which doesn't look great still, BUT it would be a lot better.

[FKAS]

I think hands a tied a little with the backrow. Liebenburg played a full 80 mid week and was struggling with cramp in his hamstring so won't be risked. Wallace ended up playing an hour on top of 80 minutes the game before which moves him very close to the max 180 minutes allowed over the three games. Leaves only Reffell and Taufua as crossover options. We've gone with the bigger of the two on the bench. Shame Brink hasn't recovered in time. At least Coghlan can play 7 so he'll compete at the breakdown a fair bit.

Do you know what's happening with Murimurivalu? He seems to be vanished.

Puja

Just arrived from france starting self isolation, so will be 2 weeks till that's over.
Then will need to get to Walters standard fitness.

His arrival in the UK was delayed because of visa issues presumably caused by the pandemic. Offices being closed etc.

[Mellsblue]

George ‘Sticking Plaster’ Ford. Poor bloke.

[Mellsblue]

Oh nice. I take it back, Ford has made all difference. Henry seems to have the necessary tools....

[Tigersman]

Well whoever has Thorely in their fantasy team must be ecstatic

[Mellsblue]

“Use it”....5 secs...”Joe?”.....3 secs....kick

[Scrumhead]

Well whoever has Thorely in their fantasy team must be ecstatic

I sold him at the restart and haven’t been able to afford to buy him back yet ...

A mate of mine has Thorley, Hill and Simmonds. 10 tries from 3 players.

[Mellsblue]

Glos imploding.

[Tigersman]

Well that was a surprising game.

Tigers can end up taking a few positives from it.
Potter looks handy enough very solid.
Henry and Porter also.

[FKAS]

Ran out of steam in the last 15 for Tigers having clawed their way back in.

Glaws looked a mixture of very clinical and having a very soft underbelly. A couple of decisions had gone the other way and they don't get that 3 points that was the big let off and it could have gone against them quickly.

Disappointed Tigers didn't get at least 1 point from the game.

[fivepointer]

Tigers were very poor in that opening half hour. Any kind of defending was purely optional it seemed. The subs helped and they emerged with a bit of credit.
Glos were purring along with Cips in full cry and then they got casual and started making too many errors.

[Shiny]

Well whoever has Thorely in their fantasy team must be ecstatic

I sold him at the restart and haven’t been able to afford to buy him back yet ...

A mate of mine has Thorley, Hill and Simmonds. 10 tries from 3 players.

I have Thorley with Sam Simmonds as captain.

[Scrumhead]

Nice. I had Simmonds as captain too along with Jonny Hill. Could be a decent week after all.

[FKAS]

Tigers were very poor in that opening half hour. Any kind of defending was purely optional it seemed. The subs helped and they emerged with a bit of credit.
Glos were purring along with Cips in full cry and then they got casual and started making too many errors.

I think the Tigers midfield lacked leadership in the opening half an hour, they weren't dragging the forwards out who were defending too tight and as such were having to go narrow and lacking line speed. Henry being new to the league and top level rugby along with two 21 year old centres were really up against it as Glaws had a trio of internationals.

I don't think Glaws were too casual I just don't think they were ready to go to a tactical battle after being in full attack mode and Ford really bossed it. Cipriani couldn't switch game plan and then when Youngs and Taufua joined the fray Tigers just dictated the game for nearly half an hour until the Glaws bench got them off the hook. Cipriani perhaps showing why he's not going to get back into the England team.