RugbyRebels

Harlequins Starting XV

1. Joe Marler
2. Jack Walker
3. Will Collier
4. Matt Symons
5. Hugh Tizard
6. Stephan Lewies (captain)
7. Will Evans
8. Alex Dombrandt
9. Danny Care
10. Marcus Smith
11. Cadan Murley
12. Andre Esterhuizen
13. Joe Marchant
14. Tyrone Green
15. Huw Jones

Impact Players

16. Joe Gray
17. Simon Kerrod
18. Wilco Louw
19. Matas Jurevicius
20. Tom Lawday
21. Lewis Gjaltema
22. Tommy Allan
23. Luke Northmore

Saracens Men team to play Harlequins:

1 Mako Vunipola
2 Jamie George
3 Vincent Koch
4 Maro Itoje
5 Tim Swinson
6 Theo McFarland
7 Ben Earl
8 Billy Vunipola
9 Aled Davies
10 Owen Farrell (c)
11 Max Malins
12 Nick Tompkins
13 Elliot Daly
14 Sean Maitland
15 Alex Goode

Replacements:

16 Kapeli Pifeleti
17 Eroni Mawi
18 Alec Clarey
19 Nick Isiekwe
20 Andy Christie
21 Ivan van Zyl
22 Alex Lozowski
23 Duncan Taylor

Big call seems to be Jones at 15, the aerial bombardment might well rain down and he'll be under a lot of pressure.

Apparently Lynagh is out injured anyway but Jones has been impressive there recently.

Not seen him put under too much consistent pressure under high balls though. Not claiming he’s Kearney/Brown or anything, but he’s been solid and if it allows Quins any opportunities to counter it will be interesting to see if Sarries persist.

COYQ!

Shame Lynagh is out, but it would have been a tough call between Green and Jones and in this case, both get to start.

I’m surprised Swinson has got the nod over Isiekwe.

I think he’s meant to make quite a big difference to the scrum and definitely won’t want to allow Quins to get on top there.

I might have a little flutter on 'which player Vincent Koch is going to rule out of the summer tour'

Marchant v Daly will be interesting. IMO, Marchant is far superior centre, though Daly may be the better wing.

Luke Pearce is in charge of this one.

Hard to look past a Sarries win for this one

Heart wants Quins - head says Sarries. Think if Sarries win this one they win the final.

Quins have a decent chance but Saracens greater composure and ability to limit errors does make it a tough ask.

Hard to call this one. Sarries defence isn't quite what it was but is still formidable. Quins can score from anywhere. I think it's going to come down to the halfbacks. Quins have got to box clever and not let themselves get trapped in their own half as Sarries will slowly build the points as that's what Farrell is good at. Sarries won't play from deep so if Quins can gain at least parity in the territory battle they are likely to get a fair few chances to attack from deep. Might be a good tactic to drop Smith and Green into the backfield with Jones defending at 10 so when the kicks are received Quins are well placed to counter.

Pearce’s refereeing of the scrum and the breakdown in particular will be crucial.

I think Marler and Collier are better scrummaging props than Mako and Koch and our scrum has been a real weapon this season so if we can get the upper hand there, I’d like to think it’ll be rewarded.

In Germany at the moment and BT sport seems to be able to tell that I’m trying to use a VPN. Any reliable streams or suggestions? Stom?

Don’t worry folks. Sorted. Just put the browser on p*rn mode.

Scrumhead wrote:Pearce’s refereeing of the scrum and the breakdown in particular will be crucial.

I think Marler and Collier are better scrummaging props than Mako and Koch and our scrum has been a real weapon this season so if we can get the upper hand there, I’d like to think it’ll be rewarded.

Koch is a very good tighthead. I'd say he's at least as good as Collier come scrum time. George is a strong hooker at scrum time so he might help bail Mako out, Vunipola is definitely the weak scrummaging link. Quins have picked a pretty hefty pack as well so there should be plenty of weight coming through.

Quite looking forward to Earl Vs Evans on the openside. They'll both be crucial to stopping the momentum of the opposition. The winner if that particular duel will have a large say in the outcome.

Okay, I'm starting to see what people are shouting about in Will Collier. He'll have harder opponents than MakoV, but he's absolutely dominating him so far. Just murder at every scrum.

Puja

I can't believe that the commentators did not mention how easily Smith stepped past Farrell in that try.

Owen Farrell = Michael Jordan.

“Not a great level of danger but caused quite a nasty injury”

Think Walker got lucky there.

Oakboy wrote:I can't believe that the commentators did not mention how easily Smith stepped past Farrell in that try.

You can’t believe it? They didn’t mention the botched 3 on 2 either. I imagine we’ll hear a lot about that offload though.

Panicky moment from Care there is ominous.

I thought they showed Farrell with that cut well before the yellow card incident??

Oakboy wrote:I thought they showed Farrell with that cut well before the yellow card incident??

The other side of his face had been bleeding for quite a while.

It's hard defending Owen Farrell when the commentators are requiring a fresh pair of y-fronts every time he makes a simple pass, but I think you're all being a bit hard on him. Given that much space, Smith steps most people there and, if the "botched 3-on-2 is the one I'm thinking of, Quins had pressed in the centre and a pass was likely to be intercepted - the grubber through was the right decision and well executed.

He's not perfect, but I was going to come here and say that I thought he was showing some very good form, especially the tactical kicking and control. He's definitely got Saracens by the scruff of the neck, which is a skill Smith doesn't yet seem to have - he seems to just ship onto one-off runners a lot instead of taking control and getting the attack patterns reset.

Hard to plot a course between the commentators', "Who was your star of the match and why was it Owen Farrell?" and RR's determination that he's dire.

Puja

Farrell's done some nice things but he's made errors and isnt perfect. Some balance in the commentary box wouldnt go amiss.