Tigers Vs LI

[FKAS]

STARTING XV
15 Anthony Watson [4]
14 Chris Ashton [18]
13 Harry Potter [47]
12 Matt Scott [52]
11 Nemani Nadolo [42]
10 Freddie Burns [109]
9 Richard Wigglesworth (vc) [40]
1 James Whitcombe [27]
2 Julián Montoya (vc) [29]
3 Dan Cole [297]
4 George Martin [45]
5 Calum Green [96]
6 Hanro Liebenberg (c) [66]
7 Tommy Reffell [83]
8 Olly Cracknell [7]

REPLACEMENTS
16 Charlie Clare [59]
17 Francois van Wyk [24]
18 Joe Heyes [106]
19 Ollie Chessum [34]
20 Jasper Wiese [47]
21 Sam Edwards [8]
22 Charlie Atkinson [2]
23 Guy Porter [47]

London Irish XV: 15 Tom Parton, 14 Ben Loader, 13 Will Joseph, 12 Benhard van Rensburg, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Joe Powell; 1 Facundo Gigena, 2 Agustin Creevy, 3 Lovejoy Chawatama, 4 Api Ratuniyarawa, 5 Chunya Munga, 6 Matt Rogerson (c), 7 Tom Pearson, 8 So’otala Fa’aso’o

Replacements: 16 Mike Willemse, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Oliver Hoskins, 19 Josh Caulfield, 20 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 21 Chandler Cunningham-South, 22 Ben White, 23 Luca Morisi

Few notable bits here. Chessum back from injury, Martin is at lock and Nadolo's last game for Tigers.

[Banquo]

STARTING XV
15 Anthony Watson [4]
14 Chris Ashton [18]
13 Harry Potter [47]
12 Matt Scott [52]
11 Nemani Nadolo [42]
10 Freddie Burns [109]
9 Richard Wigglesworth (vc) [40]
1 James Whitcombe [27]
2 Julián Montoya (vc) [29]
3 Dan Cole [297]
4 George Martin [45]
5 Calum Green [96]
6 Hanro Liebenberg (c) [66]
7 Tommy Reffell [83]
8 Olly Cracknell [7]

REPLACEMENTS
16 Charlie Clare [59]
17 Francois van Wyk [24]
18 Joe Heyes [106]
19 Ollie Chessum [34]
20 Jasper Wiese [47]
21 Sam Edwards [8]
22 Charlie Atkinson [2]
23 Guy Porter [47]

London Irish XV: 15 Tom Parton, 14 Ben Loader, 13 Will Joseph, 12 Benhard van Rensburg, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Joe Powell; 1 Facundo Gigena, 2 Agustin Creevy, 3 Lovejoy Chawatama, 4 Api Ratuniyarawa, 5 Chunya Munga, 6 Matt Rogerson (c), 7 Tom Pearson, 8 So’otala Fa’aso’o

Replacements: 16 Mike Willemse, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Oliver Hoskins, 19 Josh Caulfield, 20 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 21 Chandler Cunningham-South, 22 Ben White, 23 Luca Morisi

Few notable bits here. Chessum back from injury, Martin is at lock and Nadolo's last game for Tigers.

Great to see Chessum back. What's Arundell's current status.

[Margin_Walker]

Could be a long afternoon for us. This is one of those games that will show up guys like Coleman and Simmons being missing. Gone with a 6-2 bench to try to stem the tide up front.

Not sure on Arundell. Initial suggestion after his scan suggested he may have been back by last weekend. Gone silent since then though, so presumably a a worse prognosis than originally hoped.

[Puja]

Could be a long afternoon for us. This is one of those games that will show up guys like Coleman and Simmons being missing. Gone with a 6-2 bench to try to stem the tide up front.

Not sure on Arundell. Initial suggestion after his scan suggested he may have been back by last weekend. Gone silent since then though, so presumably a a worse prognosis than originally hoped.

Could just be a case that they'd rather give him another 3-4 weeks to properly recover to make sure they're not gonna bring him back and break him again.

Puja

[Margin_Walker]

Hopefully that's the case. Could do with him back for Newcastle which will feel very much like a must win game.

[FKAS]

Might have also been a bit of thought to how it's not ideal to return from injury just in time for Nadolo's farewell game at Welford Road. 20+ stone of Fijian winger wanting to end on a high note isn't a good sign for any fullback and Arundell didn't enjoy their last game against each other if I recall correctly.

[Mikey Brown]

Feels like a good few weeks back we had the ‘oh don’t worry he’s only gone and rebroken a previous fracture, we’ll chuck a bit of ice on it and he’ll be fine’ message.

Seemed suspicious at the time.

[Margin_Walker]

Yeah, the post scan noises were positive, but talk of aggravating a previous break isn't the most comforting diagnosis to the layman like me. Guessing it's the sort of thing that can get complicated.

[FKAS]

It's an interesting twist that LI the team who are known for playing free flowing rugby have gone as big as they can to start with and a 6-2 bench but Tigers known for pragmatism and a strong forward game have named four backrow players in the pack and gone for mobility up front.

If Martin performs well at lock (the position he played in the academy) then Eddie might take another look. Martin was sent back to Tigers after his one cap and told to work on his carrying. Which he has done. He hits like a train in defence and makes a lot of tackles. If he can add some positional versatility then Eddie is a big fan of his lock/6 hybrids.

[FKAS]

26-14 at half time. Tigers secured the bonus point after only 30 mins. LI got a penalty try for Cracknell pulling down a maul closer to half time. I thought the LI players had started the dive for the line before he dropped it but considering there was a questionably forward pass in the build up to Tigers first try the officials didn't check I'd say it was fair does.

[FKAS]

LI start the second half like a train and it's all square.

Pretty sure Rogerson shouldn't have been allowed to crawl over with Burns hanging off him but it was given. Hassell-Collins searing away from a turnover that got spun wide quick was impressive gas. 80m sprint to the line.

[Puja]

London Irish have been truly unlucky so far. Their only win scrubbed from the board and so many close games where they've just failed to get over the line. Not complaining, cause Leicester really needed that result, but I do feel sympathy for them.

Puja

[FKAS]

Yeah Jackson missed at least one conversion he'd have expected himself to get. Would have at least got them the draw.

Van Rensburg had another eye opening game as well, can't remember ever seeing an inside centre being so good and central to a team's rolling maul.

[Margin_Walker]

Yeah Jackson missed at least one conversion he'd have expected himself to get. Would have at least got them the draw.

Van Rensburg had another eye opening game as well, can't remember ever seeing an inside centre being so good and central to a team's rolling maul.

Quickly losing faith in us ever winning a game again. Never seen a team so unable to come out on the right side of close results.

van Rensburg is off the charts. Had a huge impact on our game since he came. Hopefully we can keep hold of him.

[FKAS]

When it comes to van Rensburg all I really think is can we find a way to get him EQ?

I think it will click for LI soon. There's a good team there that needs some confidence.

Tigers not dissimilar in that they just aren't in the routine they were last season. The performances not in the confident groove. Being able to name more of our first choice backline might help. Porter being with England yesterday as a travelling reserve before benching today didn't help. Hopefully we'll be able to field all of Youngs/JVP, Pollard, Kelly, Porter and Steward with some regularity soon.

Not sure on the George Martin experiment. Didn't seem his normal self around the park with the lock duties, he did scrum down as the tighthead lock so maybe that took something out the legs but we did scrum well with him behind Cole and Heyes.

[Puja]

Not sure on the George Martin experiment. Didn't seem his normal self around the park with the lock duties, he did scrum down as the tighthead lock so maybe that took something out the legs but we did scrum well with him behind Cole and Heyes.

I have been wanting Martin to move forward since he broke through. Lanky 6s are 10 a penny, but a big powerful tighthead lock who's also good around the park is worth their weight in gold. He's really kicked on at 6 this seaskn and I was starting to think I might've been wrong, but I still want to give it a try for a while to see if we can have a reincarnation of Johnson/Kay in Martin/Chessum.

Puja

[fivepointer]

LI do so much good stuff that you feel its only a matter of time before they start winning consistently.

Its really the defence that needs to be improved. They concede a lot of points.

OHC's try was a beaut and the way he set up the one for Pearson was pretty neat too.

[FKAS]

Not sure on the George Martin experiment. Didn't seem his normal self around the park with the lock duties, he did scrum down as the tighthead lock so maybe that took something out the legs but we did scrum well with him behind Cole and Heyes.

I have been wanting Martin to move forward since he broke through. Lanky 6s are 10 a penny, but a big powerful tighthead lock who's also good around the park is worth their weight in gold. He's really kicked on at 6 this season and I was starting to think I might've been wrong, but I still want to give it a try for a while to see if we can have a reincarnation of Johnson/Kay in Martin/Chessum.

Puja

I like the idea of Martin/Chessum and having a tighthead lock that is capable of smashing the opposition ball carriers and doing a bit himself. It's a tough ask to take that blindside form and replicating it at lock, he might lose something from his game and with Borthwick we're always going to favour a big 6. in the squad we have we've got lots of locks coming through but fewer backrow. Chessum Jnr and Henderson weren't in the squad today but it's only a case of when they start pushing out the incumbents Wells, Green and Snyman. I suspect Snyman will be the first casualty in the summer.

[Puja]

van Rensburg is off the charts. Had a huge impact on our game since he came. Hopefully we can keep hold of him.

Just had the chance to watch the highlights and hugely entertained to see him going up in the lineout twice to secure the ball that made two of your lineout drive tries. Spectacular work.

FKAS is right - any English heritage at all and he'd be straight into the England team. Such a good player.

Puja

[Margin_Walker]

van Rensburg is off the charts. Had a huge impact on our game since he came. Hopefully we can keep hold of him.

Just had the chance to watch the highlights and hugely entertained to see him going up in the lineout twice to secure the ball that made two of your lineout drive tries. Spectacular work.

FKAS is right - any English heritage at all and he'd be straight into the England team. Such a good player.

Puja

Yeah, he'd walk into this England team. The lineout thing is a party piece we scored off a couple of times last season. Always amusing.

They should have him on on restarts too given that Munga (and then Api) dropped every single one yesterday. Proper head in hands stuff.

[Margin_Walker]

Could be a long afternoon for us. This is one of those games that will show up guys like Coleman and Simmons being missing. Gone with a 6-2 bench to try to stem the tide up front.

Not sure on Arundell. Initial suggestion after his scan suggested he may have been back by last weekend. Gone silent since then though, so presumably a a worse prognosis than originally hoped.

Could just be a case that they'd rather give him another 3-4 weeks to properly recover to make sure they're not gonna bring him back and break him again.

Puja

Turns out not to be the case. No real info, but he's posted what looks like a post op pic today on social media. Don't expect to see him for a while.

[FKAS]

van Rensburg is off the charts. Had a huge impact on our game since he came. Hopefully we can keep hold of him.

Just had the chance to watch the highlights and hugely entertained to see him going up in the lineout twice to secure the ball that made two of your lineout drive tries. Spectacular work.

FKAS is right - any English heritage at all and he'd be straight into the England team. Such a good player.

Puja

It was extraordinary wasn't it. Not only does he jump and take the ball so we'll his work actually in the mail, transferring the ball and opening the space for the ball carrier was top class. Is there another player with such a rounded skill set? We've seen van Rensburg drop precise crossfield kicks, throw long miss passes, crash the ball up and make breaks with footwork. He's got a bit of everything. Just unfortunate for him he seems to only qualify for SA where there's some outrageous depth at 12.

[Mellsblue]

Sounds like Eddie’s perfect blindside.

[Margin_Walker]

Almost certain (don't have the stats) that he's won more turnovers than anyone else at the club too. He's superb over the ball.

[rjjb]

Could be a long afternoon for us. This is one of those games that will show up guys like Coleman and Simmons being missing. Gone with a 6-2 bench to try to stem the tide up front.

Not sure on Arundell. Initial suggestion after his scan suggested he may have been back by last weekend. Gone silent since then though, so presumably a a worse prognosis than originally hoped.

Could just be a case that they'd rather give him another 3-4 weeks to properly recover to make sure they're not gonna bring him back and break him again.

Puja

Turns out not to be the case. No real info, but he's posted what looks like a post op pic today on social media. Don't expect to see him for a while.

Where is this photo?