Bristol vs Leicester - Sat 8pm

[Puja]

Bristol Bears team to face Leicester Tigers at Ashton Gate on Saturday (8pm KO):

15. Charles Piutau (70 apps), 14. Deago Bailey (4 apps), 13. Semi Radradra (38 apps), 12. Piers O’Conor (117 apps), 11. Gabriel Ibitoye (3 apps), 10. Callum Sheedy (142 apps); 9. Will Porter (4 apps); 1. Ellis Genge (28 apps), 2. Bryan Byrne (39 apps), 3. Max Lahiff (51 apps), 4. Chris Vui (101 apps), 5. Joe Batley (26 apps), 6. Steven Luatua (c) (100 apps), 7. Sam Lewis (6 apps), 8. Jake Heenan (78 apps).

System players: 16. Harry Thacker (84 apps), 17. Jake Woolmore (118 apps), 18. Jay Tyack (3 apps), 19. John Hawkins (44 apps), 20. Dan Thomas (116 apps), 21. Andy Uren (144 apps), 22. AJ MacGinty (9 apps), 23. Joe Jenkins (4 apps).

Unavailable: Yann Thomas, Kyle Sinckler, Will Capon, Ed Holmes, Joe Joyce, Morgan Eames, Sam Jeffries, Fitz Harding, Magnus Bradbury, Harry Randall, Ioan Lloyd, Sam Bedlow, James Williams, Siva Naulago, Toby Fricker, Jack Bates, Luke Morahan, Noah Heward.



STARTING XV
15 Freddie Steward [60]
14 Chris Ashton [19]
13 Guy Porter [48]
12 Dan Kelly [43]
11 Anthony Watson [5]
10 Freddie Burns [110]
9 Ben Youngs [287]
1 James Whitcombe
2 Julián Montoya (vc) [30]
3 Dan Cole [298]
4 Harry Wells [163]
5 Ollie Chessum [35]
6 Hanro Liebenberg (c) [67]
7 Tommy Reffell [84]
8 Jasper Wiese [48]

REPLACEMENTS
16 Charlie Clare [60]
17 Francois van Wyk [25]
18 Joe Heyes [107]
19 Eli Snyman [25]
20 George Martin [46]
21 Jack van Poortvliet [53]
22 Charlie Atkinson [3]
23 Harry Potter [48]

[FKAS]

Dan Kelly's return is huge for Tigers. Having two centres in the centre is a nice change as well. A little surprised Tigers have gone so big for this as we tend to rotate for away games but Borthers obviously keen to get some points on the board.

[Puja]

Dan Kelly coming out of the black hole of injury news from absolutely fucking nowhere! Excellent to see - hope he's fully fit this time though.

Good solid team named. Pretty close to full-strength, aside from Pollard. Surprised we've not given CAtkinson more gametime so far - he was running things for Wasps and I can't imagine he's too far behind Burns.

Puja

[Puja]

A little surprised Tigers have gone so big for this as we tend to rotate for away games but Borthers obviously keen to get some points on the board.

I'd say we do need to get some points under our belt and this is a game we need to take seriously with it likely to be a big and febrile crowd. I might also suggest that Borthwick might have some personal feelings around spoiling the party for Lam, given their history and the loss of Genge.

Puja

[fivepointer]

Saturday 8pm kick off??? Novel i guess.

Genge & Radradra back area timely boost for Bris who really could do with a win to get them going. That injury list is pretty grim reading.

Kelly returning is very good news.

[Puja]

Saturday 8pm kick off??? Novel i guess.

Could be a good idea - gets in people who've been out doing the Christmas shopping, as well as anyone who's been playing that day. Could be a big crowd if they've marketed it well.

Looks like a television thing too - BT are showing Glaw vs Saints and this game as a back-to-back.

Puja

[jimKRFC]

Not expecting big things from Bris here - side looks a mess at the moment...
Hopefully Semi gets through it without picking up a knock.

[Banquo]

Nice to see Chessum back, and Kelly.

[p/d]

Saturday 8pm kick off??? Novel i guess.

Could be a good idea - gets in people who've been out doing the Christmas shopping, as well as anyone who's been playing that day. Could be a big crowd if they've marketed it well.

Looks like a television thing too - BT are showing Glaw vs Saints and this game as a back-to-back.

Puja

[FKAS]

Nothing like ignoring a bit overlap and kicking it dead. Burns following the Ashton example early doors.

[FKAS]

Chargedowns all over the shop. Batley is miles offside for that last one. They've not shown close up replays of the others but maybe it's something both things have noticed in the analysis of CMK in that he's lax in that area.

[FKAS]

Dan Kelly is playing extremely well. If there's continued talk about the England midfield he's carrying effectively, tackling hard and when required playing the alternative distributor to allow the Tigers 10 to be in boot.

[FKAS]

No penalties conceded by Tigers in the first half Vs Bristol's 8. What's the betting someone from Tigers has mentioned that to CMK as they go down the tunnel.

[FKAS]

Grabbing someone's face in the maul not an offence anymore? No idea what the ref and TMO were doing. Some whining from Lam about the penalty count straight afterwards was somewhat amusing. Should wind his neck in.

[FKAS]

Stupid red card let's Bristol come roaring back into it. Burns compounds errors again. He's been poor.

[Gloskarlos]

Poor refereeing all round I thought, so many offences at the breakdown just not bothered with by CMK. Gate? What gate. Tigers got away with a lot for the first 20 of that second half, red card suddenly changed the reffing ‘bias’ and Bristol profited.

[FKAS]

Poor refereeing all round I thought, so many offences at the breakdown just not bothered with by CMK. Gate? What gate. Tigers got away with a lot for the first 20 of that second half, red card suddenly changed the reffing ‘bias’ and Bristol profited.

The offy is somewhat outraged that Radrada didn't see red, Genge didn't get reprimanded for hitting Whitcombe in the face with his forearm whilst on the floor and then there was the Vui hand grab on Chessum which was blatant. I'm not sure Tigers got as much run of the green as most the fans would have liked. That Bristol being allowed to go off their feet at most rucks.

The Tigers red card was a stone waller and Kelly being removed shortly after really damaged our defensive organisation, ditto Montoya. A real worry is that we looked so rudderless whilst we still had senior guys on the pitch. Burns, Liebenburg, Watson and the introduction of Green and Clare really didn't fill the void.

[fivepointer]

Both sides can point to questionable decisions or non decisions. Incredible that midfield offside wasnt called until the final play to give mcGinty a chance to win it.
Tigers firmly in control until the red card and subs. Bris looked pretty ragged overall, seldom looking really threatening.
Good to see Ibitoye getting a try. He deserved it. Promising signs so far. Kelly very good for Tigers.

[FKAS]

From an England point of view seeing Ibitoye back in the Prem looking powerful in attack and pretty solid in defence and Kelly back from injury, straight in form and all action. That's got to be good. England could do with an impact winger who's got power and pace, let's not even get started on the need at 12.

[FKAS]

The Vui Vs Chessum incident somehow missed by both ref and TMO.

[Puja]

The Vui Vs Chessum incident somehow missed by both ref and TMO.

I will say that, while by the letter of the law, it's a red card, I'd rate that more as just a penalty for dickish behaviour. It's clearly not an attempt to hurt; it's putting his hand over his eyes to block his vision and impede him.

Definitely a penalty though. Poor work from the TMO not to spot that.

Puja

[FKAS]

The Vui Vs Chessum incident somehow missed by both ref and TMO.

I will say that, while by the letter of the law, it's a red card, I'd rate that more as just a penalty for dickish behaviour. It's clearly not an attempt to hurt; it's putting his hand over his eyes to block his vision and impede him.

Definitely a penalty though. Poor work from the TMO not to spot that.

Puja

Yes I think the Twitter user is a little OTT but it's a minimum of a penalty and you'd have to go slow mo on the footage to see if it was anything more. With Cole running round to try and pull the hand away it's farcical they've missed it.

[Gloskarlos]

Difficult not to spot it when it was so blatant above a maul with all cameras on him in front of at least two of the officials. Pen certainly. The Semi card was correct I think, both virtually on their knees and in real time not a late hit.

[Puja]

Difficult not to spot it when it was so blatant above a maul with all cameras on him in front of at least two of the officials. Pen certainly. The Semi card was correct I think, both virtually on their knees and in real time not a late hit.

While it might be a controversial opinion, I think there's a semi-decent argument that the Radradra one shouldn't even have been a penalty. He was bent at the hips, he was using his arms - I'm not sure it counts under the "Has there been foul play?" aspect of the head contact protocol.

Puja

[fivepointer]

Difficult not to spot it when it was so blatant above a maul with all cameras on him in front of at least two of the officials. Pen certainly. The Semi card was correct I think, both virtually on their knees and in real time not a late hit.

While it might be a controversial opinion, I think there's a semi-decent argument that the Radradra one shouldn't even have been a penalty. He was bent at the hips, he was using his arms - I'm not sure it counts under the "Has there been foul play?" aspect of the head contact protocol.

Puja

Yeah i thought that. You could say he was a bit reckless but the contact occurred about waist height and he hardly led with the shoulder.