RugbyRebels

London Irish:
15 James Stokes, 14 Lucio Cinti, 13 Benhard van Rensburg, 12 Rory Jennings, 11 Ben Loader, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Joe Powell, 1 Facundo Gigena, 2 Mike Willemse, 3 Lovejoy Chawatama, 4 Api Ratuniyarawa, 5 Rob Simmons, 6 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 7 Tom Pearson, 8 Matt Rogerson (c).

Replacements:
16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Tarek Haffar, 18 Oliver Hoskins, 19 Chunya Munga, 20 Josh Caulfield, 21 Chandler Cunningham-South, 22 Hugh O’Sullivan, 23 Will Joseph.



STARTING XV
15 Mike Brown [1]
14 Chris Ashton [24]
13 Matt Scott [59]
12 Jimmy Gopperth [10]
11 Harry Potter [58]
10 Handré Pollard [6]
9 Ben Youngs [295]
1 Tom West [2]
2 Julián Montoya (c) [35]
3 Joe Heyes [115]
4 George Martin [50]
5 Cameron Henderson [28]
6 Hanro Liebenberg [76]
7 Olly Cracknell [16]
8 Jasper Wiese [52]

REPLACEMENTS
16 Charlie Clare [70]
17 Francois van Wyk [27]
18 Will Hurd [20]
19 Harry Wells [172]
20 Emeka Ilione [8]
21 Tom Whiteley [1]
22 Charlie Atkinson [11]
23 Harry Simmons [30]

Unchanged starting XV for Leicester - when was the last time that happened! A few changes on the bench and I'm hoping Ilione might get a decent few minutes. Him versus CCS would be interesting.

Puja

Disappointed Sam Edwards isn't on the bench.

Going to be a big ask for that line to go back to back on a short turnaround Vs a team like LI.

Shame Dolly isn't back yet, still don't understand the inclusion of van Wyk.

Does Atkinson need to move to get decent starting game time?

Oakboy wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 1:09 pm Does Atkinson need to move to get decent starting game time?

That bait is rancid, even by your standards!

Puja

May end up being fine again as it's doing okay, but still feel LI are a strike runner short when we play Jackson, Jennings, van Rensburg. Especially when it's Stokes at FB, rather than Loader or Arundell. The option is there to go that way later with Joseph on the bench I guess.

As always though, how the game flows will be driven by the battle up front. Should be a good one.

7.30pm on a Saturday?

Both sides had confidence boosting wins last week. Dont think there'll be much between them.

fivepointer wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 3:56 pm 7.30pm on a Saturday?

Both sides had confidence boosting wins last week. Dont think there'll be much between them.

Timed for after the England match, I presume.

Big game for Leicester. One that we really need to be winning if we have pretentions of challenging for the top 4, or even top 6.

Puja

Puja wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 4:11 pm

fivepointer wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 3:56 pm 7.30pm on a Saturday?

Both sides had confidence boosting wins last week. Dont think there'll be much between them.

Timed for after the England match, I presume.

Big game for Leicester. One that we really need to be winning if we have pretentions of challenging for the top 4, or even top 6.

Puja

We've got four or five home games after this one so we aren't in a bad place. That being said we need points, cannot afford to leave with nothing.

I'm hoping we see more of the attacking game plan we saw in the first half with multiple runners off of 9 giving us options to play with and narrowing the opposition defence to give Pollard time on the ball. I almost choked last weekend when one of the centres ran a line back against the grain, haven't seen that this season. Some nice set piece strike moves like those we used in the last European games would be handy as well.

George Martin with man of the match 45 metres off of 8 carries and 16 tackles (2 missed). Full 80 mins. Maybe Borthwick needn't be worried about Ribbans heading off to France at this rate.

FKAS wrote: ↑Mon Feb 27, 2023 3:48 pm George Martin with man of the match 45 metres off of 8 carries and 16 tackles (2 missed). Full 80 mins. Maybe Borthwick needn't be worried about Ribbans heading off to France at this rate.

Phenomenal figures. Cannot wait to have him and Chessum in harness together.

Puja

Will they be fighting over who gets to scrum at tight-head?

Saw only the highlights of this game, but again, Pearson seemed to show up well as an all-action, all-rounder open side. Hard to see why a bloke with that pace, power, size, engine etc.. is not being called up by Borthwick, at least for squad training.

Spiffy wrote: ↑Mon Feb 27, 2023 4:57 pm Saw only the highlights of this game, but again, Pearson seemed to show up well as an all-action, all-rounder open side. Hard to see why a bloke with that pace, power, size, engine etc.. is not being called up by Borthwick, at least for squad training.

Yeah, he was very good again. As he is consistently really. He's the first name on the teamsheet for LI at the moment.

47 metres made, 15 tackles without missing, 4 defender beaten, a turnover and a nice try.

How's Cameron Henderson doing a few games into his comeback?

Solid but not reached his pre injury heights yet. He's not really had a run of games until January this year since he did his knee. He made 13 tackles and missed 3 Vs LI but he is a good lineout option. Could do with getting his carrying game going again.

Spiffy wrote: ↑Mon Feb 27, 2023 4:57 pm Saw only the highlights of this game, but again, Pearson seemed to show up well as an all-action, all-rounder open side. Hard to see why a bloke with that pace, power, size, engine etc.. is not being called up by Borthwick, at least for squad training.

If Willis signs up for longer in France and forfeits his World cup spot, Pearson is a ready made replacement. Real quality.

Peej wrote: ↑Tue Feb 28, 2023 9:17 pm

Spiffy wrote: ↑Mon Feb 27, 2023 4:57 pm Saw only the highlights of this game, but again, Pearson seemed to show up well as an all-action, all-rounder open side. Hard to see why a bloke with that pace, power, size, engine etc.. is not being called up by Borthwick, at least for squad training.

If Willis signs up for longer in France and forfeits his World cup spot, Pearson is a ready made replacement. Real quality.

I do wonder if Borthwick might reshuffle the EPS squad quite a bit in the summer. There's clearly a few players there he doesn't seem keen on.

Only issue for Pearson is that he plays just openside. If he could maybe show more versatility and work on his lineout work he could be in a strong place for selection.

We could also see Martin come in for the unfavoured Hill at lock.

Both of those players would suit the mobile physicality and high work rate seemingly in favour with Borthnickle.