RugbyRebels

STARTING XV

15 Mike Brown [10]
14 Josh Bassett [3]
13 Guy Porter [64]
12 Dan Kelly [60]
11 Ollie Hassell-Collins [4]
10 Jamie Shillcock [5]
9 Tom Whiteley [8]
1 Francois van Wyk [35]
2 Charlie Clare [81]
3 Joe Heyes [126]
4 Cameron Henderson [40]
5 Mike Williams [84]
6 Hanro Liebenberg (c) [88]
7 Olly Cracknell [27]
8 Kyle Hatherell [5]

REPLACEMENTS

16 Nic Dolly [28]
17 James Whitcombe [40]
18 Will Hurd [28]
19 Sam Carter [3]
20 Matt Rogerson [3]
21 Joe Powell [4]
22 Charlie Atkinson [21]
23 Phil Cokanasiga [10]

Sale Sharks Starting XV:  

15. Joe Carpenter, 14. Tom Roebuck, 13. Sam James, 12. Sam Bedlow, 11. Tom O’Flaherty, 10. Rob du Preez ©, 9. Gus Warr; 1. Si McIntyre, 2. Tommy Taylor, 3. Nick Schonert, 4. Cobus Wiese, 5. Jonny Hill, 6. Ernst van Rhyn, 7. Sam Dugdale, 8. Dan du Preez.  

Replacements:  

16. Ethan Caine, 17. Ross Harrison, 18. James Harper, 19. Josh Beaumont, 20. Rouban Birch, 21. Raffi Quirke, 22. Tom Curtis, 23. Arron Reed.  

Pretty disappointed by the changes to the Tigers side. Brown is very lucky and probably included based on weather forecast, Atkinson biting the bullet instead to get the impressive Shillcock into the side. No Ilione isn't good, he must be injured, as the backrow last weekend looked very one paced and in desperate need of a link option. Dolly remaining on the bench does nothing to help the pack out either. Mike Williams at lock presumably down to injuries again though Tom Manz is playing for Notts this weekend and I'd prefer he got game time.

Sale look pretty strong and after a good first round result will be feeling confident. Rotation of their 9s is interesting, an ongoing battle for the shirt there.

No denying that Atkinson out is a form decision - he really doesn't appear to have settled at Tigers and we've seen nothing of the bright young thing that was at Wasps. Like you, I'd prefer to see Shillcock in at 15 and Atkinson given another shot, but I can understand why it's not happening, especially with the weather forecast.

Puja

The only thing I can think of re Atkinson is that we might be doing a bit of a Borthwick style strategy and thinking of playing two playmakers for the last 20 mins. Sale did fade last weekend and ended up weathering a bit of a Saints storm.

I'd still be a lot happier if Ilione was in there though.

So far Tigers look like England. It’s dull and predictable with a porous defence.

Epaminondas Pules wrote: ↑Sat Oct 21, 2023 3:56 pm So far Tigers look like England. It’s dull and predictable with a porous defence.

The lack of a secondary playmaker and a forward that is capable of more than a hard carry really seems to be limiting us.

Defence is definitely a concern.

Apparently head height tackles aren't a thing anymore then. Quirke might well pick up a citing for that shot on Kelly.

Losing that game to a half decent first phase move from Sale really isn't a good look for the new defence coach.

Wasn't just me unimpressed by the TMO.



This for the line break for the winning try.

Comment is made by Andy Goode though!

It looks intentional to me (which is a yellow), but even if it's completely accidental, that's still a man in front of the ball having a material effect on a defender. Wild that the TMO didn't pick that up, given that Kelly falling is hardly unnoticeable and surely worth a glance to see why it happened.

Not the reason we lost though - needed to do better in a lot of facets. Hard to be too critical when we're missing 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 15 from our starting XV because of the RWC.

Puja

Technically we were missing Reffell and Kata as well as they required rest post world cup. Judging by how we played yesterday we could definitely do with both in the side for next weekend.