Leicester vs London Irish

[Puja]

Leicester Tigers (v London Irish, Welford Road, Saturday 3.00pm)

15 Jonny May

14 Nick Malouf

13 Manu Tuilagi

12 Matt Toomua

11 Adam Thompstone

10 George Ford (c)

9 Ben Youngs

1 Logovi’i Mulipola

2 Tatafu Polota-Nau

3 Dan Cole

4 Mike Fitzgerald

5 Graham Kitchener

6 Mike Williams

7 Brendon O’Connor

8 Sione Kalamafoni

Replacements
16 Harry Thacker
17 Kyle Traynor
18 Greg Bateman
19 Harry Wells
20 Valentino Mapapalangi
21 Sam Harrison
22 Joe Ford
23 Mathew Tait

London Irish: 15 Greig Tonks, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Tom Fowlie, 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Alex Lewington, 10 James Marshall, 9 Scott Steele, 1 Gordon Reid, 2 Saia Fainga’a, 3 Petrus du Plessis, 4 Franco van der Merwe, 5 Teofilo Paulo, 6 Mike Coman (c), 7 Max Northcote-Green, 8 Ofisa Treviranus

Replacements: 16 Tom Woolstencroft, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Ollie Hoskins, 19 Sebastian De Chaves, 20 Blair Cowan, 21 Brendan McKibbin, 22 Theo Brophy Clews, 23 Aseli Tikoirotuma

[TheNomad]

Jonny May says "Yes! I'm playing at full back again, just what I wanted"

[Puja]

After a recent fixture list of Wasps, Munster, Munster, Saracens, and Exeter, I'm quite pleased about this game. Okay, so we're 9th in the table, but we have had a horrible run of fixtures and a good win here will see us bounce back.

Of course, that won't work if we bloody lose, so I'm glad to see we've picked a sensible team, Calamity May at 15 notwithstanding.

Irish sticking with the same team that troubled Newcastle. Hopefully that was a blip from them, at least till next week.

Puja

[Puja]

Looking at that, my main selectorial disappointment (aside from some of our choices being of the Hobson variety) is that Williams is given yet another chance to offer nothing but reckless shoulder charges and Mapapalangi is again left on the bench.

Puja

[fivepointer]

Tigers should win with something to spare. Expect a few changes for the European games but right now they are in urgent need of a win so no surprises with selection.

[Mikey Brown]

Jonny May says "Yes! I'm playing at full back again, just what I wanted"

Rumours are he's told Eddie that's where he sees his future for both Tigers and England.

[Banquo]

Jonny May says "Yes! I'm playing at full back again, just what I wanted"

Rumours are he's told Eddie that's where he sees his future for both Tigers and England.

In all seriousness,that wouldn't be a surprise from what I know of May, but good bait.

[TheNomad]

Jonny May says "Yes! I'm playing at full back again, just what I wanted"

Rumours are he's told Eddie that's where he sees his future for both Tigers and England.

I don't agree with him personally, if that's the case - I'm not sure he has the brain, whereas I think he's a really excellent finisher

[Mellsblue]

I hope Evans is injured, otherwise when else will he get a Prem game. Conversely, good to see Williams get a run out.

[Banquo]

I hope Evans is injured, otherwise when else will he get a Prem game. Conversely, good to see Williams get a run out.

Good Evans, you know how to wind Puja up!

...oh, THAT williams

[Puja]

I hope Evans is injured, otherwise when else will he get a Prem game. Conversely, good to see Williams get a run out.

I'm assuming you meant Johnny rather than a sardonic swipe at Mike.

With 6 losses in a row and 9th in the table, MOC can't afford not to take this one 100%. Lose to London Irish for 7 in a row and it doesn't matter how new you are and what long-term plans you have, the board's going to be agitated.

Mind, the back row'd be a hell of a lot better with Evans over Williams just as a general rule, but MOC doesn't believe that to be true so there we are.

Puja

[padprop]

Looking at that, my main selectorial disappointment (aside from some of our choices being of the Hobson variety) is that Williams is given yet another chance to offer nothing but reckless shoulder charges and Mapapalangi is again left on the bench.

Puja

What has Williams done to go from universal plaudits and calls to be the england 6 to not potentially not even starting?

[Tigersman]

Williams started off really well but IMO his two broken arms in quick succession has led him to not want to use them almost which makes tackling somewhat harder to pull off and it shows.

[Banquo]

Looking at that, my main selectorial disappointment (aside from some of our choices being of the Hobson variety) is that Williams is given yet another chance to offer nothing but reckless shoulder charges and Mapapalangi is again left on the bench.

Puja

What has Williams done to go from universal plaudits and calls to be the england 6 to not potentially not even starting?

Universal plaudits? Maybe some liked a big bloke chucking himself about.

[padprop]

Looking at that, my main selectorial disappointment (aside from some of our choices being of the Hobson variety) is that Williams is given yet another chance to offer nothing but reckless shoulder charges and Mapapalangi is again left on the bench.

Puja

What has Williams done to go from universal plaudits and calls to be the england 6 to not potentially not even starting?

Universal plaudits? Maybe some liked a big bloke chucking himself about.

Hardly watching him play and going by this board there was a lot of love for him, and alot of annoyance at his injury preventing him getting an england call up

[Puja]

What has Williams done to go from universal plaudits and calls to be the england 6 to not potentially not even starting?

Universal plaudits? Maybe some liked a big bloke chucking himself about.

Hardly watching him play and going by this board there was a lot of love for him, and alot of annoyance at his injury preventing him getting an england call up

He looked handy and physical for Worcester and I was quite pleased when Leicester signed him (although not to the extent of understanding his call-up for England). He looked like a bruiser in the Alberts mould and I think a lot of people were hopeful that he would kick on with his move to a top club. He hasn't and has actually regressed across the last 12 months. His big tackles have vanished, his big carries are half-hearted and get stopped on the gainline and the less said about his work rate, the better. More than that, he's shown a propensity for really stupid bits of foul play - charging into rucks shoulder first and violently taking people out off the ball. Frankly, I'm now surprised when there's a game that he doesn't give away a futile penalty or yellow card.

Like so many of the Leicester pack, could be a very good player, but apparently has taken the lack of a forwards coach as the opportunity to regress.

Puja

[Banquo]

What has Williams done to go from universal plaudits and calls to be the england 6 to not potentially not even starting?

Universal plaudits? Maybe some liked a big bloke chucking himself about.

Hardly watching him play and going by this board there was a lot of love for him, and alot of annoyance at his injury preventing him getting an england call up

really? not so I noticed in terms of 'lot of love'. Big lump is what I saw. 'universal plaudits' is a tad ott, and very little 'annoyance'. see Puja's post.

[Scrumhead]

Universal plaudits? Maybe some liked a big bloke chucking himself about.

Hardly watching him play and going by this board there was a lot of love for him, and alot of annoyance at his injury preventing him getting an england call up

He looked handy and physical for Worcester and I was quite pleased when Leicester signed him (although not to the extent of understanding his call-up for England). He looked like a bruiser in the Alberts mould and I think a lot of people were hopeful that he would kick on with his move to a top club. He hasn't and has actually regressed across the last 12 months. His big tackles have vanished, his big carries are half-hearted and get stopped on the gainline and the less said about his work rate, the better. More than that, he's shown a propensity for really stupid bits of foul play - charging into rucks shoulder first and violently taking people out off the ball. Frankly, I'm now surprised when there's a game that he doesn't give away a futile penalty or yellow card.

Like so many of the Leicester pack, could be a very good player, but apparently has taken the lack of a forwards coach as the opportunity to regress.

Puja

All fair points.

I was quite a fan of Williams. However, I never saw him as any more than a squad player for England TBH. Now he’s light years away from being a contender IMO. He’s been really, really poor I never the last couple of games I’ve seen him play for Leicester.

[Mikey Brown]

To continue a theme. I don’t get how Tuilagi’s try can stand. What the fuck are you meant to do as a defender in that situation? Why is there one specific moment where you’re allowed to jump in to a tackle situation?

[Tigersman]

To continue a theme. I don’t get how Tuilagi’s try can stand. What the fuck are you meant to do as a defender in that situation? Why is there one specific moment where you’re allowed to jump in to a tackle situation?

But he didn't jump into a tackle, no one was in front of him ready to tackle when he jumped over.
By that logic jumping diving for the try line should be banned because how do you stop it?

[Puja]

I did think there was a law against jumping over a ruck, but I'm buggered if I can find it in the lawbook.

Puja

[Timbo]

As far as I’m aware there’s nothing in the law book about jumping over a ruck OR jumping into a tackle. It’s sonething pundits say a lot so it’s assumed to be a thing. They are only deemed to be penalty’s if it’s viewed as dangerous play.

[Mikey Brown]

I can’t refute any of that but I still don’t like it.

[Digby]

There was at least one Irish defender there ready to (try and) stop Tuilagi, arguably two though one might have been on the floor, the problem was neither of them paid any attention to Manu and were working to get around

[Puja]

There's an argument to be made that, if you don't want someone diving over the ruck, maybe all your ruckers shouldn't be lying down?

Puja