Bath v Leicester - BT's Sunday match

[Which Tyler]

Recreation Ground, 3pm – Live on BT Sport
Ref: JP Doyle (162nd Premiership game).
TJs: Luke Pearce & Simon McConnell.
TMO: Stuart Terheege.

15. James Wilson
14. Semesa Rokoduguni
13. Max Wright
12. Jamie Roberts
11. Ruaridh McConnochie
10. Freddie Burns
9. Will Chudley (co-captain)

1. Nathan Catt
2. Tom Dunn
3. Henry Thomas
4. Matt Garvey (cc)
5. Elliott Stooke
6. Tom Ellis
7. Sam Underhill
8. Francois Louw

16. Ross Batty; 17. Jacques van Rooyen; 18. Max Lahiff; 19. Charlie Ewels; 20. Zach Mercer
21. Max Green; 22. Rhys Priestland; 23. Cooper Vuna


15 George Worth
14 Jonah Holmes
13 Manu Tuilagi
12 Matt Toomua
11 Jonny May
10 George Ford (c)
9 Ben Youngs

1 Ellis Genge
2 Jake Kerr
3 Dan Cole
4 Harry Wells
5 Graham Kitchener
6 Mike Fitzgerald
7 Brendon O'Connor
8 Sione Kalamafoni


16 Tatafu Polota-Nau; 17 Campese Ma'afu; 18 Joe Heyes; 19 Mike Williams; 20 Will Evans
21 Ben White; 22 Gareth Owen; 23 Jordan Olowofela

[Puja]

The thing is, that does look like a strong Leicester team, so I'd like to be confident, but I've no faith that we'll be able to use any of our qualities or apply any of our strengths, so you'd have to pick this as a Bath victory.

Puja

[Digby]

Looks like this one is about the lineout in advance unless someone drops a lot of ball

[Which Tyler]

Both played well last week.
Neither has put in back-to-back performances in a few years...
I predict a cripple fight

[Puja]

Looks like this one is about the lineout in advance unless someone drops a lot of ball

Wow. Garvey and Stooke vs Wells and Kitchener - a pair of stock heavy 4s against a pair of rangy useless 5s. Can't jump vs won't jump.

Puja

[Tigersman]

Bit harsh on Wells calling him useless.

Typical that both Spencer and Thompson get injured though.

[Puja]

Bit harsh on Wells calling him useless.

Typical that both Spencer and Thompson get injured though.

A little perhaps, but I'm not 100% convinced he's going to make it as a top level rugby player. I've happier with him being the junior member of a Spencer/Wells partnership than having to be The One Who Can Catch In The Lineout with Kitchener or Fitzgerald. I'd be even happier with us having quality enough to put him at 19 an make him strive and improve for a first team shirt.

Puja

[fivepointer]

Scrum will be key. Tigers have been good here but the Bath front row have shown up well too. Get on top here and it could determine the way the game goes. Bath back row is one i'm liking a lot.

[twitchy]

Nice from ford.

[Which Tyler]

Argument for penalty try there.
Hand that stopped Louw from scoring was definitely on the ground, definitely in front for the line, and definitely offside.

The penalty offence definitely prevented the try being scored

[twitchy]

I'd be fuming with fitzgerald if I was a tigers fan.

[Which Tyler]

If Louw had taken Genge's no-arm tackle there'd have been another call for a penalty try.

3rd one seemed to involve Manu playing the ball from the floor...

And then he allows that one!

[Which Tyler]

Beautiful

[twitchy]

Chudley for england hype train?

[Tigersman]

How does JP miss that knock on by Underhill.

JP (+Fitzgerald) gifting this game to Bath.

[Which Tyler]

How does JP miss that knock on by Underhill.

JP (+Fitzgerald) gifting this game to Bath.

2 wrongly denied
2 wrongly allowed

Don't think you can really blame JP for being dominated, though of course, my bias is running high at the moment

[Which Tyler]

JP should have stopped that a couple of seconds earlier then

[Tigersman]

How does JP miss that knock on by Underhill.

JP (+Fitzgerald) gifting this game to Bath.

2 wrongly denied
2 wrongly allowed

Don't think you can really blame JP for being dominated, though of course, my bias is running high at the moment

How is it 2 wrongly denied?
Louw jumps up before any tackle by genge could be played through.
Tuialgi picks the ball up off the ground but the ball was lost before the try line and no certainty of a try. Penalty yes, penalty try no.

[Which Tyler]

Equally, Louw only jumped because the tackle was coming in illegally (though, I've no real problem with it being disallowed).

I'm certainly not claiming that Manu stopped a try, just an opportunity, and even then I'd want to see a different angle to decide.

[Tigersman]

Equally, Louw only jumped because the tackle was coming in illegally (though, I've no real problem with it being disallowed)

That's a big reach.


Fitzgerald and Kitchener are the weakest big men in the league.

[Which Tyler]

Equally, Louw only jumped because the tackle was coming in illegally (though, I've no real problem with it being disallowed)

That's a big reach.

Really not, Genge was there with his arms wrong way before Louw brought his leg up.Do you really think he'd have done that if Genge had been legal?

[Tigersman]

Equally, Louw only jumped because the tackle was coming in illegally (though, I've no real problem with it being disallowed)

That's a big reach.

Really not, Genge was there with his arms wrong way before Louw brought his leg up.Do you really think he'd have done that if Genge had been legal?

Genge doesn't hit him with his shoulders before Louw is already taking off.
He wouldn't have been legal but he didn't make the contact so it's a mute point, just like if someone misses a high tackle on a player no contact = no tackle.

[Which Tyler]

That why I don't really have a problem with it.
Tackle was never going to be legal, but I tent is irrelevant, and he failed to justify the word "tackle"

TBH, I'm more annoyed on this one as we kept being told that jumping into a tackle is fine, which has always felt wrong, but leads to inconsistency here.
ETA, I guess it's the difference between jumping into versus jumping over a tackle

[fivepointer]

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the scores, Bath have clearly been the better side and are deservedly leading. I'm enjoying the work of their forwards in particular.

[Tigersman]

Bath are 100% good for the win currently just annoying that more refs can never be consistent.
Bath forwards dominating Tigers around the break down, Bath backs not doing to much on the whole but they don;t need to. Meanwhile Tigers have nothing in the forwards in attack.
Spencer and Thompson carrying helped a lot in the game v Quins.

But Tigers back row hasn't been fixed for 5 years despite it being obvious.