Quins vs Leicester

[Puja]

Harlequins: Chisholm; Murley, Campagnaro, Lasike, Goneva; Smith, Care; Marler, Elia, Sinckler, Lewies, Symons, Chisholm, Robshaw (capt), Lawday.

Replacements: Musk, Garcia Botta, Collier, Cavubati, Dombrandt, Landajo, Herron, Ibitoye.

Leicester: Veainu; Thompstone, Taute, Eastmond, May; Ford, B Youngs; Genge, T Youngs (capt), Cole, Lavanini, Green, Lewis, Taufua, Kalamafoni.

Replacements: Polota-Nau, Gigena, Leatigaga, Wells, Reffell, White, Reid, Worth.

[Scrumhead]

Hard to call this one. Two opposite results in the last round with Tigers falling to a heavy defeat after a great start and Quins coming back to win after a very poor first quarter ...

As much as I’d like to believe Quins are getting better, if Leicester play like they did last week, I think they’ll win.

[Puja]

Hard to call this one. Two opposite results in the last round with Tigers falling to a heavy defeat after a great start and Quins coming back to win after a very poor first quarter ...

As much as I’d like to believe Quins are getting better, if Leicester play like they did last week, I think they’ll win.

It's a must-win for Leicester. All of the internationals are back and integrated, it's not against a top team, we're not overburdened with injuries. There are no excuses. If we're not able to pick up a win here, then where will we?

Mind, with our ability to spin straw out of gold, that's probably enough for us to fall to a 5 point loss like we did against Irish.

Puja

[Peej]

Quins always play well in the holiday game, but I think Leicester will win

[Stom]

Honestly...

That is seriously such a poor Tigers team. I've grown up with Leicester teams to be feared. Yet when I see that lineup and I think who I would swap between the teams...there's only really 3 absolute certainties - Ford, May and Veainu.

And none of them are in the pack!!!

[Digby]

He's obviously a touch mad at times, but Lavanini would surely get into the Quins engine room

[Tigersman]

Taufua And Lavanini would both get into that Quins side IMO.

Anyway on the team Manu is a massive loss.
Big big game for Taute

[fivepointer]

Will the Twickenham switch help Quins or Tigers?

Scrums should be fun with 4 England props and Ford v Smith is one to keep an eye on.

[Stom]

That you can only name 2 other players says a lot... 5 tigers you’d put in the Quins team.

Not long ago it would have been 12!

[Scrumhead]

I guess it depends whether you’re talking about these specific starting XVs or in general.

Tuilagi would certainly be in with a shout, but obviously isn’t playing, but I’d take Brown over Veainu if both were fit.

Taufua looked good last weekend, I’d have him over Chisholm or Lawday rather than a direct swap with Robshaw at 7.

[twitchy]

On channel 5.

[Tigersman]

That you can only name 2 other players says a lot... 5 tigers you’d put in the Quins team.

Not long ago it would have been 12!

Not long ago it would've been pretty much 15.
But we know the problem.
TBF Genge and Cole are both Internationals and i'm happy with them as well.

It's harder to rebuild from a position that Tigers have gotten themselves into than it is for say a Bristol.
Which is why this season will be a big one with 17 players out of contract which I reckon will have around half of the cap nearly.
It will be a big test for McGinty.

I'm unsure of Murphy but I will say that he hasn't had a real chance to make too many big calls in terms of players.
The biggest last season was prob the locks and back rows
Locks
Kitchener and Fitzgerald for Lavanini and Green
Back row
O'Connor, Williams, Mapapalangi, Evans, Tuilagi for Taufua, Liebenberg, Coghlan, Reffell, Lewis
It's improvement.
But in terms of cap it was small potatoes so to speak.

On top of that we are having to factor in the academy and where they fit in and the general Coaching mess.
It's a big cluster ....

Relegation would make the decision for us though and if that happens I hope Tigers trust the likes of Costelow and Steward to fill in the likes of Ford and May going.

[Stom]

That you can only name 2 other players says a lot... 5 tigers you’d put in the Quins team.

Not long ago it would have been 12!

Not long ago it would've been pretty much 15.
But we know the problem.
TBF Genge and Cole are both Internationals and i'm happy with them as well.

It's harder to rebuild from a position that Tigers have gotten themselves into than it is for say a Bristol.
Which is why this season will be a big one with 17 players out of contract which I reckon will have around half of the cap nearly.
It will be a big test for McGinty.

I'm unsure of Murphy but I will say that he hasn't had a real chance to make too many big calls in terms of players.
The biggest last season was prob the locks and back rows
Locks
Kitchener and Fitzgerald for Lavanini and Green
Back row
O'Connor, Williams, Mapapalangi, Evans, Tuilagi for Taufua, Liebenberg, Coghlan, Reffell, Lewis
It's improvement.
But in terms of cap it was small potatoes so to speak.

On top of that we are having to factor in the academy and where they fit in and the general Coaching mess.
It's a big cluster ....

Relegation would make the decision for us though and if that happens I hope Tigers trust the likes of Costelow and Steward to fill in the likes of Ford and May going.

As much as the coaching can be blamed for individual results...this is a problem from the top and it's been brewing for more than a decade. Since Cockerill, tbh, Tigers have been due a crash, and it has come big time these past 2 seasons.

[Tigersman]

It's been a issue since Peter Wheeler left.

But nothing will change at the club top unless we get relegated or sold I feel.
Too many friends having control of each other.

[Oakboy]

Why is Wells not starting? He looked special when he came on against Exeter.

[twitchy]

They should try and get a prem game on terrestrial every 2-3 weeks.

[Oakboy]

That collision sums up my criticism of Ford. Why did he not shout his authority?

[Puja]

Why is Wells not starting? He looked special when he came on against Exeter.

Cause that's the first time I've ever seen someone describe a Wells performance like that.

I'm missing the game due to inlaws and have just clocked the halftime score. What's it been like?

Puja

[Oakboy]

Scrappy crap, really.

[Tigersman]

Why is Wells not starting? He looked special when he came on against Exeter.

Cause that's the first time I've ever seen someone describe a Wells performance like that.

I'm missing the game due to inlaws and have just clocked the halftime score. What's it been like?

Puja

Good game to miss.
Which is basically all Tigers games.

[Scrumhead]

Quins starting to look a bit more dominant. The only aspect Tigers have looked good in is the scrum.

Even the Tigers try was a gift rather than anything actually created.

[Scrumhead]

Typical of both sides. Crap.

[Digby]

Typical of both sides. Crap.

I doubt anyone will add anything to this

[Tigersman]

First time in a while Tigers scrum power actually won them some points.
Four England international props and Cole + Genge the comfortable winners.

Shite game.

[fivepointer]

Scrum was key for Tigers to get something out of the game. Nothing wrong in making an advantage tell, and they did just that.
Overall, neither side looked particularly polished.