Leicester vs Irish - Wednesday

[Puja]

Leicester Tigers (v London Irish, home, Wednesday 6.00pm)

15 Freddie Steward
14 David Williams
13 Jaco Taute
12 Matt Scott
11 Nemani Nadolo
10 George Ford (vc)
9 Ben Youngs
1 Ellis Genge
2 Tom Youngs (c)
3 Dan Cole
4 Harry Wells
5 Calum Green
6 Hanro Liebenberg
7 Tommy Reffell
8 Jordan Taufua

Replacements
16 Charlie Clare
17 Nephi Leatigaga
18 Joe Heyes
19 George Martin
20 Luke Wallace
21 Ben White
22 Zack Henry
23 Jordan Olowofela

London Irish: 15 Tom Homer, 14 Tom Parton, 13 Curtis Rona, 12 Terrence Hepetema, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Ben Meehan; 1 Harry Elrington, 2 Motu Matu’u, 3 Sekope Kepu, 4 George Nott, 5 Sebastian de Chaves, 6 Ben Donnell, 7 Blair Cowan (c), 8 Albert Tuisue.

Replacements: 16 Matt Cornish, 17 Will Goodrick-Clarke, 18 Lovejoy Chawatama, 19 Jack Cooke, 20 TJ Ioane, 21 Rory Brand, 22 Jacob Atkins, 23 Ross Neal.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Really pleased to see Freddie get the start with this lineup and to see Martin in the squad.

And we appear to be playing a flanker at 6. What is this madness!

[Banquo]

Really pleased to see Freddie get the start with this lineup and to see Martin in the squad.

And we appear to be playing a flanker at 6. What is this madness!

and a second row at second row!! That has to stop!

[fivepointer]

Proper balance in the starting X and on the bench. Steward getting a start is noteworthy.

Irish not rotating much bar changes at centre.

[Puja]

Really pleased to see Freddie get the start with this lineup and to see Martin in the squad.

And we appear to be playing a flanker at 6. What is this madness!

To be fair, Hanro can play lock as well, so it's not a complete break from the Leicester way!

Agreed on Steward and Martin - can't wait to see what they look like in a competent team. ...of course, that does assume that we will have one on Wednesday.

Puja

[FKAS]

You'd pick about three quarters of that Tigers team over their LI counterparts so there's no excuses this time. Tigers should be looking for a win here. You'd fancy our scrum, lineout and rolling maul to do a job here in particular. Want to keep the ball away from the LI backline and keep them in the wrong side of the ref.

Jackson Vs Ford will be a good watch. Cloudy day but possibility of showers and strong winds could make it interesting for them.

[Tigersman]

Wells off with a clash of heads
Martin gets a leg injury.

On the day we don't have a 6/2 split on the bench....

[FKAS]

Wells off with a clash of heads
Martin gets a leg injury.

On the day we don't have a 6/2 split on the bench....

I wonder how much of that leg injury has to do with asking a young player who's had problems with a hamstring injury play on a Wednesday after a full game on a Saturday.

Tigers should have had at least one more try. Lots of handling errors in the 22 from both sides. Pearce showing no signs of developing into a top level ref as usual. Scrum is a mess with LI taking the knee under and hint of pressure and not being pinged so Tigers seem to be pushing the boundaries to force decisions out of the ref.

You can see why both sides are towards the bottom with phases being built but no serious signs of carving the opposition defence open.

[Tigersman]

Nadolo has been worth the wait.

[FKAS]

Nadolo looks an exceptional signing already. Steward at 15 looked like he'd been playing in the Tigers first team for years. Could very much be his shirt going forward with Murimurivalu rotating or playing from the wing.

Both sides will be thinking of what could have been as they both left points out there. Tigers could have had a TBP had they not been so careless.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Looked very side to side to me. Lots of errors but also a lack of invention at times and just shuffling the ball out hoping something would happen.

You can see why both teams are right down there. Early days obviously, but it weren’t pretty.

Agreed re Steward. He looked largely comfortable.

[FKAS]

I think both sides were searching for invention and when they didn't find it LI were backing their pace on the wing and we were looking for Nadolo or Steward to pull in defenders and move the ball. It was scrappy.

[Tigersman]

The pinging of players in front of the ball carrier annoyed me.
Considering Exeter would have 5 players in front of the ball in the backline at all times almost.

[FKAS]

Yes the Chiefs tactics did cross my mind as that try was disallowed. Meehan did well to milk it and save his side a try. Did make me laugh when the commentator mentioned the refs clamping down on players trying to grab an extra metre in the tackle about 10 minutes after Meehan had scored a try by exactly that.

[Puja]

Well, we won. That's about as much as can be said for that.

Puja

[Which Tyler]

Well, we won. That's about as much as can be said for that.

Puja

I get the impression BT chose the right match to headline

[Mellsblue]

Steward at 15 looked like he'd been playing in the Tigers first team for years.

Harsh. Very, very harsh.

[Banquo]

Steward at 15 looked like he'd been playing in the Tigers first team for years.

Harsh. Very, very harsh.

[FKAS]

Steward at 15 looked like he'd been playing in the Tigers first team for years.

Harsh. Very, very harsh.

Very good.

Facially he doesn't look like he could grow a beard, physically he looks like he could play on the second row.

[Puja]

Any news on how badly Martin is injured?

Puja

[FKAS]

Any news on how badly Martin is injured?

Puja

Only heard leg injury so hoping it's not more hamstring issues.

[Digby]

Steward at 15 looked like he'd been playing in the Tigers first team for years.

Harsh. Very, very harsh.

Very good.

Facially he doesn't look like he could grow a beard, physically he looks like he could play on the second row.

Like a coxswain sort of thing?

[Tigersman]

According to Murphy Martin had a bang on the knee.
Which tells us little.

[FKAS]

Harsh. Very, very harsh.

Very good.

Facially he doesn't look like he could grow a beard, physically he looks like he could play on the second row.

Like a coxswain sort of thing?

Probably, he's got the height and I bet his power output is pretty good.

[Digby]

Very good.

Facially he doesn't look like he could grow a beard, physically he looks like he could play on the second row.

Like a coxswain sort of thing?

Probably, he's got the height and I bet his power output is pretty good.

Or maybe a mix of rugby and polo using the locks as steads, meaning jockey was the word to have used.