Falcons Vs Tigers - Sunday 28th March

[Gloskarlos]

I'm terrible with names, but aside from Wiese, there was the #16 you had at least one swinging arm into the face of a Falcons player at the side of a ruck, then the late-ish replacement who was a sizeable chap leading with a forearm in the mid field way off the ball.

Don't get me wrong, a powerful tigers team is (was) standard for the prem, controlled determination (as a juniors coach we shy away from using the term aggression) and desire to beat your opponent is to be commended. Where that goes just beyond the line towards behaviour a la Calum Clark is where I start to take issue.

[twitchy]

I'm terrible with names, but aside from Wiese, there was the #16 you had at least one swinging arm into the face of a Falcons player at the side of a ruck, then the late-ish replacement who was a sizeable chap leading with a forearm in the mid field way off the ball.

Don't get me wrong, a powerful tigers team is (was) standard for the prem, controlled determination (as a juniors coach we shy away from using the term aggression) and desire to beat your opponent is to be commended. Where that goes just beyond the line towards behaviour a la Calum Clark is where I start to take issue.

Rugby is a weird sport isn't it. It's all about knowing were the line is but that is easier said than done.

[Tigersman]

Personally I don't know how Robinson didn't get pinged for his hit on Steward.
Yes he was falling which would mitigate it down from a red.
But it was still starting at shoulder height.

Wilson had already made a great hit at the chest level so not like he had room to go down.
I thought those double hits one mid, one shoulder was something they wanted to stamp down on.

[twitchy]

On an unrelated note SA really just have a production line of players don't they.

What sort of team do you reckon you could make with just english based SA players? They would probably give this england team a run for their money on current form.

[Tigersman]

England based you could go with
1. De Bruin (Tigers)
2. Van der Merve (Sale)
3. Koch (Sarries)
4. De Jager (Sale)
5. Lewies (Quins)
6. Liebenberg (Tigers)
7. Jean-luc Du Preez (Sale)
8. Wiese (Tigers)
9. De Klerk (Sale)
10. R du Preez (Sale
11. Van Wyk (Tigers)
12. RJVR (Sale)
13. Esterhuizen (Quins)
14. Juan de Jongh (Wasps)
15. Green (Quins)

The crazy thing is you can have packs of
1. Van Wyk (Saints)
2. Du Toit (Bath)
3. Louw (Quins)
4. Wiese (Sale)
5. Kirsten (Exeter)
6. Vermeulen (Exeter)
7. Brink (Tigers)
8. Ackerman (Glous)
9. Hougaard
or
1. Fourie (Gloucester)
2. Cooper (Falcons)
3. Schonert (Worcester)
4. JP Du Preez (Sale)
5. Ribbans (Saints)
6. Ross (Sale)
7. Ardendoff (Saints)
8. Dan Du Preez (Sale)
9. Schreuder (Falcons)

and Still have a lot of tightheads and flankers missing out.

[twitchy]

Chuck in some scots/irish poaches and they could play the lions.

[Puja]

England based you could go with
1. De Bruin (Tigers)
2. Van der Merve (Sale)
3. Koch (Sarries)
4. De Jager (Sale)
5. Lewies (Quins)
6. Liebenberg (Tigers)
7. Jean-luc Du Preez (Sale)
8. Wiese (Tigers)
9. De Klerk (Sale)
10. R du Preez (Sale
11. Van Wyk (Tigers)
12. RJVR (Sale)
13. Esterhuizen (Quins)
14. Juan de Jongh (Wasps)
15. Green (Quins)

You'd have Oosthuizen ahead of De Bruin at loosehead. That sorts out the one weak link in that pack.

Puja

[Timbo]

Quite a number of those Saffas are uncapped too. Wouldn’t be at all surprised to see a few turning out for England on residency in the next few years.

[Puja]

Great tweet from Dan Kelly:


Puja

[FKAS]

I'm terrible with names, but aside from Wiese, there was the #16 you had at least one swinging arm into the face of a Falcons player at the side of a ruck, then the late-ish replacement who was a sizeable chap leading with a forearm in the mid field way off the ball.

Don't get me wrong, a powerful tigers team is (was) standard for the prem, controlled determination (as a juniors coach we shy away from using the term aggression) and desire to beat your opponent is to be commended. Where that goes just beyond the line towards behaviour a la Calum Clark is where I start to take issue.

The 16 is Charlie Clare who is normally pretty mild on the temper front, maybe something riled him up. Would normally be down the list of players I expect to be swinging an arm, maybe Tom Youngs has been providing some enforcer tips.

The forearm off the ball for the disallowed try? Because that decision was horse shit. When the ref says I can't see the elbow but I'll go with the decision anyway. I mean he's either led with the forearm or as the TMO said elbow in which case he's going to the bin minimum or he hasn't.

I think we are in the realms of over physicality maybe a bit of thuggery re Weise still some way from the criminal Calum Clark.

[FKAS]

Personally I don't know how Robinson didn't get pinged for his hit on Steward.
Yes he was falling which would mitigate it down from a red.
But it was still starting at shoulder height.

Wilson had already made a great hit at the chest level so not like he had room to go down.
I thought those double hits one mid, one shoulder was something they wanted to stamp down on.

By the letter of the law a yellow card all day. TMO was pretty awful so not a surprise he missed it.

[Tigersman]

England based you could go with
1. De Bruin (Tigers)
2. Van der Merve (Sale)
3. Koch (Sarries)
4. De Jager (Sale)
5. Lewies (Quins)
6. Liebenberg (Tigers)
7. Jean-luc Du Preez (Sale)
8. Wiese (Tigers)
9. De Klerk (Sale)
10. R du Preez (Sale
11. Van Wyk (Tigers)
12. RJVR (Sale)
13. Esterhuizen (Quins)
14. Juan de Jongh (Wasps)
15. Green (Quins)

You'd have Oosthuizen ahead of De Bruin at loosehead. That sorts out the one weak link in that pack.

Puja

Not according to Sale fans.

[FKAS]

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/spor ... by-5250119

Borthwick and Tom Youngs have they say on the pre game spiciness.

Interesting to see Ford sing the praises of young Dan Kelly, maybe he's happy to finally have someone who could actually play 12 with him long term though I'm not sure he'll be that happy with the Twitter post from Kelly, might make him feel a bit old.

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/spor ... rd-5240887