Worcester vs Leicester - Saturday 3pm

[Puja]

WORCESTER WARRIORS: 15 Harri Doel, 14 Perry Humphreys, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Francois Venter (CC), 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Billy Searle, 9 Will Chudley; 1 Rory Sutherland, 2 Scott Baldwin (CC), 3 Christian Judge, 4 Andrew Kitchener, 5 Justin Clegg, 6 Kyle Hatherell, 7 Sam Lewis, 8 Sione Vailanu

REPLACEMENTS: 16 Niall Annett, 17 Ethan Waller, 18 Jay Tyack, 19 Joe Batley, 20 Matt Kvesic, 21 Gareth Simpson, 22 Fin Smith, 23 Oli Morris



STARTING XV
15 Freddie Steward [39]
14 Harry Potter [18]
13 Matías Moroni [17] *
12 Matt Scott [28]
11 Nemani Nadolo [19]
10 George Ford [109]
9 Jack van Poortvliet [24]
1 Ellis Genge (c) [93]
2 Julián Montoya [7]
3 Dan Cole [268]
4 Harry Wells [128]
5 Eli Snyman [3]
6 Hanro Liebenberg (vc) [40]
7 Marco van Staden [1]
8 Jasper Wiese [20] *

REPLACEMENTS
16 Nic Dolly [6]
17 Nephi Leatigaga [45]
18 Joe Heyes [74]
19 Cameron Henderson [18]
20 Ollie Chessum [11]
21 Richard Wigglesworth [16]
22 Freddie Burns [79]
23 Kini Murimurivalu [23] *

[Puja]

Another strong side from Leicester. We can't be complacent, as Wuss have shown they're not to be underestimated this season and we did only just limp past LIrish, but I'm worried that Genge, Cole, and Liebenberg have played most of our minutes so far this season and, with Sale and Northampton coming up, there's not going to be too many opportunities to rotate.

Good to see that we're getting Moroni, Montoya, van Staden, and Wiese involved as soon as we can. We're not going to have them for many weeks with the AIs coming up, so we may as well get as much use as we can out of them in October.

Puja

[FKAS]

Very much agree with all that Puja. I'm hoping we can do some damage in the first half and then go to the prop rotation on the 45 minutes mark. It's not like Leatigaga and Heyes are bad props or new to this level quite the opposite. I'm guessing Borthwick is being slightly cautious over the inclusion of Sutherland. Cole to soften him up and then a fresh Heyes to test him, our scrum has been stable but not as destructive as prior years.

Outside of those three rather key players we've actually rotated well. Liebenburg has played virtually every minute so far so I'm hoping Chessum can come on and give him a bit of a rest. I can't see much chance as you say of them getting less game time otherwise. Well unless Brink is back for the Sale game and then we go Brink and Weise at 6 and 8.

Unsure what to make of the Wuss side, some looks pretty threatening and other bits look like potential areas where we could turn the screw. For instance Doel is considerably smaller than our back three options so kicking to compete on the VDM side of the pitch and force those two up against Steward could be a win for us.

[FKAS]

Not seen the game but the score looks great as a Tigers fan. Another miserable day at the office for Worcester.

Five wins from five with three TBP. Very smiley Tigers fan (and the city's second team beat Man Utd today as well). Starts to the season don't get much better. Sale next week will be a much tougher ask but the range of options available now are excellent.

[fivepointer]

Demoralising result for Wuss. I hoped that they might be a bit more competitive this season but thats 3 hefty defeats on the bounce. Its not looking good.
Tigers do look good, though. 48 pts away from home is not to be sniffed at.

[Tigersman]

It was genuinely the worst team performance I have seen in a long time from Worcester.

They are on par with tigers a couple season in the most pointless money spent.
Williams, DVDM and Sutherland on a combined total of nearly 1 million apparently.

Heinz he was a smart signing so was Baldwin and IMO they should've targeted more players like him Fearns and Brown would've fitted in perfectly.
Williams over smith in season with no relegation IMO made little sense.

[FKAS]

I think blowing their load on a winger that will miss at least a third of the season was a particularly bad choice.

Owen Williams wasn't a bad purchase as long as he wasn't too expensive. Experienced 10 with a massive boot for the tough conditions in better conditions he can go to 12 and take the pressure off of Finn Smith whilst he develops except that's not how he's being used which makes the move a little bit odd. Billy Searle is not a front line Prem ten so investing so many minutes in him seems odd.

Sutherland, over priced maybe but in general investing in your front row isn't a bad choice.

With nothing to build on and a big player churn it was always likely to be a tough start to the season.

[Tigersman]

IMO you could get 2 really decent club props for the price of British and Irish lion Sutherland.

No point in spending all that money on 1 prop when the rest of your props are nowhere near that.

It’s like keeping injury prone Nani over David.

[FKAS]

That's a fair point on Sutherland. Problem is for Worcester how many good props are going to leave their existing clubs for Wuss? Not many and even fewer you'd point to as good quality. I mean if they go out and throw contracts at the likes of Heyes or Street and promise first choice status are those player going to come? No.

In a way they needed to open the chequebook and bring in some names like Sutherland and Baldwin so that when they go after tight five players for next season they can point to the quality those guys can come in and work with. I think Judge is a fairly decent signing at tighthead but the competition for good props is pretty high. Wuss have some props who could stop up a level and must be hoping Sutherland can push them on.

The signings aside there's no excuse for taking three big humpings in a row. Yes Tigers had a good team out and are ticking along nicely but 45 point losses at home is not going to be accepted for long at Worcester.

[Tigersman]

I mean it’s called scouting for a reason.
Leatigaga for example would’ve been a good find for a team like Worcester whilst he was in the ProD2.

Look at the props Edinburgh signed Venter and De Bruin from the cheetahs. I bet Worcester could’ve gotten both for the price of Sutherland nearly and both would’ve massively improved their scrum.

I don’t know which tightheads they have they would be expecting to step up, Judge is a good 3rd choice that’s about it and Tyack has struggled so far and really still needs to adjust to this league.

I don’t know if Worcester have a proper scouting department of not tbh.

[Raggs]

Hislop is doing well at Wasps already. Dan Frost too. Sholtz came from Scarlets, not sure if he was first choice there.

[Puja]

Hislop is doing well at Wasps already. Dan Frost too. Sholtz came from Scarlets, not sure if he was first choice there.

I was going to say that Wasps appear to have a good line in unheralded front row signings this season. Frost looked very handy before getting knocked out - I think you'd've won if he'd not had to go off and your lineout hadn't had to rely on a very green young hooker.

Puja

[FKAS]

Given the number of fairly random players that turn up at Worcester they clearly have a scouting department working on something. I'm just not sure they know what. There's been a lot of talk recently about how all the clubs in the Prem have their distinct personalities and style of play. Does anyone know what Worcester's is?

The Championship do produce good front row options. Dolly and Frost were both Championship players last season and now it's seven tries between the two of them so far this season. It's hard to pick which ones will make it and which ones won't though. Heffernan and Clarey ripped it up at tighthead the other season. Heffernan is now third choice at Saints and Clarey is fighting to keep his spot on the bench at Sarries. Can be tricky to choose the right one, Tyack was part of a pack that gave Sarries a torrid time in the Championship but is struggling to adapt to Prem rugby.

Wasps do have an uncanny knack of picking out the right Championship player, they've had some really good finds like Bassett and Guy Thompson. Hislop and Frost it's early doors but they look to be fitting in well. Maybe Worcester should have invested some of the cash in whomever Wasps use to scout the Championship.

[switchskier]

I
Look at the props Edinburgh signed Venter and De Bruin from the cheetahs. I bet Worcester could’ve gotten both for the price of Sutherland nearly and both would’ve massively improved their scrum..
.

Not sure about this. It's never been very clear but good chance that Sutherland wanted away from Cockerill (move agreed before the latter was moved on) so he may have been cheaper than expected. That's not to say that worcester didn't overlay of course, but Solomons was his coach before Cockers (though also not a particularly popular one apparently).

[Tigersman]

I
Look at the props Edinburgh signed Venter and De Bruin from the cheetahs. I bet Worcester could’ve gotten both for the price of Sutherland nearly and both would’ve massively improved their scrum..
.

Not sure about this. It's never been very clear but good chance that Sutherland wanted away from Cockerill (move agreed before the latter was moved on) so he may have been cheaper than expected. That's not to say that worcester didn't overlay of course, but Solomons was his coach before Cockers (though also not a particularly popular one apparently).

If he was going to go somewhere cheaper he would go to a better club than Worcester though...


Maybe I'm being harsh but I reckon that for the price of 4 players
Williams, Nani, DVDM, Sutherland they could've gotten
Hislop, Scholtz, Fearns, Allen, Davidson, Eli Snyman, Brown,

and looked a lot more complete team.

That being said I don't know how much support Thomas has from the board?
Did they say sign some big names to try and bring in the crowd?

Reality is they prob need to be brutal and free up cap from players like Nani, Ashton, DVDM, Humphreys, Beck, Searle, Williams, A.Kitchener, G.Kitchener, Bresler, Sutherland, Thomas

Worcester need Steve Diamond tbh

[Puja]

Managed to watch the game on Premiership Rugby and it's even more enjoyable than the scoreline suggests. Our pack is operating like a well-oiled machine, but the greatest victory of the coaching team is around Nemani Nadolo. Not only have they got him fitter than I've ever seen him, but they've resisted the temptation to just say "Big man goes bosh" and send him on the crash-ball down the middle. He's so much more valuable staying wide, especially with the 50:22 law preventing sides from keeping numbers high up the pitch, and he creates space inside him because sides worry about the ball going wide.

Also, if Ford isn't in the England squad, it's an absolute travesty. Created about 5-6 line-breaks with taking the ball to the line and picking the right pass (including a gorgeous flat cut-out that put in Steward for a try that ended up being ruled out for a neck roll) and delivered an orgasmic cross-field chip, for Nadolo to take without breaking stride, that resulted in Wigglesworth's try. He's operating above Smith's level right now and Farrell shouldn't even be in the conversation.

Puja

[FKAS]

Ford turned it on yesterday. He and JVP completely controlled the game. Cut the Wuss defence apart almost at will. We could and maybe should have had three or four more tries. It was only Worcester though. If he does the same Vs Sale next week then that will be a real statement.

I agree re Nadolo. He still comes in occasionally to run over the opposition flyhalf but he's so much more of a headache playing wide because the defence don't want to rush up in case Ford goes over the top to the big man hugging the touchline. One on one he's a wrecking ball and it's really good to see players coming up on his shoulder looking for the offload which is where Nadolo is outrageously good.

[Peej]

Hislop is doing well at Wasps already. Dan Frost too. Sholtz came from Scarlets, not sure if he was first choice there.

I was going to say that Wasps appear to have a good line in unheralded front row signings this season. Frost looked very handy before getting knocked out - I think you'd've won if he'd not had to go off and your lineout hadn't had to rely on a very green young hooker.

Puja

Not even so much a young hooker, but a short term signing that had been at the club about four whole days before Saturday's game.

[Puja]

Hislop is doing well at Wasps already. Dan Frost too. Sholtz came from Scarlets, not sure if he was first choice there.

I was going to say that Wasps appear to have a good line in unheralded front row signings this season. Frost looked very handy before getting knocked out - I think you'd've won if he'd not had to go off and your lineout hadn't had to rely on a very green young hooker.

Puja

Not even so much a young hooker, but a short term signing that had been at the club about four whole days before Saturday's game.

Yeesh, poor sod. I have been in that situation where the lineout just starts slipping and you can think of nothing else but, "Fucksake just hit this one." Where you get awarded a penalty and the captain has long think and a surreptitious glance over at you before saying, "Go on then, we'll give the lineout another go."

That last throw, I could see him muttering to himself and turning the ball over in his hands, and I knew it was either going to be crooked or thrown too short or too long before the lineout was even set. It's a really lonely place to be on the pitch.

Puja