Quins Vs Tigers

[FKAS]

Lots of rotation from Tigers

STARTING XV
15 Freddie Burns [96]
14 Harry Potter [35]
13 Matías Moroni [29]
12 Matt Scott [44]
11 Nemani Nadolo [31]
10 George Ford [122]
9 Ben Youngs [276]
1 Francois van Wyk [16]
2 Charlie Clare [46]
3 Joe Heyes [95]
4 Calum Green [85]
5 Eli Snyman [18]
6 Hanro Liebenberg [52]
7 Olly Robinson [5]
8 Sean Jansen [2]

REPLACMENTS
16 Tom Cowan-Dickie [6]
17 Ellis Genge [104]
18 Dan Cole [283]
19 Harry Wells [149]
20 Jasper Wiese [38]
21 Richard Wigglesworth [32]
22 Bryce Hegarty [13]
23 Chris Ashton [5]

[FKAS]

Harlequins Starting XV
1. Joe Marler
2. Jack Walker
3. Will Collier
4. Matt Symons
5. Hugh Tizard
6. Stephan Lewies ©
7. Luke Wallace
8. Alex Dombrandt
9. Danny Care
10. Marcus Smith
11. Cadan Murley
12. Andre Esterhuizen
13. Joe Marchant
14. Louis Lynagh
15. Huw Jones

Impact Players
16. Joe Gray
17. Simon Kerrod
18. Wilco Louw
19. George Hammond
20. James Chisholm
21. Tom Lawday
22. Lewis Gjaltema
23. Nick David

And Quins are almost full strength and at home. Can only see one winner here.

[Peej]

Is Montoya injured then?

[FKAS]

Is Montoya injured then?

Hard to tell Tigers don't give out injury updates. Missing two weeks in a row could well indicate something but given we are also resting Dolly, Weise, Reffell, JVP and Steward I'm unsure. I guess we'll find out next weekend as we are likely to go hard for the home game.

[Mikey Brown]

Harlequins Starting XV
1. Joe Marler
2. Jack Walker
3. Will Collier
4. Matt Symons
5. Hugh Tizard
6. Stephan Lewies ©
7. Luke Wallace
8. Alex Dombrandt
9. Danny Care
10. Marcus Smith
11. Cadan Murley
12. Andre Esterhuizen
13. Joe Marchant
14. Louis Lynagh
15. Huw Jones

Impact Players
16. Joe Gray
17. Simon Kerrod
18. Wilco Louw
19. George Hammond
20. James Chisholm
21. Tom Lawday
22. Lewis Gjaltema
23. Nick David

And Quins are almost full strength and at home. Can only see one winner here.

I’m unsure about the Quins side. That’s an odd pair of flankers, and while I quite enjoy Jones at fullback will be very interesting to see how he deals with Ford’s kicking game. No Edwards or Allan seems like it’s asking for trouble, with nobody I’d recognise as being able to step in at flyhalf.

[Peej]

Yeah I think Ford could make Jones very uncomfortable

[FKAS]

I dunno about the flankers. Wallace is a 7 playing at 7 and a third lock at 6 I'd presumably to help negate the Tigers driving maul.

Jones might be targeted at the back but I'd expect Smith to be targeting Burns just as much. Borthwick might have a plan up his sleeve re-counter attacks or kicking game as Hegarty is a more solid fullback and he's on the bench.

[Mikey Brown]

Sure, but Evans and Kenningham are just several levels above. Really hope Evans is okay and we're just being cautious with his injury last week.

I'm more just concerned about Lewies's fitness as he seems to come back for 1-2 games at a time then has a couple of months out again. Not sure if we've got both Mitchell brothers on the bench purely to accommodate that, or we're just wanting to counter Leicester's power up front and think that's worth risking no replacement 10.

[fivepointer]

Even with the rotation, Tigers look a pretty solid all round unit with no obvious weaknesses.
Favour Quins as the home side but this might be a close one.

[FKAS]

Even with the rotation, Tigers look a pretty solid all round unit with no obvious weaknesses.
Favour Quins as the home side but this might be a close one.

I'd suggest the backrow is a bit of a weakness with in effect a 22 year-old trialist at 8 and an openside Cardiff thought they didn't need. The club has refreshingly built up the squad and stopped relying on big names. First time in a long time we've genuinely got at least two players for ever position any reasonable fan would happily see start. Obviously some are better than others it makes rotation like this doable and should hopefully keep key guys fresher for the business end coming up shortly.

If Tigers can grab an LBP I'll be happy. If we can limit Quins to less than four tries I'll be very happy.

[Puja]

The club has refreshingly built up the squad and stopped relying on big names. First time in a long time we've genuinely got at least two players for ever position any reasonable fan would happily see start. Obviously some are better than others it makes rotation like this doable and should hopefully keep key guys fresher for the business end coming up shortly.

The development of the academy has been absolutely key.. having players like Steward, Chessum, JVP, Martin has meant that we haven't had to pay over the odds to import quality. Added to that players that we got cheap and built up, like Dolly, Kelly, Potter, Porter, means that we're able to build a solid squad. Just looking at that XV, players like Van Wyk, Clare, and Robinson are solidly third choice, but they could've been starters in 2017.

Ford is so key. Without him, Quins are easy winners, but with him leading and driving the team, there's a chance we could sneak a result. I don't want him to go .

Puja

[FKAS]

Yeah don't remind me of 2017. The front row was decent then but what came behind them less so.

Ford is a special talent and criminally underrated in the press. Burns has shown he's not just there to make up the numbers when he had a run of games at 10. Not Ford's level but some of his best rugby for Tigers, he deserved his player of the month award. I'd be more confident of him doing a job at 10 now than I was at the start of the season. Not so certain of him at 15 but it does offer some interesting tactical options, pin Quins back and then attack on the counter, maybe dropping Ford and Burns into the backfield when defending.

One of the good things Murphy did was bringing in the development pathway for the academy players so that they could find a way into senior rugby. Having rebuild the academy structure it was a key element to making the most of it. The clever targeting of age grade players who hadn't been kept on or were struggling for games at their club has definitely helped. Taylor's short stint as attack coach did gift us two unheard of gems as well.

[Mellsblue]

Looking forward to this. My weekend has been scheduled around it…. and driving my ungrateful sh!ts to their various sports.

[FKAS]

Quins turning down straight forward points for a kick at the corner early doors. Statement of intent that looks to have born fruit.

[FKAS]

Instant Tigers response. Can't blame Lynagh for falling off that one.

[FKAS]

Could have been a second Quins try but unnecessary block by Symonds. Really stupid.

[FKAS]

What was Potter doing? Far too narrow there, gave himself no chance of getting to Murley and Smith will always make that long pass.

[francoisfou]

What was Potter doing? Far too narrow there, gave himself no chance of getting to Murley and Smith will always make that long pass.

… and forward?

[FKAS]

What was Potter doing? Far too narrow there, gave himself no chance of getting to Murley and Smith will always make that long pass.

… and forward?

I thought the pass for the first Quins pass looked flatter/forward than that one. Barnes and TMO seemed happy enough.

It's interesting to see Tigers going off the top at the lineout. I wonder if we're looking to work their forwards round the park particularly because there's a but if a step down in terms of front row replacements and Quins are playing three locks. Get metres into the legs this half and then look to the strong bench to maybe turn the screw in the second. Bar TCD the Tigers forward replacements are quite tasty.

[francoisfou]

Dallaglio chips in with “hopefully Quins can secure the ball… »!

[FKAS]

Bad kick from Esterhuizen and Tigers pick them apart on the return. Really poor kick chase making the bad kick worse as Quins defence had to let Tigers run at them. Nadolo and Moroni excellent in the outside channel.

[FKAS]

Dallaglio chips in with “hopefully Quins can secure the ball… »!

The former Quin and the former Wasp are unlikely to be cheering for Tigers

[FKAS]

Genge and Cole look furious at the scrum decisions. Can't blame them. Tigers had to play out under loads of pressure when it looked like Quins had blatantly gone down. Next scrum and it goes down without the ball in and van Wyk pinged again. Cole pointing out that Collier is pulling it down.

Looks like Calum Green is taking an early bath.

[Mellsblue]

That decision must be a first. No HIA for Marler….

[FKAS]

Wow that was a lucky escape for Green. Lucky escape for Quins with Tigers making that mistake at the maul as the Quins lineout defence was on the ropes there.