Wasps vs Saints - Sunday 3pm

[Adam_P]

What a finish!

[Shiny]

My bum is still blowing bubbles.

[Scrumhead]

Enjoyable as a neutral. Sleightholme MOM? Weird. I would have gone for Willis.

[Banquo]

Enjoyable as a neutral. Sleightholme MOM? Weird. I would have gone for Willis.

Never Sleightholme; Coles or Willis for me. Furbank made a difference at 10 as well, albeit with tiring oppo.

[fivepointer]

Hats off to Saints for coming back and for clinching the win. It was a thrilling finale.

Willis was terrific for Wasps and i'm liking the development of Atkinson.

[Puja]

Enjoyable as a neutral. Sleightholme MOM? Weird. I would have gone for Willis.

Never Sleightholme; Coles or Willis for me. Furbank made a difference at 10 as well, albeit with tiring oppo.

I thought Sleightholme had an excellent game - really niggly and effective in tackle and ruck, as well as doing excellent finishing work. Willis, I'd give you, but commentators seem to have been given rules that they're not allowed to pick from the losing team anymore.

Puja

[Adam_P]

Thought Ribbans, Hutch and Augustus added a lot off the bench - and agree with Banquo that Furbank seemed to add some zip when he moved to 10 and had a good game in general

[Banquo]

Enjoyable as a neutral. Sleightholme MOM? Weird. I would have gone for Willis.

Never Sleightholme; Coles or Willis for me. Furbank made a difference at 10 as well, albeit with tiring oppo.

I thought Sleightholme had an excellent game - really niggly and effective in tackle and ruck, as well as doing excellent finishing work. Willis, I'd give you, but commentators seem to have been given rules that they're not allowed to pick from the losing team anymore.

Puja

His try was a walk in, did a good counter ruck, and a 50/22 that imo was a bit of a blown opportunity- conceded a soft pen in line with Saints first half policy . He was pretty good, without seeing much ball - 6 touches. But others did more to influence events tbh. Coles for example carried 12 times for 61 yards, made 5 passes, 21 tackles and 2 tries, not to mention lineout work. Pretty decent for a lock filling in at 6. That said, good to see him (sleightholme) play some good role after lots of prblems.
willis was remarkable though- carries, tackles, turnovers and no pens!

[Banquo]

Thought Ribbans, Hutch and Augustus added a lot off the bench - and agree with Banquo that Furbank seemed to add some zip when he moved to 10 and had a good game in general

yep, tho hutch did some odd things. Furbank was good at 15, and made a difference at 10.

[Adam_P]

Thought Ribbans, Hutch and Augustus added a lot off the bench - and agree with Banquo that Furbank seemed to add some zip when he moved to 10 and had a good game in general

yep, tho hutch did some odd things.

Think that's part of the reason he's so good in attack - never know what he's about to do!

[Timbo]

Really enjoyed the battle between Willis and Ludlum at open side. Willis shaded it, but Ludlum had some great moments as well.

[Banquo]

Really enjoyed the battle between Willis and Ludlum at open side. Willis shaded it, but Ludlum had some great moments as well.

yep, fair. LudlAm

[Adam_P]

Really enjoyed the battle between Willis and Ludlum at open side. Willis shaded it, but Ludlum had some great moments as well.

It was good, apart from the BT jizz fest over Willis. They even cut to him to discuss his greatness following a Ludlam turnover

[Puja]

Really enjoyed the battle between Willis and Ludlum at open side. Willis shaded it, but Ludlum had some great moments as well.

It was good, apart from the BT jizz fest over Willis. They even cut to him to discuss his greatness following a Ludlam turnover

I mean, Wiĺlis does deserve a bit of sticky underpants - he was immense. But Ludlam did have a superb game as well, both in terms of leadership and his own play. He does seem to get treated by fans as the poor relation when we talked about England's back row riches, but he has been turning out some superb performances for Northampton of late.

Puja

[Beasties]

Yeah, if not Willis then Ludlam for MoM. Coles was very effective too. Atkinson maturing nicely.

[Timbo]

Jack Willis apparently got 6 turnovers in this game. Along with 24 tackles and 2 try’s. Not bad.

[FKAS]

Jack Willis apparently got 6 turnovers in this game. Along with 24 tackles and 2 try’s. Not bad.

Immense performance, really putting his hand up for a chance in the AIs. If not for injury he'd have a lot more caps by now.

[Raggs]

Jack Willis apparently got 6 turnovers in this game. Along with 24 tackles and 2 try’s. Not bad.

He's been getting stronger and stronger as the season went on. A number of those tackles were real momentum stoppers too. He'll be dead chuffed with his early hit on Ludlam.

[Banquo]

Jack Willis apparently got 6 turnovers in this game. Along with 24 tackles and 2 try’s. Not bad.

as I said, remarkable.

[Spiffy]

Really enjoyed the battle between Willis and Ludlum at open side. Willis shaded it, but Ludlum had some great moments as well.

It was good, apart from the BT jizz fest over Willis. They even cut to him to discuss his greatness following a Ludlam turnover

I mean, Wiĺlis does deserve a bit of sticky underpants - he was immense. But Ludlam did have a superb game as well, both in terms of leadership and his own play. He does seem to get treated by fans as the poor relation when we talked about England's back row riches, but he has been turning out some superb performances for Northampton of late.

Puja

Has Ludlam become a little chubby compared to his former self? Or is it an optical illusion? Wonder if he's a tad underrated because of a rather unathletic look? Still seems to have a good engine on him.

[Puja]

It was good, apart from the BT jizz fest over Willis. They even cut to him to discuss his greatness following a Ludlam turnover

I mean, Wiĺlis does deserve a bit of sticky underpants - he was immense. But Ludlam did have a superb game as well, both in terms of leadership and his own play. He does seem to get treated by fans as the poor relation when we talked about England's back row riches, but he has been turning out some superb performances for Northampton of late.

Puja

Has Ludlam become a little chubby compared to his former self? Or is it an optical illusion? Wonder if he's a tad underrated because of a rather unathletic look? Still seems to have a good engine on him.

He doesn't look especially svelte, I'll agree, but if he has put on a little it's not harmed his game or his stamina in the least - if anything he's got a bit more solidity to throw around. I think he's not rated because he felt like he came out of nowhere to a lot of fans - he was epic at the JWC and then had a period where he couldn't buy a game at Saints, before suddenly breaking through and then catapulting into the RWC squad. He felt like another McConnochie, except he's then kicked on and going from strength to strength, while some of the uninformed public perception is still, "Oh yeah, he's that guy Eddie pulled from nowhere."

Puja

[twitchy]

Beards make people look different.

[Raggs]

I never thought Ludlam looked svelte, always seemed to have some bulk on him for me. He's a very handy flanker indeed. I'd hope Willis is now in front of him, but I don't think he'd let England down.

[Banquo]

Only thing I'd say about him is that he certainly 'paces' himself. I watched him when I was at the Saints/Tigers game, and he basically waits in the middle of the pitch when there is any kick tennis going on. Some may say that is smart, I guess.