Sale V Harlequins - Sun 3:00pm

[Mikey Brown]

Don’t know the Sale team yet, but Allan starting at 15 with David on the wing for Marlequins. Squad looking to be stretched pretty thin already, to be honest.

Harlequins Starting XV

1. Joe Marler - Captain

2. Jack Musk

3. Wilco Louw

4. Dino Lamb

5. Irne Herbst

6. Jack Kenningham

7. Will Evans

8. Archie White

9. Danny Care

10. Marcus Smith

11. Cadan Murley

12. Andre Esterhuizen

13. Joe Marchant

14. Nick David

15. Tommy Allan

Impact Players

16. Sam Riley

17. Santiago Garcia Botta

18. Simon Kerrod

19. George Hammond

20. Matas Jurevicius

21. Lewis Gjaltema

22. Will Edwards

23. Lennox Anyanwu

[FKAS]

Sale Sharks Starting XV:

15. Joe Carpenter, 14. Tom Roebuck, 13. Sam James, 12. Manu Tuilagi, 11. Tom O'Flaherty, 10. Robert du Preez, 9. Raffi Quirke; 1. Bevan Rodd, 2. Ewan Ashman, 3. Nick Schonert, 4. Cobus Wiese, 5. Jonny Hill, 6. Jono Ross ©, 7. Tom Curry, 8. Daniel du Preez

Replacements:

16. Tommy Taylor, 17. Simon McIntyre, 18. James Harper, 19. Josh Beaumont, 20. Jean-Luc du Preez, 21. Gus Warr, 22. Sam Hill, 23. Arron Reed

[Scrumhead]

Interesting that Allan is playing 15. He looked good there when he came on at the end of last weekend’s game.

Probably irrelevant if we’re as dreadful as last week up front.

[fivepointer]

Sale looking very good right now. Going to be a tough afternoon for Quins, i fancy.

[Mikey Brown]

Yep, not a team to go against with a that many second/third choice forwards in the 23.

[Mikey Brown]

I've never seen anyone fight so hard to get on the wrong side and give away a penalty as Herbst just then. Idiotic.

[twitchy]

Oh danny.

[twitchy]

Quality try.

[twitchy]

Unlucky for quins.

[Mikey Brown]

Bizarre try but fair enough Sale keeping the ball alive there.

[Mikey Brown]

Well that's a bullshit decision. And they said Kenningham got to that kick and grounded it? 10 point swing potentially there.

If only Kay was here to call it double jeopardy.

[16th man]

Only got a couple of angles on the twitter feed, but that Care pass for the Quins' try is forward isn't it?

[Mikey Brown]

Very pleased with that. A tough, ugly win away from home against a very powerful team. Not to parrot Healey too much, but Smith taking control and keeping us in the right areas was nice. Not too much flash outside of that but much better in the forwards.

Sale discipline just wasn’t there. They looked great in flashes but their heads seemed to drop early in the second half.

Some good stuff from Marler, Kenningham, Evans, Quirke, Smith, Marchant, Roebuck, Carpenter from an England perspective. Tough day for Rodd.

I really hope we get some backrowers back and are able to give Kenningham a bit of a rest. He looks absolutely battered.

[fivepointer]

Quite a turnaround after last weeks defeat from Quins. They really got stuck in. Played it smart too by not overplaying.
Sale very disappointing. Saw virtually no invention in attack and made far too many errors.
Tuilagi largely unused and taken off early. He looks to have dropped some weight. Is he capable of making the kind of impact at international level that he has done in the past?

[FKAS]

Quite a turnaround after last weeks defeat from Quins. They really got stuck in. Played it smart too by not overplaying.
Sale very disappointing. Saw virtually no invention in attack and made far too many errors.
Tuilagi largely unused and taken off early. He looks to have dropped some weight. Is he capable of making the kind of impact at international level that he has done in the past?

Quins played much smarter and had clearly done some good homework on Sale. Manu was hampered a bit by R du Preez and Quirke not having their best games and Quins doing such a good job on Sale up front.

[Timbo]

Quite a turnaround after last weeks defeat from Quins. They really got stuck in. Played it smart too by not overplaying.
Sale very disappointing. Saw virtually no invention in attack and made far too many errors.
Tuilagi largely unused and taken off early. He looks to have dropped some weight. Is he capable of making the kind of impact at international level that he has done in the past?

Manu has been either quiet or injured throughout his Sale career tbh. Still been able to turn it on and bang people in test matches, when fit. Having watched a few Sale games this season I’m happy that the power is still there.

[Timbo]

Also, Quins first try was incredible from Marcus Smith. The vision and execution of that kick was so perfect. Proper skill.

[Puja]

Rob du Preez was a millstone around Sale's neck today. At least three really good bits of attacking ball in and around the 22 and he aimlessly grubbered the ball away. That, plus the two failures to make simple passes for probable tries, just took the wind out of Sale's sails.

Thought Quirke was very good myself. Absolutely gorgeous service - I'd have him straight in at 9 for England. TCurry was another shining light from an EPS perspective and, as everyone else has spotted already, Smith was a little bit good as well.

Puja

[Timbo]

Joe Carpenter looks a player too. Big, quick, good in the air. Where’s he come from?

[Banquo]

Joe Carpenter looks a player too. Big, quick, good in the air. Where’s he come from?

age group for England

[Puja]

Joe Carpenter looks a player too. Big, quick, good in the air. Where’s he come from?

Agreed. He's very unlucky - in an environment where we didn't have Steward, Arundell, and Freeman (like, about a year and a half ago), he'd've been straight into the England squad and be a bright shining hope. Now, everyone's very much, "Sure, he looks good, I guess."

Puja

[Mikey Brown]

Joe Carpenter looks a player too. Big, quick, good in the air. Where’s he come from?

Agreed. He's very unlucky - in an environment where we didn't have Steward, Arundell, and Freeman (like, about a year and a half ago), he'd've been straight into the England squad and be a bright shining hope. Now, everyone's very much, "Sure, he looks good, I guess."

Puja

He does have a nice balance of the size, pace and gutsy fielding ability of those three though.

[FKAS]

Joe Carpenter looks a player too. Big, quick, good in the air. Where’s he come from?

Agreed. He's very unlucky - in an environment where we didn't have Steward, Arundell, and Freeman (like, about a year and a half ago), he'd've been straight into the England squad and be a bright shining hope. Now, everyone's very much, "Sure, he looks good, I guess."

Puja

He does have a nice balance of the size, pace and gutsy fielding ability of those three though.

Can he play 12?

[Oakboy]

Quite a turnaround after last weeks defeat from Quins. They really got stuck in. Played it smart too by not overplaying.
Sale very disappointing. Saw virtually no invention in attack and made far too many errors.
Tuilagi largely unused and taken off early. He looks to have dropped some weight. Is he capable of making the kind of impact at international level that he has done in the past?

If you watched this game and discounted reputation/past performance, you'd not dream of having Tuilagi in an international conversation. He seems to be selective in his involvement and not playing flat-out. I suppose it's low-key and fit or balls-out and injured. Presumably, his training camp performance will be crucial.

I'd not have him in the squad but he seems integral to Jones's thinking.

[TheNomad]

Agreed. He's very unlucky - in an environment where we didn't have Steward, Arundell, and Freeman (like, about a year and a half ago), he'd've been straight into the England squad and be a bright shining hope. Now, everyone's very much, "Sure, he looks good, I guess."

Puja

He does have a nice balance of the size, pace and gutsy fielding ability of those three though.

Can he play 12?

We’re going to have to get creative with some of these players or we’ll end up losing some good talent.

Nice to see a good crop of backs coming through though. I’d include the young 12/15 from Wasps too - name escapes me