Clermont Vs Tigers

[SDHoneymonster]

I suspect he's inked in for the squad, although maybe not for the Tests. Depends on the selections I guess - I reckon there's a case to be made for resting the Lions given that next season will be utterly brutal, in which case Chessum probably gets a decent amount of game time.

[Mikey Brown]

“I think he’ll play, although maybe not. Depends on selection I suppose” is a great summary of what we all contribute here. Good stuff.

I’d assumed Lions are getting rested. Surely this is the only proper chance?

[Timbo]

I reckon Eddie takes the best available squad tbh.

[FKAS]

I suspect he's inked in for the squad, although maybe not for the Tests. Depends on the selections I guess - I reckon there's a case to be made for resting the Lions given that next season will be utterly brutal, in which case Chessum probably gets a decent amount of game time.

If Itoje is rested brace yourself for the Ewels/Hill combo...

[Danno]

I suspect he's inked in for the squad, although maybe not for the Tests. Depends on the selections I guess - I reckon there's a case to be made for resting the Lions given that next season will be utterly brutal, in which case Chessum probably gets a decent amount of game time.

If Itoje is rested brace yourself for the Ewels/Hill combo...

There's only one part of that I actively dislike.

Worse still is that the other-other guy will probably have been deemed to be rested through injury. Welcome back to the 12 shirt aaaaaand the captaincy. Enjoy yourself pissing off the SH refs.

[Tigersman]

Honestly for a 23 year old who is now 5 games away from 100 caps for Tigers Heyes doesn’t get talked about enough as a prospect.

[Mikey Brown]

Honestly for a 23 year old who is now 5 games away from 100 caps for Tigers Heyes doesn’t get talked about enough as a prospect.

It feels like there have been so many exciting prospects that didn’t quite pan out, but he seems to have quietly become a very solid player.

That’s obviously a great achievement at such a young age. But are you concerned at all about putting so many minutes in to a young tight head? I’m not saying you should be, but it seems like one of those positions it must be hard to judge.

[fivepointer]

Heyes hasnt had that many starts. A lot of those appearances would have been 10-15 minutes from the bench. And thats absolutely fine. A young prop shouldnt be overplayed and i think Tigers have handled his development very astutely.

[SDHoneymonster]

I reckon Eddie takes the best available squad tbh.

He probably will and it's fair enough, just think actually getting a decent period of rest into the players before the slog of next season would also be sensible. Would put money (not a lot, I'm a tightarse mind) on the fact that not properly resting up from the Lions tour is the reason why the likes of Farrell and Cowan-Dickie have had such stop-start seasons.

[FKAS]

Honestly for a 23 year old who is now 5 games away from 100 caps for Tigers Heyes doesn’t get talked about enough as a prospect.

It feels like there have been so many exciting prospects that didn’t quite pan out, but he seems to have quietly become a very solid player.

That’s obviously a great achievement at such a young age. But are you concerned at all about putting so many minutes in to a young tight head? I’m not saying you should be, but it seems like one of those positions it must be hard to judge.

He's started 41% of his games for Tigers. If think he's been used but not over used. He was clearly ready for senior game time at an early age and Tigers drip fed that to him. I suppose it's tough to find the happy medium between making sure a young prop doesn't play to many minutes but also keeping their development going because if you don't they will find offers from others that will.

He's looked the natural successor to Cole from pretty much day one. He's still refining his game but his not flashy style probably doesn't turn heads like the big carries of others does. It's not until you see stats from games like the Chiefs one where he makes more than 20 tackles over 72 mins whilst not taking a backwards step at the scrum then people take a bit more notice.

[Timbo]

I remember watching Hayes a short while after lockdown and thinking that he’d suddenly (sudden to me, at least) turned in to a completely different animal physically. At under 20’s he looked like a big, slightly pudgy man-child, but now he’s a proper modern prop athlete.

[FKAS]

I remember watching Hayes a short while after lockdown and thinking that he’d suddenly (sudden to me, at least) turned in to a completely different animal physically. At under 20’s he looked like a big, slightly pudgy man-child, but now he’s a proper modern prop athlete.

He took up running over lockdown, apparently lost shed loads of weight. He certainly looked a lot thinner after and the first few months after lockdown his performances weren't quite as good whilst he built back up the weight. It's left him prop sized but with a big engine.

[Mikey Brown]

How would people rate him compared to Stuart?

[Puja]

How would people rate him compared to Stuart?

I still think Stuart's still a better player - he's a more dynamic carrier, compared to Heyes who's more of a carrier to reset the play. Stuart's also a little better in the scrum for my money (and underrated on here after one bad game). However, that's more experience than anything else and Heyes is rapidly gaining on him. In a one-off game tomorrow, I'd say Stuart, but it's close-run and Heyes is only getting better.

Puja

[FKAS]

How would people rate him compared to Stuart?

I still think Stuart's still a better player - he's a more dynamic carrier, compared to Heyes who's more of a carrier to reset the play. Stuart's also a little better in the scrum for my money (and underrated on here after one bad game). However, that's more experience than anything else and Heyes is rapidly gaining on him. In a one-off game tomorrow, I'd say Stuart, but it's close-run and Heyes is only getting better.

Puja

I'd agree withe caveat when in form. Will Stuart is a good tighthead with much more to his carrying game and a bit more at the scrum, he's 25 so is heading into his peak years whereas Heyes is a few years younger. Heyes tends to be consistent, you know what you're going to get. Stuart has peaks and troughs of form though, after lockdown for instance he was nearly unplayable but first half of this season looked a shadow of that player. He came back into it over the 6N, Eddie might have actually made a good call by giving him more starts so when Sinckler wasn't fully fit Stuart seemed to have confidence and turned up well. I'd like to see Sinckler rested and Stuart start the summer tour games to see if he can build on the end to the 6N and show the consistency.

[Beasties]

Stuart is the better player but Heyes has improved a lot lately and should rightly come into the reckoning now. Stuart was harshly treated on here during the 6N imo. He wasn’t remotely in form but some of the comments on here at the time were just off. I didn’t comment at the time because it just seemed that everyone was against him and I couldn’t be on with it. There was one scrum he got wrongly pinged for having destroyed his oppo and that seemed to set off criticism for some reason. Then a week later he was apparently ok and Sinckler needed to have a word with himself.

[FKAS]

The Leicester Tigers centre, Guy Porter, has been suspended for three weeks following an independent Disciplinary Hearing by video conference arising from his club’s Heineken Champions Cup, Round of 16 1st leg match against ASM Clermont Auvergne at the Stade Marcel-Michelin.

Porter was sent off by the referee, Nika Amashukeli (Georgia), in the 60th minute of the match for making contact with the head of the ASM Clermont Auvergne No 8, Fritz Lee, in a reckless manner in contravention of Law 9.11.

Law 9.11 Players must not do anything that is reckless or dangerous to others
Under World Rugby’s Sanctions for Foul Play, Law 9.11 carries the following sanction entry points – Low End: 2 weeks; Mid-range: 6 weeks; Top end: 10 to 52 weeks.

Roger Morris (Wales), chair, David Humphreys (Ireland) and Frank Hadden (Scotland), considered video imagery of the incident and heard submissions from the player, who did not accept the red card decision, from the player’s legal representative, John Shea, from the Leicester Tigers General Manager, Leigh Jones, and from the EPCR Disciplinary Officer, Liam McTiernan.

The committee upheld the red card decision, finding that Porter had committed a reckless act of foul play that warranted a red card. It then determined that the offending was at the mid-range of World Rugby’s sanctions and six weeks was selected as the appropriate entry point.

Due to the player’s clear disciplinary record and his concern for Lee following the incident, it was decided to grant the full 50% mitigation and the committee therefore reduced the sanction by three weeks before imposing a three-week suspension.

As Leicester Tigers are scheduled to play a Premiership Rugby Cup semi-final on Tuesday, 26 April, Porter is free to play on Wednesday, 27 April. However, if he applies for and completes a World Rugby Coaching Intervention, he will be free to play on Monday, 25 April.

Both the player and EPCR have the right to appeal the decision.

Very harsh when Gibson-Park gets let off.

[Mikey Brown]

Does seem harsh for what the tackle was, but also says he gets the 50% off but didn't accept that it should have been a red in the first place? Kind of hard to argue with the ban (in addition to the card) if he doesn't seem to recognise that charging in and KOing somebody (even though accidental) is not okay.

[FKAS]

Does seem harsh for what the tackle was, but also says he gets the 50% off but didn't accept that it should have been a red in the first place? Kind of hard to argue with the ban (in addition to the card) if he doesn't seem to recognise that charging in and KOing somebody (even though accidental) is not okay.

Given it was accidental I thought they could have started at the low end and done two weeks down to one. Sits out the return leg would have been fair. Mid range and six weeks before reduction is very heavy handed considering some of the (intentional) stuff that's been let go. At least they've counted the PRC game so he misses the return game which he probably would have missed anyway as it's a six day turnaround and he went off for a HIA and then the Quins game, he wouldn't have played in the PRC semi anyway.

He got the 50% due to as far as I'm aware having no cards previously and "concern for Lee following the incident" which sounds like apologies were made and accepted in the changing rooms which is as it should be.

I did notice that there was a different panel for each citing from the last weekend, that's probably why we're seeing such variation in decision. Not really helping the disciplinary process.

[Puja]

As Leicester Tigers are scheduled to play a Premiership Rugby Cup semi-final on Tuesday, 26 April, Porter is free to play on Wednesday, 27 April. However, if he applies for and completes a World Rugby Coaching Intervention, he will be free to play on Monday, 25 April.

Comedy. He gets a week off for attending a training course on tackling, despite the fact that he wasn't red carded for a tackle, but that week off would only allow him to play a game that he probably wouldn't have played in anyway. I wonder if he'll bother. I know you can only do the speeding tackling course once, but can you save it for a future red card or do you have to use it the first time?

Puja

[Mikey Brown]

I get all that, but I feel like if he disputes it should even have been a red then has he really learnt anything? I know it doesn’t say he got a longer ban due to disagreeing with it, but it makes me much less sympathetic with the length of the ban.