RugbyRebels

Northampton: Tuala; North, Horne, Burrell, Collins; Mallinder, Groom; Waller, Hartley (capt), Brookes, Paterson, Day, Lawes, Gibson, T Harrison.

Replacements: Haywood, Ma'afu, Hill, Ratuniyarawa, Ludlam, Reinach, Grayson, Foden.

Leicester: Veainu; Malouf, Smith, Toomua, May; G Ford, B Youngs; Genge, T Youngs (capt), Cole, Barrow, Kitchener, Hamilton, O'Connor, Kalamafoni.

Replacements: Thacker, Bateman, Mulipola, Williams, Ryan, S Harrison, J Ford, Tait.

Ludlam summarily dropped to the bench. Quelle surprise. Not entirely sure what Lawes at 6 is all about - it's not like our lineout's particularly threatening!

Hopefully that Tigers XXIII will play with some kind of cohesion this week after being introduced last weekend.

Puja

As a neutral who has enjoyed both clubs' performances in the not too distant past, I hope the match is better than the quality of the two teamsheats suggests. Would any one of those 46 players get in a AP representative XV? There might be a bit of a debate about one or two but a few years back these two clubs would have provided 3 or 4 each.

Saints ringing the changes. Desperation or sensible adjustments leading to a far better performance? We'll see. They are always better at home and i expect them to bounce back after last weeks hammering.

Oakboy wrote:As a neutral who has enjoyed both clubs' performances in the not too distant past, I hope the match is better than the quality of the two teamsheats suggests. Would any one of those 46 players get in a AP representative XV? There might be a bit of a debate about one or two but a few years back these two clubs would have provided 3 or 4 each.

Veainu, Toomua, May, Ford, and Genge would certainly be in the conversation!

Puja

I assume Ribbans must have a knock, or dropping out of the 23 makes no sense. Would have gone with Gibson, Harrison and Ludlam in the back row with Lawes and Day/Pato in the row. Really hoping Horne can make a big difference in the backs, and maybe help Burrell having such a quality player with good leadership outside him.

Just got to hope Tigers' lineout is as good as last week, and Saints are about 300% better than last week.

Toomua on potential/reputation perhaps.

I think Lawes and Horne would have a reasonable shout, that's about it.

fivepointer wrote:Saints ringing the changes. Desperation or sensible adjustments leading to a far better performance? We'll see. They are always better at home and i expect them to bounce back after last weeks hammering.

So, let me get this right 5p, you reckon Quins and Saints are going to win...?.

kk67 wrote:

fivepointer wrote:Saints ringing the changes. Desperation or sensible adjustments leading to a far better performance? We'll see. They are always better at home and i expect them to bounce back after last weeks hammering.

So, let me get this right 5p, you reckon Quins and Saints are going to win...?.

Both playing at home where they dont often lose. A local derby should galvanise Saints, while Glaws rarely travel well.

So yeah, i'm going for Quins/Saints double.

fivepointer wrote:

kk67 wrote:

fivepointer wrote:Saints ringing the changes. Desperation or sensible adjustments leading to a far better performance? We'll see. They are always better at home and i expect them to bounce back after last weeks hammering.

So, let me get this right 5p, you reckon Quins and Saints are going to win...?.

Both playing at home where they dont often lose.

Did you watch Saints last season?

Expecting George Ford to rip Saints apart. He looks like he's got his running game back and Saints looked clueless against Loz last week.

Burrell has had his weetabix. He's had a good 15 mins.

If this is yellow I'm going to start watching netball.

Phew.

He jumped into that.

Worrying for Tigers fans here. Saints looking fairly comfortable despite the fact I reckon Doyle has been seeing things their way so far.

Great clearance kick from Ford. He seems to be better with less time. Perhaps he should have a 40 sec limit self-imposed off the tee.

Having warned both captains about afters twice, to not bin Cole for chucking the ball at someone's head after the whistle is a bit mystifying.

Bloody hell, an advantage for offside at the ruck. I'd forgotten what they looked like.

Then Toomua's deliberate knock on. Still no card.

Tigers very lucky to escape a yellow at the end of the half there I think. Much more like it from Saints, it's been a long time since we've played this well. I also reckon this is Burrells best performance for about 2 years, long may it continue.

There's a number of pretty well regarded forwards in that Leicester pack that haven't really performed consistently for a long time/ever. Kitchener and Barrow being a prime example in that second row.

Mellsblue wrote:Great clearance kick from Ford. He seems to be better with less time. Perhaps he should have a 40 sec limit self-imposed off the tee.

TBH you could be onto something there, he does seem the type to overthink things; and we know it's not technique (why on earth did his dad fire the mental coach?)

16th man wrote:Having warned both captains about afters twice, to not bin Cole for chucking the ball at someone's head after the whistle is a bit mystifying.

Bloody hell, an advantage for offside at the ruck. I'd forgotten what they looked like.

Then Toomua's deliberate knock on. Still no card.

Doyle's desperate not t influence the match, if he can get away with doing nothing, then that's what he'll do

How are they letting Ryan stay on?!

More dereliction of HIA duty there.

Unbelievable. Effing unbelievable.

He shouldn't go off for an HIA - he's already failed it!

However, precedent has been set (North) and reinforced (Matu'u) that HIA protocols aren't worth the paper they're written on. I really don't know what it's going to take for WR / RFU to take this thing seriously. Actions speak louder than words, and whilst the words are all fine, the actions simply don't enforce the protocols!