RugbyRebels

Leicester Tigers (v Sale Sharks, Welford Road, Sunday 3.00pm)

15 Telusa Veainu
14 Nick Malouf
13 Matt Smith
12 Gareth Owen
11 Adam Thompstone
10 Joe Ford
9 Sam Harrison
1 Greg Bateman
2 Tom Youngs (c)
3 Pat Cilliers
4 Dom Barrow
5 Graham Kitchener
6 Mike Williams
7 Will Evans
8 Valentino Mapapalangi

Replacements
16 Harry Thacker
17 Ellis Genge
18 Chris Baumann
19 Mike Fitzgerald
20 Brendon O’Connor
21 Harry Simmons
22 Tom Hardwick
23 Jonah Holmes

Sale Sharks: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Denny Solomona, 13 Sam James, 12 Mark Jennings, 11 Marland Yarde, 10 James O’Connor, 9 Faf De Klerk; 1 Ross Harrison, 2 Rob Webber, 3 Will-Griff John, 4 Bryn Evans, 5 Andre Ostrikov, 6 Jono Ross (c), 7 Ben Curry, 8 Josh Strauss.
Replacements: 16 Marc Jones, 17 James Flynn, 18 Alexandru Tarus, 19 George Nott, 20 Sam Moore, 21 Cameron Neild, 22 Will Cliff, 23 Josh Charnley

That may actually be the best back five in the pack we've had all season. Very interested to see how that goes.

Good to see Simmons and Hardwick given a shot at the big league. Hardwick looked useful in the AWC and, while I didn't think much of Simmons at 9, he was mustard at 15 the following week and is rated highly at 9, so looking forward to them coming on.

Puja

How good does Evans need to play to keep the shirt though?

Jonah Holmes played well in the AWC and is a little unlucky not to start. Liked what I saw of Hardwick.

Yarde gets his first game for Sale who will be right up against it you suspect.

Puja wrote:That may actually be the best back five in the pack we've had all season. Very interested to see how that goes.

Do you prefer Mapapalangi to Kalamafoni at 8? I thought Kalamafoni was pretty good in the last few games he played.

Mikey Brown wrote:How good does Evans need to play to keep the shirt though?

I thought the same TBH ...

Scrumhead wrote:

Puja wrote:That may actually be the best back five in the pack we've had all season. Very interested to see how that goes.

Do you prefer Mapapalangi to Kalamafoni at 8? I thought Kalamafoni was pretty good in the last few games he played.

Mikey Brown wrote:How good does Evans need to play to keep the shirt though?

I thought the same TBH ...

I would like to see Kalamafoni at 6, his engine is amazing but Mapapalangi has more of an attacking threat.

Still need a top 8 IMO but Tino has promise.

Tigersman wrote:

Scrumhead wrote:

Puja wrote:That may actually be the best back five in the pack we've had all season. Very interested to see how that goes.

Do you prefer Mapapalangi to Kalamafoni at 8? I thought Kalamafoni was pretty good in the last few games he played.

Mikey Brown wrote:How good does Evans need to play to keep the shirt though?

I thought the same TBH ...

I would like to see Kalamafoni at 6, his engine is amazing but Mapapalangi has more of an attacking threat.

Still need a top 8 IMO but Tino has promise.

just what I thought. He's (K) done much better than I thought he would.

Good win.

Mapapalangi my man of the match.