Saracens vs Gloucester

[Puja]

FORWARDS: Mako Vunipola (147), Jamie George (199), Vincent Koch (42), George Kruis (160), Will Skelton (28), Maro Itoje (97), Mike Rhodes (72), Ben Earl (18).

BACKS: Liam Williams (18), David Strettle (140), Nick Tompkins (72), Brad Barritt (226), Sean Maitland (44), Owen Farrell (176), Richard Wigglesworth (213).

REPLACEMENTS: Christopher Tolofua (20), Richard Barrington (139), Titi Lamositele (54), Nick Isiewke (38), Schalk Burger (51), Ben Spencer (134), Alex Lozowski (63), Alex Goode (264).


Gloucester Rugby:

15. Jason Woodward; 14. Charlie Sharples, 13. Henry Trinder, 12. Billy Twelvetrees, 11. Matt Banahan; 10. Danny Cipriani, 9. Callum Braley; 1. Josh Hohneck, 2. Franco Marais, 3. Fraser Balmain; 4. Ed Slater (capt), 5. Gerbrandt Grobler; 6. Jake Polledri, 7. Lewis Ludlow, 8. Ruan Ackermann

Replacements:
16. James Hanson, 17. Val Rapava Ruskin, 18. Ciaran Knight, 19. Freddie Clarke, 20. Ben Morgan, 21. Ben Vellacott, 22. Mark Atkinson, 23. Tom Hudson

[Mellsblue]

Who is picking Sarries’ backrow? Andy Robinson.

[Mikey Brown]

Err... Eddie Jones.

[fivepointer]

Rhodes at 7....its definitely the way forward.

Acid test for Glos: are they serious top 4 contenders? The game could help us find out. Expecting quite a battle.

[twitchy]

What happened to billy?

[Adam_P]

Can't show his face after getting bounced by a back

[Peej]

As it's going to be chucking down with rain on Sunday, I'm not sure this will be the greatest spectacle.

[Puja]

What happened to billy?

Saracens are doing a lot of rotation early season, although I've noticed that that still doesn't apply to Mako.

Puja

[Digby]

Hard to ignore the Sarries tight five, even if it's arguably a tight seven

[Gloskarlos]

All about the Glos performance for me this one. Win lose or draw (and I expect a loss) if glos can play for 80 mins believing they are in the same class as sarries, executing the game plan well, I’ll be quite happy.

[Oakboy]

Hard to ignore the Sarries tight five, even if it's arguably a tight seven

Yes. Itoje at 6 hardly gets a mention. I wonder if he actually prefers playing there.

[Scrumhead]

Rhodes at 7 FFS. I hope Polledri, Ludlow and Ackermann can highlight what a properly balanced back row can bring.

[CONVEX HULL]

Wray recovering from his 'headlock', Billy V unavailable due to a scheduled medical procedure.

[twitchy]

Glos should be wearing red.

[twitchy]

Ref not doing glos any favours but sarries are relentless.

[Timbo]

First scrum of the game after 29 mins. Allianz Park just looks like a horrible place to go doesn’t it?

[Mellsblue]

Unbelievable how much ball 12t is taking at first receiver. If you didn’t know better you’d say he was playing 10.

[Mellsblue]

Ouch!!

[Oakboy]

Saracens pack have outplayed their opponents by an extent that is stunning. Man-for-man, on paper, the Gloucester forwards look competitive but collectively they have bern mashed.

[Renniks]

Yeah, it's been pretty difficult to judge Farrell vs Cipriani when Sarries pack has been so so dominant

[twitchy]

Sarries would have beaten any team in the league on that form.

[fivepointer]

Bit of a reality check for Glos. They'll be very disappointed with that effort. 2nd best by quite a way.
Saracens just too good, typically efficient and very disciplined.

[Scrumhead]

Unbelievable how much ball 12t is taking at first receiver. If you didn’t know better you’d say he was playing 10.

Yep. Very noticeable. I think they were trying to protect Cipriani from Saracens line speed and try to get him to free up Sharples and Woodward in the wide channels but it didn’t really work.

[Mellsblue]

Unbelievable how much ball 12t is taking at first receiver. If you didn’t know better you’d say he was playing 10.

Yep. Very noticeable. I think they were trying to protect Cipriani from Saracens line speed and try to get him to free up Sharples and Woodward in the wide channels but it didn’t really work.

Not in the slightest!!

[Digby]

It's not impossible to overcome a big deficit in the tight five, but today wasn't one of the those occasions