Tigers Vs Sale

[FKAS]

TIGERS XV

15 Freddie Steward [17]

14 Kobus Van Wyk [4]

13 Matías Moroni [1]

12 Matt Scott [10]

11 Nemani Nadolo [7]

10 Zack Henry [12]

9 Richard Wigglesworth [3]

1 Luan de Bruin [1]

2 Tom Youngs (c) [199]

3 Dan Cole [247]

4 Harry Wells [105]

5 Calum Green [46]

6 Hanro Liebenberg [20]

7 Tommy Reffell [32]

8 Jasper Wiese [5]

REPLACEMENTS

16 Julián Montoya *

17 Nephi Leatigaga [34]

18 Joe Heyes [52]

19 Tomás Lavanini [21]

20 George Martin [4]

21 Cyle Brink [5]

22 Jack Van Poortvliet [7]

23 Johnny McPhillips [8]

* denotes Leicester Tigers debut

Sale Sharks: 15 Luke James, 14 Byron McGuigan, 13 Sam James,12 Sam Hill, 11 Marland Yarde, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Faf de Klerk; 1 Bevan Rodd, 2 Akker van der Merwe, 3 WillGriff John, 4 Cobus Wiese, 5 JP du Preez, 6 Jono Ross (c), 7 Sam Dugdale, 8 Josh Beaumont

Replacements: 16 Curtis Langdon, 17 Ross Harrison, 18 Coenie Oosthuizen, 19 James Phillips, 20 Cameron Neild, 21 Will Cliff, 22 Robert du Preez, 23 Tom Roebuck

Johnny McPhillips? Sheesh I thought we'd gone pass that awful selection.

[chris1850]

A few interesting head to heads there. Interested to see how Bevan Rodd, who has really impressed whilst still only 20, gets on against Cole. Big test for the lad.

[Puja]

I have to say, that is the best bench Leicester has had in a long while. Being able to bring on Montoya and Leatigaga rather than Clare and Bower will make a huge difference in the last 20 minutes. Whisper it quietly, but I'm feeling pretty hopeful about this game.

A few interesting head to heads there. Interested to see how Bevan Rodd, who has really impressed whilst still only 20, gets on against Cole. Big test for the lad.

Massive test and a big point in his favour to be included ahead of the reliable Harrison. I suspect he might get the same treatment as Iyogun got from Cole, but hopefully will learn a lot from the experience.

Puja

[fivepointer]

Rodd has looked very solid in the scrum and is pretty handy in the loose. Looks like a player to keep an eye on.

[FKAS]

Rodd Vs Cole will be a good watch and on the other side is two fairly substantial units going at it in de Bruin and John. Scrum time should be an entertaining watch. The Tigers bench options should be pretty good as well so I'd hope it's and area we can win.

[Tigersman]

Shows the churn Tigers have had 21 year old Joe Heyes has the 4th most Tigers cap in the squad.
That being said 52 caps for a 21 year tighthead is a crazy amount

[FKAS]

Shows the churn Tigers have had 21 year old Joe Heyes has the 4th most Tigers cap in the squad.
That being said 52 caps for a 21 year tighthead is a crazy amount

I could well be a 300 cap Tiger if he carries on and fulfills his potential. Add in England caps on top of that in time.

20 year old Freddie Steward has the most appearances in the backline. As you say the churn has been ridiculous. Hopefully we'll see things slow down a bit though two big earners are already out the door by the summer if not sooner.

[Puja]

Every now and again, there is the mild threat that a game of rugby might break out. And when that happens, Richard Wigglesworth takes control, organises a caterpillar ruck and boots the ball up in the air, because we'll not be having any of this rugby nonsense.

Mind, the one time we tried attacking, he passed the ball straight to Sam James, who looked very offside (especially if one were to have the TMO we had in the NZ game a few years back) but was allowed to go the length. 8-7 to Leicester and Sale have robbed the 7 as they've had very little ball or threat beyond that intercept. Admittedly, Leicester's threats have either been "send Nadolo at them" or "kick it in the air and send Nadolo at the catcher" but they have at least dominated position and possession.

Bevan Rodd is looking to be a hugely promising player. Very, very strong in the scrum, but hasn't got any reward because Dan Cole is a cheating scumbag and has got excellent rapport with the ref. Hopefully he feels very English, as with a name like Bevan there's no way he hasn't got a Celtic ancestor somewhere.

Puja

[Puja]

And Leicester nearly gave away another interception try, only for Freddie Steward to outpace Yarde to the hacked through ball and save us. We ended up giving away a penalty for an 8-10 half-time, which is utterly unjust on the balance of play.

Puja

[FKAS]

Young Rodd should be sent an invoice by D Cole next week for scrum education consultancy. Physically very even but Cole has those horrible dark arts honed over the years.

Wigglesworth's passing has been a shit show with all of Sale's points coming from his odd tendency to loft the ball into space in the first half. Steward saved his blushes by out sprinting Yarde to recover the second time, helped by Yarde's iffy footballing skills.

Nadolo makes great ground off the scrum but we are so slow into position after it that we make nothing of it. Weise has got to be sprinting off the back of the scrum to be smashing through a panicky defence. As it is we just run into a well set up brick wall.

Tigers have a pretty beefy 6-2 split bench so if we can wear down their forwards we might be able to pull away in the final quarter.

[twitchy]

Quality from yarde and sale.

[FKAS]

Quality from yarde and sale.

Lovely move to be fair and Yarde's little step and go to sew up the last defender is very nice.

Leatigaga concedes a soft yellow card, stupid tackle and could have been red. I do wonder how de Klerk got away with jumping on Nadolo's back with his arm round the neck in the first half though.

[Puja]

Hmpf. On the one hand, Sale had no right to even be in the match at half-time and were jammy as hell with a few of the decisions. On the other hand, one can't really complain about not winning the game when we don't even attempt to create anything or play any rugby. The one time the ball was passed to Moroni, he looked genuinely shocked that it had happened.

JVP looked good off the bench again though.

Puja

[Timbo]

For some reason I have a sneaky feeling that at least one of the Weise brothers will end up being capped for England down the line.

[FKAS]

Jasper Weise would be a brilliant option for England but I rather suspect Rassie has his eye on him. I'm more hopeful he'll convince his brother that Leicester is a bit nicer than Manchester.

JVP added a lot of impetus. I wish he'd come in earlier as Wigglesworth was slow and passed like a 6 year old. JVP has future international written all over him. The kid is a real talent.

[Slater582]

Bevan Rodd is looking to be a hugely promising player. Very, very strong in the scrum, but hasn't got any reward because Dan Cole is a cheating scumbag and has got excellent rapport with the ref. Hopefully he feels very English, as with a name like Bevan there's no way he hasn't got a Celtic ancestor somewhere.

Puja

Don't know much about his background but he seems to have been born in Scotland.

[chris1850]

Bevan Rodd is looking to be a hugely promising player. Very, very strong in the scrum, but hasn't got any reward because Dan Cole is a cheating scumbag and has got excellent rapport with the ref. Hopefully he feels very English, as with a name like Bevan there's no way he hasn't got a Celtic ancestor somewhere.

Puja

Don't know much about his background but he seems to have been born in Scotland.

Isle of Man