LI Vs Tigers

[FKAS]

London Irish:
15 Tom Parton, 14 Ben Loader, 13 Curtis Rona, 12 Terrence Hepetema, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Nick Phipps, 1 Will Goodrick-Clarke, 2 Agustin Creevy, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 4 Steve Mafi, 5 Adam Coleman, 6 Matt Rogerson (c), 7 Ben Donnell, 8 Albert Tuisue.

Replacements:
16 Matt Cornish, 17 Allan Dell, 18 Ollie Hoskins, 19 Rob Simmons, 20 George Nott, 21 Sean O’Brien, 22 Hugh O’Sullivan, 23 Benhard van Rensburg.

TIGERS STARTING XV
15 Freddie Steward [38]
14 Harry Potter [18]
13 Matt Scott [27]
12 Juan Pablo Socino [1]
11 Nemani Nadolo [18]
10 George Ford [108]
9 Ben Youngs [267]
1 Ellis Genge (c) [92]
2 Nic Dolly [5]
3 Dan Cole [267]
4 Harry Wells [127]
5 Calum Green [63]
6 George Martin [20]
7 Tommy Reffell [50]
8 Hanro Liebenberg (vc) [39]

REPLACEMENTS
16 Julián Montoya [6] *
17 Nephi Leatigaga [44]
18 Joe Heyes [73]
19 Eli Snyman [2]
20 Marco van Staden **
21 Richard Wigglesworth [15] *
22 Freddie Burns [78]
23 Guy Porter [20]

* denotes first appearance of 21/22 season
** denotes Leicester Tigers debut

No the side I was expecting but that's a bit stronger, I thought we'd see some more rotation but no. Looks like we are really gunning for Irish. The bench forwards looks more than a bit impactful.

The LI second row is causing some concerns, have a feeling they might get amongst the Tigers line out.

[Puja]

That is a strong side, but I'm in favour of it - we need a win to keep momentum going. Irish are not to be underestimated - they're unlucky not to have a win and are dangerous on attack. My only concern is that we might end up overplaying Dan Cole, with him starting every game so far, but if we can get some gametime into Heyes this week, then that opens up Cole to be rested against Worcester.

Puja

[FKAS]

I'd imagine Cole and Heyes to play a half each like they did last season. Dan does look years younger after the pre season just gone. It's been a long time since he's covered this much ground. I do agree though he could do with a week off next week just to help him stay at this level.

I agree that this isn't the fixture for sending out a weakened team. The LI tight five has a lot of experience and the second row a lot of quality. I feel a bit for Ollie Chessum who was excellent last weekend but the three most experienced locks we have does make sense.

Van Staden to come on for Reffell early in the second half also makes a lot of sense as Reffell as played quite a bit and tends to go full body on the line. We want to keep him fit and also LI score a lot of points in the second half so a fresh openside should help. LI also like to kick for the corner and look to tire the opposition pack so that in the second half there's gaps for their packs to cause havoc. Hopefully our bench can minimise the impact of that.

[francoisfou]

If the two Argentinian hookers, Creevy and Montoya, are up against each other, there could be some fireworks.
However, by the time Montoya comes on, Creevy may well have already come off.

[Peej]

That is a strong side, but I'm in favour of it - we need a win to keep momentum going. Irish are not to be underestimated - they're unlucky not to have a win and are dangerous on attack. My only concern is that we might end up overplaying Dan Cole, with him starting every game so far, but if we can get some gametime into Heyes this week, then that opens up Cole to be rested against Worcester.

Puja

I imagine last week's win with the rotation has really buoyed the confidence, and now it's about maintaining momentum. Agree about LI, though, they are a better side than their results show.

[fivepointer]

Irish are a good side to watch. They've got tries in them but they do tend to concede far too many. Only a matter of time before they get a win.

[Mikey Brown]

Irish are a good side to watch. They've got tries in them but they do tend to concede far too many. Only a matter of time before they get a win.

Yeah I feel like they blow the win in the last 10-15 minutes quite regularly.

[FKAS]

Irish are a good side to watch. They've got tries in them but they do tend to concede far too many. Only a matter of time before they get a win.

Yeah I feel like they blow the win in the last 10-15 minutes quite regularly.

I dunno with LI it seems that they let the opposition work up a lead then go all guns blazing in the second half of games, bring it back to a close game and then just fall short.

[Puja]

Sounds like we got away with one again this weekend. Hopefully we've got that out of our system and can go back to playing a bit more of the game that we saw against Exeter and Gloucester.

Puja

[FKAS]

The term I've heard being used is "own worst enemies". I'll take a scrappy win away on the road. Feels like LI away has been a boggey fixture for us recently so good to get the win and stay unbeaten.

I think we need some rotation for next week Vs Wuss as there's a few forwards who've played a lot of minutes over the first four games. Dolly, Cole, Martin, Reffell and Liebenburg could all do with a game off though it sounds like Genge took a knock so Liebenburg may start next week to captain.

[FKAS]

Watched most of the game and we tried to play but thinks just weren't sticking. Errors and silly penalties hampered us but we kept LI away from our tryline well and limited their chances. We ended up using the rolling maul to win the game but the pens that led to those rolling mauls came from promising attacks where LI infringed. A Jackson hand stopped what looked like a good scoring opportunity and a Ford offload having been hauled down a metre short bisected the two supporting runners.

LI have averaged 25 points per game this season before yesterday (or that's I've heard quoted) and we kept them to 16 points and only one try and their ground as well. That's not a bad performance even if it was a dull watch.