Tigers v Falcons

[Epaminondas Pules]

STARTING XV

15 Mike Brown [14]

14 Freddie Steward [75]

13 Matt Scott [69]

12 Dan Kelly [65]

11 Ollie Hassell-Collins [9]

10 Handré Pollard [18]

9 Ben Youngs [305]

1 Francois Van Wyk [39]

2 Julián Montoya (c) [45]

3 Dan Cole [313]

4 Harry Wells [182]

5 Ollie Chessum [46]

6 Hanro Liebenberg [94]

7 Tommy Reffell [104]

8 Jasper Wiese [64]

REPLACEMENTS

16 Charlie Clare [87]

17 James Whitcombe [42]

18 Will Hurd [32]

19 Sam Carter [8]

20 Matt Rogerson [9]

21 Tom Whiteley [14]

22 Jamie Shillcock [10]

23 Solomone Kata [4]

Newcastle Falcons v Leicester Tigers (Sunday, 3pm, Mattioli Woods Welford Road, live on TNT Sports)

15 Elliott Obatoyinbo, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Tom Penny, 12 Matias Moroni, 11 Louis Brown, 10 Louie Johnson, 9 James Elliott; 1 Adam Brocklebank, 2 Jamie Blamire, 3 Eduardo Bello, 4 John Hawkins, 5 Sebastian de Chaves, 6 Pedro Rubiolo, 7 Sam Cross, 8 Callum Chick (captain).

Replacements: 16 Bryan Byrne, 17 Phil Brantingham, 18 Murray McCallum, 19 Tim Cardall, 20 Freddie Lockwood, 21 Sam Stuart, 22 Brett Connon, 23 Oliver Spencer.

[FKAS]

Mike Brown at fullback is a pretty grim read. His form fell off a cliff before he got dropped. Shillcock deserves to rotate into the starting line up more. Not a lot of pace in the backline for Tigers but given the Falcons starting pack I'd hope it won't matter and that we deny them much ball to do anything with.

Tigers bench is a bit meh though happy to see Hurd get a go, he was solid during the world cup period and is still youngish so hopefully keeps improving.

A little bit of impact on the bench from Falcons, could make the second half a bit nervy if Tigers execute as inefficiently as last weekend.

[Mikey Brown]

Not a lot of pace is putting it kindly. OHC is providing basically all of it.

[FKAS]

Not a lot of pace is putting it kindly. OHC is providing basically all of it.

Sad but true. Kelly and Scott aren't slow for centres but aren't quick either.

[Banquo]

depressing eqp read

[FKAS]

depressing eqp read

15 of the 23 for Tigers and 18 of the 23 for Falcons with a quick count. Not bad but could be better.

[Banquo]

depressing eqp read

15 of the 23 for Tigers and 18 of the 23 for Falcons with a quick count. Not bad but could be better.

less about the quantity.....Mike Brown is one, for example. And for Tigers, about who is starting. Falcons bench is a tad callow, which is either great or terrible

[Mellsblue]

Blimey…

https://x.com/tightfive_rugby/status/17 ... MV3j-SK8yQ

[Banquo]

Blimey…

https://x.com/tightfive_rugby/status/17 ... MV3j-SK8yQ

know the feeling

[francoisfou]

On a positive note, I though that Ma'am had an excellent game!

[FKAS]

On a positive note, I though that Ma'am had an excellent game!

Quickly becoming one of the best refs in the league. Hopefully see her on the international stage soon.

[Epaminondas Pules]

For Newcastle I thought Brantingham had a superb cameo. Caused the Tigers scrum real problems!

[FKAS]

For Newcastle I thought Brantingham had a superb cameo. Caused the Tigers scrum real problems!

He's one that could well turn out to be a real talent. Lot of potential there. Only just turned 22.

[Epaminondas Pules]

For Newcastle I thought Brantingham had a superb cameo. Caused the Tigers scrum real problems!

He's one that could well turn out to be a real talent. Lot of potential there. Only just turned 22.

Aye. And I know there is lots of talk about Falcons losing so much talent, but the converse is people like Brantingham are now getting their chance and really. stepping up. To come on in a pack being bullied and send Dan Cole backwards is mighty impressive. But it was his work around the park that impressed the most.

[Puja]

For Newcastle I thought Brantingham had a superb cameo. Caused the Tigers scrum real problems!

He's one that could well turn out to be a real talent. Lot of potential there. Only just turned 22.

Aye. And I know there is lots of talk about Falcons losing so much talent, but the converse is people like Brantingham are now getting their chance and really. stepping up. To come on in a pack being bullied and send Dan Cole backwards is mighty impressive. But it was his work around the park that impressed the most.

If they could do a Sale and sign up their most promising young players to five year contracts, then they might have a chance of building a good solid team there. A spine of Brantingham, Blamire, Pepper, Johnson, Radwan, Redshaw is one that could definitely be built on. They're just missing two or three really good players to turn them into something useful - if they won the lottery and could afford to bring in a top tighthead, lock, and scrum-half, they'd be a mid-table side.

Puja

[FKAS]

The desperately need some more quality in that tight five. Especially at lock. Sean Robinson leaving/retiring at the end of last season was a huge blow to Falcons. Hawkins and de Chaves are not going to get your very far at this level. They're a bit unlucky Cardall and McDonald are injured as they'd at least offer a bit more. No real depth at prop is a worry.

Louie Johnson does look like he could be a good player but he could really use a good pro to be a mentor to him and some better scrum halfs to feed him the ball.

The Falcons academy is fantastic but they need some new investment to build up the squad round them if they want to be competitive.

[Banquo]

new investment

Don't we all

[FKAS]

new investment

Don't we all

Having been quoted the increased energy fees from the robbing cartel provider of choice, yeah would be handy.

[Banquo]

new investment

Don't we all

Having been quoted the increased energy fees from the robbing cartel provider of choice, yeah would be handy.

On a serious note, the pro game has no money and sponsor fatigue. The RFU have 123m of cash reserves, but may need that to rip up and replace 3/4g pitches they've funded, as well as instructing lawyers for the upcoming court battles.

[FKAS]

Don't we all

Having been quoted the increased energy fees from the robbing cartel provider of choice, yeah would be handy.

On a serious note, the pro game has no money and sponsor fatigue. The RFU have 123m of cash reserves, but may need that to rip up and replace 3/4g pitches they've funded, as well as instructing lawyers for the upcoming court battles.

I think there was quite a few Newcastle fans hoping that Saudis that purchased the other Newcastle club might want to build up a sporting collection in Newcastle. The cost of acquiring and funding Newcastle to the required level would be next to nothing compared to a Prem football team.

Trying to find sponsors in the current hard times must be a miserable enterprise.

[Banquo]

Having been quoted the increased energy fees from the robbing cartel provider of choice, yeah would be handy.

On a serious note, the pro game has no money and sponsor fatigue. The RFU have 123m of cash reserves, but may need that to rip up and replace 3/4g pitches they've funded, as well as instructing lawyers for the upcoming court battles.

I think there was quite a few Newcastle fans hoping that Saudis that purchased the other Newcastle club might want to build up a sporting collection in Newcastle. The cost of acquiring and funding Newcastle to the required level would be next to nothing compared to a Prem football team.

Trying to find sponsors in the current hard times must be a miserable enterprise.

sure is