Saracens creep ever closer. They will get another bonus point win on May 7th. Tigers will scrape a win against lowly opposition but Saracens will top the league.
Even the most trenchant fan cannot be sure Tigers will win their semi final - home fixture or not. Welford Road is no longer the fortress of old. Should they triumph then the form of Saracens will see them avenge last year's defeat in the rematch at Twickers.
Ah well, so be it. Stump up for your season ticket and hope for better things next time around. But who will be in charge then?
Sponsorship deals may come and go but the CRUMBIE stand will always remain.
Not sure that Sarries will get the bonus point win. It will be like a Cup Final for Quins who have to win to qualify for next seasons Heineken Cup.
Sarries might win it but without a Try bonus point.
Sarries played well today against a tired Gloucester side. Gloucester defended well at times but were ground down.
I accept that Tigers are not firing on all four but we are coming to the sharp end of the season and I am confident that they will get it right.
Play offs are always going to be a bit pot luck. We have not been on great form of late but man for man I think we are better than any of our rivals. If we perform to our best none of the others will be able to live with us.
With all the injuries Tigers have had this season it's a miracle we are in the top 4 never mind the top 2! Well done Cockers. Any of the top 4 teams can beat anyone on their day-oh yes and Andy Farrel has given plenty of motivation to all the other teams by saying how great Sarries are compared to other teams. My advice! Let's keep quiet, no mouthing off in the press and let others worry about US! COME ON TIGERS.
Agree that it has not been one of the classic seasons. But top of the Premiership going into the last game. Knocked out of the Heineken by the favourites on their home ground (could have been a different story with a different ref - not a whinge just some fine margins as always) and the development team in the semis.
And this coping with the absences due to international call ups, injuries and an unfair salary cap.
I wonder how many of us are better at our day jobs than Cockers?
Tyzot wrote:I wonder how many of us are better at our day jobs than Cockers?
Having read some of the drivel posted on this forum over the season, I think there's quite a few who believe they are better at Cockers' day job than he is.
Whatever you do, don't argue. We might never hear from you again.
Last time I looked at the League table (and admittedly that was over an hour ago) we seemed to be top.
We are in the play-offs for the 7th year in a row and we have already qualified for the Heineken Cup next season and could easily be in the "top seeds" pool.
Also the Development XV seem to be in their play-offs this evening.
But the performances in the Anglo Welsh Cup were totally appalling so that must the reason why there is so much gloom.
We may not win the Premiership, but it'll take a good side to beat us!
I still feel that we should win the Aviva, we have already beaten Saints at Welford Road without being at our best. I would say we have only played one full game firing on all fours all season- the win over Llanelli at Welford road. There have been glimpses first half away at Wasps, attacking performance vs Bath etc.
Despite this we are still in a good position to win the premiership and it still could be the year but we will need to give two big performances which I feel the team does have in them.
In my case its is not " doom and gloom".
Just my assessment of how Tigers are performing at this phase of the season.
We "held on" well through the 6n period awaiting the injection of class and cohesion that our internationals in "playmaker" positions would add to Tigers in the seasons runout. I was at the Bath game, and while it was fun to win well, Bath were poor and we were LUCKY in the first fifteen minutes. Not a fluke ,but not a whole performance from us.
Then Quins: half backs bereft of ideas, Flood unable to kick or think it seems. Croft almost anonymous. Even Bubles had a half-stinker.
Then Glaws ( yes I was there too) where Tigers regressed enormously not in attack, but in game management. Halfbacks again the worst culprits.
Now Falcons, my WORD going back to the "meh" play of our second choice half backs was an IMPROVEMENT.
For whatever reason our England lads came back playing far worse, and bereft of ideas. They are, sadly, the pivot to our best play at the moment, and until i see some sign that these will be forthcoming I remain unconvinced that Tigers playing like this can beat Glaws or Saints, let alone Saracens in a potential final.
I will be DELIGHTED To see them return at their best, in which case we stand a GREAT chance of wining the prem again ! Just haven't seen many signs of that since the 6N.
Just practical deduction based upon what I have seen lately, not "doom and gloom" :D
I agree that Gloucester, Northampton and Saracens are playing well, and in all truth better than we are at the moment...
I believe we are in with a chance, but we will have to find some form and pace from somewhere and on this note the key issue for me is can Flood find his A game by the semi-final...?
I think we saw how deprived of a suitable replacement on Friday at Newcastle, unfortunately Staunton cannot add an extra dimension and his game management was not good.
Now I do not want to get into the 12T's debate, because the opportunity to develop him at his less than favourite position has gone this yr and Ford is two yrs off the mark before he can be seriously considered.
Lets be honest as well our A game revovles around very tight backs, marshalled by AA (look at Newcastle on Friday, when he tackles he never takes his eye off the ball and gets back in to a defensive position very quickly), and the attacking flare of Youngs, Flood and Waldrom....that asix has to work perfectly for us to be in with a shout.
We nulified Northampon, on a sticky pitch, a hard fast pitch is a completely different matter, and raises different issues, so that will be interesting in itself.
Don't go on our form against the top teams because we never play well at the start of the season..hence the Northampton loss, We played Sarecens twice during international periods and Gloucester once.....When push has come to shove in the play offs we have done the buisness in the past.....so its all up in the air.
The other issue is sometimes you have to take a step back to improve and perhaps not getting to the final this year might do that....but that has not worked in the HC cup.........
I have every confidence that tigers will produce a display at home to get through the semi. Once in the final i think we all expect it to be sarries and i expect last years game to have a big impact. Last year they put in their best performance in the final and still came off second best and they will know that. We will be extremely difficult to beat and with that nagging thought of what happened last year they may try to force the game to get away from us. So if it is sarries in the final i think we will win. if it is a final against some one else then i am not so sure.
Surely even if we don't win the title again we should be grateful: virtually every other team in Europe would envy our domestic success as something they can only dream of. If this is a bad season in the AP with us top with a game to play, what counts as good?
For when the One Great Scorer comes to write against your name,
He marks - not that you won or lost - but how you played the Game."
