Tigers v Gloucester - 3rd v 4th!!!

[Soggypitch]

Two good sides.
Think we will have the edge in the front 5, not so sure about the back row...the backs look very even.
Should be a Christmas cracker and a very close game, Tigers to edge it being cheered home by 24,000 little elfs!!

[TigerCam]

Gloucester Rugby: 15 Martyn Thomas, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Mike Tindall, 12 Billy Twelvetrees, 11 Shane Monahan, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Jimmy Cowan; 1 Nick Wood, 2 Huia Edmonds, 3 Shaun Knight; 4 Will James, 5 Jim Hamilton (c); 6 Sione Kalamafoni, 7 Akapusi Qera, 8 Ben Morgan
Replacements: 16 Darren Dawidiuk, 17 Dan Murphy, 18 Dario Chistolini, 19 Tom Savage, 20 Matt Cox, 21 Dan Robson, 22 Tim Molenaar, 23 Drew Locke

Got to admit, Glaws Backrow looks pretty tasty, Brett, Julian and Jordan need to be right on their games!!

Agreed. Jordan better start showing some of his good form as that is a very mobile Glaws back row. If the breakdown is reffed better than the away game than I think Julian will do very well on the floor. If it is reffed like last time then Glaws will just lie all over the ball as usual and kill any Tiger attack.

[loretta]

So Mafi gets a slow re-introduction - usual approach.
No sign of Croft, I'm not altogether surprised - no need to rush.
Where's Tait?

[sapajo]

Indeed no Kitchener, Tait, Bowden, or TTTE I thought at least one would have been on the bench? I therefore must assume all are injured? JC will have to seriously up his game vs Morgan

[Chobbsy]

[quote="PM76"]Teams up:

Leicester Tigers (v Gloucester Rugby, Welford Road, Saturday 5.00pm)
15 Geordan Murphy
14 Niall Morris
13 Manusamoa Tuilagi
12 Anthony Allen
11 Adam Thompstone
10 Toby Flood
9 Ben Youngs
1 Marcos Ayerza
2 Tom Youngs
3 Dan Cole
4 Louis Deacon (c)
5 Geoff Parling
6 Brett Deacon
7 Julian Salvi
8 Jordan Crane

Replacements
16 George Chuter
17 Logovi'i Mulipola
18 Martin Castrogiovanni
19 Ed Slater
20 Steve Mafi
21 Sam Harrison
22 George Ford
23 Matt Smith

Tait, Waldrom and Croft still out but its great to see Mafi and Castro back.

And the Gloucester side:

Gloucester Rugby:

Martyn Thomas; Charlie Sharples, Mike Tindall, Billy Twelvetrees, Shane Monahan; Freddie Burns, Jimmy Cowan; Nick Wood, Huia Edmonds, Shaun Knight; Will James, Jim Hamilton (capt); Sione Kalamafoni, Akapusi Qera, Ben Morgan

Replacements:

Darren Dawidiuk, Dan Murphy, Dario Chistolini, Tom Savage, Matt Cox, Dan Robson, Tim Molenaar, Drew Locke[/quote]
Why Deacon as captain, he has already shown a couple of times he is no captain

[Smurphswillgetya]

Why Deacon as captain, he has already shown a couple of times he is no captain

Are you sure you mean Deacon or were you referring to Crane when he was captain. Louis often does a good job as captain

[PM76]

Why Deacon as captain, he has already shown a couple of times he is no captain

Are you sure you mean Deacon or were you referring to Crane when he was captain. Louis often does a good job as captain

Agree with Smurphs, Deacon is a good captain and leads from the front. Last week Cockers said Deacon was captain because Tait was meant to start at 15 vs. Irish but dropped out during the week, maybe the same happened this week or Cockers just didn't want to disrupt a winning formula.

[mike]

Wet conditions and a heavy pitch should even out the back row battle - on a dry day we would be way off the pace . Our front 5 should have a big advantage and Glaws have a problem at Full back now that Rob Cook is ill . It will be interesting to see how Burns /12trees perform - the conditions at Kingsholm last week were lousy so they have had a bit of practice in the wet .

[Daveyboy]

It should be a home win, by about 5 points. I very much doubt that there will be any try bonus points, on either side, given the recent weather.

[loretta]

And the weather forecast for tomorrow is........ more of the same! Stair-rods.

[Soggypitch]

Clear by 5 pm according to met office - very important to those of us standing on the CT!

[Smurphswillgetya]

Some pundits are going for Glos. I think 2 players are key who were missing when we lost at their place. Ben Youngs won't be bullied as Sam was by Cowans and Qera will not have it all his own way as Salvi will be about. In a way having Crane at 8 may also be a blessing in disguise as he would probably be better equipped to stop Morgan getting a head of steam. Our bench looks pretty strong too, and a Morris hat-trick to celebrate his contract would go down a treat.

[Wayne Richardson Fan Club]

If we actually turn up & turn the switch to on, we should win, but as we have failed to do both for most of this season anything could happen.

Glaws have a impressive back row & perhaps the only 2nd row in world rugby that would make Bakkies Botha think twice before starting.

Good to see the tradition of now news re. injured players continues, perhaps 2013 might see a different approach?

[loretta]

Clear by 5 pm according to met office - very important to those of us standing on the CT!

Ah yes soggypitch, but your name says it all. Mudfest awaits, remember TTT's slide to the crumbie/clubhouse corner in a recent Tigers/Glos game? Could well be more of the same - "dive early and keep hold of the ball" might well be the order of the day!

[bc]

Concerned that no mention of Tait in the squad, is he injured? If not I would have thought that a bench place would have been good as he can cover full back, wing & centre.