Team vs Irish

[Jumbo]

Burns out for 6 weeks with broken jaw but Williams fit for bench duties.
Most WC returnees get a week off.

Leicester Tigers (v London Irish, away, Sunday 3.15pm)
15 Mathew Tait (c)
14 Adam Thompstone
13 Peter Betham
12 Seremaia Bai
11 Matt Smith
10 Tommy Bell
9 Sam Harrison
1 Logovi'i Mulipola
2 Greg Bateman
3 Fraser Balmain
4 Mike Williams
5 Mike Fitzgerald
6 Tom Croft
7 Lachlan McCaffrey
8 Laurence Pearce

Replacements
16 Harry Thacker
17 Riccardo Brugnara
18 Tiziano Pasquali
19 Sebastian de Chaves
20 Opeti Fonua
21 Ben White
22 Owen Williams
23 George Catchpole

[Iain]

No way!? When did Freddie do that!?

That's a big blow - even if Williams is fit soon we wouldn't have wanted so much pressure on him as soon as he returned.

[Jumbo]

Burns broke his jaw vs Sale

[RagingBull]

Dear god.

At Least Bell has a good boot on him and got some good time on @ 10 this preseason.

I hope williams dosn't need to come on for more than 20 mins.

BUT Plus points

That pack dispite missing Cole, Leo, Ayerza, Kitchener, Slater is a tank.

Williams and Fitzgerald should provide huge push.

[Iain]

Burns broke his jaw vs Sale

I assume when he went off for a head injury assessment.

Damn - we could really do without this.

[Iain]

Dear god.

At Least Bell has a good boot on him and got some good time on @ 10 this preseason.

I hope williams dosn't need to come on for more than 20 mins.

BUT Plus points

That pack dispite missing Cole, Leo, Ayerza, Kitchener, Slater is a tank.

Williams and Fitzgerald should provide huge push.

Indeed - a very mobile second and back row, plus Mulipola to act like another mobile forward in the loose.

[Jon]

A decent enough team - hopefully be able to do the job against Irish. And we'll have most of the WC contingent back for Quins.

Gutting about Burns - looked good in pre-season and certainly smartened up from the kicking tee. At least Bell has had the experience there, and Williams will be able to put in 20mins or so... Might be needed more for Quins.

[RagingBull]

I'm hoping Kitchener is being rested for next week, he was supposed to be fit for this week.

[ourla]

Looks OKish.

Maybe enough against Irish.

Bench doesn't look very strong.

That's almost a limerick.

[northerntiger]

Quite concerned about Matt Smith on the wing. Great club servant, but his best years are long behind him.

[loretta]

Agreed. We could use Goneva, now Fiji are out. We haven't got long until winter hits and Niki plays drop the soap (no shower related comments please), so we might as well get the best out of him now.

[watsonjm]

Agree on the wing front. Personally would have liked to see young Paolo Odogwu given a shot in the big league.

The sooner he gets used to Prem rugby the better.

Pack looks good and looking forward to seeing what Fonua can do with 20 to go now he's had some time to train with the rest.

[vin rouge]

I'd say Odogwu's too much of a risk currently- no doubt he has potential but I haven't seen enough of his tactical awareness or defence to think he should be starting.

[Hot_Charlie]

That back 5 in the pack is quite a unit. Not a bad looking team. Williams O needed to get back onto the pitch at some stage and away against Irish is probably better than the next two home games.

I can't see what's wrong with the bench. The front row is what you'd expect, De Chaves and Fonua aren't bad players. Ben White (is he really only 17?) ahead of Tressider again? Looks like the Loughborough game may have been his lucky break unless Tressider is injured...

[RagingBull]

Tresidder might be injured.

But if white comes on won't he be like the 3rd youngest player to play in a AP game for us?