Sarries away AWC

[Jumbo]

Leicester Tigers (v Saracens, away, Sunday 4.00pm)
15 George Worth
14 Peter Betham
13 Charlie Thacker
12 Oli Bryant
11 George Catchpole
10 Freddie Burns
9 Sam Harrison
1 Michele Rizzo
2 George McGuigan
3 Pat Cilliers
4 Harry Wells
5 Dom Barrow
6 Tom Croft
7 Harry Thacker
8 Luke Hamilton

Replacements
16 Brendon O'Connor
17 Riccardo Brugnara
18 Ben Betts
19 Joe Maksymiw
20 Mike Williams
21 Ben White
22 Maxime Mermoz
23 Tom Brady

[Iain]

Mermoz straight in the 23!

Thacker at 7 is the interesting bit.

[TomWeston]

Mermoz straight in the 23!

Thacker at 7 is the interesting bit.

Hope HT lasts the match with Bo'C at 16, or are we hoping for uncontested scrums a la Insects?

[Iain]

Mermoz straight in the 23!

Thacker at 7 is the interesting bit.

Hope HT lasts the match with Bo'C at 16, or are we hoping for uncontested scrums a la Insects?

Good spot. Seems odd...

[strawclearer]

Barrow as skipper - good pick imho!

[rdracup]

Mermoz straight in the 23!

Thacker at 7 is the interesting bit.

Hope HT lasts the match with Bo'C at 16, or are we hoping for uncontested scrums a la Insects?

Good spot. Seems odd...

My guess is the 23 had to contain complete front row cover... And this one does with HT at 7.

[Scott1]

like Thacker at 7,is he definitely going to Wuss?

[jgriffin]

BOC isn't a hooker,who is?

One of the people you consider inadequate.

[Scott1]

What lol,who said he was inadequate?, I said he's a brilliant openside who is an underpowered number 8 so don't make stuff up! The idea of him playing 8 is ridiculous Imo when he's our best 7! We got away with him and LM playing 8 last season because of the vast amount of work Fitzy got through,it doesn't take a genius to work out an already underpowered back row has been made worse since Fitzy was moved to lock. Williams is a destructive carrier and tackler at times but his workrate is nowhere near Fitzy,another genius move by the coaching team although Barrows injury mitigates it. Now he is back I see no need to see Fitzy at 6 anymore.

[Simon239]

Saracens team to face Leicester Tigers

15 Matt Gallagher (6)
14 Mike Ellery (34)
13 Tim Streather (c) (28)
12 Nick Tompkins (52)
11 Nathan Earle (13)
10 Tom Whiteley (3)
9 Henry Taylor (3)

1 Richard Barrington (102)
2 Jared Saunders (41)
3 Petrus Du Plessis (147)
4 Mark Flanagan (5)
5 Brian Tuilagi (0)
6 Joel Conlon (6)
7 Will Fraser (80)
8 Samu Vunisa (10)

Replacements
16 Scott Spurling (21)
17 Titi Lamositele (32)
18 Billy Walker (3)
19 Kelly Brown (145)
20 Seb Nagle-Taylor (Ealing Trailfinders)
21 Neil De Kock (259)
22 Duncan Taylor (94)
23 Rotimi Segun (1)


Brian Tuilagi at lock!

[Iain]

It's a winnable game when you look at the two sides.

[Hot_Charlie]

Barrow as skipper - good pick imho!

Yep. I'd happily keep him as captain too if he does well. It'll be interesting to see how he interacts with the referee compared to OTY and Slater. He's impressed in the 18 months or so he's played for Tigers and appears to be our first choice lock when fit.

[Scott1]

Yes,I like Barrow we've missed him a lot and him and Slater are easily our best combo.

[sam16111986]

Mermoz straight in the 23!

Thacker at 7 is the interesting bit.

Hope HT lasts the match with Bo'C at 16, or are we hoping for uncontested scrums a la Insects?

You have to have two front row options to play in each front row position in the squad. As Thacker can replace McGuigan in case of injury we can nominate Thacker at 7 as the replacement hooker. Wasps have been doing this for most of the season with Ashley Johnson playing 6 and then moving to hooker if Tommy Taylor needed replacing.

[MurphysLaw]

Looks like two pretty well matched teams - both with a blend of youth and experience.

Dom Barrow as captain? He's relatively young and unexperienced, but we have been lacking in leadership, so it will be interesting to see how he goes.

I hope they have been practising on plastic!