Tigers Vs Quins

[westwinds31]

Improvement on the field is all I ask for and I'm seeing that from Bath to Quins.

Line out - much improved, we went to Kalamafoni first up and it went well apart from a couple of misses
Scrum - was strong anyway but Genge is causing all sorts of problems for his opposite numbers. He just has this knack of annoying people...brilliant ! Long may it continue.
Defence - not water tight by any means but much, much better. Some heroic stuff from Toomua, Smith and even Ford, who was excellent defensively today, stood his ground well when clearly targeted.
Attack - finally some decent front foot ball to work with and I thought 9/10 were always a threat. Toomua was exceptional and his pass to May...I was drooling - the delay, wait for Care to commit, then fire it out. Yarde had no chance with Jonny's pace. Malouf is winning me over, still making some errors but out-weighed now by his pace and attacking intent.
The Bateman try ...wow ! What....a....line ! Beats the England 15 and canters home...will live long in the memory.

All in all not perfect but steps in the right direction. We need as many points as possible, as when Youngs, Ford, May and Cole disappear in November, we could be struggling for numbers, unless the injuries clear up.

[JP14]

I never trust the board anyway, Half responsible for last season, don't even get me started. I was never jumping up and down when Cohen said the recruiting agency England used was going to be used mainly cus I couldn't think of anyone, maybe we were mislead, maybe they'r still looking for a DOR and that MOC was just there to steady the ship until a new guy comes in, oh wat that was supposed to Mauger

[Doghashadhisday]

So, its seems when we have a hard fought victory away from home there are not many posts to congratulate the boys and the coaches but some still choose to find something to moan about - Cohen etc. Par for the course I guess. Oh wait I think I just moaned about moaning. I think I have got the hang of this. We havent really played anybody good so far and we will get hammered next week.

[Noddy555]

Excellent performance all round with a superb final quarter and what was most pleasing especially in the last 10 minutes was the way our defence off the ball neutralised the Quins attacking force and kept them pinned back in their own 22. We must though go up a further gear next week in our home match against the chiefs where Lineout ball will be crucial.

[wellstiger]

If MOC was looking for the right pairings, then for me look no further than the evergreen Matt Smith and new boy Matt Tamoua.
The reason we won was by their defensive duty. Not many missed tackles and frustrated Quins.
That IMO was our platform and long may it reign.
Better performance in lineout - still needs some work.
Scrum was the way it was because of strong competition. Genge did well against Sinklar who had a point to prove.
Mr Ford tackled above his weight and stopped a few breaks head on.
Dom Barrow - today proved me wrong- Well done

I stated that I could see us nicking a "W" by a point -Well Well Well. Better and still with room for improvement.

Well done lads - Hard fought - I know who'll be hurting more.

By the By - Mr Browne was like a Terminator on steroids - Giving afters at every opportunity - Well done for not biting back

[Maidman]

Fantastic win,well chuffed. A real grinder! Only matched last season though so still 8 points down on last season,Chiefs next a proper test,a game where we can claw points back after being destroyed at WR last season.

It's pointless comparing the points last season to this season and to be honest, if it's going to be done every week, is going to get even more tedious than it already is. What happens at the end of the season if we are, for example, 10 points down on last season but end up winning the title? Will there be comments saying well done on winning the title but we got less points than last season??

I will admit that I am a bit of a data junkie, and I love numbers facts and figures. So I think this is quite a useful comparison to be making. For sure the comparison is only indicative, and it has some weaknesses/flaws, but it is a fair guide none the less. I welcome it, and I'm grateful to Scott for performing the analysis.

Tedious? Not a bit of it! Typically, teams finishing top of the league table only lose 3-5 games. Teams finishing in 4th place rarely lose more than 8 games. I imagine very few on here would be so churlish as to complain about how many games we won or lost if we end up champions.

[Maidman]

Oh! (Got distracted by the statistics there!) I thought we did well yesterday. Before the game I would have gladly taken a simple win. Much was improved, and lots to feel cheerful about. Although a little weakened that was a good Quins side, and we edged them. Great result, with some great individual performances. Cause for optimism I'd say. Well done the lads!

[dunc]

The problem with those stats is an assumption that this season will play out the same as every other. However early indications are that sides will lose more games than ever before.

[ellis9]

No it's not pointless (a) you can see if you're improving on last season's results and points total and (b) the points total for 4th is usually in the same ballpark too so yes you can guage that too and yes I will be doing it after every game ok! 8 points down so far but the opportunity to grab some back next week so big game!

We may not need to get more points than last season though. We may finish with less points but finish higher or get more points and finish lower.

[BFG]

Scott's stats on points won versus individual opposition compared to last season is useful if everyone is still at the same level as last season.
If you look across the league though some odd results are happening, for example Quins lose to Irish and beat Wasps, Bath beat Sarries and Sarries beat Falcons and Bath lose to Falcons, Sarries hammer Saints and lose to Bath and then Saints beat Bath.
Tigers also fit into those odd results.
In my opinion the league is more competitive, it's more physical and teams are up and down week on week suffering the highs and lows of being fatigued, and disrupted by injuries, and HIA's are distupting some continuity, things have changed and it's impossible to read who is coming out of it better currently!

[newport tiger]

Great performance, how refreshing to go into the last couple of minutes in the lead pressing the opposition in their own 22 rather than defending our own line. As wellstiger mentioned, Mr Browns behaviour was appalling, he behaves like a petulant schoolboy and whilst his push on Johnny May didn't cause any harm it should be given a yellow card in my view.

[MrPartridge]

We went to the game and like others feared the worst so a win was a unexpected and appreciated.

Once again the ref was poor. Absolutely determined not to give a card as we dominated their scrum 5 yards out and then let Genge get away with a blatant offside in our 22, ditto Danny Care towards the end. Not sure he got the Marlon Yarde incident right either and that was arguably the turning point in the match.

As some have highlighted, it was a definite improvement. Defence still not good enough and the balance in our back-row isn't right, for example did any of them turnover the ball?

Next week is the real test. How close can we get to the champions at home on a day's less rest than us?

[Mark62]

Other than missing the 2 nailed on yellows I didn't think the ref was too bad.
The Marlon Yarde incident was correct to me , Ellis just grabbed him as he kicked the ball and TV went to block the kick. Rightly looked at though and saved Quins a yellow for Care killing the ball as he forgot about it.

Mike Brown may not be getting much sleep as a new dad but he needs to seriously rain it in. Agree about the May incident after scoring and May told the ref. No yellow but penalty at the restart

[chewbacca]

After a number of years it looks like we have found an Ant Allen replacement in Matt Toomua. Considering Matt has played only a few games in NH rugby surely he will further improve, a really exciting thought. Will be interesting to watch when we loose our 9 and 10 to England duty. Well done Matt and well done all on a spirited win on Saturday.

[jamie1880]

No it's not pointless (a) you can see if you're improving on last season's results and points total and (b) the points total for 4th is usually in the same ballpark too so yes you can guage that too and yes I will be doing it after every game ok! 8 points down so far but the opportunity to grab some back next week so big game!

I don't know why you compare season on season. Fixtures, teams and expectations differ season on season. Only thing you should be comparing is where we are compared to Saracens Wasps Exeter THIS season.