London Irish v Tigers

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voice of the crumbie
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Re: London Irish v Tigers

Post by voice of the crumbie »

baz1664 wrote: Sat Oct 07, 2017 4:57 pm Positives -
Toomua, world class play maker, when he went off it all went to pot.
May - What a player, makes so many yards and is a deadly finisher:
Evans - looked lively around the break down and should have had far more pens for his troubles
Mappa - looks the business, a great project player, could be world class

Agreed

Negatives -
Line out - better but fails at the vital moments
Not clinical - should have bagged 4 more tries but have the inability to finish
Scrum - failed to make a dent in the Irish scrum. A little harsh. They had a starting front row of Petrus du Plessis South African international, former All Black Ben Franks and a hooker (Paice) with 200+ premiership starts. We had parity all the way through which is not a bad achievement given our front row started with a squad player at hooker and (no disrespect to Greg Bateman) our 2nd choice loosehead.
Substitutes - didn’t offer anything, Irish finished much stronger
Fitness/tackling - Irish were still hammering forward at the end, tigers were out on there feet and the tackling was awful.
JP Doyle - high tackles missed, how many times did he let Irish get away with holding on, just a poor performance all round.
No change there then.
Tigers for the premiership and European Cup. Get behind the team and make some noise!!
voice of the crumbie
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Re: London Irish v Tigers

Post by voice of the crumbie »

Given the disruptions before the game ( no BY or TV) and during (loss of Sam and Sione) plus 2 debutants (Owen, Touhy) plus Evans getting his first prem outing this season take the win and move on.

Another thought. We beat the 11th placed team away from home. Saints (top of the table going into this round) lost to 10th placed Gloucester who have hardly been the most convincing performers this season. Just shows anyone can beat anyone.

Unfortunate that we didn't get 5 points but given the above just glad to win.
Tigers for the premiership and European Cup. Get behind the team and make some noise!!
4071
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Re: London Irish v Tigers

Post by 4071 »

voice of the crumbie wrote: Sat Oct 07, 2017 10:36 pm
baz1664 wrote: Sat Oct 07, 2017 4:57 pm Positives -
Toomua, world class play maker, when he went off it all went to pot.
May - What a player, makes so many yards and is a deadly finisher:
Evans - looked lively around the break down and should have had far more pens for his troubles
Mappa - looks the business, a great project player, could be world class

Agreed

Negatives -
Line out - better but fails at the vital moments
Not clinical - should have bagged 4 more tries but have the inability to finish
Scrum - failed to make a dent in the Irish scrum. A little harsh. They had a starting front row of Petrus du Plessis South African international, former All Black Ben Franks and a hooker (Paice) with 200+ premiership starts. We had parity all the way through which is not a bad achievement given our front row started with a squad player at hooker and (no disrespect to Greg Bateman) our 2nd choice loosehead.
Substitutes - didn’t offer anything, Irish finished much stronger
Fitness/tackling - Irish were still hammering forward at the end, tigers were out on there feet and the tackling was awful.
JP Doyle - high tackles missed, how many times did he let Irish get away with holding on, just a poor performance all round.
No change there then.
Petrus is a gnarly old front row veteran, but he's not a South African international. He's a journeyman that Sarries picked up from Nottingham after he had spent his career playing in the lower leagues of English rugby. Similar to Mouritz Botha.
markharbtiger
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Re: London Irish v Tigers

Post by markharbtiger »

A win is a win. Concerned about a lengthening injury list. But it was good to see some more junior members of team get some game time.
I was pleased to see Tait put in a good shift. Not got the pace of old as the commentators noted, but makes up for it with smarts and experience.
4071
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Re: London Irish v Tigers

Post by 4071 »

TheRock wrote: Sat Oct 07, 2017 7:37 pm
Soggypitch wrote: Sat Oct 07, 2017 7:10 pm Thought it was a mixed performance but mainly good, disrupted by injuries and the yellow card.

Hamilton was awful, which is unusual, we need a fit and firing Mike Williams v Racing.

Tait had a good game but I agree Veaniu would have had a field day in the first half in particular. Malouf reticent to challenge for the high ball.

Toomua and Owen excellent. Harrison was brilliant, Steele much better than White - let the wrong one go again!

Scott steele is 24
Ben White is 19
Steele is a closer age to Sam Harrison who is 27 and is no where near as good as Harrison.
When Scott Steele left tigers Ben White was 16 hardly a choice between one or the other.

Most the academy players tigers have let go are very average. They just become amazing players when people find out they were let go by tigers. Only ones I would even consider having back are Lewington and maybe Charlie walker.
We let Steele go and signed Kitto.

Since he left, Steele has been a fixture at LI and has played very well this season. Kitto is now on loan at Worcester.

So... yeah...
voice of the crumbie
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Re: London Irish v Tigers

Post by voice of the crumbie »

4071 wrote: Sun Oct 08, 2017 8:51 am
voice of the crumbie wrote: Sat Oct 07, 2017 10:36 pm
baz1664 wrote: Sat Oct 07, 2017 4:57 pm Positives -
Toomua, world class play maker, when he went off it all went to pot.
May - What a player, makes so many yards and is a deadly finisher:
Evans - looked lively around the break down and should have had far more pens for his troubles
Mappa - looks the business, a great project player, could be world class

Agreed

Negatives -
Line out - better but fails at the vital moments
Not clinical - should have bagged 4 more tries but have the inability to finish
Scrum - failed to make a dent in the Irish scrum. A little harsh. They had a starting front row of Petrus du Plessis South African international, former All Black Ben Franks and a hooker (Paice) with 200+ premiership starts. We had parity all the way through which is not a bad achievement given our front row started with a squad player at hooker and (no disrespect to Greg Bateman) our 2nd choice loosehead.
Substitutes - didn’t offer anything, Irish finished much stronger
Fitness/tackling - Irish were still hammering forward at the end, tigers were out on there feet and the tackling was awful.
JP Doyle - high tackles missed, how many times did he let Irish get away with holding on, just a poor performance all round.
No change there then.
Petrus is a gnarly old front row veteran, but he's not a South African international. He's a journeyman that Sarries picked up from Nottingham after he had spent his career playing in the lower leagues of English rugby. Similar to Mouritz Botha.
My mistake. Still very experienced though.
Tigers for the premiership and European Cup. Get behind the team and make some noise!!
ellis9
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Re: London Irish v Tigers

Post by ellis9 »

4071 wrote: Sun Oct 08, 2017 8:56 am
TheRock wrote: Sat Oct 07, 2017 7:37 pm
Soggypitch wrote: Sat Oct 07, 2017 7:10 pm Thought it was a mixed performance but mainly good, disrupted by injuries and the yellow card.

Hamilton was awful, which is unusual, we need a fit and firing Mike Williams v Racing.

Tait had a good game but I agree Veaniu would have had a field day in the first half in particular. Malouf reticent to challenge for the high ball.

Toomua and Owen excellent. Harrison was brilliant, Steele much better than White - let the wrong one go again!

Scott steele is 24
Ben White is 19
Steele is a closer age to Sam Harrison who is 27 and is no where near as good as Harrison.
When Scott Steele left tigers Ben White was 16 hardly a choice between one or the other.

Most the academy players tigers have let go are very average. They just become amazing players when people find out they were let go by tigers. Only ones I would even consider having back are Lewington and maybe Charlie walker.
We let Steele go and signed Kitto.

Since he left, Steele has been a fixture at LI and has played very well this season. Kitto is now on loan at Worcester.

So... yeah...
Steele plays for London Irish. No disrespect, but last season they were in the Championship. He has started this season well but is not a stand out player by any means. We definitely haven't missed him.
MrPartridge
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Re: London Irish v Tigers

Post by MrPartridge »

Strange old game but let's be clear, we were always winning that despite the score line.

First 45 mins were very good especially from a much altered side plus a pre-match disruption [late change at 15]. Add in the enforced pre-break change losing 2 more players! Not exactly ideal for continuity all told.

All the 'new' players did a job. Evans was excellent. Opportunist try and all over the pitch especially at the breakdown. Val did well at 8. Feels to me like we are getting a squad together. Options across the XV, even in the centres!

Irish aren't great but they'll beat a few of our rivals at home. As for our failure to gain BPs, we have to address this. Hurting us badly in terms of league position.

One point: was surprised Harrison stayed on after the head clash with Kalamafoni. Would have expected a HIA.
johnthegriff
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Re: London Irish v Tigers

Post by johnthegriff »

It is a few years since Steele left, he is a good player but he was not and is not as good as Harrison or Youngs or probably at the time Tressider. Moving to Irish gave him experience at a higher level and he hs clearly improved as you would expect but to criticise White, a virtua,l novice unfavourably in comparison to an experienced player is just not fair. The signing of Jonno Kitto by Aaron Mauger was to give us a third option at nine, we have two very promising youngsters in the position now enabling us to give Kitto game time on loan, I call that good squad management.
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Re: London Irish v Tigers

Post by mol2 »

Evans looks like he is starting to get back to fitness after his first senior season was inerupted by glandular fever.
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Re: London Irish v Tigers

Post by BFG »

johnthegriff wrote: Sun Oct 08, 2017 10:33 am It is a few years since Steele left, he is a good player but he was not and is not as good as Harrison or Youngs or probably at the time Tressider. Moving to Irish gave him experience at a higher level and he hs clearly improved as you would expect but to criticise White, a virtua,l novice unfavourably in comparison to an experienced player is just not fair. The signing of Jonno Kitto by Aaron Mauger was to give us a third option at nine, we have two very promising youngsters in the position now enabling us to give Kitto game time on loan, I call that good squad management.
I agree and I don't get folk arguing over what are in effect back up players until they show more by Harrison and Youngs standard.
I thought White's passing was very good and the switch to Evans call for his walk in try was good but he does look a bit talent shy IMO and Steele probably highlighted that a bit, but only a bit.
Never the less the job got done with a heck of a lot of disruption all things considered with debutants, illness, injuries and rotation which is important as the season is showing teams are up and down in performance levels as it is proving a very tough league to be consistent in.
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Re: London Irish v Tigers

Post by RagingBull »

I agree with the comparison to Kitto and Steele but not sure what that has to do with White and Steele as said Steele is 5 years older than White. (Saying that only one person said that we let go of the wrong one so prob overreacting).

I also didn't think White was bad just looked unsure of himself have seen alot worse performances by 9's in this league with alot more experience than him at least he hit his targets boxing kicking needs work on but that could be said for alot of 9's.

Out of the 3 (Simmons, Steele, White) I think Simmons has that bit more about him potentially but then he has played across the backline so should have a better all round skill set.

Smith a great club player and will hold down the fort but he isn't a Impact player neither is Hamilton. I think if Smith and Hamilton had started with Mapaplangi and Owen coming off we would have finished stronger but we needed to give Smith a rest before Racing.
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Re: London Irish v Tigers

Post by drc_007 »

mol2 wrote: Sun Oct 08, 2017 10:38 am Evans looks like he is starting to get back to fitness after his first senior season was inerupted by glandular fever.
Agreed, it takes longer than you might think to recover fully.
Evans had a fantastic match, 24 tackles, carried for 49 m, and scored try.

Also seemed that the players who don't get regular first team games were struggling with fitness towards the end. This may have contributed to LI coming back into the game.
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Re: London Irish v Tigers

Post by Clowbeck »

MrPartridge wrote: Sun Oct 08, 2017 10:12 am Strange old game but let's be clear
is that you Theresa? :smt031
Mark62
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Re: London Irish v Tigers

Post by Mark62 »

Owen obviously needs more game time, but I think he could prove a very canny signing. Do they risk him against Racing, offering more of an attacking threat, or stay with Dossers lad who is more defensively capable, whilst still offering something in attack
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