Castres vs Tigers

[Spicer]

What annoys me is that on paper our team wasn't that bad. It wasn't a AWcup team. It was our second picks, against there second picks. We had only 3 really young players starting (Evans, C. Thacker and Worth).

What happened to Harrison? He has gone off a cliff in the last two years. J. Ford make Ryan Lamb look like a brilliant fly half.

I think that is the biggest issue too many senior (24+) players who are not good enough covering the talent.

Argeed. Most of our first team should be the back ups if we were any good

[Clowbeck]

doesn't say much for motivation for the players picked when the mad in charge basically told them all publicly that they were only playing because he's given up

I was thinking exactly the same during the game and in particular felt for Bateman who was singled out to leading the players over the top.

[POSTIGER]

What annoys me is that on paper our team wasn't that bad. It wasn't a AWcup team. It was our second picks, against there second picks. We had only 3 really young players starting (Evans, C. Thacker and Worth).

What happened to Harrison? He has gone off a cliff in the last two years. J. Ford make Ryan Lamb look like a brilliant fly half.

I think that is the biggest issue too many senior (24+) players who are not good enough covering the talent.

I suspect this will become even more painfully apparent when the Six Nations starts in a few weeks.

I honestly don't think we'll finish in the top 6 this year. That might be a blessing in disguise if it precipitates a coaching clear out and / or some proper investment in the squad.

[Jimmy Skitz]

doesn't say much for motivation for the players picked when the mad in charge basically told them all publicly that they were only playing because he's given up

I was thinking exactly the same during the game and in particular felt for Bateman who was singled out to leading the players over the top.

play as strong a side as possible and go down fighting at least, you could turn in a really good performance and players gain confidence in spite of the loss, the players who played tonight look like they would struggle play against Hinckley confidence wise

[NONAME]

Much better second half but like our first team we find it impossible to score from a 5m line out. Some positives but far too many negatives. At last we see how poor our back up scrum half is...must go...and he could take another 7 players with him!

Evans played well as did Wells, Worth the ever active Harry Thacker. Our set piece (scrum) performed well thanks to good coaching and with a bit of luck we could have scored a couple of tries. JF has a good kick and that it is all one can say.

Looking forward to a good win against Racing next week!!!!

[Jimmy Skitz]

Worth should be kept at 15 until Veianu is fit again now

[Jimmy Skitz]

as for Harrison I seriously think last season when he wasn't getting picked over YBY despite playing much better than him for Tigers has affected him, it doesn't matter what he does he knows Youngs will play, that isn't right

[JP14]

Impressed with Bateman but how good was he at actually captaining

[DaveRave]

Got engrossed in the football. Totally forgot we were 'playing'. Tuned in with 79 minutes gone. Looked at the score. Laughed. Turned off again.

[BFG]

Well apart from the nil that was what I expected!
I hoped some of the players might put in a big performance in what was a big opportunity to stake a claim for regular first team action but they simply weren't good enough and against a weakened Castres team.
Encouraged by Simmonds, I thought he added something, and I still think Worth could make the level as a possible 12.
I am afraid much change is needed elsewhere, far too light up front apart from the established players making the scrum difficult and completely shattering any mauling potential, I expected the young replacements like Betts to posses a bit more energy at that age, looked very slow for his age in my opinion and given how weak the depth is I simply canno't fathom Balmain being allowed to go after all his years of development here!
Charlie Thacker can't defend for toffee in my opinion, I already thought he lacked gas and being side stepped by a French forward showed it, and what is with keeping on showing up on the wing wanting the ball in attack and then going missing in defence, classic glory hunter play in my opinion.
Extremely sad to see what Leicester have become!

[NONAME]

Harrison was excellent a couple of seasons ago but he has lost his pace. He would do well in a Championship team but he has had his Glory Days at Tigers. Problem is Youngs isn't setting the world on fire at the moment and with the six nations approaching I agree with many other contributors we are in trouble. Will MOC have the courage to throw Simmonds in and I think we have a very talented young 10 waiting in the wings too?

In the past when our backs were not performing we could rely on our forwards to take it to the opposition and through sheer physicality and the motivation to perform it would get us the result. Unlikely to happen now. I still believe this is a transition season and once we get rid of the deadwood and get a quality forwards coach I expect to see the Tigers of old next season.

[LE18]

Did you know Racing only took the 3 with a late penalty because they are that confident of turning us over at WR? Im so embarrassed to be a Tigers fan at present,MOC will destroy this club!

Me too, embarrassed is putting it too mildly, even the TV analysts seemed embarrassed for us, including Lol.

[Smudge]

I was sad that due to a bout of flu I was not able to go to Castre but that was really poor, even in a poor season.
Much has been writen on here which is difficult to disaggree with but I must say a word or to about the officiating..
This chap was diabilical. Biased as hell for most of the game and then gave us a couple of decisions in the last quarter to try to appear unbiased. Castre were offside the whole of the game there were at least three blatant forward passes that resulted in tries. The many faults at the brake down were only blown for if they were committed by Tigers The fact that he ignored the foul play to the head in the second half said much about his competance.
(Hopefully the citing fella will flag that up tomorrow) Worse of all was the holdback to the supporting player when Harrison was in on goal. Most referees in the world would have awarded a penalty try but not this dick.
It was also dissapointing that the BT commentators didn't even revue it at the end.

I will watch the game again tomorrow and use the slowmo to get the full story (as will the coaches) .
We fielded a scratch side and I have memories of how that can go wrong from my playing days but I would have expected some basic skills and dog, even if they appeared not to have been introduced to each other.
Unlike last year when I was un-bending in my desire to see RC axed, I have given my support to MOC but frankly, it is looking like we got it wrong again.

[LE18]

Why is Geordie Murphy smiling every time he's picked up on camera? What the hell has anyone got to smile about?!

Perhaps he knows he is off!!

Perhaps he knows that this was the last appearance for MOC.

[LE18]

Everyone on here is so triggered it’s hilarious.

I’ll see the game through before I make my judgement.
Brilliant intercept from Bateman, Wells and Evans doing their bit nothing else really.

You are very slow in seeing the blinding obvious!