So .... rest of the season

[chewbacca]

Rest of season should be putting right the things that are wrong. BoD clear out, coaching clear out/enhancement, pack needs 4-8 and backup 1 & 3. Given all that it could be a few years before we are competitive again, if ever after the decline over 5+ years. I don't think the current players are necessarily poor but I think their confidence both personal and with the club may be damaged and would benefit from a change.

[Robespierre]

So Tigers are now 8th in the table and if Quins beat Wasps today, there'll be 9th, well and truly on the slippery slope. For the rest of the season we've got four games at home - Quins, Wasps, Falcons and Saints, and four away - Sarries, Wuss, Bath and Sale.

How many points do you all think we'll scrape from these games? Nine or ten, perhaps.

[Clowbeck]

This is a great opportunity to show faith in some of our junior players and have them start regular. With YBY sadly out for the rest of the season, Simmons and White must be chomping at the bit, I hope to see Shazam share the 9 shirt with these two young players. Other players I'd like to see MOC bring into the starting 15 include Holmes, Betts, Hardwick, and Maksymiw.

A top 6 place isnt likely based on our form and confidence, just about the only thing to salvage from the season is to invest first team time for our high performing younger players in preparation for some much needed strategic changes over the next few seasons.

[Tiglon]

Quins, Falcons and Saints should all be very win-able at home given form this season, as should Worcester away and Bath at Twickenham.

Don't forget that outside of Sarries/Exeter/Glouc/Wasps, the best win/loss ratio is 8-6 , and with ours at 7-7 there's really little difference in terms of being able to win matches (being able to score 4 tries is another matter) between us and the teams we are competing with for 5th/6th place. The concerning thing is that most of our W's were some time ago - a win vs Quins is essential.

[Leicestertinytiger]

I would like to see Mulipola and Tuilagi drop out of the starting XV. Both are liabilities currently, especially in defence.

Mulipola is so slow these days in defence it’s almost painful to watch, a shadow of the player he once was.

Also feel that Owen deserves the 13 shirt on current form. Is much more sharp in attack and solid positionally. Doubt MOC has the balls to stick the no.23 on Tuilagi’s back though.

[Tiglon]

I would like to see Mulipola and Tuilagi drop out of the starting XV. Both are liabilities currently, especially in defence.

Mulipola is so slow these days in defence it’s almost painful to watch, a shadow of the player he once was.

Also feel that Owen deserves the 13 shirt on current form. Is much more sharp in attack and solid positionally. Doubt MOC has the balls to stick the no.23 on Tuilagi’s back though.

Completely agree with that. We look a better team with Owen than Tuilagi. Manu should be an impact sub until he proves he deserves the 13 shirt.

[trendylfj]

I would like to see Mulipola and Tuilagi drop out of the starting XV. Both are liabilities currently, especially in defence.

Mulipola is so slow these days in defence it’s almost painful to watch, a shadow of the player he once was.

Also feel that Owen deserves the 13 shirt on current form. Is much more sharp in attack and solid positionally. Doubt MOC has the balls to stick the no.23 on Tuilagi’s back though.

Completely agree with that. We look a better team with Owen than Tuilagi. Manu should be an impact sub until he proves he deserves the 13 shirt.

Totally agree - have said it before and I will say it again, I do not believe Manu will ever be the player he once was and on current form should not be in the starting 15. If he doesn't like it then he has 2 choices - earn the place back or leave and free up a lot of salary cap. I know and respect the fact that many will disagree but just look at what he is actually doing on the field compared to Owen or for that matter Tait. Tait had a good game when he came on yesterday as did Owen.

[Rugbyflanker]

Oh well season over now. Thank God for Super Rugby,expect Tigers to keep on regressing as long as MOC is still in charge.

[Stephen18]

I would like to see Mulipola and Tuilagi drop out of the starting XV. Both are liabilities currently, especially in defence.

Mulipola is so slow these days in defence it’s almost painful to watch, a shadow of the player he once was.

Also feel that Owen deserves the 13 shirt on current form. Is much more sharp in attack and solid positionally. Doubt MOC has the balls to stick the no.23 on Tuilagi’s back though.

Completely agree with that. We look a better team with Owen than Tuilagi. Manu should be an impact sub until he proves he deserves the 13 shirt.

Totally agree - have said it before and I will say it again, I do not believe Manu will ever be the player he once was and on current form should not be in the starting 15. If he doesn't like it then he has 2 choices - earn the place back or leave and free up a lot of salary cap. I know and respect the fact that many will disagree but just look at what he is actually doing on the field compared to Owen or for that matter Tait. Tait had a good game when he came on yesterday as did Owen.

Your right that manu has to earn a starting place rather than just be selected on reputation, i have only watched highlight of yesterdays games and he doesnt feature much, i dont know if he’ll recapture his form but i know if he is going to it will take time and a run of of games, unfortunatly for him everyone expected him to come back from another long lay off and save the team, i believe people need to manage there expectations of him especially when our forwards aint getting us go forward ball. I didnt see anything of owen on the highlights but hes been good when fit, hopefully the end of the game shows what the plan is for the rest of the 6 nations to play toomua at 10 with owen and manu in centres, i have to say your right about tait hes has again been one of our better players in the backs when he comes on reminiscent of acouple of seasons ago.

[LestaTiger]

Yeah I totally agree, we have to start placing our faith again in bringing through the younger Tigers players such as Hardwick, Simmons, White, Lewis, Betts and Evans etc. Otherwise, we will lose them to other clubs, which has been an issue we have had for the past 5 years with players such as George Ford, Billy Twelvetrees, Alex Lewington, Calum Green, Charlie Clare, Jamal Robinson to name just a few. Something which once use to be a real strength of the club has now sadly become a weakness. We need to show courage and keep the faith in our young guns during this tough time!

[jgriffin]

Yeah I totally agree, we have to start placing our faith again in bringing through the younger Tigers players such as Hardwick, Simmons, White, Lewis, Betts and Evans etc. Otherwise, we will lose them to other clubs, which has been an issue we have had for the past 5 years with players such as George Ford, Billy Twelvetrees, Alex Lewington, Calum Green, Charlie Clare, Jamal Robinson to name just a few. Something which once use to be a real strength of the club has now sadly become a weakness. We need to show courage and keep the faith in our young guns during this tough time!

Yawn.
The old lost player card.
You can play the same game with other sides, all AP sides discard players who make it elsewhere. The vast majority of players don't, a few might, others leave for other reasons: e.g. 12T left because he wasn't getting picked consistently by our HC at the time (who was that I wonder) and was advised to move by Stubert if he wanted England caps, Umaga left because he was offered £££ by Wasps....Lewington has significant defensive weaknesses.

[LestaTiger]

[/quote]
Yawn.
The old lost player card.
You can play the same game with other sides, all AP sides discard players who make it elsewhere. The vast majority of players don't, a few might, others leave for other reasons: e.g. 12T left because he wasn't getting picked consistently by our HC at the time (who was that I wonder) and was advised to move by Stubert if he wanted England caps, Umaga left because he was offered £££ by Wasps....Lewington has significant defensive weaknesses.
[/quote]

Thank you for stating the obvious...

However, my point is that what once was a strength of the Tigers has (over the past 5/6 years) become a weakness. The last time we gave our youth system a proper opportunity to grow and develop with premiership game time was when we brought through Youngs, Croft, Cole, Tuilagi etc. However, with the current crop of young players we have the chance and opportunity to do so again.

Saracens and Exeter have surpassed us in this area and are clearly the front runners in the AP for nurturing and bringing through their young academy boys into the Premiership. Surely you would rather see the club strategically put more faith in our youth system and bring through as many quality young English qualified players than foreign imports?

[JP14]

Also Ford-Robinson isn’t a great player, his loose play doesn’t make up for his non-existent set-piece work. Brookes is the worst scrummaging prop known to man. I’m only disappointed that we let go of 36 and Green.

[Stephen18]

Yeah I totally agree, we have to start placing our faith again in bringing through the younger Tigers players such as Hardwick, Simmons, White, Lewis, Betts and Evans etc. Otherwise, we will lose them to other clubs, which has been an issue we have had for the past 5 years with players such as George Ford, Billy Twelvetrees, Alex Lewington, Calum Green, Charlie Clare, Jamal Robinson to name just a few. Something which once use to be a real strength of the club has now sadly become a weakness. We need to show courage and keep the faith in our young guns during this tough time!

Whilst i agree with the principle of giving our development players a chance at a younger age, gone are the days of developing them till 25 by that point their behind the players at other clubs who introduced them at 20, but we need to sort our coaching structure 1st to give them any chance of performing at that level, and as mentioned most of the players mentioned either weren't good enough, left for money or there where better players ahead of them at the time. What we need to go back to is finding the coachs who is able to identify early who is premiership quality like ben youngs, manu and croft and get them in the squad and who isnt and get ride of them early and start the search for others who are to get the production like going again like exeter, sarrie now have.

[LE18]

Yawn.
The old lost player card.
You can play the same game with other sides, all AP sides discard players who make it elsewhere. The vast majority of players don't, a few might, others leave for other reasons: e.g. 12T left because he wasn't getting picked consistently by our HC at the time (who was that I wonder) and was advised to move by Stubert if he wanted England caps, Umaga left because he was offered £££ by Wasps....Lewington has significant defensive weaknesses.
[/quote]

Thank you for stating the obvious...

However, my point is that what once was a strength of the Tigers has (over the past 5/6 years) become a weakness. The last time we gave our youth system a proper opportunity to grow and develop with premiership game time was when we brought through Youngs, Croft, Cole, Tuilagi etc. However, with the current crop of young players we have the chance and opportunity to do so again.

Saracens and Exeter have surpassed us in this area and are clearly the front runners in the AP for nurturing and bringing through their young academy boys into the Premiership. Surely you would rather see the club strategically put more faith in our youth system and bring through as many quality young English qualified players than foreign imports?
[/quote]

5/6 yrs is about the time Dusty left, hes back now so expect improvement in junior recruitment.