Tigers v Saints predictions

[JP14]

I think this will be the team:
1 Gengey
2 Youngs (They’re going to rotate the hookers again I think
3 Cole
4 Fitzgerald
5 Kitchener
6 Hamilton
7 Evans (might be an unrelated correlation but we were playing our best rugby with Hamilton at 6 and Evans 7 at HQ)
8 Kalamafoni
9 Shazam
10 Ford
11 May
12 Toomua
13 Smith
14 Holmes
15 Veainu
16 TPN/OTY
17 Bateman
18 Mulipola
19 Wells/Voss (could he be given a chance?)
20 Williams
21 YBY/Simmo
22 Tuilagi (Worth if Tuilagi isn’t fit)
23 Olowofela

[Mark62]

I think this will be the team:
1 Gengey
2 Youngs (They’re going to rotate the hookers again I think
3 Cole
4 Fitzgerald
5 Kitchener
6 Hamilton
7 Evans (might be an unrelated correlation but we were playing our best rugby with Hamilton at 6 and Evans 7 at HQ)
8 Kalamafoni
9 Shazam
10 Ford
11 May
12 Toomua
13 Smith
14 Holmes
15 Veainu
16 TPN/OTY
17 Bateman
18 Mulipola
19 Wells/Voss (could he be given a chance?)
20 Williams
21 YBY/Simmo
22 Tuilagi (Worth if Tuilagi isn’t fit)
23 Olowofela

Don’t think you’re too wide of the mark there. Yes the hookers rotate and would agree that Evans deserves a chance after his performance on Saturday. That is obviously dependent on O’Connors fitness.
Not sure Holmes is fit and unsure about Taits fitness as it was neck rather than head. If Manu fit he starts.
All games are finals now so no time to be blooding a newbie and Wells is doing just fine

[JP14]

To be fair Voss probably would've started the postponed A League Fixture, head or neck I don't think Tait will be playing. I'm not sure about O'Connor or Williams for that matter

[WhitecapTiger]

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/spor ... le-1440348

"Mathew Tait is going through return to play protocol after his bang on the head last week but the rest of the lads are OK," O'Connor said. "Mike Williams, Brendon O'Connor, Jonah Holmes and Ben Youngs are all training and available for selection so there are a couple of tight calls depending on how we pull up after training."

O'Connor said: "Manu is running around. He trained Tuesday morning with the team. He probably won't play against Saints but all the indicators are that he will be involved against Newcastle Falcons. That will be a huge boost for us back-end."

[Grimlish]

“training and available for selection” seems to mean 2 to 3 games away from a start or bench role in MO’C speak. We’ll play them if we really have to but they aren’t yet at the races.

[Mark62]

Mathew Carley will be Sir. Could be better could be worse.

[WhitecapTiger]

Mathew Carley will be Sir. Could be better could be worse.

Indeed, Much better but not much worse

[Rugbyflanker]

What's poster thoughts on BY? Start or bench if fit,should be latter for me.

[Mark62]

What's poster thoughts on BY? Start or bench if fit,should be latter for me.

Bench for me. Harrison has done really well last 2 games especially. A fit Ben Youngs coming on after 60 minutes will cause them nightmares

[sapajo]

Carley is a very poor ref in the Wigglesworth tradition. Hope the outcome will not be decided by his incompetence.

[fortysix]

Lets not upset SIR before we even start. Am sure SIR will be checking the forums. SIR is a wonderful referee who understands when a front row is dominant so we should be ok there...

[Tomvarndell]

What's poster thoughts on BY? Start or bench if fit,should be latter for me.

Bench for me. Harrison has done really well last 2 games especially. A fit Ben Youngs coming on after 60 minutes will cause them nightmares

I agree with that. What an impact replacement he would be for the last quarter. Harrison literally ran himself into the ground last week and could have done with replacing earlier but now with Ben sitting on the bench we have a brilliant replacement opposed to a young kid who's not quite ready.

[strawclearer]

Carley is a very poor ref in the Wigglesworth tradition. Hope the outcome will not be decided by his incompetence.

Don't worry. If Sir pulls a muscle, Tom Foley is Asst. Sir.......

[Mark62]

Carley is a very poor ref in the Wigglesworth tradition. Hope the outcome will not be decided by his incompetence.

Don't worry. If Sir pulls a muscle, Tom Foley is Asst. Sir.......

Could be worse could be Maxwell Keyes

[chris111]

Carley is a very poor ref in the Wigglesworth tradition. Hope the outcome will not be decided by his incompetence.

Respectfully, I think we all - I include myself - have a tendency to judge referees incredibly harshly.....if they are not perfect/world-class (Barnes, Garces, Owens???) we rubbish them in a way we would never do with a player who felt short of this level. Every referee in the Premiership is assessed/scrutinised/evaluated to within an inch of their lives in every game, and whatever we think about them, those on the list are consistently judged to the best available (I think it's only 12 on the list).

Of course, Matt Carley might have a shocker at the weekend - in which case it could go any of three ways:
1. the bad calls cancel each other out (most likely).
2. bad calls significantly favour Saints.
3. bad calls significantly favour Tigers (2 and 3 both equally likely).

Given the current form of Tigers and Saints that should my best guess is that will translate as follows.
1. Tigers win by 25-30
2. Tigers win by 10-15
3. Tigers win by 45-50