Premiership Round 1 - Worcester vs Tigers

[BFG]

LI win too,so upon reading and highlights I think its safe to say we were the worse team of the first round,great!

I doubt we were as bad as Bath. They got stuffed by Bristol.

There was a clear forward pass overlooked for a Bristol try and at a crucial point in the game.
Sir chose not to check it, the TMO remained silent, and the home crowd were happy.

[Chobbsy]

I haven't seen the match, do I need to be worried about our performance or are we just back to the same stage as we were last year albeit with the new signings not seeming to make much of an improvement?

[JP14]

Watching the highlights, it seems Maxwell-Keys was very trigger-happy with the whistle for both sides, therefore taking the flow out of the game a bit.

A Key example was when Worcester were on the attack, Tigers were penalised for not rolling away but the ball was clearly available, the better refs wouldn’t have bought Hougaard’s efforts and would have instructed play in.

[Ilsontiger1725]

I haven't seen the match, do I need to be worried about our performance or are we just back to the same stage as we were last year albeit with the new signings not seeming to make much of an improvement?

Well, we're second bottom so that does feel a bit familiar. Murphy is saying in the Mercury that "we lacked intensity". As coach, if you can't get your team up for the first league game of the season, then you should be really asking yourself if you're in the right job.

[JP14]

Watched the game on the premiership website.

As many have said the kicking from hand was brainless, but it happened repeatedly so I can only assume it was a preplanned tactic? But why you would want to kick to Pennell with no kick chase is hard to understand. He is an excellent broken field runner and has a great boot.

Some critical missed tackles, but in general first up tackling was solid but rarely dominant. Line speed dropped after 30 mins and the defence became passive.

Adam Thompstone rarely seems to want to get involved these days, made 0 meters ball carrying and I can't remember him coming inside to take a ball in midfield.

The tactic of a stationary forward flipping the ball on to another stationary forward is not going to trouble most teams. Why do Tigers players always want to take the ball into contact, we rarely see them aiming at the gaps between players.

Handling still seems to be suspect.

I'm not expecting much from the players coming back from the RWC, I would not be surprised if they are exhausted and drained.

RE Thompstone I just think he needs a bit of time to get back in the swing of things.

[MikeR]

Re Thompstone - we cannot keep selecting passengers . We need young , fast enthusiastic wingers who will chase restarts and work hard . 0 Metres carry is a joke .

[CitizenSmiff]

Our lack of specialist wingers is a concern, the situation hasn't improved much since the world's least effective injury cover in Sarto and Varndell came in last season. Olowofela is still young so maybe he'll kick on but at the moment he's not one to particularly trouble a competent defence.

[FrontRowUnionMember]

May, Holmes, Thompstone, Aspland-Robinson & Olowofela. That’s our wing options. Seems like we want finishers not line breakers, that’ll be the job of our centres??
Rumours of Borthwick to take over as Head Coach and Murphy to DOR may shake things up a bit. Borthwick known for attention to detail.

[fortysix]

We have 2 wingers, Holmes and May. Both stunning.
Thompstone was once very competent but past his sell bye date, as for the other two, sorry, nowhere near top premiership standard. And that is a major problem. How come Northampton go off and purchase a massive 20 stone try scoring unit, and we have a 10 stoner. agreed neither are brilliant in defence but thats a side issue from the Stains angle.

[TigerBoy1880]

I haven't seen the match, do I need to be worried about our performance or are we just back to the same stage as we were last year albeit with the new signings not seeming to make much of an improvement?

Well, we're second bottom so that does feel a bit familiar. Murphy is saying in the Mercury that "we lacked intensity". As coach, if you can't get your team up for the first league game of the season, then you should be really asking yourself if you're in the right job.

If you’re a professional rugby player and you can’t get up for the first game of the season or any game for that matter, then is professional sport the correct profession?

[sam16111986]

We have 2 wingers, Holmes and May. Both stunning.
Thompstone was once very competent but past his sell bye date, as for the other two, sorry, nowhere near top premiership standard. And that is a major problem. How come Northampton go off and purchase a massive 20 stone try scoring unit, and we have a 10 stoner. agreed neither are brilliant in defence but thats a side issue from the Stains angle.

Holmes falls off a tackle on Hill for the first try. He should do better.

Saints can keep their 20 stone winger, he drops as many as he catches and isn't great in defence. More Vainakolo than Alex T. All the good wing monsters get signed up by the French teams on big money.

[JP14]

It was poor defence but take nothing away from Hill it was a superb carry.

[RagingBull]

We have 2 wingers, Holmes and May. Both stunning.
Thompstone was once very competent but past his sell bye date, as for the other two, sorry, nowhere near top premiership standard. And that is a major problem. How come Northampton go off and purchase a massive 20 stone try scoring unit, and we have a 10 stoner. agreed neither are brilliant in defence but thats a side issue from the Stains angle.

Holmes falls off a tackle on Hill for the first try. He should do better.

Saints can keep their 20 stone winger, he drops as many as he catches and isn't great in defence. More Vainakolo than Alex T. All the good wing monsters get signed up by the French teams on big money.

No he doesn't.
That was Ben White and George Worth

[sam16111986]

We have 2 wingers, Holmes and May. Both stunning.
Thompstone was once very competent but past his sell bye date, as for the other two, sorry, nowhere near top premiership standard. And that is a major problem. How come Northampton go off and purchase a massive 20 stone try scoring unit, and we have a 10 stoner. agreed neither are brilliant in defence but thats a side issue from the Stains angle.

Holmes falls off a tackle on Hill for the first try. He should do better.

Saints can keep their 20 stone winger, he drops as many as he catches and isn't great in defence. More Vainakolo than Alex T. All the good wing monsters get signed up by the French teams on big money.

No he doesn't.
That was Ben White and George Worth

Isn't that the second try?

[LE18]

Watched the game on the premiership website.

As many have said the kicking from hand was brainless, but it happened repeatedly so I can only assume it was a preplanned tactic? But why you would want to kick to Pennell with no kick chase is hard to understand. He is an excellent broken field runner and has a great boot.

Some critical missed tackles, but in general first up tackling was solid but rarely dominant. Line speed dropped after 30 mins and the defence became passive.

Adam Thompstone rarely seems to want to get involved these days, made 0 meters ball carrying and I can't remember him coming inside to take a ball in midfield.

The tactic of a stationary forward flipping the ball on to another stationary forward is not going to trouble most teams. Why do Tigers players always want to take the ball into contact, we rarely see them aiming at the gaps between players.

Handling still seems to be suspect.

I'm not expecting much from the players coming back from the RWC, I would not be surprised if they are exhausted and drained.

RE Thompstone I just think he needs a bit of time to get back in the swing of things.

I have been a big fan of Adam Thompstone in the past, but I just saw Channel 5 highlights and Adam got nowhere near 1 tackle. I also remember Saints blistering runs down their left wing against us.

Losing the first 2 games before facing Sarries this weekend could leave us in a very tricky position chasing the rest from a very lowly position. Hopefully it wont come to that, but its very early season to be playing catch up