London Irish vs Tigers

[tigerssteve]

It would be really interesting for the club to give supporters a steer on what success will look like this year. If it is simply to avoid relegation, so be it. It would just be nice to have expectations managed.

The interview with Pat Howard he said top 6

Avoiding relegation would be a great success! Today was an opportunity to get a losing bonus point as a minimum. Do we have a defence coach? If so, what is he doing? Borthwick would be better signed as a player rather than coach! Even with Sarries minus 35 we are still in deep trouble. The world cup 6 had better be up for it or we are dead and gone! Don't bother turning up for third division European games and risking injury to the few players who matter. I thought last year was dire but Worcester and Irish, getting nothing, impossible. Most of us remember the days when tigers losing rounds 1 and 2 would have had the world of rugby talking, now it's not even a headline in Leicester! Big changes NOW!

[Tiglon]

I wasn't able to watch the match today, but it sounds pretty dire. At least we had a nice week enjoying the false dawn that was the win over Gloucester! Back to reality now.

I too used to enjoy supporting a team that knew how to win and having an annual trip to Twickenham for a final. It's hard to see much prospect of us getting back to that.

As others have said, the playing squad has definitely been improved over the summer, and yet the rugby being played is almost identical in it's lacklustre, error-strewn, mediocrity. However it seems that Geordan is the golden boy and completely untouchable. Surely something has to change, missing international players or not this is worryingly bad.

Yes, we're only 4 games in, but that is still 18% of the season. At this rate we will finish with 22 points and surely be relegated. It's not just the loss of 3 games that is the problem, we've won zero bonus points and only scored 4 tries. There's a hell of a lot of pressure on these returning England players because they're gonna need to make a HUGE difference!

I love Murphy, but this can't continue.

Pat Howard has been out of coaching for so long that his involvement is mind-bogglingly bizarre. It shows how desperate the board are for GM to succeed, but also that he simply isn't able to in this role at this point in time.

PLEASE just find some coaches who have no prior connection to Tigers. Constant looking to the past will never build a positive future. How much further must we fall before the board are held accountable? One poster compared us to Man Utd - just imagine if they were bottom of the Premier League having been stuffed by Aston Villa!

It's not so long ago that we described scraping into fourth place at the end of the season as "a shambles". How little we knew

[Big Dai]

Ok .....so I look at teams past and I see international class in abundance. Especially in the pack where that international class was predominantly English.

Now where are we blessed with such talent?

1 Genge will be.
2 OTY was, TPN?
3 Cole. Past his prime?
4 Lavanini
5 dunno
6
7
8 Kalamafoni? (Spelling!)
9 YBY, only not so Y now and many on here don't rate him
10 Ford
11 May
12
13 Manu
14 Jonah?
15 TV

To me 6 7 8 looks a gap where once lurked the likes of Corry, Moody, Back, Kronfeld, Gustard, Johnson Jr, Deacon........ Richards.

I'm not familiar with a lot of the new names so forgive the ignorance...but are we losing ground in the playing staff? Or are the coaches not doing the best with what we have?

[TigerS2]

I wasn't able to watch the match today, but it sounds pretty dire. At least we had a nice week enjoying the false dawn that was the win over Gloucester! Back to reality now.

I too used to enjoy supporting a team that knew how to win and having an annual trip to Twickenham for a final. It's hard to see much prospect of us getting back to that.

As others have said, the playing squad has definitely been improved over the summer, and yet the rugby being played is almost identical in it's lacklustre, error-strewn, mediocrity. However it seems that Geordan is the golden boy and completely untouchable. Surely something has to change, missing international players or not this is worryingly bad.

Yes, we're only 4 games in, but that is still 18% of the season. At this rate we will finish with 22 points and surely be relegated. It's not just the loss of 3 games that is the problem, we've won zero bonus points and only scored 4 tries. There's a hell of a lot of pressure on these returning England players because they're gonna need to make a HUGE difference!

I love Murphy, but this can't continue.

Pat Howard has been out of coaching for so long that his involvement is mind-bogglingly bizarre. It shows how desperate the board are for GM to succeed, but also that he simply isn't able to in this role at this point in time.

PLEASE just find some coaches who have no prior connection to Tigers. Constant looking to the past will never build a positive future. How much further must we fall before the board are held accountable? One poster compared us to Man Utd - just imagine if they were bottom of the Premier League having been stuffed by Aston Villa!

It's not so long ago that we described scraping into fourth place at the end of the season as "a shambles". How little we knew

Yes, so sad. Heart breaking.

[jgriffin]

Told ya you'd regret Cockers being sacked. He knew that renewal was needed but the Board wouldn't pay up, and we had the spectacle of managing with 4 coaches, only one of them having any brain, and that was Cockers. To my mind the rot started with MOC and his simplistic approach to 1st XV (and :censored: the rest, he admitted it). Defence was puerile, attack playbook a single play, and we still got on because we had some players who were ballsy enough to play what was in front of them (like Toby, Scott etc).We also lost a generation of hard-nosed winners and gained cheap journeymen and wobbly academy types. Then the senior players - or some of them - got an ear on the Board and everything went .
At the root of all this is the Board. Currently I believe they could hire Eddie Jones and drag him down to our level.

[JGT57]

None so blind as those who will not see.

[EarlofShilton]

I didn't see the game but followed the updates on the Tigers app. Seeing the scoreboard tick over for LI so well in the first half was not a pretty sight.

However, I think the coaching team should at least be given the opportunity to rectify things with the help of the World Cup returnees. As has been said already, Genge should be camping at the bit, likewise Cole who will surely be keen to address perceived failings in the WC final. The Tigers scrum secured many a scrum penalty last season, and with some added bulk amongst the new signings, I'd hope to see the forwards assert some dominance in the Prem games to come.

3 more Prem games before the end of the year: away to Saints, home to Exeter, away to Quins. Winning 2 of those 3 would be acceptable I'd say, and enough for the pressure from us fans to be lifted on the coaching team.

[ABClub]

Ok .....so I look at teams past and I see international class in abundance. Especially in the pack where that international class was predominantly English.

Now where are we blessed with such talent?

1 Genge will be.
2 OTY was, TPN?
3 Cole. Past his prime?
4 Lavanini
5 dunno
6
7
8 Kalamafoni? (Spelling!)
9 YBY, only not so Y now and many on here don't rate him
10 Ford
11 May
12
13 Manu
14 Jonah?
15 TV

To me 6 7 8 looks a gap where once lurked the likes of Corry, Moody, Back, Kronfeld, Gustard, Johnson Jr, Deacon........ Richards.

I'm not familiar with a lot of the new names so forgive the ignorance...but are we losing ground in the playing staff? Or are the coaches not doing the best with what we have?

Taufua is a terrific blindside and number 8. Hopefully he recovers from the HIA swiftly to show that in stronger sides. I hope we see the best of Reid when partnered by Ford and Manu. He is a good player but hasn't shown it out of position.

To have international class across a squad you realistically need to develop that talent from early. Non academy stars such as Marcos, Castro, Alesana and Goneva signed early/unknown and improved hugely in the Tigers system. Even a player such as Jim Hamilton joined at 21 and improved out of sight.

Until we improve the pathway from our successful academy/U18 side through to the senior squad that depth will not return. That pathway fell into disrepair effectively and the lack of depth now sums that up. This back division simply can't deal with the absence of Youngs, Ford, Manu, Taute, May and Veainu.

As for openside. I'm happy with Guy as a starter and Reffell coming through. I have huge hopes for Reffell, think he could be an international class openside if managed well.

[sapajo]

I wasn't able to watch the match today, but it sounds pretty dire. At least we had a nice week enjoying the false dawn that was the win over Gloucester! Back to reality now.

I too used to enjoy supporting a team that knew how to win and having an annual trip to Twickenham for a final. It's hard to see much prospect of us getting back to that.

As others have said, the playing squad has definitely been improved over the summer, and yet the rugby being played is almost identical in it's lacklustre, error-strewn, mediocrity. However it seems that Geordan is the golden boy and completely untouchable. Surely something has to change, missing international players or not this is worryingly bad.

Yes, we're only 4 games in, but that is still 18% of the season. At this rate we will finish with 22 points and surely be relegated. It's not just the loss of 3 games that is the problem, we've won zero bonus points and only scored 4 tries. There's a hell of a lot of pressure on these returning England players because they're gonna need to make a HUGE difference!

I love Murphy, but this can't continue.

Pat Howard has been out of coaching for so long that his involvement is mind-bogglingly bizarre. It shows how desperate the board are for GM to succeed, but also that he simply isn't able to in this role at this point in time.

PLEASE just find some coaches who have no prior connection to Tigers. Constant looking to the past will never build a positive future. How much further must we fall before the board are held accountable? One poster compared us to Man Utd - just imagine if they were bottom of the Premier League having been stuffed by Aston Villa!

It's not so long ago that we described scraping into fourth place at the end of the season as "a shambles". How little we knew

Excellent post, shame it like all posts will not ever be read by anyone in the club.

[mol2]

Let’s be blunt the coaching is catastrophically below the required standard and significantly many of the players are also of similar standard.

It starts with the captain. On the bench we have a Scotland international and an Australian international yet the first choice is an former international who has gone so far over the hill that he should have retired. Lovely guy but no longer a Premiership hooker.

We have gone from the best team in Europe to a retirement home for has beens and journeymen and a team where the coaching staff are are jobs for the boys.

Talent or a face that fits? T-Rex were once the apex predator and Tigers are going the same way.

[markharbtiger]

All that coaching experience plus a team with clear international quality in it, should not be losing this much. Anyone at the game today see what’s going wrong on the field? Do we have a predictable game plan?

[chewbacca]

Told ya you'd regret Cockers being sacked. He knew that renewal was needed but the Board wouldn't pay up, and we had the spectacle of managing with 4 coaches, only one of them having any brain, and that was Cockers. To my mind the rot started with MOC and his simplistic approach to 1st XV (and the rest, he admitted it). Defence was puerile, attack playbook a single play, and we still got on because we had some players who were ballsy enough to play what was in front of them (like Toby, Scott etc).We also lost a generation of hard-nosed winners and gained cheap journeymen and wobbly academy types. Then the senior players - or some of them - got an ear on the Board and everything went .
At the root of all this is the Board. Currently I believe they could hire Eddie Jones and drag him down to our level.

Spot on.

[Leicestertinytiger]

Said at the time we missed a trick in not bringing Vesty into the coaching setup. Ever since our attack has looked poor, no attacking structure, no offloads, no line breaks. Why is Ford who is a defence coach sorting out the attack. Move him for goodness sake to sort out the defence which also isn’t great.

Also don’t get why we’re playing ageing wingers when we have an Eng U20 Aspland-Robinson, lets play him and try to attack the game. We play with absolutely no tempo and stupid errors kill our momentum.

Plus points were Taufua, great player, great carrying into heavy traffic and very dynamic. Hardwick also looked good. Impressed too by Olowofela with the limited ball he got.

[Jimmy Skitz]

speaking of Sam Aspland-Robinson, when the teams were named he was sub but at kick off we had an 8-2 splitt, any reason given for the change?

[Tigerbeat]

London Irish are not as bad a side as they were made out to be. The Tigers backline was always going to struggle against the Irish backs for physicality. The players dropping balls , knocking on and passing to no-one is down to poor execution and giving penalties the discipline of the players.
Last week against Gloucester we saw a dogged performance and I am sure that it will return and Tigers will move up the table....