Tigers v Pau Saturday Nov 16th

[strawclearer]

I think we need to win this Challenge Cup thingy which qualifies us for Champions Cup next season. That way, we can focus on Top 4, Jolly Boys' Outing for the Final and Premiership Champions.

Bravo, strawclearer! Nothing beats a bit of cautious optimism!

I was actually quoting word for word from Pat Howard's review!

[CitizenSmiff]

Going pretty well so far from what I can tell on Twitter! Two tries up on half an hour, Aspland off injured.

[Jimmy Skitz]

Jonah Holmes with a hattrick for the bonus point try

[Jimmy Skitz]

Bleddyn Jones talking on the Radio that the England players are noticeably trimmer yet have lost no strength, particularly Genge who "looks like a centre 3/4" is the S&C coaching yet another area we are lacking?

[CitizenSmiff]

Sounds like the Pau back three will be having nightmares about Jonah Holmes for a while. Maybe they should have brought Ben Smith along.

[Big Dai]

Not THE Bin Smuth?

I look forward to reading reviews over a glass of Remy later!

[DeadlyDunc]

Bleddyn Jones talking on the Radio that the England players are noticeably trimmer yet have lost no strength, particularly Genge who "looks like a centre 3/4" is the S&C coaching yet another area we are lacking?

In fairness Geordie has said the same about the squad fitness levels over the past few years

[JP14]

Can’t get head of ourselves but a bonus point European win is a good start just need to continue the momentum.

[CitizenSmiff]

Can’t get head of ourselves but a bonus point European win is a good start just need to continue the momentum.

Yup, there are a whole pile of mitigating circumstances for Pau but no point worrying about them, you can only play the team in front of you and by all accounts we did that pretty well today.

[wellstiger]

Another defeat looming - Make me eat my jersey

Bit chewy - But gladly munching

[longlivethecrumbie]

Good result - sounded like there were some good defensive sets too. Well done to Jonah.

Sadly I missed the game - thoughts from anyone who was there?

Also, how did sir do?

[RichieB]

Just got home from the game. Sir wasn't great, but at least consistently poor. Scrum was a shambles, difficult to know why from the stands but Sir needed to have more control I think.

I do worry about Genge - undoubted talent, but he pushes his luck too far sometimes. I don't know if it arrogance or not.

Lots of positives, how fantastic to see some planned moves from the backs - first 15 minutes of the match.

Overall, I thought the England players added a lot to the game and a noticeable improvement on previous incumbents. Not sure about the quality of the opposition, but came home with more positives than negatives.

[Jimmy Skitz]

Bleddyn Jones talking on the Radio that the England players are noticeably trimmer yet have lost no strength, particularly Genge who "looks like a centre 3/4" is the S&C coaching yet another area we are lacking?

In fairness Geordie has said the same about the squad fitness levels over the past few years

they question would then be what changes has he made in this regard, has the S&C coach been replaced for example?

[chris111]

Really worried about this team selection. Pau have sent over a very weak side and we are meanwhile playing lads who a fortnight ago were in a World Cup final. I’d rather our key England players return for our next league game and not riske them in such a pointless match. Anything less than a 25 point win tomorrow would be a below par victory with those teams.

Pointless match? Winning a trophy - even a ‘second-tier’ one - would be fantastic for the club. It would also bring qualification for the CC next year, and frankly we’re better-placed to win this than finish in the top 6 of the Premiership.

[Ian Cant]

Just got back from the game.
Tigers did what they had to do. Well done.
I would play the England players next week for 55 - 60 minutes to try to get back to back wins and improve on what wasn’t so good this week.
Go fully loaded and have a good crack at Saints. If we do well, bonus point minimum then rest some players in the next two European games.
Plus points today: Kalamafoni, Holmes, George Ford, Youngs and Manu very good.
Cole usual dependable performance.
Forwards still need to be quicker to support and must tighten defensive work.
Boladau again looked good but only played half a game.
Locks both played well.
Thought the ref had a pretty good game; looked to me that he got most things right; his touch judges not so good at pointing things out.
I’m not sure if we won the competition if we’d qualify for the main competition as we’ve never to think about that before!
Well done to those who came to try to make some noise today.
We are in it together!