Team for Exeter

[wellstiger]

Woops - my mistake - Barff Saturday and midweek NEXT WEEK. ( lost myself for a minute )

[Chobbsy]

Agree with the ratings mostly but not impressed by the back three.

Olowofela whilst fast and chasing the kicks almost refused to actually compete for the ball in the air when he got to the jumper. Also massively lacking physically for this level.

Williams looked very much a championship player, some basic handling errors.

Worth wasn’t awful in the air, he caught some high balls and dropped others. Definitely not a calm and commanding presence at the back. Terrible kicking from hand too which only invited pressure back on.

Next match at home Steward definitely deserves a shot at 15.

I agree, sorry to hurt the backs among you but I thought our back 3 were awful and looked totally out of their depth.

I know I am going to get slaughtered for what I said, but it is a forum and it is MY opinion doesn't mean it it gospel.

[fortysix]

Totally agree about the back three totally and utterly out of their depth. As well as Taute, to boot.
When are we going to bring forward a young back who has bags of pace, is physical, can actually tackle, and is Top 4 standard. ?
If Steward is the real deal, bring him on., immediately
The others, including Hardwick, no way.

[jgriffin]

Agree with the ratings mostly but not impressed by the back three.

Olowofela whilst fast and chasing the kicks almost refused to actually compete for the ball in the air when he got to the jumper. Also massively lacking physically for this level.

Williams looked very much a championship player, some basic handling errors.

Worth wasn’t awful in the air, he caught some high balls and dropped others. Definitely not a calm and commanding presence at the back. Terrible kicking from hand too which only invited pressure back on.

Next match at home Steward definitely deserves a shot at 15.

I agree, sorry to hurt the backs among you but I thought our back 3 were awful and looked totally out of their depth.

I know I am going to get slaughtered for what I said, but it is a forum and it is MY opinion doesn't mean it it gospel.

None of us have any influence, so welcome to any opinion. I do think SB will have had goals fot yesterday, e.g line out, defence, territory game. Ford confirmed them in the post match interview by Bondi. He will also have learnt something about players under fire which gives a focus for training and selection. Given the rest of the season is mainly about Europe (unless the government have kiboshed it) I expect him to continue that focus. I'd expect Leatigaga and Henry to get a prominent role in the remaining games along with Hardwick and the available newbies.

[Leicestertinytiger]

I feel like we almost need another premiership standard back three player, someone of the calibre like Homer, Sharples, Short etc

Hopefully Browning, Potter and Steward can step up but we can’t rely on them for an entire season. I don’t like ripping in to young players especially when they’ve come through the academy. I’ve always been a big fan of Olowofela and stuck up for him in the past. But you see talents like Thorley, LRZ etc who from day one look comfortable in the premiership. Worth and Olowofela have had plenty of exposure yet still seem to struggle at this level. Sad truth is that if we want to get back to the good days, then everyone needs to be pulling their weight.

Don’t want to be labelled as a pessimist, thought there was plenty of positives from yesterday. Just the back three stood out as being the one big negative. The excuse of Nadolo, Van Wyk and Muri are still to come in doesn’t sit well as an injury to any of them will see one of the players from the Exeter match coming into their place.

[JP14]

The backs...

9. Youngs 7/10 - A quick tap-and-go set the pace and put the Tigers in a great position early on, played at a consistent pace that wasn’t too slow and box-kicked very well (a poor rushed charge down aside), in terms of recent Tigers performances much better from YBY

10. Ford 8/10 - Great control exerted by our George, an amazing drop goal, his tactical kicking was spot on and made a great dummy on the blindside to clear the lines, shame he wasn’t on a better platform to show more in attack but deserved fans favourite

I thought Youngs was particularly fired up today. He made some big, well timed hits which caught Exeter behind the gain line and played with a really good tempo, bad mistake with the charge down, probably rushed a bit and should have held on until blockers in place etc, but really felt he was trying to lead and boss the game which is what we need.

Agreed.

[JP14]

Agree with the ratings mostly but not impressed by the back three.

Olowofela whilst fast and chasing the kicks almost refused to actually compete for the ball in the air when he got to the jumper. Also massively lacking physically for this level.

Williams looked very much a championship player, some basic handling errors.

Worth wasn’t awful in the air, he caught some high balls and dropped others. Definitely not a calm and commanding presence at the back. Terrible kicking from hand too which only invited pressure back on.

Next match at home Steward definitely deserves a shot at 15.

Basic handling errors or a poor pass from White?

[RagingBull]

Funny first ever game for Tigers and people already writing some off.
Not really surprising.
How can you really judge any of the back 3 in that game not 100% sure (Well maybe 15 because that's the kind of game that really shows a 15's value).

Neither wingers on both teams did anything.
David williams beat the most amount of defenders out of both squads.
The difference was a Scottish International and British and Irish lions full back


On Olowfela hesitation to compete with the ball in the air, he wouldn't be the only to be hesitant in those conditions all it takes is a slip and contact in the air to get carded has happened a fair amount for us.

[kpj tiger]

Funny first ever game for Tigers and people already writing some off.
Not really surprising.
How can you really judge any of the back 3 in that game not 100% sure (Well maybe 15 because that's the kind of game that really shows a 15's value).

Neither wingers on both teams did anything.
David williams beat the most amount of defenders out of both squads.
The difference was a Scottish International and British and Irish lions full back


On Olowfela hesitation to compete with the ball in the air, he wouldn't be the only to be hesitant in those conditions all it takes is a slip and contact in the air to get carded has happened a fair amount for us.

Agreed on this, I thought Williams looked pretty hand with ball in hand and actually showed some initiative. As for Olowofela I feel like we have a policy now of wingers not competing for the ball very much but instead making dominant hits on the catcher as the ball arrives, I think we may see that idea proliferate with the way the breakdown is now being enforced as it could make for a lot of penalties/turnovers without the risk of the yellow/red from competing in the air

[Chobbsy]

Totally agree about the back three totally and utterly out of their depth. As well as Taute, to boot.
When are we going to bring forward a young back who has bags of pace, is physical, can actually tackle, and is Top 4 standard. ?
If Steward is the real deal, bring him on., immediately
The others, including Hardwick, no way.

I thought Taute did OK apart from not being switched on at times, hopefully as games go on this may change and he may wake up

[BFG]

Leicester did well to disrupt Exeter from the start.
Exeter tweaked things, in particular holding the man up in the air for as long as possible at the line out and recognising that Sir was not quite as strict on the second man in at the ruck.
Too early to pick fault with rustiness however the length in that scrum near the end will not go totally unnoticed by oppsition and refs.

[Chobbsy]

Leicester did well to disrupt Exeter from the start.
Exeter tweaked things, in particular holding the man up in the air for as long as possible at the line out and recognising that Sir was not quite as strict on the second man in at the ruck.
Too early to pick fault with rustiness however the length in that scrum near the end will not go totally unnoticed by oppsition and refs.

We did well overall but the big difference was the bench our bench were in a different world from theirs

[OakhamTiger32]

Agree with the ratings mostly but not impressed by the back three.

Olowofela whilst fast and chasing the kicks almost refused to actually compete for the ball in the air when he got to the jumper. Also massively lacking physically for this level.

Williams looked very much a championship player, some basic handling errors.

Worth wasn’t awful in the air, he caught some high balls and dropped others. Definitely not a calm and commanding presence at the back. Terrible kicking from hand too which only invited pressure back on.

Next match at home Steward definitely deserves a shot at 15.

I agree, sorry to hurt the backs among you but I thought our back 3 were awful and looked totally out of their depth.

I know I am going to get slaughtered for what I said, but it is a forum and it is MY opinion doesn't mean it it gospel.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion for sure. Personally, my opinion for what it's worth is that our back 3 yesterday are all likely to be squad players next season. With the likes of Nadolo, Van Wyk, Murimurivalu and Porter coming in we certainly have a great foundation for next season. The remainder of this season is all about strength in depth and squad rotation. Yesterday our back 3 may have been second best in many respects but I'm not surprised or concerned as we have so many new signings yet to feature. Add in Moroni and Potter and we will have really solid backs division with strength in depth all season long for a change.

The future's bright..

[Chobbsy]

Agree with the ratings mostly but not impressed by the back three.

Olowofela whilst fast and chasing the kicks almost refused to actually compete for the ball in the air when he got to the jumper. Also massively lacking physically for this level.

Williams looked very much a championship player, some basic handling errors.

Worth wasn’t awful in the air, he caught some high balls and dropped others. Definitely not a calm and commanding presence at the back. Terrible kicking from hand too which only invited pressure back on.

Next match at home Steward definitely deserves a shot at 15.

I agree, sorry to hurt the backs among you but I thought our back 3 were awful and looked totally out of their depth.

I know I am going to get slaughtered for what I said, but it is a forum and it is MY opinion doesn't mean it it gospel.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion for sure. Personally, my opinion for what it's worth is that our back 3 yesterday are all likely to be squad players next season. With the likes of Nadolo, Van Wyk, Murimurivalu and Porter coming in we certainly have a great foundation for next season. The remainder of this season is all about strength in depth and squad rotation. Yesterday our back 3 may have been second best in many respects but I'm not surprised or concerned as we have so many new signings yet to feature. Add in Moroni and Potter and we will have really solid backs division with strength in depth all season long for a change.

The future's bright..

I agree totally apart from the topic is yesterday not next season, I like you am really excited about next season. I also thought there were improvements yesterday which was good to see and I get we need to blood the young players or we will never know if they can hack it or not, yesterday our back 3 were poor, but yes the future is bright

[Dangerous4]

Hmm. The back three, and full back, need a great deal of attention. This was the major stumbling block yesterday. S B has a lot of work to do, but I feel he is well aware of it. Next season will be the main challenge, so he does have time to work on our weaknesses.