London Irish Away

[Tiglon]

Yes, Irish have some good players, but they have 3 different player profiles in their team today:

Brilliant but were at their best about 4 years ago:
Blair Cowan
Sean O’Brien
Sekope Kepu
Agustin Creevy
Nick Phipps

Talented but inexperienced:
Loader
Hassell-Collins

Decent club players but nothing special:
Everyone else

Actually, make that 4 player profiles...

Insert words not appropriate for forum:
Paddy Jackson

Add to that the 10% chance that Motu Matu'u will be sent off for a dangerous tackle, and we really shouldn't be happy with less than a Tigers win.

[TigerFeetSteve]

Got to say your description of the opposition 10 is pretty much spot on in a pg13 setting.

[wellstiger]

I see a game of fine margins.
One missed tackle or two. A sloppy penalty or two.
If we dominate the field position, Get the set piece right and take our chances , I see a back to back "W"
Wouldn't that be something?

Drop off tackles , aimless kicking and silly individual penalties and...............??????
Please Please please lets have the former.

[Wayne Richardson Fan Club]

Got to say your description of the opposition 10 is pretty much spot on in a pg13 setting.

There is an argument that even using his name is wrong.....

[JP14]

Even if we beat Irish, I still think Exeter will be massive favourites when they play us.

[TigerFeetSteve]

Got to say your description of the opposition 10 is pretty much spot on in a pg13 setting.

There is an argument that even using his name is wrong.....

A lot think it's as offensive as any swear words

[OakhamTiger32]

Yes, Irish have some good players, but they have 3 different player profiles in their team today:

Brilliant but were at their best about 4 years ago:
Blair Cowan
Sean O’Brien
Sekope Kepu
Agustin Creevy
Nick Phipps

Talented but inexperienced:
Loader
Hassell-Collins

Decent club players but nothing special:
Everyone else

Actually, make that 4 player profiles...

Insert words not appropriate for forum:
Paddy Jackson

Add to that the 10% chance that Motu Matu'u will be sent off for a dangerous tackle, and we really shouldn't be happy with less than a Tigers win.

+1

[OakhamTiger32]

Even if we beat Irish, I still think Exeter will be massive favourites when they play us.

Agreed but we’d be on 9 or 10 points after 3 games with potentially one of Irish, Bath or Saints still stuck at the bottom on 1 or 2. Long way to go but beat Irish and we’ll be in good shape regardless of the Exeter result. Let’s face it they are a cut above most if not all teams at the moment

[OakhamTiger32]

Yes, Irish have some good players, but they have 3 different player profiles in their team today:

Brilliant but were at their best about 4 years ago:
Blair Cowan
Sean O’Brien
Sekope Kepu
Agustin Creevy
Nick Phipps

Talented but inexperienced:
Loader
Hassell-Collins

Decent club players but nothing special:
Everyone else

Actually, make that 4 player profiles...

Insert words not appropriate for forum:
Paddy Jackson

Add to that the 10% chance that Motu Matu'u will be sent off for a dangerous tackle, and we really shouldn't be happy with less than a Tigers win.

As long as it’s not option 5.. players who are in decidedly average form but dust off their A game for Tigers!

[Wayne Richardson Fan Club]

Win today & the Exeter game becomes a bit of a free hit, the chance to work out more accurately where we are.
Glaws were poor last week, difficult to tell how much was down to us, Irish aren't anything special but they are better than some on here think, we know Exeter are where we want to be, they are missing some big players for them, so it should be a good barometer.
But arguably today is more important for our season.

[TigerFeetSteve]

Today is vital!

Mainly because my 2½ year old is wearing his change strip at the same time as the team for the first time, was too small last year.

So need a win to ensure he's a lifelong fan!!

[BFG]

Today isn't vital.
Winning is preferable.
Leicester could lose and still go and win the next five matches.
It's early days.
Leicester hammered Gloucester and Wasps beat Bristol last week, Gloucester beat Wasps yesterday.

[OakhamTiger32]

Irish aren't anything special but they are better than some on here think

Irish have only won one of their last 12 matches! And that was against a very weak Exeter team. It’s going to be a tough match there’s no question but I think we should be confident (but not complacent). They will be up for it for sure and want to put down a marker at their new stadium but we have to fancy our chances of making it 2 from 2

[Redstripeman]

Even if we beat Irish, I still think Exeter will be massive favourites when they play us.

..no need to worry about that. It's not what you do against the big boys!!!
By the end of the season we will be even better, we are more tighter as a group already, one game at a time.

[sam16111986]

Yes, Irish have some good players, but they have 3 different player profiles in their team today:

Brilliant but were at their best about 4 years ago:
Blair Cowan
Sean O’Brien
Sekope Kepu
Agustin Creevy
Nick Phipps

Talented but inexperienced:
Loader
Hassell-Collins

Decent club players but nothing special:
Everyone else

Actually, make that 4 player profiles...

Insert words not appropriate for forum:
Paddy Jackson

Add to that the 10% chance that Motu Matu'u will be sent off for a dangerous tackle, and we really shouldn't be happy with less than a Tigers win.

Whilst by and large I agree with all that I would say the front row of Dell, Creevy and Kepu is a good experienced unit with more than 200 caps between them. That will be a tough battle we'll need to overcome. The Polar Bear and Captain Tom are still good players but heading towards the end of illustrious careers and Bower is only a solid journeyman. This could be a tough area and we need to dominate the tight exchanges. It's not as clear cut as I'd like to be or it would be if we had a full complement of front row to choose from.

If we can dominate the tight exchanges hopefully we can do what England did to Georgia and just grind them down until they are out in their feet. I'd say our bench is a lot stronger than theirs so we could take advantage as the game wears on. Got to win the tough battle up front first.