Saracens v Leicester Tigers XV 12th December 2020

[Wayne Richardson Fan Club]

If McPhillips is ahead of you, you have no future at Tigers I would guess.
The Lewis situation is odd, he genuinely looked an exciting prospect & the sort of 6 Borthwick tends to like, for whatever reason it's all paused or gone off the rails.

[teds]

Umm this is being live streamed on the Saracens site. For members of the wolf pack club.
No idea what is needed to join the Wolfpack club....

[sam16111986]

Starting XV
1. Whitcombe
2. Kerr
3. Heffernan (Saracens)
4. Henderson
5. Enever
6. Chessum
7. Wallace
8. T.Smith
9. JVP
10. McPhilips
11. Williams
12. Worth
13. Kelly
14. Aspland-Robinson
15. Henry

Good to see SAR back

Heffernan (Saracens)? Have they nicked the Irish tighthead from Notts?

No Dimen, Lewis, Hardwick, Owolfela starting. Unsure whether that's injury, Covid or out of favour. Borthwick won't confirm either way. Have to see who comes off the bench. Be interesting to see how Whitcombe goes up against Clarey who was billed as one of the best tightheads in the Championship last season. If the young man can hold his own there then he'll be doing well.

I'd prefer Henry at 10 and McPhillips at 15 but can understand why it's the other way round.

[RunTigerRun]

16 Archie Vanes
17 Ryan Bower
18 Ken Dowding (Army RU)
19 Sam Lewis
20 Jordan Coghlan
21 Jonny Law
22 Jordan Olowofela
23 Joe Browning

This is the bench according to the website. Have to think Hardwick is on is way out... and possible injuries to Dimen and Rowntree at TH. I really hope Browning comes on and Law too - both looked good to have something about them in the Prem 7s last year.

[TigerFeetSteve]

16 Archie Vanes
17 Ryan Bower
18 Ken Dowding (Army RU)
19 Sam Lewis
20 Jordan Coghlan
21 Jonny Law
22 Jordan Olowofela
23 Joe Browning

This is the bench according to the website. Have to think Hardwick is on is way out... and possible injuries to Dimen and Rowntree at TH. I really hope Browning comes on and Law too - both looked good to have something about them in the Prem 7s last year.

Hardwick definitely not in the "in" crowd with Borthwick.

For us to be borrowing 2 tight heads it suggests injury over choice.

[Leicestertinytiger]

Starting XV
1. Whitcombe
2. Kerr
3. Heffernan (Saracens)
4. Henderson
5. Enever
6. Chessum
7. Wallace
8. T.Smith
9. JVP
10. McPhilips
11. Williams
12. Worth
13. Kelly
14. Aspland-Robinson
15. Henry

Good to see SAR back

Heffernan (Saracens)? Have they nicked the Irish tighthead from Notts?

No Dimen, Lewis, Hardwick, Owolfela starting. Unsure whether that's injury, Covid or out of favour. Borthwick won't confirm either way. Have to see who comes off the bench. Be interesting to see how Whitcombe goes up against Clarey who was billed as one of the best tightheads in the Championship last season. If the young man can hold his own there then he'll be doing well.

I'd prefer Henry at 10 and McPhillips at 15 but can understand why it's the other way round.

Website has been updated to show Heffernan from Nottingham, always thought he’d be a useful player in the Tigers squad.

[JP14]

Rowntree as far as I know hasn’t had any senior experience at Nat 2/Championship level so maybe they thought it was best to have the bloke from the army.

Hope Whitecombe does well and Browning gets a good stint off the bench.

[sam16111986]

Ken Dowding the tighthead on the bench is a scrum coach in his mid thirties. Has been around a few clubs previously as a player, by the sounds of it he's done a few tours with the army so I'd imagine he's a tough and disciplined bloke. I wonder if he's the new scrum coach as well and is just doing a stint to flesh out the squad.

Oisin Heffernan was the other highly rated tighthead in the Championship from what I read last season. So having him and Clarey on either side of the scrum should be interesting. Could be an audition before him potentially joining next summer. Be interesting to see how Vanes goes off the bench. Can understand with Whitcombe and Vanes in the squad that we don't want to risk having an entire front row of 20 or under as that could get dangerous so no spot for Rowntree.

Still no sign of Lavin, do we know if he's back in full training from that nasty injury last season? It bought he looked good in the very limited bits I saw of him.

[Tigerbeat]

Umm this is being live streamed on the Saracens site. For members of the wolf pack club.
No idea what is needed to join the Wolfpack club....

If you just register on the site, you will have access to the live stream......no cost to register!

[Tiglon]

Looking forward to seeing Whitcombe in action, and hopefully Browning later on.
Hardwick is surely never to be seen again in a Tigers jersey.
SB perhaps prefers Bonilla to Henry at 10 and is giving Henry an opportunity to prove himself in another position - he doesn't need the game time so I can't see any other reason he's playing today.
Will be interesting to see if Lewis and Olowofela get many minutes.

Umm this is being live streamed on the Saracens site. For members of the wolf pack club.
No idea what is needed to join the Wolfpack club....

If you just register on the site, you will have access to the live stream......no cost to register!

Apart from the emotional cost of always knowing you joined the wolf pack club

[RagingBull]

I don’t think it suggest Bonilla over Henry.

You could also see it as giving Henry game time at 15 to see if that is a really valid position for him to cover.

[Wayne Richardson Fan Club]

I don’t think it suggest Bonilla over Henry.

You could also see it as giving Henry game time at 15 to see if that is a really valid position for him to cover.

Defensively Henry at 15 makes Daly look like JPR.
He probably would be your bench 10 in the strongest team as he offers something different & could play at 15, but a 15 he is not.

[chris111]

They're optimistic thinking they can find 1,000 fans!

They're all from the Tigers away supporters club.

Except that guidance is that we shouldn’t be travelling from Tier 3 to Tier 2. Much as I’d love to see some live rugby, I don’t think this qualifies as “essential travel”!

[TigerFeetSteve]

I don’t think it suggest Bonilla over Henry.

You could also see it as giving Henry game time at 15 to see if that is a really valid position for him to cover.

I agree it's not a sign Bonilla is the preferred 10. With Ford in the international setup we need to keep at least 2 other Fly Halves happy.

With SB liking a 6-2 bench we need to know what positions backs can cover.

[Snoopydog68]

Disappointing that Lewis is on the bench. Hope he gets some decent minutes - Borthwick obviously doesn't think much of him which is wrong. Defo think Lewis will be leaving at the end of this season, why stay when it's obvious the boss is not a fan. Waste of a good player IMHO.

At least Kerr is making an appearance. I like him.

Agree, Hardwick will not be seen again in a Tigers shirt. His highlights are available on you tube so think it's a forgone conclusion.

Would be good if they could get the win.