BRISTOL vs TIGERS - Sat 27 Feb 21 (1300)

[Wayne Richardson Fan Club]

If Tomas is fit, it will be Wells at 6..shouldn't be, but it will be, it should be either Smith or Lewis, really prefer us playing back rowers in the back row, preferably in their best position.

Van Wyk was injury sub, so who knows, wouldn't risk Nemani unless he is 100%, Kelly looks really sharp off the bench, keep Moroni at 13 he looks a real threat there both on attack & defense.

[Jimmy Skitz]

If Tomas is fit, it will be Wells at 6..shouldn't be, but it will be, it should be either Smith or Lewis, really prefer us playing back rowers in the back row, preferably in their best position.

Van Wyk was injury sub, so who knows, wouldn't risk Nemani unless he is 100%, Kelly looks really sharp off the bench, keep Moroni at 13 he looks a real threat there both on attack & defense.

Moroni moved to the wing when Kelly came on

[TigerFeetSteve]

If Tomas is fit, it will be Wells at 6..shouldn't be, but it will be, it should be either Smith or Lewis, really prefer us playing back rowers in the back row, preferably in their best position.

Van Wyk was injury sub, so who knows, wouldn't risk Nemani unless he is 100%, Kelly looks really sharp off the bench, keep Moroni at 13 he looks a real threat there both on attack & defense.

Moroni moved to the wing when Kelly came on

I thought Kelly played on the wing, last week Kelly came on the wing and Moroni moved to centre.

[Jimmy Skitz]

If Tomas is fit, it will be Wells at 6..shouldn't be, but it will be, it should be either Smith or Lewis, really prefer us playing back rowers in the back row, preferably in their best position.

Van Wyk was injury sub, so who knows, wouldn't risk Nemani unless he is 100%, Kelly looks really sharp off the bench, keep Moroni at 13 he looks a real threat there both on attack & defense.

Moroni moved to the wing when Kelly came on

I thought Kelly played on the wing, last week Kelly came on the wing and Moroni moved to centre.

last week maybe but Moroni was definitely playing left wing second half and Kelly in the centres where he put that kick in to the try line

[Wayne Richardson Fan Club]

If Tomas is fit, it will be Wells at 6..shouldn't be, but it will be, it should be either Smith or Lewis, really prefer us playing back rowers in the back row, preferably in their best position.

Van Wyk was injury sub, so who knows, wouldn't risk Nemani unless he is 100%, Kelly looks really sharp off the bench, keep Moroni at 13 he looks a real threat there both on attack & defense.

Moroni moved to the wing when Kelly came on

I wasn't advocating Kelly on the wing, another example of square pegs in round holes..after he came on today it was difficult to work out what was going on, game was all over the place, he definitely went to 14 last week.

I hope the OTY clear out doesn't get looked at again as it looked iffy & whatever the Pests were on about in the 1st half all of a sudden gets found.

[tigerburnie]

I would not be surprised to see some rotation for this game away from home against the current leaders.

[RunTigerRun]

I can almost see Bonilla being given a shot at Bristol with Moroni or Montoya being rested.

Maybe Montoya as Youngs and Clare/Kerr could get some game time. Not sure how I’d feel about it but can almost see it being a possibility.

[ourla]

Absolutely nothing to lose in this game as obviously Bristol will be strong favs but we are building slowly and with a fair wind and all that.

[JP14]

The battle of the set-piece will be one to look out for in my opinion, both Tigers and Brizzle have been scoring tries aplenty from the rolling maul.

[JP14]

1. de Bruin
2. Montoya
3. Cole
4. Green
5. Lavanini
6. Chessum
7. Reffell
8. Brink
9. Wigglesworth (c)
10. Henry
11. Murimurivalu
12. Scott
13. Moroni
14. van Wyk
15. Steward
16. Youngs
17. Leatigaga
18. Heyes
19. Henderson
20. Wallace
21. JVP
22. McPhilips
23. Porter

[TigerFeetSteve]

1. de Bruin
2. Montoya
3. Cole
4. Green
5. Lavanini
6. Chessum
7. Reffell
8. Brink
9. Wigglesworth (c)
10. Henry
11. Murimurivalu
12. Scott
13. Moroni
14. van Wyk
15. Steward
16. Youngs
17. Leatigaga
18. Heyes
19. Henderson
20. Wallace
21. JVP
22. McPhilips
23. Porter

Pretty much how I'd line up, dependent on Van Wyk and Wigglesworth who both could have picked up knocks yesterday (which was for both their first game back after an injury the week before) also depends on Nadolo returning to fitness.

[PM76]

Based on selection vs. Quins I wonder if we may see a few more players "rested" or "rotated" this week?

I would certainly be in favour of seeing 3 or 4 players miss one game rather than 15 changes and a drubbing. Presuming Wigglesworth and Wiese missed the game vs. Quins due to "rotation" rather than short-term injuries then perhaps Steward, Moroni, Scott and Henry could miss out this week. If that is SB's plan, then I certainly prefer it to the "15 changes and get battered by 40 points" approach we have seen in the past. I don't mention any of the front rowers or Lavanini for rotation as they are often playing only 45-50 mins per week but I would like to see some further rotation with the starting front row. This would allow for the strongest available XV to play vs. Irish (H) and Gloucester (A) which are two games we really need to target.

My side would be:

Leatigaga, Youngs, Cole
Lavanini, Green
Wells, Brink, Reffell
Wigglesworth, Bonilla
Kelly, Taute
Porter/ Potter, Murimurivalu, Van Wyk

Montoya, De Bruin, Heyes, Henderson, Wallace, JVP, McPhillips, Porter/ Potter

[BG01]

This is an interesting one. Realistically we're losing two of our three biggest ball carriers and we need to make up for that somehow. We're also playing one of the fastest teams in the league. So I think bringing in Nephi and Heyes makes a lot of sense. I do think our maul will suffer as a result. I'd like to see Wallace start but with his lack of game time I'd play him off the bench.

I think I would go with the below (not the same as what I think SB will do - which is play Wells)

1. Leatigaga
2. Montoya
3. Heyes
4. Lavanini
5. Green
6. Henderson
7. Reffell
8. Brink
9. Wigglesworth
10. Henry
11. Murimurivalu
12. Scott
13. Moroni
14. van Wyk
15. Steward

16. Youngs
17. De Bruin
18. Cole
19. Wells
20. Wallace
21. JVP
22. McPhilips
23. Kelly

[happywomble]

Given the Iondon Irish scrum winning a few penalties today vs Bristol, that may be quite an interesting facet of next weekends game

[sam16111986]

This is an interesting one. Realistically we're losing two of our three biggest ball carriers and we need to make up for that somehow. We're also playing one of the fastest teams in the league. So I think bringing in Nephi and Heyes makes a lot of sense.

Bristol faded badly Vs LI who clearly saved some big name players foreseeing this. I'd be tempted to pack the bench with impact and then look to scrum and maul their forwards into the floor in the first half. Internationals next week so no Sheedy as well.

Second half bring on ball carriers like Leatigaga and Henderson to hopefully expose the same fatigue, high energy Luke Wallace off the bench won't hurt either.. I'm not sure we can go toe to toe with them in a quick game. Wasps have a rapid team but some forwards missing similar to Bristol and our tactics from yesterday were really good. Encore except with better discipline.