BRISTOL vs TIGERS - Sat 27 Feb 21 (1300)

[Dokie]

I agree Cole looks better as a starter, but I wonder if there is a reluctance to have both Heyes and Whitcombe on the bench and finishing together meaning we lack experience, so one has to start, and Heyes is more ready.
I like the look of Porter, I’d be having him and Van Wyk on the wings until Nadolo is back, Steward at 15, and Murimurivalu as the utility option in 23 shirt.

Prefer to see Porter at 12. It suits his skill set. He’s not strong enough in the air to play wing unless, like Bristol, the opposition don’t kick the ball much.

[TigerFeetSteve]

This new game plan is making us much more competitive. We're not getting hammered.

But we're going to have to develop our attacking game to start winning matches like this. Teams who can score lots of tries will keep getting too far ahead.

Its all about winning sick to death of losing and not being hammered is no consolation.

Exeter, second in the league have lost 4 games.
As have Sale, Quins and Saints. Falcons and Irish have lost 5 and Wasps, 6. Tigers have lost 6.

1 of thoses losses was due to a Covid cancellation too.

[sam16111986]

12 is a real issue for us, Porter deserves a run there, Moroni probably deserved a yellow but for the first one.
Chessum played well but he certainly isn't an 8, but worthy of starting at 6 next week.

To be fair to Chessum he controlled the ball well at the back of the scrum. There were some messy scrums in that game and he never lost control. You'd normally want to have your 8 to carry more in the loose as you say but if someone like Brink was at 6 then it could work.

Porter at 12 and Moroni at 13? I'd like to see that given a go.

[Dangerous4]

Number 12 birth needs attention, and other personnel will need replacing in key positions.

Looking back to where we were this time last year, we have most certainly progressed. I envisage us to be challenging seriously in another two or three seasons.It takes time to work from the bottom to the top, and S B has worked wonders since replacing G M. He appears to have a long term plan, something that has been absent for some time now. All in all I feel pretty confident about the future.

[Redstripeman]

Its all about winning sick to death of losing and not being hammered is no consolation.

Exeter, second in the league have lost 4 games.
As have Sale, Quins and Saints. Falcons and Irish have lost 5 and Wasps, 6. Tigers have lost 6.

That’s a crazy stat! Doesn’t feel like it but shows that everyone is dropping points. And we are still a way ahead of bottom placed Gloucester!

....this rugby season is mirroring the football season!!!
All very weird and potentially open to an unexpected team to come through and surprise us all.

[TigerBoy1880]

Exeter, second in the league have lost 4 games.
As have Sale, Quins and Saints. Falcons and Irish have lost 5 and Wasps, 6. Tigers have lost 6.

That’s a crazy stat! Doesn’t feel like it but shows that everyone is dropping points. And we are still a way ahead of bottom placed Gloucester!

....this rugby season is mirroring the football season!!!
All very weird and potentially open to an unexpected team to come through and surprise us all.

What like Man City?

[JP14]

Wouldn't everyone love to have match winners as 2nd choices...

Porter certainly could IMO develop into extremely dangerous crash ball centre

He’s very Jamie Roberts esq in my opinion.

[iceman_19]

Porter, yet again today, showed himself to be a very fine all round player. He is very physical, has a good all round skill set, and you can hear him talking all the time. For me he needs a run at 12 with Moroni and a first choice pack, and I genuinely think we may have unearthed a gem.

Other than that, great scramble defence and last 20 - we were far too static and predictable in the first hour. Reffell and Moroni were awesome, Chessum showed up well out of position too. Lots of reasons to be positive - restricting probably one of the best attacking sides in Europe to two tries (and those only scored against 14 men) was good to see.

[kk20gb30]

A lot of effort for little tangible reward - we were worth more than the points acquired.Still, much to take from the game.

[wellstiger]

Are we the finished article? No.
Are we improving as a team? Is the 80 min performance improving? Is the defensive effort improving? Are we performing better than this time last season? For me Yes Yes Yes.

Both teams yesterday were missing players and both teams put in a shift with fringe players. The difference for me was the energy in what we were about. Bristol scrum was until yesterday presumed to be the best in the prem. So for me we had them on toast.
In time I see a more attacking regime being introduced. We were hitting brick walls yesterday with no idea how to break it down.
SB has been rotating the squad game on game due to injuries and International duties and there was little drop in intensity.

Stick with it boys and girls (and others), the future looks brighter. I know some want win after win and nothing else will do.
We were starting from point zero. So a big well done boys for all the effort.

[MCC1964]

And I’m going to say it.....congrats to Mike Ford. Whilst no team can prevent all scores I think we are becoming much harder to score against......when we have 15 men in the pitch. Certainly compared to last year. So credit where credit is due.

What I want to see more signs of is our attacking shape, but generally and compared to last year I can only see positives moving forward or at least I genuinely feel we are heading in the right direction. I am as impatient as anyone else in terms of wanting us to be a more dominating team in both attack and defence, but I like the squad that is building.

[jgriffin]

SB said as much in his interview - great defence, need to sort the attack out.
For me a massive improvement and a real feel of evolution PLUS how good are our homegrown players!

[sam16111986]

SB said as much in his interview - great defence, need to sort the attack out.
For me a massive improvement and a real feel of evolution PLUS how good are our homegrown players!

The younger lads coming through the development team (and Porter) were really good. Some massive positives there, 12 months ago that game falls apart with the yellow card but second half we were brilliant and in fact had the better chances.

Tactics were good and put us in really good positions but we looked a bit clueless when the rolling maul wasn't yielding tries. We tried the scrum route and bulldozing our way over but it was all a bit obvious. The platform is in place now is the time that the attacking shape come under scrutiny because there was at least one league point left at Bristol that should have come back to WR and possibly more. More variation, more lines of attack are required it's ok saying if Ford was available but we know he will be with England for a third of every season because of his qualities. We've got to have an attack that isn't reliant on him.

[MurphysLaw]

[quote=sam16111986 post_id=769617 time=1614520338 user_id=6978]
[quote=jgriffin post_id=769613 time=1614519362 user_id=9496]
SB said as much in his interview - great defence, need to sort the attack out.
For me a massive improvement and a real feel of evolution PLUS how good are our homegrown players!
[/quote]

The younger lads coming through the development team (and Porter) were really good. Some massive positives there, 12 months ago that game falls apart with the yellow card but second half we were brilliant and in fact had the better chances.

Tactics were good and put us in really good positions but we looked a bit clueless when the rolling maul wasn't yielding tries. We tried the scrum route and bulldozing our way over but it was all a bit obvious. The platform is in place now is the time that the attacking shape come under scrutiny because there was at least one league point left at Bristol that should have come back to WR and possibly more. More variation, more lines of attack are required it's ok saying if Ford was available but we know he will be with England for a third of every season because of his qualities. We've got to have an attack that isn't reliant on him.
[/quote]

Yes, this has to right!
It doesn't take much for opposing teams to see where Tigers have been focusing their try-scoring efforts recently, and Bris managed to nullify the catch and drive. Beyond that Tigers offered little threat.

[teds]

He looks good as a winger.

even better as a SH

not in his last game as one.

Sorry RB, I can’t remember Simmonds last game as scrum half, could you remind me what happened?