Tigers @ Gloucester - Friday 24th September 2021 - 1945

[Grimlish]

I hadn’t picked up the news about Kingsholm having a plastic pitch (cited here asa reason for resting key Tigers players) and there’s a reason for that. Their new pitch is no more plastic than ours.

https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/s ... 880265.amp

[Ian Cant]

Gloucester is never a place to go with any other attitude than expect one of the toughest games of the season. Gloucester will be dangerous as they will want to show their own fans that the result v Saints was a blip.
Their forwards will up their game and their backs are capable of opening up defences.
This is no time to “rest “ players: we will still be missing 5-7 excellent players and furthermore, surely we need to put down a marker away from home.
Exeter were surprised by our intensity! I hope we won’t be surprised by Gloucester’s!
We can win but so can Gloucester.

[Wayne Richardson Fan Club]

I hadn’t picked up the news about Kingsholm having a plastic pitch (cited here asa reason for resting key Tigers players) and there’s a reason for that. Their new pitch is no more plastic than ours.

https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/s ... 880265.amp

https://www.gloucesterrugby.co.uk/news/ ... -kingsholm

Slightly more up to date pitch reference.

[Grimlish]

Doh!

(And yes I really dislike artificial pitches too. Our hybrid is far superior)

[Noggs]

Doh!

(And yes I really dislike artificial pitches too. Our hybrid is far superior)

Fully agree.

It looks like they will have Mark Atkinson available after his call up to the England training camp. A good center who we will need to close down quickly to stop his distribution game.

[JP14]

Doh!

(And yes I really dislike artificial pitches too. Our hybrid is far superior)

Fully agree.

It looks like they will have Mark Atkinson available after his call up to the England training camp. A good center who we will need to close down quickly to stop his distribution game.

With the loss of Kriel, Mostert in the pack, Polledri still injured and Alemanno away with Argentina, they will be even more reliant on Atkinson to create quick ball for them. Shut him down at source, and Gloucester will struggle.

[sam16111986]

Doh!

(And yes I really dislike artificial pitches too. Our hybrid is far superior)

Fully agree.

It looks like they will have Mark Atkinson available after his call up to the England training camp. A good center who we will need to close down quickly to stop his distribution game.

With the loss of Kriel, Mostert in the pack, Polledri still injured and Alemanno away with Argentina, they will be even more reliant on Atkinson to create quick ball for them. Shut him down at source, and Gloucester will struggle.

Atkinson is strong and skillful but he isn't quick. Twelvetrees isn't that quick anymore either. If that is the Glaws midfield there's a good chance for us to use the big runners down the middle to tie them in like we did Vs the Chiefs but then go wide early. Look to isolate the Glaws wingers, the centres won't be quick to cover across.

[OakhamTiger32]

Referee: Tom Foley (99th Premiership game).

Assistant Referees: Anthony Woodthorpe and Paul Dix.

TMO: Wayne Barnes.

Citing Officer: Duncan Bell.

Foley is one of my least favourite referees alongside Dickson but hey ho.. at least we have a quality TMO. Sure the lads can get the job done

[Noggs]

Teams up:

STARTING XV
15 Freddie Steward [36]
14 Harry Potter [17]
13 Matt Scott [26]
12 Dan Kelly [21]
11 Nemani Nadolo [17]
10 George Ford [106]
9 Jack van Poortvliet [22]
1 Ellis Genge (c) [90]
2 Nic Dolly [4]
3 Dan Cole [265]
4 Harry Wells [125]
5 Eli Snyman [1]
6 George Martin [18]
7 Tommy Reffell [48]
8 Hanro Liebenberg (vc) [37]

REPLACEMENTS
16 Tom Cowan-Dickie [1]
17 Francois van Wyk [1]
18 Joe Heyes [72]
19 Calum Green [61]
20 Ollie Chessum [9]
21 Ben Youngs [265]
22 Freddie Burns [77]
23 Guy Porter [18]

[Noggs]

Gloucester Rugby:

15. Kyle Moyle

14. Tom Seabrook *

13. Billy Twelvetrees

12. Mark Atkinson

11. Ollie Thorley *

10. Lloyd Evans *

9. Ben Meehan


1. Harry Elrington

2. Jack Singleton

3. Fraser Balmain

4. Ed Slater

5. Andrew Davidson

6. Ben Morgan

7. Lewis Ludlow (c) *

8. Ruan Ackermann



16. Henry Walker *

17. Jamal Ford-Robinson

18. Kirill Gotovtsev

19. Freddie Clarke *

20. Wian Conradie

21. Jack Clement *

22. Stephen Varney *

23. Adam Hastings

*Denotes Academy player or graduate from the Gloucester Rugby Academy

[sam16111986]

Bit of rotation as expected but not to much. The team should be able to build on last week's good performance. Glad Heyes is back.

[Ian Cant]

Great to see an almost unchanged squad.
Good idea to rotate Ben and JVP as both players can play good attacking rugby.
Maybe a good idea to have Youngs coming off the bench to add experience if the Shed upsets JVP!!!!
Yes: glad to see Heyes back.
Hope May isn’t out for Gloucester due to a serious injury.
Could be the result of the tackle on him after he’d scored v Saints!

[Leicestertinytiger]

Not being harsh on Gloucester - full strength they’re a good team but looking at the lineups we really should be getting the win.

Glad to see Snyman get a start - he’s looked like a shrewd signing. JVP deserves to be rotated with Youngs for a starting spot too. Not too many changes which is good to see.

Anyone know if Muri is injured - surprised not to see him on the bench?

[Noggs]

Snyman looked good when he came on last week but Green also had a good game. No problem with giving Snyman a start. I thought TY would get the bench. He 'was not available for selection' last week so may have some more problems outside of rugby. I wish him and his family the best and hope he is back soon.

Looking at the match ups I think we have a very good chance of a win, provided we keep on the right side of 'sir'.

[bendy]

Still no Muri or Saumaki. Interesting.

But only two changes to the starting XV - that's what we want to see! I'm feeling bullish about this one again. Looking forward to Scott's "Gloucester by 15-20" prediction.