PRC Semi final vs London Irish (A) - 26th April 2022

[Mayocaz]

With no relegation I personally wouldn’t be surprised if Worcester start to do the double of finishing bottom of the league and then getting to the cup final most seasons.

[Scott1]

I’d imagine the bodies making the decisions thought that playing games towards the end of this competition mid week might stop teams risking to many first team players but unfortunately with the likes of Irish and Worcester getting to this stage they’ve basically prioritised the cup over the league.

Totally what they failed to see that with no relegation this was always likely

Even with relegation some teams used to go close to their gun team in this competition

[johnthegriff]

Quite like Yorktiger's post, I would like to see this competition or the A League as an Under 23 competition with the proviso for a small number of overage players to be included. To have the games played as a reverse fixture to the first team would create problems for those who ground share and to use an alternative pitch (like Loughborough Uni) on a Saturday may not be easy as that might be when the host requires it but as a Monday night game with the occasional weekend it could work,

[RagingBull]

As a competition it's a pretty pointless one
2 midweek games at pro level is terrible.

Especially in the end of the season.

[Hot_Charlie]

As a competition it's a pretty pointless one
2 midweek games at pro level is terrible.

Especially in the end of the season.

Yep. People can criticise the team selections, but Tigers were hamstrung. The priority had to be resting forwards more than anything else, particularly in the back row - and fair play to Jansen for putting in 45 minutes on Saturday and 80 last night (although I suspect that wasn't the plan until Ilione went off). To that end we had an ok front row with a made up back 5. I was surprised Irish put out the side they did, but maybe it's a reflection of their financial position that they appear to prioritise the silverware of the PRC as opposed to not finishing 9th in the league, which is a very real threat at the moment (and they play the team below them on Sunday!).

The second priority must've been experience for Lancaster and Browning, particularly the former, and I think playing against a Premiership (all international) 9-10-12 combination was eye opening for him. He struggled. There's nothing else to add.

On the plus side, the line out functioned pretty well, particularly when Vanes came on. Saumaki looked dangerous ball in hand again. Hegarty ran some nice lines. Ilione was excellent for 20 minutes.

[Scott1]

As a competition it's a pretty pointless one
2 midweek games at pro level is terrible.

Especially in the end of the season.

This! I know I'll probably get called out on where they would fit,but these should be weekend games with discounted tickets and family fun days if possible. Day out to grow the game more

[Leicestertinytiger]

Love how London Irish fans are trying to defend their selection saying only 1 player was first choice. Injuries permitting, by their logic we should’ve fielded.

Whitcombe Dolly Heyes Green Henderson Martin Robinson Jansen JVP Burns Saumaki Socino Porter Ashton Hegarty

[TigerFeetSteve]

Love how London Irish fans are trying to defend their selection saying only 1 player was first choice. Injuries permitting, by their logic we should’ve fielded.

Whitcombe Dolly Heyes Green Henderson Martin Robinson Jansen JVP Burns Saumaki Socino Porter Ashton Hegarty

Nahhh should have been Scott at 12, Kelly is our first choice there... Also lets not forget we need one first choice player in there. Let's make that Steward...

[Rugbygramps]

Agree with all that has been previously posted, a radical rethink is required because last night was a farce for rugby as a whole.
As for the players, a I think the swing doors are closing on the last chance saloon for some.
Lancaster is an interesting one, he isn’t with the best will in the world a 10, but his passing in the later stages where he was more at 12 was better. Maybe if this chance in Australia pans out it will help him.
Agree about Jansen big fan and must have a hell of an engine. Did others hear that he has put 3kg, nearly half a stone in old money, in muscle in the 8 weeks he has been here

[GB72]

I think that we may be taking the moral high ground a bit too quickly here. If we were out of Europe and had nothing to play for in the league, I suspect that we too may have put a stronger team out and gone for the silverware. If we had already secured top 2 and a home playoff, I also suspect the team may have been different. That is the choice every club has and we chose, correctly, to prioritise other competitions.

[Rugbygramps]

I think that we may be taking the moral high ground a bit too quickly here. If we were out of Europe and had nothing to play for in the league, I suspect that we too may have put a stronger team out and gone for the silverware. If we had already secured top 2 and a home playoff, I also suspect the team may have been different. That is the choice every club has and we chose, correctly, to prioritise other competitions.

I don’t disagree with you and I would have still posted the same if we had been unable to field a strong 23 the following Saturday

[Hot_Charlie]

I think that we may be taking the moral high ground a bit too quickly here. If we were out of Europe and had nothing to play for in the league, I suspect that we too may have put a stronger team out and gone for the silverware. If we had already secured top 2 and a home playoff, I also suspect the team may have been different. That is the choice every club has and we chose, correctly, to prioritise other competitions.

Nail on the head. The PRC really has to remain a mainly midweek competition now due to the expansion of the Premiership. It's swings and roundabouts. If we'd been knocked out of Europe, or beaten Quins on Saturday, it may have been a far tighter contest with a far stronger Tigers team.

[Bunchy]

Irish are still in europe too, and not out of top 4 race

[Rugbygramps]

Irish are still in europe too, and not out of top 4 race

I dispute that they are still in the top 4 race but they certainly don’t have a top 8 finish tied down

[GB72]

Irish are still in europe too, and not out of top 4 race

Then in the same position as us (OK not a strong but number of matches, demand on players etc). They chose to focus on this match, perhaps to the detriment of others. We chose to enter a weaker team, perhaps to the benefit of matches in other events.

Every team has their own priorities and we could have gone into this strong if we wanted to but did not. No rules broken so congrats to LI and we move on.

Really not sure what the issue is here. Both teams made selections based on their priorities for this competition. Are we really riled because LI decided they wanted to win this competition and we were pretty much ambivilent to it.