Watson
Agulla
Joseph
Eastmond
Rokoduguni
Ford
Young
James
Guinazu
Wilson
Attwood
Garvey
Catt
Heathcote
Williams
Gilbert
Koster
Skuse
Not involved last night.
Added to that, 4 lads with England U20s, who may well have been included in an LV CUp fixture?.
And we still had 9 full internationals included in the matchday 23 last night. Maybe, shock, horror, other teams manage their squads, and injuries better than Leicester?.
Something to think about anyway.
Well we had
Youngs
Youngs
Cole
Tait
Parling
Mulipola
Croft
Slater
Kitchener
Deacon
Gibson
Salvi
Mele
Flood
Allen
Ayerza
Briggs
Crane
Morris
Thompstone
Camacho
Bowden
Thacker
Purdy
Benjamin
Goneva
Manu will be fun when he comes back. All the pent up energy and frustration he will have. God help the bloke who's channel he comes storming down...a fresh Manu will be awesome
And when those firmer pitches come what a back three Benji, Goneva and Tait will be.
A matchfit Mafi will be a handful as well and Ant will only get better as he plays more rugby.
Clearly this was always going to be an almost impossible game to win with the relative squad strengths. When one team is bringing on 20 year olds making their first few appearances and the other is bringing on players like Louw, Perenise and Fearns it is obvious which team is going to win. There are definetely positives to take from this game though. Matera was good and won multiple turnovers My one problem is that sometimes he can go into contact too high, making it easier for the tackler to drive him back. But in general he looked to be a very exciting prospect. Scully and Hamilton had decent games considering the conditions and some of the young players looked good. I thought Price went well and Pazquali and Wells looked promising when they came on. Hepetema was very good, the step he has to get round players is very dangerous and he routinely broke the gain line. Despite getting knocked out against Sarries with the face tackle he was very strong in the tackle and smashed a few second rows. Clearly we should never be happy with a home defeat but considering the conditions and the difference in squad depths I think we can give the team a bit of slack.
I, for one, went to the game expecting it to be a probable loss: nevertheless, I quite enjoyed my evening out and thought all the players should be congratulated on what they managed in awful conditions.
However, what truly amazed me was the gate: 20,000+ for a dead rubber in a second rate competition. Bet the rest of the clubs look at this and go green with envy!
For when the One Great Scorer comes to write against your name,
He marks - not that you won or lost - but how you played the Game."
DickyP wrote:
However, what truly amazed me was the gate: 20,000+ for a dead rubber in a second rate competition. Bet the rest of the clubs look at this and go green with envy!
I don't believe that attendance figure. I think it referred to tickets sold and therefore included season ticket holders who were not there ( like myself who is ill at the moment and watched on TV).
DickyP wrote:However, what truly amazed me was the gate: 20,000+ for a dead rubber in a second rate competition. Bet the rest of the clubs look at this and go green with envy!
It wasn't a dead rubber for Tigers going into the game though was it?
I agree with all the reservations above - tickets sold etc , nevertheless, I was amazed even before the game started just how full the ground was compared with similar fixtures in previous seasons. Especially on a very unpleasant Friday night. And even with 14,000 ST holders it was still 6,000+ tickets sold: more than many gates in total!
And yes it was effectively a dead rubber: we needed 1) a bonus point victory and 2) all the others in the group to slip up. The minute you saw the two Bath/Tigers line-ups it was clear that the former was highly unlikely, and the second was a pretty forlorn hope even before one looked at Exeter's and Worcester's line-ups! Must admit I was surprised by Osprey's result though.
For when the One Great Scorer comes to write against your name,
He marks - not that you won or lost - but how you played the Game."
Noddy555 wrote:I Heard a rumour on Friday that Manu will be back possibly on the bench for the Gloucester game on the 16th of February, Please please be true.
Noddy555 wrote:I Heard a rumour on Friday that Manu will be back possibly on the bench for the Gloucester game on the 16th of February, Please please be true.
I think this is more what Cockers hopes for. I would not be suprised to see Manu on the bench vs Glaws, having said that I expect that he may return late Febuary.
I think Manu will not return before end of Feb because I believe Cockers will not want him to be available for England so quickly after his return to action.
Without hope we are nothing, keep the faith, a Tiger for eternity
I'm with sapa on this. Pointless us playing him quite yet as he by his very nature will be eye catching on his return and thus Lancaster will rush him back risking him more than Cockers ever would.
For The Boy Dave if Manu's return is dictated by recent results, if he's fit we should be definitely starting him ASAP. Our Aviva semi final qualification is
crucial to the club.
