Teams up v Gloucester

[jgriffin]

I love it! The season as roller-coaster again.
After last night, several rums were imbibed (with a little mixer) yet no hangover - it's the Tigers effect! (or just very good rum).

[Doghashadhisday]

Its amazing 4 pages of moaning by some of the usual suspects but then the comments dry up as soon as we turn the game round.

[Hot_Charlie]

Our interesting selection of Bateman at 3 worked (from a scrum point of view) while our replacement front three were excellent.

Not just in the scrum. Has a TH ever been seen so much at 1st receiver. His hands were excellent as was his carrying (as it was when he was playing 2 last season). The shift to TH looks more encouraging with each game.

[mol2]

Not sure our defence was as bad as the score implied.
Their first try was as a result of a clear forward pass.
One was a sloppy pass by Tait. Not to mention the 3 points from his quick throw in (50m) from where the line out would have been compounded by not having the speed to run way from trouble.
One was the predictably over eager Manu who seems unable to hold the line in his first game back from injury. Shades of Paris last year. Usually settles down by second game.

The pack played well and the youngsters in that pack looked composed. Thompstone looked classy when he came on, highlighting the strange selection of Veainu on the wing to play Tait at full back.

Burns played well enough and kicked well apart fro the first restart. Harrison had a good game, although I think having your back up fly half starting at 9 is risky. It will be interesting to see who starts at 9 when Williams is fit again. Ben Youngs may find he went to Australia as England's first choice but finds himself as Tigers' no 2. That's how well Harrison is playing.

[ourla]

Tigers are not going to win anything until they get a decent defence coach in. If Hansen is supposed to be the defence coach then he is a very poor one. It's the first game of the season and already they have shipped 30 points. This is de ja vu . Tigers were one of the worst teams last season for conceding points and in the first game of this season they have started badly again.

I predicted Tigers will finish 5th this season and I still believe on this showing that is still the case. It seems nothing has been learned and these professional players are unable to do basic rugby skills. It's going to be a long old season if this doesn't get sorted soon.

Seriously, I'm surprised you get up in the morning. You must hate it when the sun shines.

[WhitecapTiger]

Tigers are not going to win anything until they get a decent defence coach in. If Hansen is supposed to be the defence coach then he is a very poor one. It's the first game of the season and already they have shipped 30 points. This is de ja vu . Tigers were one of the worst teams last season for conceding points and in the first game of this season they have started badly again.

I predicted Tigers will finish 5th this season and I still believe on this showing that is still the case. It seems nothing has been learned and these professional players are unable to do basic rugby skills. It's going to be a long old season if this doesn't get sorted soon.

Seriously, I'm surprised you get up in the morning. You must hate it when the sun shines.

+1

[L Smith]

Controversially, as much as I was ecstatic with the win, I think an honourable mention should go out to the Gloucester players. We had the depth in the squad that Gloucester simply didn't have so once the fatigue started to set in, we were able to dominate.
I hope that, as devastated as they will be, they take the positives from how they played for 50 minutes and, frankly, made us look like mugs.
Gloucester are a proper rugby club with a proper ground and passionate fans (not to everyone's liking) but the AP is better for having them. I hope they bounce back and go well this year.

[MrPartridge]

Would have posted earlier but phone died last night. It was an embarrassment at HT and worse at 45 mins and 7-31 but then something rather amazing happened! Never seen a game like it. We went from the ridiculous to the sublime!

Credit to the players who turned that around, especially the bench. How did we win the game given Tait played the full 80 and had an absolute mare and I don't think Manu made one tackle. A better team than Gloucester will not let us get away with anything half as bad as that in the first 40.

Credit to the Gloucester fans at the end who were very gracious (if stunned). Might have been a world record for beer drinking at Kingsholm last night with most drowning sorrows and a few celebrating!!

[Big Dai]

Yawn! Morning all. Feeling a lot better than I deserve frankly. Haven't had a peep from Posh Richard yet, but am assuming he's "gone mardy!" He was moaning about Leicester's offsides last night.....somewhat slurred.

Was it that bad? A couple of costly errors and brainfades but I think Cookers might know the source of those, unusually he did name the offender in the post match interview. As for the turnaround the bench was critical. Maybe it's an all black thing. You pick strong players on the bench to do a job when their blokes are fading. Not necessarily picking your "best" 15 up front.

BTW Tombstone looked :censored: quick...... and eager.

[Noddy555]

As my BT TV is not being put in until the 13th September I had to go through the agony and eventual ecstasy of watching the score change on teletext. Amazing result so looking forward to the highlights programme on ITV 4 tomorrow night.

[h's dad]

I agree! What's happening?! The first half in my view was poor but what I meant by number 1 was people have asked to be entertained and not bored. Is 69 points not suffice?

I've said it before but if you want a scoreline like that I suggest basketball. I like to watch a game where both teams can put out a committed and competent defence to combat determined attacks.

Well done the lads for clawing the win back but why get into that position in the first place? It was almost like a Hollywood Rocky script rather than real professional sport.

[WhitecapTiger]

Highlights for those interested.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9Fj-zACZ_M

I think for our first try JPP had to check his step a little to allow for the bounce of Burns' kick through, whilst Sharples was able to continue at full pace, maybe why he caught JPP as easily as some seem to think.

[g]

Actually I absolutely love it when the sun shines its when it doesn't shine I'm not happy. Ok we'll see at the end of the season where Tigers finish and see what the points against column looks like. I just don't think Hansen is doing a very good job as defence coach and Tigers need a decent defensive coach. All in my humble OPINION of course.

[jgriffin]

Actually I absolutely love it when the sun shines its when it doesn't shine I'm not happy. Ok we'll see at the end of the season where Tigers finish and see what the points against column looks like. I just don't think Hansen is doing a very good job as defence coach and Tigers need a decent defensive coach. All in my humble OPINION of course.

I'm a Happy Clapper apparently, but agree with you.

[TomWeston]

Our interesting selection of Bateman at 3 worked (from a scrum point of view) while our replacement front three were excellent.

Not just in the scrum. Has a TH ever been seen so much at 1st receiver. His hands were excellent as was his carrying (as it was when he was playing 2 last season). The shift to TH looks more encouraging with each game.

And our Tommy showed that he can strike for and win the ball. I wonder if Mr Jones was watching?

We might not have achieved our usual expected dominance in the scrum (I think that Marcos was wrongly penalised for the first {I think}) scrum, but with the changes to the laws I believe that securing channel 1 ball will be more vital than ever. If we can hold our own, and remember the weight advantage of Glaws' front 3, and strike we will be able to use the resources outside better.