What Now For Our Season?

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BFG
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Re: What Now For Our Season?

Post by BFG »

Now that there is no relegation threat we will get to see if the pressure of it really does hold teams back from playing exciting rugby, or whether it's just been an excuse for being rubbish!
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Re: What Now For Our Season?

Post by WhitecapTiger »

wellstiger wrote: Sun Jan 19, 2020 11:47 am Any thing else and we'll be criticised by all and sundry

It will be as though - "Tigers should have been relegated as they were the poorest playing team in the PL"
It is still possible for Saracens to overhaul us, imagine that - Tigers finished bottom but weren't relegated.... wouldn't live that one down.
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Tiglon
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Re: What Now For Our Season?

Post by Tiglon »

For some reason I'm feeling ambitious today and, looking at the table, there's no reason why we shouldn't aim for 5th and to win the Challenge Cup.

The others left in our Euro competition are nothing special, and no one outside the top 4 in the Premiership has shown consistent form. Of course, neither have Tigers, but I feel we are the club who have been playing the furthest below our potential and we really need a strong finish to the season to provide momentum for the start of next.

If we do finish 10th/11 with Bristol, Irish, Worcester and Wasps looking so vulnerable then it will still be a huge failure, regardless of Sarries.
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Re: What Now For Our Season?

Post by OakhamTiger32 »

WhitecapTiger wrote: Sun Jan 19, 2020 12:33 pm
wellstiger wrote: Sun Jan 19, 2020 11:47 am Any thing else and we'll be criticised by all and sundry

It will be as though - "Tigers should have been relegated as they were the poorest playing team in the PL"
It is still possible for Saracens to overhaul us, imagine that - Tigers finished bottom but weren't relegated.... wouldn't live that one down.
I’ve seen mixed reports.. some say another 35 point deduction but most say ‘guaranteed relegation’ and BBC said they are going down regardless of points scored
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Re: What Now For Our Season?

Post by WhitecapTiger »

OakhamTiger32 wrote: Sun Jan 19, 2020 1:09 pm
WhitecapTiger wrote: Sun Jan 19, 2020 12:33 pm
wellstiger wrote: Sun Jan 19, 2020 11:47 am Any thing else and we'll be criticised by all and sundry

It will be as though - "Tigers should have been relegated as they were the poorest playing team in the PL"
It is still possible for Saracens to overhaul us, imagine that - Tigers finished bottom but weren't relegated.... wouldn't live that one down.
I’ve seen mixed reports.. some say another 35 point deduction but most say ‘guaranteed relegation’ and BBC said they are going down regardless of points scored
Any way up the points they amass from remaining games will still add up....but then wiped out under banner of auto relegation.

My.point was if we stay in a daze because we're 'safe' we could end up in a very embarrassing situation...overhauled by cheats from waaayyy behind and only stayed up due to their predicament.

We need to use the 'reprieve' and pressure drop to show progress, ideally get one or two more teams (at least) beneath us...but all teams could now throw caution to the wind and play globetrotter rugby with no spectre of relegation looming.
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Re: What Now For Our Season?

Post by Robespierre »

Tiglon wrote: Sun Jan 19, 2020 12:51 pm For some reason I'm feeling ambitious today and, looking at the table, there's no reason why we shouldn't aim for 5th and to win the Challenge Cup.

The others left in our Euro competition are nothing special, and no one outside the top 4 in the Premiership has shown consistent form. Of course, neither have Tigers, but I feel we are the club who have been playing the furthest below our potential and we really need a strong finish to the season to provide momentum for the start of next.

If we do finish 10th/11 with Bristol, Irish, Worcester and Wasps looking so vulnerable then it will still be a huge failure, regardless of Sarries.
.
Hmm. I wouldn’t classify Toulon, Bordeaux and Bristol as “nothing special”, and I think Tigers’ chances of winning the competition are not good.
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Re: What Now For Our Season?

Post by Tiglon »

Robespierre wrote: Sun Jan 19, 2020 6:04 pm
Tiglon wrote: Sun Jan 19, 2020 12:51 pm For some reason I'm feeling ambitious today and, looking at the table, there's no reason why we shouldn't aim for 5th and to win the Challenge Cup.

The others left in our Euro competition are nothing special, and no one outside the top 4 in the Premiership has shown consistent form. Of course, neither have Tigers, but I feel we are the club who have been playing the furthest below our potential and we really need a strong finish to the season to provide momentum for the start of next.

If we do finish 10th/11 with Bristol, Irish, Worcester and Wasps looking so vulnerable then it will still be a huge failure, regardless of Sarries.
.
Hmm. I wouldn’t classify Toulon, Bordeaux and Bristol as “nothing special”, and I think Tigers’ chances of winning the competition are not good.
So Tigers shouldn't aim to win the Challenge Cup? Then why bother wasting our time by entering?

Toulon and Bordeaux are arguably special, depends on your definition. I'll leave that one down to personal opinion. But Bristol? Have not won in the league since the Internationals returned in November - definitely not special.
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Re: What Now For Our Season?

Post by Tigerbeat »

Robespierre wrote: Sun Jan 19, 2020 6:04 pm
Tiglon wrote: Sun Jan 19, 2020 12:51 pm For some reason I'm feeling ambitious today and, looking at the table, there's no reason why we shouldn't aim for 5th and to win the Challenge Cup.

The others left in our Euro competition are nothing special, and no one outside the top 4 in the Premiership has shown consistent form. Of course, neither have Tigers, but I feel we are the club who have been playing the furthest below our potential and we really need a strong finish to the season to provide momentum for the start of next.

If we do finish 10th/11 with Bristol, Irish, Worcester and Wasps looking so vulnerable then it will still be a huge failure, regardless of Sarries.
.
Hmm. I wouldn’t classify Toulon, Bordeaux and Bristol as “nothing special”, and I think Tigers’ chances of winning the competition are not good.
If the Final was played today, I would agree with the chances of Tigers. However, 3-4 months time things could be a lot rosier so no reason why they should not be able to win the competition.
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Re: What Now For Our Season?

Post by RichieB »

I guess the danger is the Saracens debacle diverts attention away from the more important job of rebuilding our club. Just because we may not get relegated doesn't mean that the recent green shoots of recovery are good enough or acceptable over the longer term.

We must surely aspire to greater heights and as Pat Howard intimated - regularly in the top 6 and competing at the highest level in Europe.

This means we can't take our foot of the gas and have to keep driving through improvements on and off the pitch.
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Re: What Now For Our Season?

Post by Tigerbeat »

This may take some pressure off the team and we could see some more open rugby played, without the worry of relegation. Could be good for the development of players.
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OakhamTiger32
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Re: What Now For Our Season?

Post by OakhamTiger32 »

Nothing wrong with feeling ambitious, it's good to see some positivity. I agree that come April we should be in a better position to tackle the knockout stages and hopefully sitting slightly higher up the table than our current ranking. Injuries permitting we should be fielding a side something along the lines of:

1. Genge
2. Youngs
3. Cole
4. Lavanini
5. Green/Spencer
6. Kalamafoni
7. Taufua
8. Liebenberg
9. Youngs
10. Ford
11. May
12. Taute
13. Tuilagi
14. Holmes
15. Veianu

16. Kerr
17. Leatigaga
18. Bateman
19. Wells
20. Thompson
21. White/Simmons
22. Reid
23. Olowafela

Clearly people will have their preferences about back row and centre combinations but this is just a potential squad for the Challenge Cup knockout stages and do you know what.. much like Tiglon I am feeling confident. Perhaps it's slightly naive of me or misplaced confidence given our current ranking in the GP but nonetheless I am.

I agree Toulon and Bordeaux are certainly no pushovers but I would feel confident with that side that we could get the job done. We certainly should be beating Castres at home and then we are 2 matches away from guaranteed Champions Cup rugby next term. Away to Toulon would be a tough game but hopefully off the back of a successful 6N campaign for England our lads will be fired up and ready to get stuck in to the final stages of the season (without the pressure of relegation looming) and with the (potential) addition of Steve Borthwick.

IMHO we most certainly should target this competition but I don't think it's beyond our squad to do it in parallel with a climb up the table in the GP. Win the Challenge Cup and finish anywhere in the mid table and it would have been an extremely successful season. Long way to go and it's a tough road ahead but I think we can do it given the progress we have seen in the last month or so.
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Re: What Now For Our Season?

Post by Robespierre »

Tiglon wrote: Sun Jan 19, 2020 6:43 pm
Robespierre wrote: Sun Jan 19, 2020 6:04 pm
Tiglon wrote: Sun Jan 19, 2020 12:51 pm For some reason I'm feeling ambitious today and, looking at the table, there's no reason why we shouldn't aim for 5th and to win the Challenge Cup.

The others left in our Euro competition are nothing special, and no one outside the top 4 in the Premiership has shown consistent form. Of course, neither have Tigers, but I feel we are the club who have been playing the furthest below our potential and we really need a strong finish to the season to provide momentum for the start of next.

If we do finish 10th/11 with Bristol, Irish, Worcester and Wasps looking so vulnerable then it will still be a huge failure, regardless of Sarries.
.
Hmm. I wouldn’t classify Toulon, Bordeaux and Bristol as “nothing special”, and I think Tigers’ chances of winning the competition are not good.
So Tigers shouldn't aim to win the Challenge Cup? Then why bother wasting our time by entering?

Toulon and Bordeaux are arguably special, depends on your definition. I'll leave that one down to personal opinion. But Bristol? Have not won in the league since the Internationals returned in November - definitely not special.
I don’t believe I said that Tigers shouldn’t aim to win the Challenge Cup, I sincerely hope they do. I was only commenting on their slim chances of doing so. However, I do retract my comment about Bristol being of the same level as Toulon and Bordeaux.
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Re: What Now For Our Season?

Post by JP14 »

With the weight of relegation off our shoulders, Tigers should now be focused on Europe but we are good enough for Top 6 in my opinion. I hope Murphy is able to steer our squad from the Salarycens affair and focus on our rugby.
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Re: What Now For Our Season?

Post by JP14 »

I think it’s no given but I believe on our day we can beat either Toulon or Bordeaux, unless Bristol get their act together can’t see them getting past the semis.
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Re: What Now For Our Season?

Post by CitizenSmiff »

JP14 wrote: Sun Jan 19, 2020 10:04 pm With the weight of relegation off our shoulders, Tigers should now be focused on Europe but we are good enough for Top 6 in my opinion. I hope Murphy is able to steer our squad from the Salarycens affair and focus on our rugby.
Murphy won't have first team duties for much longer I wouldn't imagine. He's done enough to justify some sort of continued career in management but nowhere near enough to carry on as HC for a team with any ambition.
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