Ealing PRC game info

[KiwiTig]

Great comments as always Ian and once again …”hear, hear”
No team has the divine right to win any game including Tigers.
It is rare that any players is never “up for it” that’s just a nonsense cliché
We battled out a win with the best we could muster
We were far off our best in terms of personnel and performance but it was good enough to get us to the final
Nothing at all wrong with discussion just better to hear solutions and rationale rather than problems and criticism

[sapajo]

Nothing happening. He was man of the match against Quins. Completely different game plan as he played at Irish has also been injured. Didn’t see much ball today but still made a few yards. Don’t thing he enjoyed that surface today

You could tell that by the leggings

I think he always wears leggings - thought it was to keep his legs and muscles warm for running?

Suspect its a counter measure to a 3g pitch

[LE18]

Great comments as always Ian and once again …”hear, hear”
No team has the divine right to win any game including Tigers.
It is rare that any players is never “up for it” that’s just a nonsense cliché
We battled out a win with the best we could muster
We were far off our best in terms of personnel and performance but it was good enough to get us to the final
Nothing at all wrong with discussion just better to hear solutions and rationale rather than problems and criticism

Whilst we didnt play well, its a win. The problem lies with the disjointed season, the Internationals should not be played mid- season, they should be played at the end, our guys just do not get continuity, resulting in weeks off. That is madness.

[GB72]

Great comments as always Ian and once again …”hear, hear”
No team has the divine right to win any game including Tigers.
It is rare that any players is never “up for it” that’s just a nonsense cliché
We battled out a win with the best we could muster
We were far off our best in terms of personnel and performance but it was good enough to get us to the final
Nothing at all wrong with discussion just better to hear solutions and rationale rather than problems and criticism

Whilst we didnt play well, its a win. The problem lies with the disjointed season, the Internationals should not be played mid- season, they should be played at the end, our guys just do not get continuity, resulting in weeks off. That is madness.

I totally agree but it will always be the money thing. Move the 6 Nations to the end of the season and incorporate rest weeks in the current season to use the time that the 6 Nations would take, great for the game as players are available, great for players as they get mandated rest weeks in the season, great for the fans so an no brainer decision.............

BUT, 6 Nations at the end of the season would mean likely no summer tour, no summer tour means we cannot fulfill what appears to be an RFU mandate of funding Southern Hemisphere Unions and if we do not go there in the Summer, they are not going to be so willing to come here in the Autumn and so, shame of shames, we may have to give some exposure and much needed funding to non tier 1 nations to fill that slot.

[Rugbygramps]

Great comments as always Ian and once again …”hear, hear”
No team has the divine right to win any game including Tigers.
It is rare that any players is never “up for it” that’s just a nonsense cliché
We battled out a win with the best we could muster
We were far off our best in terms of personnel and performance but it was good enough to get us to the final
Nothing at all wrong with discussion just better to hear solutions and rationale rather than problems and criticism

Whilst we didnt play well, its a win. The problem lies with the disjointed season, the Internationals should not be played mid- season, they should be played at the end, our guys just do not get continuity, resulting in weeks off. That is madness.

The issue is the world calendar. The super rugby season is starting this coming weekend and will run through the southern hemisphere autumn and winter much as our season does. It’s not about funding the southern hemisphere unions , when they come here in November their season has been over for a few weeks, so no different to England going to Australia in July.
Let’s remember that this current extended break has been caused by there being 6 fixtures less this season, nothing else. The 5/6 nations championship has been played at this time of year for as long as I can remember

The answer would be for the English clubs to stand in splendid isolation and ignore all the other unions all together which it seems would suit many on here

[RagingBull]

Swap props and I feel that game is a walk in. Which prob sums up our current depth at the prop position.

[Rugbygramps]

Swap props and I feel that game is a walk in. Which prob sums up our current depth at the prop position.

100%. That was a premiership quality scrum front row against our 2/3 choice LH 4/5 choice hooker, 4th choice TH, on a surface which they were used to playing on. Take the scrum out of the equation it’s a 30 plus points win

[mightymouse]

I agree with above .. as soon as I saw that team I knew the issue would be the front row
Ealing are clearly no mugs. Beaten weakened Saints and Bristol teams this season .. and whipped all but one Championship team.
I thought given the team we put out we did ok.
Once their starting front row had gone and Whitcome and Clare were on it stabilised .. even the young kid did better at TH once he had better partners.
In the end the old guard of quality players in the backs like Mike Brown and Scotty shone through and we just had a bit more that them.
I thought in the end a good win and if we had lost then you have to give credit to a team that should be heading to the premiership with some very hand players themselves

[TigerFeetSteve]

I agree with above .. as soon as I saw that team I knew the issue would be the front row
Ealing are clearly no mugs. Beaten weakened Saints and Bristol teams this season .. and whipped all but one Championship team.
I thought given the team we put out we did ok.
Once their starting front row had gone and Whitcome and Clare were on it stabilised .. even the young kid did better at TH once he had better partners.
In the end the old guard of quality players in the backs like Mike Brown and Scotty shone through and we just had a bit more that them.
I thought in the end a good win and if we had lost then you have to give credit to a team that should be heading to the premiership with some very hand players themselves

Cronin is eligible to play in the final as he didn't play in the groups because of injury.

Hurd is eligible if he's back fit.

Heyes is Eligible if England release him (unlikely though given he'll be at minimum a reserve 2 days later)

[Rugbygramps]

I think the only way Heyes is available is if he is dropped from the England squad altogether as they play in Paris at 8pm on the 16th
Hopefully Hurd will be fit, not much between our 3 senior looseheads. Big fan of FTT but Clare had real impact when he came off the bench so would like to see him start

[GETHIN EXILE]

"Let’s remember that this current extended break has been caused by there being 6 fixtures less this season, nothing else. The 5/6 nations championship has been played at this time of year for as long as I can remember"

Surely there is a need to condense the 6 nations to 5 consecutive weekends with each nation naming a squad as per World cup rules. This would be perfect practice for world cups and ensure that all squad members were likely to get some game time.

[sam16111986]

Swap props and I feel that game is a walk in. Which prob sums up our current depth at the prop position.

Agreed. Will Goodrick-Clarke was fantastic for Ealing. We only got parity at scrum time once he was replaced. I've said it many times on here, he should be a target for our recruitment team this summer. He's a big lad that gets about and is reliably good at scrum time. I suspect the only reason he ended up at Ealing was that he got injured last January and hadn't recovered before LI went under and clubs didn't want to take a chance on him.