Tigers vs Saints - Fri 11th Feb 22 at 1945

[Noggs]

STARTING XV
15 Bryce Hegarty [8]
14 Harry Potter [28]
13 Guy Porter [32]
12 Dan Kelly [35]
11 Nemani Nadolo [25]
10 Freddie Burns [88]
9 Richard Wigglesworth (vc) [26]
1 James Whitcombe [13]
2 Julián Montoya [17]
3 Dan Cole [280]
4 Harry Wells [142]
5 Calum Green [77]
6 Hanro Liebenberg (c) [45]
7 Tommy Reffell [64]
8 Jasper Wiese [30]

REPLACEMENTS
16 Charlie Clare [40]
17 Francois van Wyk [8]
18 Nephi Leatigaga [57]
19 Eli Snyman [10]
20 George Martin [30]
21 Jack van Poortvliet [36]
22 Matt Scott [38]
23 Chris Ashton *

* Leicester Tigers debut

SAINTS XV
15 Ahsee Tuala
14 Ollie Sleightholme
13 Fraser Dingwall (c)
12 Rory Hutchinson
11 Courtnall Skosan
10 George Furbank
9 Alex Mitchell

1 Alex Waller
2 Sam Matavesi
3 Paul Hill
4 David Ribbans
5 Api Ratuniyarawa
6 Tom Wood
7 Teimana Harrison
8 Juarno Augustus

REPLACEMENTS
16 Mike Haywood
17 Emmanuel Iyogun
18 Conor Carey
19 Alex Coles
20 Karl Wilkins
21 Tom James
22 James Grayson
23 Matt Proctor

[RagingBull]

Looks to me Kini and Moroni are both not fit.
Saumaki isn’t really a great bench option due to not playing outside of 15.

Was a big problem v Sale so Ashton look like he might be covering 15 just as much as he is wing, especially with Steward out and Hegarty our 2nd 10 atm

[Scott1]

2 good squads,be a good game this!

[OakhamTiger32]

Strong side and strong bench, should be enough although Saints have some names back so it certainly won't be an easy match

[Noggs]

Good team. Didn't expect to see Ash on the bench so 'interesting'

[RagingBull]

I can see us potentially finishing the game with
9. JVP
10. Hegarty
11. Potter
12. Kelly
13. Scott
14. Porter
15. Ashton

Don’t see Nadolo finishing the full 80 and burns is a coin flip

[Tigers86asw]

Assume from this that the injury situation is bad. Cannot imagine Ashton would be on the bench if we had Kini or Moroni. Worried about MVS.

Strong team and good to see Whitcombe continuing. Saints team is better than expected. Battle of the half backs is key- Ford was mesmeric in the earlier game.

[ourla]

I think we have the stronger forwards and Saints have the more dangerous backline.

So I think it will be down to how we can control the game. Need another Quins like performance.

[aslongaswebeatsaints]

Good team. Didn't expect to see Ash on the bench so 'interesting'

Think his inclusion is more likely to wind up Saints fans than us

[Noggs]

Good team. Didn't expect to see Ash on the bench so 'interesting'

Think his inclusion is more likely to wind up Saints fans than us

Probably more of a byproduct than an intent but still......

[Ian Cant]

Two good sides but Saints backs look stronger as they have Furbanks back which surprises me: was he released but again no Chessum and Heyes for us.
Too close to call and hope Weise is given some protection from the high tackles he keeps getting!

[westwinds31]

Saints pre-match team talk for this is easy - they took us apart on our own patch - it was embarrassing, let's fix it. Should be a good one.

[Ian Cant]

Agreed. It’s a pretty strong Saints’ side but we have a very good side out too.
Saints won’t need any firing up as rightly said.
I, like many fans, was at Franklin’s and Ford and Youngs were in great Form backed up by Weise, Staden( until half time) and most of the pack then Kini and JVP came on and played superbly. On the day we had the rub of the green but we also varied the game we played.
Saints will score tries against us and they have, I think, won 4 out of the last 5 games at our ground.
Play like we did v Sale, Worcester and Wasps and we will get beaten.
Players will know this is a massive derby but even more so especially as it’s Sarries v Quins and Exeter v Gloucester.
Hoping we, the Tigers’ fans get behind the team for the whole match.

[baz1664]

Think it will be a fantastic spectacle, think we have the edge in the forwards while the saints have some quality in the backs. If Burns has one of his on the money days then I think we will get the win, question is will Ashton do the flop if he scores a try?

[mol2]

The inclusion of Ashton does imply the number of injures to our wings are a concern.