Tigers vs Newcastle (H) - Prem Rugby Cup - Saturday 30th September 2023 KO 3pm

[mol2]

Not sure either touched the ball.

[longlivethecrumbie]

Not sure either touched the ball.

Bassett did in the second half - he got a hospital pass from Atkinson (I think it was) in our 22. TBF to Bassett, he chased the few kicks we did unleash well and he competed well in the air. One thing we can't accuse the forwards of is being wasteful.....they dominated the try count today!

[Darc Tiger]

Bass had a nice burst into the 22, late in the game.

[ay2oh]

So Steward, Montoya, Wiese, Chessum, Youngs, Cole, Pollard, Reffel & Martin on international duty wouldn’t be in the starting 15?

Cronin and Watson missing on injury grounds. JVP & Youngs playing in the same position can’t both start.

So if all fit 12 of that squad wouldn’t be in the 23 and, arguably 11 starters would be different.

Perhaps not an entirely second team but probably only 4 of today’s team would start.

please read what I said and not misquote me. I said 12 of the players would probably be in our best 23. OHC, Bassett, Atkinson, Kelly, Porter, Powell, Dolly, Heyes, Henderson, Liebenberg, ,Shilcock, Hatherall/Cracknell.

[Darc Tiger]

Just seen that a strong Sale team only won 24-7, with a last minute bonus point, in Caldy.

[sapajo]

Based upon that performance I think Newcastle will struggle to stay in the Premiership this season. Tigers attack was a revelation, Powell is a great signing and thought him and Atkinson were the 2 top Tigers performers.

[tigerburnie]

Newcastle are a different side with their Argentinians, don't think they'll be top 4, but they seem to have recruited well.

[Rugbygramps]

So Steward, Montoya, Wiese, Chessum, Youngs, Cole, Pollard, Reffel & Martin on international duty wouldn’t be in the starting 15?

Cronin and Watson missing on injury grounds. JVP & Youngs playing in the same position can’t both start.

So if all fit 12 of that squad wouldn’t be in the 23 and, arguably 11 starters would be different.

Perhaps not an entirely second team but probably only 4 of today’s team would start.

please read what I said and not misquote me. I said 12 of the players would probably be in our best 23. OHC, Bassett, Atkinson, Kelly, Porter, Powell, Dolly, Heyes, Henderson, Liebenberg, ,Shilcock, Hatherall/Cracknell.

I think both are key points, yes arguably if the strongest team was put out probably only 4 of that team start Liebenberg, OHC , Kelly and Porter but the gap in abilities of the preferred starters against their back ups is in most cases very small

Cronin/Van Wyk
Montoya/Dolly
Cole/Heyes
Martin/Henderson
Chessum/Wells
Liebenberg/Hatherall
Reffell/Cracknell
Wiese/Rogerson
JVP/Powell
Pollard/Atkinson
OHC/Simmons
Kelly/Scott
Porter/Cocanasinga
Watson/Bassett
Steward/Brown

And in some positions the 3rd choice is pretty handy too

[markharbtiger]

I thought the forwards played excellently as a unit yesterday. In particular, Henderson has returned to the level before his injury, Dolly looked sharp when he came on, similarly also seemingly back to his pre -injury best in the loose, and the back row looked positively scary. TBH I think competition for starting places in the 8 on return of our internationals is going to be fierce, particularly across the back row. Perhaps also for many of the backs. Powell looked to have it all, including being pretty handy in defence. I'd like to see what Kata can bring once he's done with the World Cup. Hoping OHC isn't injured as he looked good ball in hand yesterday.

[ay2oh]

Powell was a really good pick up and can see him being our first choice scrum half. Best squad depth we’ve had for a long time.

[Old Hob]

If today was anything to go by, this is going to be a tough season for Newcastle.

This makes it hard to judge how good we are, but our second string looked comfortable.

It wasn’t really our second team though was it. Probably 12 of that squad would be in our first choice match 23.

What, if anything, do these matches predict? A serious, non-sarky question. I must confess, reading the results and the comments on here has filled me with a certain optimism, but will it translate to the Prem?

[Rugbygramps]

If today was anything to go by, this is going to be a tough season for Newcastle.

This makes it hard to judge how good we are, but our second string looked comfortable.

It wasn’t really our second team though was it. Probably 12 of that squad would be in our first choice match 23.

What, if anything, do these matches predict? A serious, non-sarky question. I must confess, reading the results and the comments on here has filled me with a certain optimism, but will it translate to the Prem?

It’s an excellent question. Personally I think that when playing another premiership side there is always a plus to beating another side. Away win a Sale, admittedly 2 mixed sides, is a rare thing and good for the memory banks.
Yesterday 2 sides near full strength without their RWC, was for me a real statement of intent.
Having watched the highlights the pack were immense, as cohesive a unit as I’ve seen in a while, whilst the running game is definitely improving.
Yes there will be bigger tests than Newcastle but the signs are good

[Rugbygramps]

Powell was a really good pick up and can see him being our first choice scrum half. Best squad depth we’ve had for a long time.

Totally agree about Powell. Admittedly his pick up was fortuitous with the demise of Irish, but you have to wonder how long Lenny will go on after this season, and with JVP, Powell and Whitely we have excellent depth for the next 3 years

[mol2]

It will be interesting to see how our plays change with the return of our internationals.

Is Youngs' dithering a reflection of the attacking structure over the past few years? Given runners offering themselves and getting in position quickly change that.

A lot of our play has been very structured over the past few years and England the same. The ability of the scrum half to snipe is often the result of defenders being drawn away from the ruck by the runners.

[AViewFromLe2]

If today was anything to go by, this is going to be a tough season for Newcastle.

This makes it hard to judge how good we are, but our second string looked comfortable.

It wasn’t really our second team though was it. Probably 12 of that squad would be in our first choice match 23.

What, if anything, do these matches predict? A serious, non-sarky question. I must confess, reading the results and the comments on here has filled me with a certain optimism, but will it translate to the Prem?

It's an interesting question, as these games realistically are for me an extended pre-season for us. However, Leicester can't legislate for the strength of their opponents, they can only control the elements they have control over - and that comes back to hitting the primary objectives of these games, then into the secondary objectives and so on.

So really all the coaches and players can worry about is what we do - are we fit enough? Are we making our tackles in defence? Are we being broken through the middle in defence? Are we accurate in attack? What is our discipline like? How well are we taking the ideas worked on during the week into a match scenario? That's just a few objectives and I'm sure the coaches will have more. With that in mind, Leicester look to be scoring pretty well against those objectives, with still room for improvement, which really is all they can do. Doesn't mean they will beat Bristol or win the league, but the early signs are positive, and they are giving themselves the best chance of success throughout the year.

Now yesterday was actually a pretty good idea of where we are at. That was pretty much a first choice Falcons 23, probably only missing 3-4 of their first choice team. It was certainly a premiership standard team and we put them away pretty comfortably, and that was with 11 or so players at the WC and the likes of JvP and Cronin injured. As a result, whilst it offers no guarantees, it shows that we're in a pretty good position as we head towards the league.