Tigers v Newcastle Falcons (H) - Premiership - Sunday 3rd December 2023 - KO: 3-00pm

[Rugbygramps]

Big month coming up. Balancing act giving players game time and maintaining momentum.
Falcons at home needs to be tbp win.
Personally I would be tempted to rotate some off the bench with a view to going stronger against the Stormers before rotating away to Stade.
I would go

Steward
Watson
Scott
Kelly
OHC
Shilcock
Youngs
Van Wyk
Montoya
Cole
Wells
Chessum
Rogerson
Reffell
Wiese

Claire, Whitcombe , Heyes, Henderson, Liebenberg, Whitely, Pollard, Kata

[TigerFeetSteve]

Personally I can't see Watson being drafted straight in.

1. Is he fit
2. If we believe his contract announcement, he's contracted to join us in December, i.e. he won't be fully insured etc to practice with us till Friday....

I'd definitely recommend going pretty full strength for this game. With the top 3 all playing 4th to 6th in the table, at least 3 of the 6 teams above us will lose points. So 5 points next weekend will leave us on the cusp of top 4.

[Rugbygramps]

Personally I can't see Watson being drafted straight in.

1. Is he fit
2. If we believe his contract announcement, he's contracted to join us in December, i.e. he won't be fully insured etc to practice with us till Friday....

I'd definitely recommend going pretty full strength for this game. With the top 3 all playing 4th to 6th in the table, at least 3 of the 6 teams above us will lose points. So 5 points next weekend will leave us on the cusp of top 4.

My feelings were that if we agreed to start his contract on December 1st he was likely to be fit, also he knows a number of the players in the back line I suggested it would only be OHC he hadn’t played with before.
I could well be wide of the mark but would hope to see him ASAP

[RunTigerRun]

Watson for me depends on 2 things. 1 as others have said is he fully fit, and contact fit. Fitness is one thing but he has to have done decent amount of contact training before being thrown in. 2 if he’s been completely training alone or has been kept in the loop with moves and plays etc.

I’d be tempted to have him on the bench vs Stormers if fully fit, then same again vs Stade and look to start vs Chiefs.

For Newcastle I’d go fairly strong as they looked decent against Chiefs today, but try and rest a few where we can. Something like:

Steward, Kata, Scott, Kelly, OHC, Pollard, Youngs, Wiese, Reffell, Rogerson/Hatherell, Wells, Chessum, Heyes, Montoya, Van Wyk

Dolly/Clare, Whitcombe, Cole, Henderson/Carter, Ilione/Hatherell, Whiteley, Shillcock, Porter

Gives Bassett and Liebenberg a full break. Potentially Henderson too. Brings back Hatherell/Dolly hopefully and if not give Ilione a good run out. I’d look to bring Reffell off for either at around 60mins. Porter to cover back 3 but I’d be looking to try Shillcock, Steward and OHC in the back 3 at some point when Kata might have used his power to good effect in the Nadolo big winger looking for work role.

I’d be happy with the same team again, but wouldn’t mind seeing something a bit different without losing much of the key plays to put us at risk at home.

[sam16111986]

I'd look to rotate a little for the Falcons game. Maybe load the bench and use it if we need to.

1. Whitcombe
2. Montoya
3. Hurd
4. Wells
5. Chessum
6. Rogerson
7. Reffell
8. Wiese
9. Youngs
10. Atkinson
11. OHC
12. Kata
13. Scott
14. Watson
15. Shillcock

Dolly, van Wyk, Cole, Henderson, Hatherall, Whiteley, Pollard, Steward.

Plenty in that team to get the job done and plenty on the bench if it doesn't go to plan and we need some reinforcements. Possibly rest Reffell and bring in Ilione but that'd be a big test for him.

[trendylfj]

Whatever we do we must not underestimate Falcons.- They gave a good showing against Chiefs and could easily have won. Lets make sure that we can get another 5pts and then bring on the bench to rest important players.

[markharbtiger]

If we were currently top 4 in the prem we could afford to rest some of our key players, but not where we currently are!
I hope I am proven wrong but I feel Europe might be beyond us this year.

[kk20gb30]

If we were currently top 4 in the prem we could afford to rest some of our key players, but not where we currently are!
I hope I am proven wrong but I feel Europe might be beyond us this year.

Nothing decided just yet , your points are more than justifiable though for me , at least.
Lets just try to keep collecting points - strongest side available and go for a win.

[Rugbygramps]

The other variable is we don’t really know Mckellars attitude to player rotation. Both Borthwick and Wigglesworth were content to send less experienced sides to away European games. Dan may be more of the strongest team available for each match mindset

[sapajo]

For me its not worth risking our key players in Europe this season especially given our position in the premiership. I feel due to the draw and given the calibre of our opponents it really is a bridge to far. I have always believed it should be premiership first everything else is secondary and its not worth dying in a ditch for especially in the farcical unlevel Champions Cup playing field

[LE18]

I agree we need 5 points against Falcons, sadly though it wont raise us up the division as we are 6 points adrift of Saints, yes it might close the gap but we will still only be 7th in table. Lose and Bristol or Gloucester could go above us, winning is essential so go strongest team poss and especially in the pack, Falcons have some big heavy lads and our front row were not at their best v Gloucs.

[Soggypitch]

I would also go with a very strong team.

But would play Watson if fully fit and would give Shillcock a run at 15.

I might also rest Hanro and play Rogerson or Hatherell if back fit.

Would stick with Kelly & Scott in the centres with Kata on the bench.

[TigerFeetSteve]

I agree we need 5 points against Falcons, sadly though it wont raise us up the division as we are 6 points adrift of Saints, yes it might close the gap but we will still only be 7th in table. Lose and Bristol or Gloucester could go above us, winning is essential so go strongest team poss and especially in the pack, Falcons have some big heavy lads and our front row were not at their best v Gloucs.

5 points will bring us right up close. Excepting draws 3 of the 6 teams above us will lose next weekend so a 5 point win will leave us within a win of top 4.

[Rugbygramps]

For me its not worth risking our key players in Europe this season especially given our position in the premiership. I feel due to the draw and given the calibre of our opponents it really is a bridge to far. I have always believed it should be premiership first everything else is secondary and its not worth dying in a ditch for especially in the farcical unlevel Champions Cup playing field

I would see how we go against Stormers and Stade. Imo we are capable of getting results in both those 2 games and re evaluate after that. Because of the weird format anything becomes possible

[Offside]

Falcons scrum seemed to do quite well if intermittently against Exeter so going to inexperienced in the front row could be costly. Suggestion by some was out performance in the scrum on Saturday was down to the synthetic pitch so making sure we at least have a very strong scrummaging bench would seem to be prudent.