RugbyRebels

Newcastle Falcons team v Leicester Tigers (Friday, 7.45pm, Kingston Park, live on TNT Sports red button and Discovery+)

15 Elliott Obatoyinbo, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Tom Penny, 12 Cameron Hutchison, 11 Ben Redshaw, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Sam Stuart; 1 Phil Brantingham, 2 Jamie Blamire, 3 Richard Palframan, 4 Tim Cardall, 5 Sebastian de Chaves, 6 Philip van der Walt, 7 Sam Cross, 8 Callum Chick (captain).

Replacements: 16 Bryan Byrne, 17 Murray McCallum, 18 Eduardo Bello, 19 John Hawkins, 20 John Kelly, 21 Ben Douglas, 22 Rory Jennings, 23 Oliver Spencer.

Not available for selection: James Elliott, Freddie Lockwood, Kiran McDonald, Hugh O’Sullivan, Guy Pepper, Pedro Rubiolo, Ben Stevenson, Michael van Vuuren.

Leicester Tigers: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Josh Bassett, 13 Matt Scott, 12 Solomone Kata, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Jack van Poortvliet; 1 James Cronin, 2 Julián Montoya (captain), 3 Will Hurd, 4 Harry Wells, 5 Kyle Hatherell, 6 Hanro Liebenberg, 7 Olly Cracknell, 8 Jasper Wiese.

Replacements: 16 Charlie Clare, 17 James Whitcombe, 18 Dan Richardson, 19 Finn Carnduff, 20 Emeka Ilione, 21 Tom Whiteley, 22 Jamie Shillcock, 23 Phil Cokanasiga.

Referee: Karl Dickson.

Unsure where Martin and Youngs are. Heyes is unwell. Cole, Chessum and Reffell getting a rest week.

Good to see JVP starting, hope his rehab has been tip top

Banquo wrote: ↑Thu Mar 28, 2024 4:34 pm Good to see JVP starting, hope his rehab has been tip top

He looked sharp off the bench last weekend. Lovely bit of handling skill created a try.

Falcons to break their duck?

Tigers well below full strength so maybe there is a chance of a home win.

Got the edge at 9/10 but not sure that’ll be enough

Falcons are missing a few from their pack which does help. Tigers on paper should have enough to blow them away but with such a stuttering attack and Steve Diamond no doubt giving Falcons some much needed backbone this won't be that easy.

Diamond has been bemoaning the rolling maul (wants it banned) and accusing Tigers of cheating/referees not bothering to apply the laws. It is Tigers main attacking weapon so his unsubstantiated claims of cheating/bias ring some what self serving. Karl Dickson is the Prem ref that offers the least amount of advantage to sides that favour the rolling maul though. Tigers will need to have something else up their sleeve.

For anyone wondering, don't bother the quality of this game is awful. Both sides and officials incompetent.

98 mins and we're still going.

Just shy of 100 mins Carnduff gets the turnover penalty and seals the win for Tigers.

The last 10 minutes or so were surreal. Tigers did well to cling on but Falcons blew a golden chance to nail a win.

Nice try by JvP.

fivepointer wrote: ↑Sat Mar 30, 2024 7:41 am The last 10 minutes or so were surreal. Tigers did well to cling on but Falcons blew a golden chance to nail a win.

Nice try by JvP.

JvP was excellent.

Falcons never really looked that threatening late on. The lack of confidence was telling as they went back to the scrum, where Richardson was having a tough time Vs Brantingham (he's going to be some player for Sarries in a year or so), because they felt they needed to play with advantage.

About the only good thing coming from the game was how well the young English lads did. Brantingham was strong and played the full game, Redshaw the main Falcons threat ball in hand, JvP controlled the game well and scored the nice try, Carnduff came off the bench and looked entirely at home and then secured the game winning turnover. Ilione looked busy but was unlucky that he was the one sacrificed for the required front rower when Clare was sin binned (team warning and then incredibly lazy attempt to roll away when Ilione was in the perfect position to effectively win the game with the turnover).

FKAS wrote: ↑Sat Mar 30, 2024 8:24 am

fivepointer wrote: ↑Sat Mar 30, 2024 7:41 am The last 10 minutes or so were surreal. Tigers did well to cling on but Falcons blew a golden chance to nail a win.

Nice try by JvP.

JvP was excellent.

I only saw the highlights (such as they were), but JVP's passing looked superb - crisp, fast, flat, accurate. Was that the case for the whole match?

Puja

Puja wrote: ↑Sat Mar 30, 2024 8:44 am

FKAS wrote: ↑Sat Mar 30, 2024 8:24 am

fivepointer wrote: ↑Sat Mar 30, 2024 7:41 am The last 10 minutes or so were surreal. Tigers did well to cling on but Falcons blew a golden chance to nail a win.

Nice try by JvP.

JvP was excellent.

I only saw the highlights (such as they were), but JVP's passing looked superb - crisp, fast, flat, accurate. Was that the case for the whole match?

Puja

Yes. Kicking and smiling was good as well. Tigers were woefully inaccurate but none of that was due to the delivery from the base. JvP got man of the match.

FKAS wrote: ↑Sat Mar 30, 2024 8:50 am

Puja wrote: ↑Sat Mar 30, 2024 8:44 am

FKAS wrote: ↑Sat Mar 30, 2024 8:24 am

JvP was excellent.

I only saw the highlights (such as they were), but JVP's passing looked superb - crisp, fast, flat, accurate. Was that the case for the whole match?

Puja

Yes. Kicking and smiling was good as well. Tigers were woefully inaccurate but none of that was due to the delivery from the base. JvP got man of the match.

That's great news. I have concerns over mitchell's consistency tbh, and if JVP can get back to the confident version, great.

Banquo wrote: ↑Sat Mar 30, 2024 11:12 am

FKAS wrote: ↑Sat Mar 30, 2024 8:50 am

Puja wrote: ↑Sat Mar 30, 2024 8:44 am

I only saw the highlights (such as they were), but JVP's passing looked superb - crisp, fast, flat, accurate. Was that the case for the whole match?

Puja

Yes. Kicking and smiling was good as well. Tigers were woefully inaccurate but none of that was due to the delivery from the base. JvP got man of the match.

That's great news. I have concerns over mitchell's consistency tbh, and if JVP can get back to the confident version, great.

Imagine if word has gone out from the England camp to all the young English 9s that they should be working on their pass and getting it away from the ruck quickly, rather than to be perfecting their ability to spend 30 seconds constructing the perfect caterpillar ruck.

16th man wrote: ↑Sat Mar 30, 2024 11:40 am

Banquo wrote: ↑Sat Mar 30, 2024 11:12 am

FKAS wrote: ↑Sat Mar 30, 2024 8:50 am

Yes. Kicking and smiling was good as well. Tigers were woefully inaccurate but none of that was due to the delivery from the base. JvP got man of the match.

That's great news. I have concerns over mitchell's consistency tbh, and if JVP can get back to the confident version, great.

Imagine if word has gone out from the England camp to all the young English 9s that they should be working on their pass and getting it away from the ruck quickly, rather than to be perfecting their ability to spend 30 seconds constructing the perfect caterpillar ruck.

yus. imo Ben Youngs was diverted from full potential by moving kicking up his priority list. Pass, run, kick in that order, mostly.

16th man wrote: ↑Sat Mar 30, 2024 11:40 amImagine if word has gone out from the England camp to all the young English 9s that they should be working on their pass and getting it away from the ruck quickly, rather than to be perfecting their ability to spend 30 seconds constructing the perfect caterpillar ruck.

I imagined it.
I now need to go get some tissues.
I laugh-snorted some tea out of my nose, you dirty bastards!