Saints v London Irish 26th March - Teams Up

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022:03:29:08:47:35 by Saint Ted.

Looks a good enough team. They will have to keep some of the players back for Wednesday team.

Shame manny and ehren are out

Good ball carriers up front and invention behind

Surprised to see Litchfield on the bench as just come off a challenging U20. Younger Grayson had a much stronger tournament at centre.

Should be a good game.

Auterac didn't leave then.

Is anyone else a little concerned with the frequency Proctor is making/available for matchday squads especially since being resigned?

I never have got the Hutch at12 Dingwall at 13 positioning.
Have to say I would have liked to see Tommy Freeman start, probably our biggest attacking threat.

This will be a real tester, just have to make sure we dont give them the normal starter for 10 by letting in 2 easy tries within the first 20 minutes.

Let's see how good we are.

Well we’re not short on leadership at least, two national captains, the current club captain Lewis and his stand-in Dingers plus Coles on the bench and former club captain Waller.Irish will be a hard nut to crack but there’s no denying that’s a side capable of getting a win. So, best of luck lads, play up and get us a ‘W’

Good to have the internationals back and bench looks pretty decent too. Though it's a shame Manny and Ehren are out after playing well recently and would have liked to see Tommy Freeman start on one of the wings. Hoping for an entertaining match, COYS.

On the Irish site there are mixed views on their team selection and just a hint of nervousness that we might just upset the party.

after more thought I’m ok with Tommy on the bench, we need to look after our young players bodies, we’ve seen what happens when they’re overworked at a young age

Quote:

Deesaint
I never have got the Hutch at12 Dingwall at 13 positioning.

This got me thinking, so I took a look at the stats, over the last two years this has been the most successful partnership, with a 75% win rate when they play together in the centre.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022:03:25:15:01:09 by Saint Ted.

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Saint Ted

Quote:

Deesaint
I never have got the Hutch at12 Dingwall at 13 positioning.

This got me thinking, so I took a look at the stats, over the last two years this has been the most successful partnership, with a 79% win rate when they play together in the centre.

It’s not the playing together
It’s the positioning

Dingwall, for my money, is a better 12
Hutch the better 13

Perhaps they switch during the game

You rarely see them line up 12 & 13. They mix and match a lot and I suspect we’ll see Furbs in as first receiver occasionally. All three are capable of breaching a defence so given some good ball and fair conditions it could be an exciting game. The down-side is that although all three can tackle, defensive weakness is a worry. But as long as we score more points than the opposition……..

Quote:

Deesaint

Quote:

Saint Ted

Quote:

Deesaint
I never have got the Hutch at12 Dingwall at 13 positioning.

This got me thinking, so I took a look at the stats, over the last two years this has been the most successful partnership, with a 79% win rate when they play together in the centre.

It’s not the playing together
It’s the positioning

Dingwall, for my money, is a better 12
Hutch the better 13

Perhaps they switch during the game

That is what they do, I was more thinking that one of the two with Proctor would have given the better results

Great weather and 2 attacking sides. Should be entertaining

Quote:

Sir Hector
You rarely see them line up 12 & 13. They mix and match a lot and I suspect we’ll see Furbs in as first receiver occasionally. All three are capable of breaching a defence so given some good ball and fair conditions it could be an exciting game. The down-side is that although all three can tackle, defensive weakness is a worry. But as long as we score more points than the opposition……..

Agree on the positioning point, but I think Dingers is a strong defender - one of the main strengths of his game.

The number on the back is pretty irrelevant these days to be fair - I think normally Dingwall lines up at 12 in attack and 13 in defence most of the time as he is the organiser of the two. I think in general 13 tends to have the hardest job in defence across the backline which suits Dingwall but then you want Hutch on that outside arc in attack which is his strength.

Quote:

Deesaint
Have to say I would have liked to see Tommy Freeman start, probably our biggest attacking threat.

.

First game back last week after a lengthy lay off I’d say bench spot is about right as not fully up to match fitness/sharpeness. Ordinarily I’d agree but give him a week or so

Quote:

LeicesterSaint
The number on the back is pretty irrelevant these days to be fair - I think normally Dingwall lines up at 12 in attack and 13 in defence most of the time as he is the organiser of the two. I think in general 13 tends to have the hardest job in defence across the backline which suits Dingwall but then you want Hutch on that outside arc in attack which is his strength.

You have probably hit the nail on head.

Wonder if I’m being a bit too pessimistic
Although Jack of all trades
Master of none
Spring to mind

A bit like the thread looking at our backrow for next season
Lots of versatile players but who is the specialist 6 7 8

Lawes is a lions starting 6
Lewis is a 7
Trokkie is an 8

Their subs are more versatile

Unfortunately not able to attend today. Has anyone purchased a game on PRTV and is it worth it?

Awful start but wouldn’t be saints if we didn’t gift them some tries early on

Terrible start. Aimless kicking far too long. Who tells them to do this? Break away - wrong decision again going outside.

Tuned in around 12 minutes and yet again saints behind within 10 mins. There is something fundamentally wrong with the attitude of the team in the first 15 mins as this happens and then we have to play catch up.
Coaches must have picked up on this surely

Good last 5 mins got to keep that momentum now until half time. Good break from Api

Penalties killing us again. Discipline needs to be better, we are one of the worst in the league for this

Playing ok so far. Interesting call re Simmons, almost a decision between a yellow and a red. Probably the right call but I think some refs would have gone red.

Great play between hutch and Dingwall for that try.

I believe this is the most complete performance of the Boyd era.

The boys really fronting up, Courtney and Lewis really are class acts! Actually there are another 13 class acts on the field at the moment!
The atmosphere was buzzing for the Irish party, for once Saints have actually managed to be the spoilers and not the victims.

I think TCs performances this season have been the best of his career. Looking extremely dangerous going forward

8-42 to Saints with 20 mins still to go

Bloomin' Nora. Get in there Saints!!!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022:03:26:16:33:42 by Saint Maul.

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Saint Maul
8-42 to Saints with 20 mins still to go
Bloomin' Nora. Get in there Saints!!!

Irish do have a habit of finishing strong. Time for Saints to show they can convincingly finish a game.

The crowd are paying us a huge compliment by starting a Mexican wave!

Well apart from the very first and very last bits
That has been absolutely brilliant

Fantastic

Credit where it’s due, the props played well with discipline, Furbank played very well, TC is making himself undroppable. A great team performance.

Good performance. Tom Collins is first name on the team sheet for me. He really is dangerous . He has always been good but his levels have gone up . Epic player

Good stuff! Well done boys.

That'll do.

And that's all I'm saying until I can watch the game rather than just listen to it!

But good to hear Ian Hunter reckon TC was MoM.

Cor, didn't see that coming. But in fact I didn't see anything. I paid a fiver to watch the game only to find that the app wasn't compatible with my device.

Very easy to look at TC as MoM
But I would say that was the best’pack’ performance this year
And for API to go 80 minutes and still playing with so much energy was amazing and AW carrying into heavy traffic on several occasions

All round night and day to some of the past performances

Now just have to keep at that level

Well it was an excellent away trip! The BCS is an interesting place. Nice pitch, really easy to get access to bars and loos and not huge queues. No village as such really and food options a little thin. There more legroom and bum space but the shallower rake on the stadium seating changes the atmosphere. There was a constant drone of noise. 15k people of which maybe 1.5k Saints fans so just the odd faint Wendy to be heard and enjoyed.
Looking forward to watching the game back at home. It seemed that our defence was the difference, Luds and Courts were immense. Api has the same ruck technique Soane used, pick and go like a rhino and it worked nicely twice. Our live wire backs were exactly that too and other than in the opening 10mins we didn’t gift them too much ball from poor kicking. Set piece worked, in fact I’d go so far as to say that was our most complete 80 mins of the season.

Good to see a solid team performance. A good win and let's hope we can start achieving a level of consistency across the team. Happy for TC but more important the team performs as a unit to achieve success.
Well done Saints.

Great stuff. Best performance of the season by a margin with some great individual performances, TC the pick imo. Tempo and accuracy were excellent. And it was really good to see a large travelling support too - we made plenty of noise!

Quote:

white lion
Cor, didn't see that coming. But in fact I didn't see anything. I paid a fiver to watch the game only to find that the app wasn't compatible with my device.

Could have watched it through a web browser.

From Flats on Twitter:
Saints were very, very, very, good. Backs will get the headlines but the forwards were fantastic. Ribbans, Ratuniyarawa, Lawes, Ludlum, Haywood fierce off the bench. They could have beaten anyone today.

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rugbymel
From Flats on Twitter:
Saints were very, very, very, good. Backs will get the headlines but the forwards were fantastic. Ribbans, Ratuniyarawa, Lawes, Ludlum, Haywood fierce off the bench. They could have beaten anyone today.

+1

For about 45 mins that was the best rugby I have seen us play. Sublime.

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Dave Jackson

Quote:

rugbymel
From Flats on Twitter:
Saints were very, very, very, good. Backs will get the headlines but the forwards were fantastic. Ribbans, Ratuniyarawa, Lawes, Ludlum, Haywood fierce off the bench. They could have beaten anyone today.

+1

For about 45 mins that was the best rugby I have seen us play. Sublime.

Nice to see Mikey getting back to his old pre injury form, he’s been missed

Well done. I never saw that win coming!

I did !

That game was really something and certainly didn't foresee Saints putting up a score - and really dominating a match - like this. Outside of the first 10-15 minutes, a real complete performance on both sides of the ball. Yes, the playmakers made plays, but Saints stopped that frantic hyper-offload style, still played with pace, were strong at the breakdown, and the entire playing group executed the fundamentals better than in any match in a long time. And with those last two tries by LI scored in garbaage time this was a huge win.

That game was really something and certainly didn't foresee Saints putting up a score - and really dominating a match - like this. Outside of the first 10-15 minutes, a real complete performance on both sides of the ball. Yes, the playmakers made plays, but Saints stopped that frantic hyper-offload style, still played with pace, were strong at the breakdown, and the entire playing group executed the fundamentals better than in any match in a long time. And with those last two tries by LI scored in garbaage time this was a huge win.

Quote:

rugbymel
From Flats on Twitter:
Saints were very, very, very, good. Backs will get the headlines but the forwards were fantastic. Ribbans, Ratuniyarawa, Lawes, Ludlum, Haywood fierce off the bench. They could have beaten anyone today.

I think he was on the PRTV commentary, or his carbon copy. Guys hilarious, well worth the fiver for him alone.

I think many people ( I was not one of them!) had been saying in support of Boyd and his coaching team, when this lot click they will play some superb rugby. Be patient.

It sounds as though Yesterday was that moment.

We can all be glad, and hope they can keep it up.

The highlights are up too -
[video.premiershiprugby.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022:03:27:08:05:37 by Longers.

Was lovely to see it click yesterday. PRTV was fantastic as well, although I couldn’t cast to my TV (probably me or my TV rather than the app) so I watched on my laptop.

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Awaywin
Was lovely to see it click yesterday. PRTV was fantastic as well, although I couldn’t cast to my TV (probably me or my TV rather than the app) so I watched on my laptop.

Ditto, flats commentary was priceless!

Can I just ask - I thought we supposedly never ever won anything with Wayne Barnes refereeing?
What happened?

The exception that proves the rule.

We have even beaten our friends from up the road with Mr Barnes refereeing.

Barnes was absolutely superb again yesterday

Now just finished watching the match.

Wow!

I think Flats called it nicely when commenting on a Rory tackle - spirited.
But Flats needs to remember it is TV - he talks too much!

We have no need to complain about Rory's tackling any longer.
We have no need to complain about the energy in our game.
We have no need to complain about TC's effort.

All round superb performance.

June 4th
Gloucester v Saracens
Saints vs Falcons

Could be the decider on the last game of the regular season.............I said could be

Great day out! First time at the BCS and will definitely be back. Nice stadium, good pitch, easy access, plenty of local drinking/eating options. Surrounded by Irish fans with plenty of banter and good humour - although their appraisal of WB’s performance is unrepeatable on here!

Not seen the replay yet but based on the live action I’d say that’s the best we’ve played this season. Our defensive line was much better and for once we seemed the more physical of the 2 sides. Ball in hand we looked threatening the whole game. TC and API are not amongst my favourite players but they were both outstanding yesterday - in fact I’d struggle to find anyone who didn’t play well.

Great to have Lewis back - he was still on the pitch 10 minutes after every other player was back in the changing rooms.

Not getting carried away but we do have some winnable games in our run in so maybe top 4 is not lost yet?

Just watched the highlights on ITV 4, I felt Flats and Topsy were far better than BT's offering.

Anyone notice how disgruntled Skosan looked when Hutchinson didn’t pass to him for his try 😂