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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022:06:14:08:57:01 by TonyTaff.

Thanks for the Preview. Quins are probably the most likely opponents, but Saints are very possible as well.

According to the email I have just received from the club the opponents could be any one of Quins, Saints or Glos. I hope they know the actual rules, because Glos can make 4th but will play Leicester if they do.

Quote:

AlanE2
Thanks for the Preview. Quins are probably the most likely opponents, but Saints are very possible as well.
According to the email I have just received from the club the opponents could be any one of Quins, Saints or Glos. I hope they know the actual rules, because Glos can make 4th but will play Leicester if they do.

You're right!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022:06:02:13:27:20 by GazzaFez.

I'm just glad it can't be Irish! Part of me wants to give Quin's a hiding, but they have the tools to hurt us. As for Glos, winning is a habit. Glos are attritional though so yeah, I'd have Jamie enjoying the sun somewhere, let the others fight it put for the bench spot. The difference in strength in depth now is so obvious, how blessed, when we had international class pairs at 2 and 9, with no real step down!

If we were to finish top (unlikely but not impossible) we could play Glos

Quote:

Darraghgirl
If we were to finish top (unlikely but not impossible) we could play Glos

No, because to finish top we would have to beat our opponents who are Gloucs who then would finish behind Saints!

Successful hills are here to stay
Everything must be this way
Gentle streets where people play
Welcome to the Soft Parade

🌻🌻🌻

of course, you are correct

We have gone for the keep all the Crown Jewels protected approach. Makes sense as we can gain nothing by winning on Saturday. A home semi is the best you can get.

So just 2 big games to go for the gun side and whilst nothing is ever certain in rugby I agree with the bookies and have us as favourites. If we do pull it off it will be up there with our first Premiership win given the@#$%&we have been through.

Saracens Men team to play Gloucester:

1 Eroni Mawi

2 Kapeli Pifeleti

3 Alec Clarey

4 Callum Hunter-Hill

5 Tim Swinson

6 Jackson Wray (c)

7 Toby Knight

8 Janco Venter

9 Ivan van Zyl

10 Manu Vunipola

11 Ben Harris

12 Duncan Taylor

13 Alex Lozowski

14 Max Malins

15 Elliott Obatoyinbo

Replacements:

16 Theo Dan

17 Ralph Adams-Hale

18 Sam Wainwright

19 Cameron Boon

20 Sean Reffell

21 Ruben de Haas

22 Dom Morris

23 Josh Hallett

Gloucester Rugby Team News

15. Santiago Carreras
14. Louis Rees-Zammit *
13. Chris Harris
12. Giorgi Kveseladze
11. Ollie Thorley *
10. Adam Hastings
9. Ben Meehan

1. Val Rapava-Ruskin
2. Jack Singleton
3. Kirill Gotovtsev
4. Freddie Clarke *
5. Matias Alemanno
6. Jordy Reid
7. Lewis Ludlow * (c)
8. Ruan Ackermann

16. Santiago Socino
17. Harry Elrington
18. Fraser Balmain
19. Andrew Davidson
20. Jack Clement *
21. Charlie Chapman *
22. Billy Twelvetrees
23. Jonny May *

That's pretty much the full XV (maybe expecting Malins?) rested/doing extra training ahead of the semi-final then. Interesting that Tigers and Quins have both gone full on for the final fixture.
I guess those selections mean we're going to persevere with Daly at 13 against Quins *sigh*

Really like the look of the team and good to see some players like Reffell and maybe a few others who will be off at the end of the season.
It feels like it would be a huge result to get a win away given the teams but equally the Sarries one should travel with no fear and looking forward to showing what they can do against a tough opposition. Ackerman back is huge for Glaws given they struggled to get momentum last time out.

Looking forward to a great game. COYS.

Pretty much as I predicted in the other thread. Inclusion of Malins and Loz was a racing certainty assuming they were fit. I just don't think we've got the depth in the squad at the moment to risk another approach especially with long term injuries factored in, Riccioni, Wolfie for example.

A highly motivated Glaws team at home Vs a team with literally nothing to lose and with no pressure on them should produce an entertaining match.

Quote:

GazzaFez
A highly motivated Glaws team at home Vs a team with literally nothing to lose and with no pressure on them should produce an entertaining match.

+1

Also McGuigan and Malins tied at the top of the try-scorers table with no one else able to catch unless there's a hammering somewhere. McGuigan is normally good for at least a try even against tough opposition so I hope we can get Malins over the line.

In previous seasons this team (minus Max, Alex and Duncan) would have been playing regularly in the A-League. But this season, lets face it, they are going to be rusty. They can't help it.

So it's going to be interesting. Any kind of good performance regardless of the result will be excellent.

Quote:

tpr's headmistress
Saracens Men team to play Gloucester:
1 Eroni Mawi

2 Kapeli Pifeleti

3 Alec Clarey

4 Callum Hunter-Hill

5 Tim Swinson

6 Jackson Wray (c)

7 Toby Knight

8 Janco Venter

9 Ivan van Zyl

10 Manu Vunipola

11 Ben Harris

12 Duncan Taylor

13 Alex Lozowski

14 Max Malins

15 Elliott Obatoyinbo

Replacements:

16 Theo Dan

17 Ralph Adams-Hale

18 Sam Wainwright

19 Cameron Boon

20 Sean Reffell

21 Ruben de Haas

22 Dom Morris

23 Josh Hallett

I thoroughly approve of this selection.

It's a long time since Sports network paid anything!

Glad I didn’t pay good money to travel and watch that massacre. I know about resting for the knockout match (s) but can’t see it will add much to the positive spirit in the club . Shows as well how weak we are when shorn of frost choices. Next year during the internationals we will struggle .

Didn’t feel like a massacre, we had plenty of ball but lacked penetration. Simply couldn’t stop their maul. Some excellent performances, Elliot Obatayimbo outstanding and Toby Knight looked quite at home on his first premiership start. Janco Venter also had his best game and the set piece went pretty well considering how little they’ve played together.

Quote:

The Bard
Didn’t feel like a massacre, we had plenty of ball but lacked penetration. Simply couldn’t stop their maul. Some excellent performances, Elliot Obatayimbo outstanding and Toby Knight looked quite at home on his first premiership start. Janco Venter also had his best game and the set piece went pretty well considering how little they’ve played together.

I very much agree. It was a massacre but are we surprised when our A League side are given next to no games this year and are then asked to face a good, fired up Gloucester team who nearly made the play offs. No wonder there were mistakes but at least they showed spirit in very hard and I would say for many of them as individuals, unfair circumstances, given they might have been playing for their jobs.

As well as your choices I’m really hoping to see more of Theo Dan.

On the down side I do fear for our scrum half cover.

Didn't feel like a massacre? Sure looked like one. As for the maul, we knew before the match started we would have trouble stopping it. Yet after the first of four identikit driving mauls from a 5m lineout from which they scored, we repeatedly failed to put someone up to challenge for the ball, knowing full well it was the only chance of disrupting their ball. If we don't learn from our mistakes then we have no chance. As it happens, on our first 5m lineout, they did exactly that and we lost the ball.

Assuming that Malins will start next week anyway, I don't think anyone else put their hand up for inclusion in the team with probably Loz on the bench. I definitely didn't expect a win, but I was hoping for a much closer match than that.

Interesting that Quins who put out a much stronger team, still lost to Exeter. I hope our cotton wool approach pays dividends next week.

Congratulations to Saints for doing what they needed to do in such emphatic style. They deserve their place in the playoffs.

The main difference was red zone efficiency. Looks bad on the scoreboard but imo there was not a 50 point difference between the sides. Thought Taylor was excellent today and number of others showed well.

Quote:

Duncan96

Quote:

The Bard
Didn’t feel like a massacre, we had plenty of ball but lacked penetration. Simply couldn’t stop their maul. Some excellent performances, Elliot Obatayimbo outstanding and Toby Knight looked quite at home on his first premiership start. Janco Venter also had his best game and the set piece went pretty well considering how little they’ve played together.

I very much agree.

Me too!!

I watched live and again full of bbq and beer just now (which may explain my optimism) but I was really impressed. The score line was brutal on the team but IMO not a reflection of the game I watched.
I felt Barnes was generally good but he obviously didn't see a grounding for the first try or why ask for proof it wasn't? As it was the reverse angle and Singletons lack of celebration suggest it wasn't. The second try is Meehan blocking Wray. Categorically not a try. So Glaws somewhat fortunate to have 14 of their points. Think he was spot on with Swinsons card as there was obvious mitigation. The pedant in me wonders why the shoulder to Swinsons head in the clear out that followed merited no look?

Yes Glaws were always likely to win and were well worth it but any negative nellies want to hazard a guess what the score would have been if they had played an equivalent of our team today against our full 23 at home?
As a starter for 10 we put a margin of 29 on their main 23 at their home only a few weeks ago!

The reality is that this team isn't the one that will be playing when our Internationals are away but certainly players from today will make up that team.
Again, considering this was Glaws gun team:
Our scrum had parity for all but one scrum where Clarey was obviously running on empty. As soon as Wainright came on we went back to parity or more.
Our lineout functioned well. Swinson calling well and Pifeleti and Dan doing a good job of hitting their jumpers even under competition.
A number of young players played really well. Both Knight and Dan very promising and the departing Reffell nabbed himself a great turnover. Harris was exceptional on defence and hopefully is ok after his knock. Obatoyinbo was excellent at FB and Venter looked very good at 8 including some powerful runs from the base, I hope we see some more of him next season.
Malins showed his class. Mawi was the carrying threat we've come to expect.
Van Zyl gave us lots of quick, accurate ball and Manu used it well playing flat and using a range of passing to get us into the game.

Ofc there are negatives and one needs to be realistic but equally many of those can and will be addressed when the team that takes the field are a more usual combination of first, second team and wider squad.

Lastly it was good to see Taylor back in form. Unfortunately one of the main issues with our attack was the miscommunication between he and Lozo on what could have been several great breaks. Both vital in our defence and over committing for the third try aside Lozo showed his value for what should be inclusion in the XV for the Semi.
In the Chiefs/Quins game Marchant apparently played exceptionally. We'll need our best opposite him.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022:06:05:16:04:43 by OldMarovian.

Almost forgot, well done Malins finishing as top try-scorer. Given how few games he played that's quite some achievement by him and the team.

What sums it is McCalls response when asked if this result will have a negative impact - "I don't think so" with a huge smile on his face. This was about giving some of the youngsters a taste of the level they need to be at in the prem. They fell well short of the required standard but, apart from the score (most of which came from the most effective driving maul in the league), I thought they did OK against very strong opponents. But for a few misreads and knock-ons in promising situations we could have had a few more points on the scoreboard and, as has been mentioned before, how well do we think any other clubs' second/thirds would fare against our gun team? Probably a lot worse than our boys did yesterday.

I was surprised that Jackson Wray wasn't sent for an HIA. I thought he looked groggy after the hit.

As for the rest, Gloucs played well and things fell for them which did not for us. We move on. Quins with pretty well a full first team lost 47 - 38 at Sandy Park.

Successful hills are here to stay
Everything must be this way
Gentle streets where people play
Welcome to the Soft Parade

🌻🌻🌻

Jackson did go for an HIA, Sean Reffell came on for the 15 minutes and made an excellent turnover

totally agree on several points; Barnes seemed to ref with a 'nothing matters on the result, let the boys play' attitude. He is a local Glaws boy after all

the post-card clearout on Swinson. Not only shoulder to head, but no arms

Singleton was still fighting to ground the ball (dead give-away) when Barnes awarded the first try and the ball looked short of the line for his second. Neither checked

Jackson's HIA looked like a leading arm from Farmer-Rustic. again no interest in checking it.