Aviva Premiership 2016/17

[Kermit power]

Derek Smith said:

So how many red cards from tonight and over the weekend for 'high tackles'?

I'm against over sanitising but as the father of a lad who has been forced to give up the game he loves because of deliberate attacks to the head, I'm not so much in a cleft stick as sympathetic.

It is going to open up the runners.

I'll probably come to a conclusion after this weekend at my club. We've played clean rugby for years and been let down by referees who haven't penalised foul play. In talking to a fellow club member he reckons that we'll be penalised for something innocuous tomorrow.

Well, so far, "only" two yellows across the three Pro 12 matches and one in the Premiership.

[Kermit power]

That's an interesting result...

Newcastle by two, with George Ford missing four kicks!

[Kermit power]

I do wish the Telegraph would put some explanations in their Premiership XV of the week article.

Having been at the Quins match, I'd love to know what Adam Jones and Tim Swiel did to warrant inclusion, or maybe just how poor everyone else's 10 was over the weekend?

[Kermit power]

Kermit power said:

I do wish the Telegraph would put some explanations in their Premiership XV of the week article.

Having been at the Quins match, I'd love to know what Adam Jones and Tim Swiel did to warrant inclusion, or maybe just how poor everyone else's 10 was over the weekend?

To answer my own question, at least on Adam Jones, I hadn't realised he was only at the Stoop on Saturday as a last minute stand in for Graham Rowntree as forwards coach!

Marler pulled out just before kick off, putting him on the bench, and early injuries to Evans and Collier saw Jones playing over an hour on the wrong side of the scrum for the second time this season.

Has there ever been a greater inspiration to middle-aged fat knackers everywhere???

[Kermit power]

I'm on my way back from Quins vs Edinburgh with my youngest.

Quins were bloody poor, and the lineout in particular was dreadful, but I'd still like to see the faces of all the people who walked out with 10 minutes to go and a score of 6-23 when they find out the final score was 18-23!

Ruaridh Jackson's dropped goal conversion from almost on the side line to ensure there was enough time to (successfully) chase a losing bonus point with another try was simply amazing though!

[Kermit power]

MEVILAZY said:

Quins....don't know what to say really, went to only my second match this season the other weekend and wasn't impressed, then the result yesterday at home!?! Throughout each game they just seem to completely switch off at times, from the beginning to the end, so tiredness not a factor. A big injury list doesn't help but I don't feel this is the main problem...

The injury list really is massive at the moment... Down at least 3 props, with Adam Jones having now played almost a full game on the wrong side of the scrum twice this season (and was titanic on both occasions!), plus Horwill, Robshaw, Evans and more, but even so, I don't think that's the main problem.

The main problem to me is that we're currently stuck with a DOR who has been happy to play second fiddle to at least three previous DORs over the last 15 years he's been at the club. Not only does this show a complete lack of ambition and energy at a personal level - which I would imagine must come through to the team - it also means he's got bugger all experience of any other forms of playing to bring to the club. He's just continuing O'Shea's form of play, despite the fact that he's no O'Shea, and other teams had already been figuring it out anyway.

I really hope we start next season with Cockers as DOR. He'll still be an annoying, cocky, arrogant , but at least he'd be our annoying, cocky, arrogant !

[Kermit power]

James Drake said:

Kermit power said:

I really hope we start next season with Cockers as DOR. He'll still be an annoying, cocky, arrogant , but at least he'd be our annoying, cocky, arrogant !

I suspect that this is wishful thinking given he's likely to be enjoying a massive pay rise to work down in the French Riviera!

He's only on a short term contract until the end of the season, isn't he? How long will his ego let him play second fiddle to another ex-English DOR?

[Kermit power]

James Drake said:

Matt172 said:

Sale have now confirmed they have sacked him, can't imagine there are going to be many clubs in the prem who'll want him now

Maybe I'm naive but in what world did he think that this could ever work out well?!?

ETA If I were him I'd be trying to find out if there was a place for me at Bristol!

If I were him, I think I'd be wondering how on earth this has actually come to light?

It's not as though he got scammed by an undercover reporter or anything, is it? As I understand it, he just made a couple of stupid comments to his own brother over a drink? Did his brother then go and tell his management that he'd been given secret information or something?

[Kermit power]

James Drake said:

Kermit power said:

As I understand it, he just made a couple of stupid comments to his own brother over a drink? Did his brother then go and tell his management that he'd been given secret information or something?

I suspect it is a combination of rumours that he'd been out with a member of the opponent's team (his brother) combined with Bristol's uncanny knowledge of Sale's line out tactics. From there on in it is simply a case of enough people taking interest in the possibility of foul play (and I include players from both teams, coaching staff, the media and fans in this)

The odd bit to me is that it's his brother. Fair enough, if he'd been spotted in a hotel with a member of the Bristol squad that he doesn't know, then I think that would be enough to provoke some serious suspicion, but when it's his brother?

Surely Sale couldn't expect him to have no contact with a close family member under these circumstances, and unless someone else overheard the conversation, surely all he would've needed to do would be to sit down at the disciplinary meeting and say "Yes, we met. We discussed mum's lumbago, where we were going to go on holiday, and Brexit. The only rugby discussion we had was about who would need to get injured for us both to get called up for the Lions", and they wouldn't be able to prove anything at all, certainly not to the point of sacking him?

The Telegraph article was talking about an apparent breakdown of relations between him and the rest of the Sale squad already, so maybe one or more of the other players actually did follow him to the hotel and overhear the conversation?

[Kermit power]

How long do we think European rugby intends to continue with the rather pointless humiliation of the Italian clubs in the Champions Cup?

I'm all for the idea of encouraging the spread of the game into new markets - I'd like to see a promotion/relegation playoff in the Six Nations, for example, as Georgia have more than done enough to deserve a crack at the top table - but the Italian clubs just don't seem to be getting any better, do they?

It seems daft to have teams in the second tier competition who would consistently run in bonus point wins home and away against some of the teams in the top tier competition. Wouldn't it be better to give them a competition in which they have at least some hope of the occasional win?

[Kermit power]

tight5 said:

London Welsh are no longer a professional club.


link

That's terribly sad news for a club with that sort of history.

I wonder if it would have made much difference if they hadn't been dicked around by the Premiership like they were?

[Kermit power]

Well that was bloody well played by Gloucester!

[Kermit power]

That was painful!! Quins should've won that one.

[Kermit power]

If anyone wants to see what a complete lack of strength in depth looks like, you could do no better than to take a look at Quins against Leicester tonight.

All started out fairly nicely despite the current crop of injuries and international duty, but as soon as Nick Evans came off, everything just fell apart.

God only knows where Ruaridh Jackson left his kicking boots tonight, but he certainly didn't have them with him at the Stoop! The Leicester fans in front of us quite rightly thought it was hilarious when his kick to touch from 5m out for a penalty resulted in a lineout about 8m out from the line, and that was just one of a number of errant efforts!

Dear Santa,

Please could all Quins fans please have a late Christmas present of an actual DOR with some actual ideas and some actual ambition, please, please, please???

[Kermit power]

Just seen the welcome news that this year is going to be the last with the joke that is the Championship promotion play off system.

Hopefully that'll make for a more level playing field in the Premiership, given that the promoted side will have more time to put their side together.

[Kermit power]

Matt172 said:

Sneaked that win in
Makes it interesting now, with tigers and bath both losing, Saints are only 4 points off the top 4 and you guys only 1 behind us

Gloucester must be gutted! Seven minutes from the end of the game, they were twelve points in front...

Then Hibbard goes to the bin, and Quins walk away with five points in the bag!

I wonder how many traveling Quins fans buggered off early to miss the traffic!

[Kermit power]

Ian Lancs said:

Has Fisher just quit on twitter??
"Unbelievable capitulation. Clearly not good enough. My responsibility. Time to make room for someone else."
https://twitter.com/LordLaurie58

Please take John Kingston, Please take John Kingston, Please take John Kingston, Please take John Kingston, Please take John Kingston, Please take John Kingston, Please take John Kingston, Please take John Kingston, Please take John Kingston, Please take John Kingston, Please take John Kingston, Please take John Kingston, Please take John Kingston, Please take John Kingston, Please take John Kingston, Please take John Kingston, Please take John Kingston, Please take John Kingston, Please take John Kingston, Please take John Kingston, Please take John Kingston, Please take John Kingston, Please take John Kingston, Please take John Kingston, Please take John Kingston, Please take John Kingston.....

[Kermit power]

God, it's getting depressing!

Just how bad so things have to get for Quins before we can have an actual proper Director of Rugby instead of a useless, ambitionless numptie?

[Kermit power]

iwantagta said:

Every time he appears on screen he looks like he is waiting for a bus.

I see him in the same group of dynamic, go-getting thrusters as Jeremy Corbyn.

[Kermit power]

It's half time, Quins are 27-10 up, and I'm sat with a pint, merrily roasting in the sun with my lads, looking over at everyone in their jumpers and coats in the shade of the opposite stand...

What better way to spend a Saturday afternoon?