Domestic & European Rugby 2017-18

[paul_e]

Massive win for Sarries but saints had a shocking 20 minute spell before half time where they couldn't stop making mistakes and sarries capitalised on all of them.

2nd half was more what I expected from them and I still think they'll have a decent season but Mallinder is definitely not a 10 (which I thought already) because his game management just isn't good enough.

There's also Wasps v Sale which looked dead a few minutes ago but 2 quick tries has put Sale right back in the mix.  4 tries from Robson will hopefully force Jones to pay a bit more attention to him this season.

Next game sees Quins vs Irish with 18 year old Marcus Smith starting at 10 for Quins, he's supposed to be a massive talent for the next few years but he's apparently had a stunning pre-season and has forced his way into the team, Eddie Jones has already been praising him as well.

[cheltenhamlion]

Gloucester won't go down. Worcester will. I am not sure how much we can survive on the coach but he at least has them properly drilled and up for a scrap.

[aev]

I think Ackerman always comes across really well. He turned the Lions around and seems like the sort of coach you'd love to play for.

[cheltenhamlion]

He has a disconcertingly Saffer voice mind. One of those proper broad Graham Smith type ones.

[paul_e]

It feels a bit early for 18-19 season transfer news but Dan Biggar is joining Northampton next summer, very good signing that.

[aev]

It feels a bit early for 18-19 season transfer news but Dan Biggar is joining Northampton next summer, very good signing that.

Mallinder eulogizing over Biggar. He will be watching him from his armchair at this rate.

[dcdavecollett]

Saints definitely needed an improvement in that position.

[cheltenhamlion]

Quins away tomorrow  (at The Stoop rather than HQ for a change). Win that, and I will start to believe in Ackerman. At least he doesn't seem afraid to trust the kids.

[curiousorange]

Worcester gave a lot in today's defeat to Wasps. Tighthead with a broken ankle, icepacks everywhere, and not even a losing BP to show for it. By the time they play a winnable game they could be a dozen points adrift.

[paul_e]

Worcester gave a lot in today's defeat to Wasps. Tighthead with a broken ankle, icepacks everywhere, and not even a losing BP to show for it. By the time they play a winnable game they could be a dozen points adrift.

Tough on them to not get a point but wasps scoring late tries is becoming pretty common so I don't think there will be a huge amount of shock about that.  Worcester did well to be in the game for so long.

Overall it was an interesting weekend, Bath got a massive win to stop Sarries getting a losing bonus (Roko's first was a wonder try) and that was followed by a superb performance from the saints to comfortably beat Leicester.

Watson was brilliant against sarries and showed that he simply has to switch to 15 for England, his pace and foot work make him incredibly dangerous carrying the ball back but where he beats Brown is that he's got a brain and plays the simple passes well and rarely gets isolated.  Whilst we're on England Hartley and Lawes were superb, the latter would be the first name in the team for me at the moment because he's become a fantastic ball carrier to go with all the defensive work and solid set piece work, him and Itoje can share 5 and 6 for now, with Kruis and Launchbury fighting over 4.

One other name to mention; I wonder if Tom Collins will get a serious look over the next few weeks, he was the a real bright spot for Saints in the first week and he was excellent again yesterday.  He's similar to Nowell in that he's always off his wing looking for work so he's worth a look at as a backup for that role if he keeps this form up.

[paul_e]

One more name to add after the first 2 weeks, Sam Simmonds looks a phenomenal prospect, I suspect he'll be around the England squad for the Autumn as things stand, he's playing 8 for the chiefs but looks like an option across the back row for me.

[taylorsworkrate]

I agree with you on Watson at 15 Paul.

The only thing I'd say on that, is that I can ultimately see 15 being Elliot Daly's best position and I'd want both of them in the team as both have something special about them

[aev]

One more name to add after the first 2 weeks, Sam Simmonds looks a phenomenal prospect, I suspect he'll be around the England squad for the Autumn as things stand, he's playing 8 for the chiefs but looks like an option across the back row for me.

Exeter have phenomenal options across the back row.

[paul_e]

They won the league last year on the strength of their options at 6-10 and they've added to them again in the summer so I expect them to have another very good season.

I think this will be a good season, I reckon you've got 3 teams (Worcester, Irish and Sale) who won't be looking at the top 4 then there's another 3 (Gloucester, Quins and Newcastle) who will see that as a hard task but will be looking to qualify for the champions cup (top 6) and for the other 6 they'll be genuinely thinking they can win the title.

Even better most teams have the quality to absolutely smash anyone who isn't quite on their game (sarries and bath both dished out big defeats to 'big 6' teams in the first week).  I suspect we might see a lot more high scoring games this year, Sarries have conceded 55 points already for example, that's a big change from last season where they were defensively dominant, Bath in particular showed exactly how to counter their rush defence and caused them huge problems all game.

[cheltenhamlion]

Early days for him in our team but I like Olly Thorley.