Newcastle Falcons

Team for Leicester Tigers

After a great start to the season in all competitions, we now turn our focus back to the AP and with the visit of Leicester Tigers. Below is the team I would pick for a game we must win up front, and it will be a big test for our boys but unlike years gone bye I believe at home on our hallowed KP turf we shouldn't be frightened of no team. And I expect the Tigers to come with their strongest 23 possible.

1 Bobby Vickers
2 Kyle Cooper
3 Jon Welsh
4 Calum Green
5 Will Witty
6 Mark Wilson
7 Will Welch
8 Ryan Burrows

9 Tane Takulua
10 Toby Flood
11 DTH Van Der Merwe
12 Juan Pablo Socino
13 Maxime Mermoz
14 Niki Goneva
15 Alex Tait

Replacements
Santiago Socino
Sami Mavinga
Scott Wilson
Evan Olmstead
Opeti Fonua
Michael Young
Josh Matavesi
Sinoti Sinoti



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 23/10/2017 12:14 by Falcons_Thunder.

I think Gary Graham is worthy of consideration after his excellent performances the last two weekends.

Is Fonua match fit. He's playing his first game for the A's tonight..so would he be risked v Tigers?

Unfortunately Gary injured his foot in France so will be out for a wee while.

That's a shame Smithy, he's played very well! Hope its not too serious

The guys are throwing up some real selection headaches.

Just how it should be,unlike days gone by where it was pretty straightforward to pick a match day 23.

I will be honest and say i don,t think we have a best 23 anymore as everyone in the squad now comes in and does a job. The strength in depth is a joy to behold (proven once again with the superb away win in Bordeaux at the weekend) there is some serious competition for places these days!

I believe that we have and will see a lot of "horses for courses" selections this season.

Happy days.....

Will certainly be interesting who we select.

Quote:

Falcons_Thunder
Team for Leicester Tigers
After a great start to the season in all competitions, we now turn our focus back to the AP and with the visit of Leicester Tigers. Below is the team I would pick for a game we must win up front, and it will be a big test for our boys but unlike years gone bye I believe at home on our hallowed KP turf we shouldn't be frightened of no team. And I expect the Tigers to come with their strongest 23 possible.

1 Bobby Vickers
2 Kyle Cooper
3 Jon Welsh
4 Calum Green
5 Will Witty
6 Mark Wilson
7 Will Welch
8 Ryan Burrows
9 Tane Takulua
10 Toby Flood
11 DTH Van Der Merwe
12 Juan Pablo Socino
13 Maxime Mermoz
14 Niki Goneva
15 Alex Tait

Replacements
Santiago Socino
Sami Mavinga
Scott Wilson
Evan Olmstead
Opeti Fonua
Michael Young
Josh Matavesi
Sinoti Sinoti

If fit i think Nili Latu deserves his place in the 23. He’s warrior-like of late. Also i think we’d need a replacement Fly Half.
Is Juan Pablo available after his ban?

Tait, Sinoti, Harris, Socino, Goneva, Flood, Takalua, Latu, Welch, Wilson, Witty, Green, Welsh, Cooper, Vickers. Bench: Mavinga, Socino, Wilson, Robinson, Burrows, Young, Mermoz, Willis. Strong team and still quality not in that selection eg Olmstead, VDW, Wilson Fonua, Matavesi etc that’s the depth now! What will be really interesting is in Autumn when our players get over looked, the majority of that team will still be here 👊

For a change it's not our pack you need to fear, we are scoring tries for fun, just depends if Toomua is fit, otherwise I would expect most of last weekends 23.

Quote:

tigerburnie
For a change it's not our pack you need to fear, we are scoring tries for fun, just depends if Toomua is fit, otherwise I would expect most of last weekends 23.

The Falcons have scored more points in the premiership then the Tigers and have got 4 TBP where the Tigers have got 0TBP.

Quote:

Falcons_Thunder

Quote:

tigerburnie
For a change it's not our pack you need to fear, we are scoring tries for fun, just depends if Toomua is fit, otherwise I would expect most of last weekends 23.

The Falcons have scored more points in the premiership then the Tigers and have got 4 TBP where the Tigers have got 0TBP.

True, but we have had an easier start to the Prem. Wuss and Irish at home. There’s no doubting Leicesters and Newcastles try scoring assets but at Kingston Park this could be quite an evenly matched game.

Quote:

falconbear

Quote:

Falcons_Thunder

Quote:

tigerburnie
For a change it's not our pack you need to fear, we are scoring tries for fun, just depends if Toomua is fit, otherwise I would expect most of last weekends 23.

The Falcons have scored more points in the premiership then the Tigers and have got 4 TBP where the Tigers have got 0TBP.

True, but we have had an easier start to the Prem. Wuss and Irish at home. There’s no doubting Leicesters and Newcastles try scoring assets but at Kingston Park this could be quite an evenly matched game.

We've had both sarries and Exeter so far

Round 1
Leicester 23-27 Bath
Falcons 35-8 Warriors TBP

Round 2
Northampton 25-11 Leicester
Sale 12-13 Falcons

Round 3
Leicester 24-10 Gloucester
Falcons 7-29 Sarries

Round 4
Harlequin 28-31 Leicester 31
Bath 32-33 Falcons TBP

Round 5
Tigers 20-13 Exeter
Falcons 29- London Irish 17 TBP

Round 6
London Irish 27-28 Leicester
Exeter 34-24 Falcons TBP

If you say that Tiggers v Irish & Glos is comparable to our games against Wuss & Sale, the others are comparable too, so on the whole I would fancy us at KP more than Tiggers in terms of scoring tries.

My apologies for giving the game the kiss of death.

Leicester have been scoring three tries in a lot of games. Missing out on bonus points might cost them at the end of the season, but wins are the most important thing. Sunday's game between two improving teams ought the be a cracker, but you never know.

We're the home team, and on that basis I'd expect us to dictate plays with Flood and Matavese pinning them back in their half.
Considering we've gone toe to toe with Exeter, Sarries and beaten Bath at the Rec I expect us to be slight favourites for this game.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 24/10/2017 10:03 by lizard118.

I doubt Matavesi will be playing ahead of Socino. Unless conditions are poor the Falcons should mainly be running the ball. If they do kick for territory better to find touch rather than punting the ball to the Tigers's dangerous back three.

Think Falcons Thunder is pretty spot on!
Should be a cracking game.

Wayne Barnes is "sir", we like him.

We like him too !!

Barnes certainly wouldn't bottle awarding a last minute penalty which happened in last year's fixture.

Was that JP by any chance?

Barnes usually gets the tough games so I wonder what the powers that be at Twickenham expect to kick off on Sunday? Do they know something that we don't?

He did the Australia game last weekend so potentially an extra day to get over the jet lag?

Best ref in England by a mile in my humble opinion, it's gonna be interesting with a few ex players in both teams.

Quote:

Yorksfalcon
Was that JP by any chance?

Yes twice bottled it

Lots of intriguing selection dilemmas:


Who will play at fly half? Will Toby Flood make his first start in the Premiership or will young Craig Willis be given another start?

Who will play at number eight? Ryan Burrows done enough to earn his first appearance in the Premiership or will the ever reliable Nili Latu? Could Fonua be given a surprise recall onto the bench after playing for the 2nd team on Monday?

Who will play at centres? Will the successful Juan Pablo Socino and Chris Harris partnership continue or could Josh Matavesi/Maxime Mermoz come into the side?

Gutted I won't be able to make the trip to the game.

I wouldn't change the current half back or centre pairings - I like the idea of Nili Latu coming on as an impact sub (I think)

I can't see flood not starting with the games he had last week, plus his game management is far superior than are other FH but that came with experience plus 60england caps

Latu has been getting back to the form of two seasons ago. I think he'll start. The bulk of the team picks itself. Fairly close choice at 2, 5, 13. Maybe 15 as well if the Hammer is fit.

Toomua out for us

The Chopper has to start at 2

then they can bring on Cooper or Lawson

So no Toomua phew!! Had a superb game v Castres and no J P Doyle things can only get better!!!

Seen this on the Tigers forum great bit of respect for us from some of the Tigers fans

"Winning away at Kingston Park would, for me, rate more highly than beating Chiefs at home".

Interesting decisions indeed.

Burrows to me looked average v Newport, but the reports suggest he was huge v Bordeaux. Maybe he just needed warming up. If that's the case, then he starts for me...he is one huge lump of a guy. And I enjoyed watching how he captained the young kids around him v Newport. Especially Radwan, telling him where to stand etc.

How did Fonua go in his run out?

Matavesi was apparently excellent against Bordeaux aswell. His and Floods tactical kicking were supposedly top drawer and was one of the main reasons for our victory.

Sinoti was the pick of the players in the A league game apparently. I'm sure he will get game time soon with Goneva and DTH on international duty.

Chopper to start and Cooper on the bench would be fantastic.

Newcastle Falcons team to face Leicester Tigers (Sunday, 3pm, Kingston Park Stadium)

15 Alex Tait

14 Vereniki Goneva

13 Chris Harris

12 Juan Pablo Socino

11 Sinoti Sinoti

10 Toby Flood

9 Sonatane Takulua

1 Rob Vickers

2 Kyle Cooper

3 Jon Welsh

4 Calum Green

5 Sean Robinson

6 Mark Wilson

7 Will Welch (captain)

8 Nili Latu

Replacements

16 Scott Lawson

17 Sami Mavinga

18 Trevor Davison

19 Will Witty

20 Ally Hogg

21 Michael Young

22 Joel Hodgson

23 Maxime Mermoz

That backline just looks a dream!!!

Is Willis injured ? I am very surprised he's not even on the bench

Leicester Tigers (v Newcastle Falcons, away, Sunday 3.00pm)

15 Telusa Veainu

14 Nick Malouf

13 Matt Smith

12 Mathew Tait

11 Jonny May

10 George Ford

9 Ben Youngs

1 Ellis Genge

2 Tom Youngs (c)

3 Dan Cole

4 Dom Barrow

5 Graham Kitchener

6 Valentino Mapapalangi

7 Brendon O’Connor

8 Sione Kalamafoni



Replacements

16 Harry Thacker

17 Greg Bateman

18 Pat Cilliers

19 Harry Wells

20 Luke Hamilton

21 Sam Harrison

22 Joe Ford

23 Adam Thompstone

I like the starting XV. Robinson in to attack the Tigers' line-out and Witty looked a bit jaded against the Dragons. Are Willis and Socino jnr fit? If so, unlucky to miss out on the bench.

Love the look of that backline for us.

Going to be a bit of headbanging between the two number 8s.

We've been dreaming of a backline like that for years!! Can't wait for Sunday in front of a packed out KP

Great backline more of a running/power game with sinoti and goneva which I think we will need. Is it Sunday yet lol

On the team I would have liked to have seen DTH and Mermoz start but we don’t know about injuries?

The key battles for me are at set piece time. We need Welsh to come up big and do well against Genge. Green will need to be competitive at the line out and hopefully steel a few from Tigers.

The backline is mesmerising when you think of the players not in there likes of Matavesi. We could onl have dreamed of that a few seasons ago.

This is going to be a solid scrappy game and I believe Tigers will want to keep it tight with the forwards.

If both sides come to play running rugby with our backline and there’s the 9,10 of Youngs and Ford will be a big weapon. Latu needs to attack the channel and hope we get some joy from the breakdown.

Really looking forward to the game now the atmosphere should be electric.

This game is our toughest test so far in my opinion and should show how far we’ve come as a team. Are we a decent side with top 6 aspirations or have we got a squad capable of shocking the media and critics and challenging for Top 4 and honours this season.

We will know by 5pm Sunday.

Look at that front five match up

Rob Vickers, Kyle Cooper, Jon Welsh
v
Ellis Genge, Tom Youngs (c), Dan Cole



Calum Green, Sean Robinson
v
Dom Barrow, Graham Kitchener



that is gonna be some tight five tussle to gain the ascendency to allow the quicker forwards to play and the backs to drop the ball

Weather forecast is good for running rugby.

Can't make up my mind if I am more excited about that excellent looking team taking on a strong Tigers side, or about the atmosphere of a sold out KP.

Bring on Sunday.

Our team looks solid
We can’t find a space for DTH or Matavesi in there
We are going to need a big performance to beat Leicester but we can do it

Tigers have a few hot heads in the starting 5 genge and Barrow, we have the superior lineout by far and Kyle Cooper should tighten our scrum

Sinoti x2 man of the match, calling it right now. He was showing glimpses of being back to his best during pre-season but due to injury he hasn't had a chance in the Premiership until now.

Looks like it'll be a cracking game between 2 in form sides.