LEICESTER TIGERS V SARACENS: post match-related comment here

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As you say, not the kindest fixture first up.

Mako and George Martin against their old clubs is a lovely little sub-plot

My early guess for Tigers

Steward
Radwan
Wand
Bailey
GHW

Searle
JVP

AVDF
Blamire 🤞
Heyes
Ollie Chessum 🤞
Cam Henderson
Wainwright
Reffell
Cracknell

Mori
Mako
Hurd
Thompson
Carnduff
Moro?/Williams
Whiteley
Kata

Would potentially put us into EQP deficit in Round 1, but with Illione out until NY are best 4 back rowers are all non EQP!
No idea if Moro will get some rest after playing for Argentina against Australia. I thought all the Argentinans would be but Carreras played for Bath against Glasgow and NRB have said their 3 Pumas are available for the Saints game!
OHC if recovered from a Thigh strain could replace GHW which would help the numbers.

No official injury updates from Tigers apart from the Ilione & Palmer update but we haven’t seen Stooke since Bezier and not seen Lewis Chessum plus we seen to have 3 hookers injured.

A reminder the 745 game between ex Union and League players happens after our game supporting some wonderful MND charities (also live on TNT)

Quote:

Sarrov
Mako and George Martin against their old clubs is a lovely little sub-plot

There's been a funny little "Traitors" meme going round with them both in the capes.

I'm not sure it gets much tougher than starting at Welford Rd but lets hope its a great game and start to the season with a convincing win (1 point will count)

Officials

Referee: Ian Tempest
ARs: Luke Pearce and John Meredith
TMO: Andrew Jackson

For crying out loud. Have we had him since he ignored PBB foot clearly in touch at Exeter that day?. So many better refs out there.

I’ll judge him on the day but wiser heads than me, not difficult admittedly, suggest we hold a similarly negative view of him.

Not ideal but let's do our best to take him out of the equation and no I don't mean tackling him off the ball.

Had a quick listen to the Tigers fan podcast the Rolling Maul.
They seem generally quite positive although it sounds like there are a few questions over the fitness of a number of XV players. A week before the game so quite possibly they will be ok. Nice to hear that after a bit of a rocky start Whitely is getting a bit of love from the supporters.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026:09:22:20:08:57 by PaulHerox.

Tempest is one of the worst out there
Is there any reason Luke Pearce is only assistant reffing?

Two very good potential squads, you would hope home advantage will be the difference, but who knows.

Yes you’d have to say Leicester probably 5 point favourites. Really hope we play better there than last season, it should certainly be warmer!

Quote:

MarkCol7
Tempest is one of the worst out there
Is there any reason Luke Pearce is only assistant reffing?

to keep an eye on him!

Sounds like we’re nursing quite a few injuries in the forwards.

Hopefully not as I’m absolutely buzzing for the new season. I’ll be back to crying all week if we lose at the weekend.

All I want this season is a positive outlook for the future. I see no point in Venter picking broadly the same outfit and playing the same style that struggled for 3 years under McCall.

Quote:

#wolfpack1
All I want this season is a positive outlook for the future. I see no point in Venter picking broadly the same outfit and playing the same style that struggled for 3 years under McCall.

Oh well.

Saracens Men team to play Leicester Tigers:

1 Eroni Mawi

2 Theo Dan

3 Marcus Street

4 Maro Itoje (C)

5 Hugh Tizard

6 Nick Isiekwe

7 Juan Martin Gonzalez

8 Alfie Barbeary

9 Tomos Williams

10 Fergus Burke

11 Rotimi Segun

12 Olly Hartley

13 Nick Tompkins

14 Tobias Elliott

15 Elliot Daly

REPLACEMENTS

16 Eoghan Clarke

17 Phil Brantingham

18 Alec Clarey

19 Olamide Sodeke

20 Nathan Michelow

21 Ben Earl

22 Charlie Bracken

23 Max Malins

Honestly feel completely and utterly uninspired by that team....The fact Jack Bracken isn't even in the 23 is absolutely crazy.

Didn't Venter say in an article that he would throw up a few surprises for this game?

Sadly looks like Martin and Carre have bigger injuries than we first thought

The greatest hits are back

An out of form Daly picked over Malins
6/2 split so we make no use of our exciting back 3 options
Wing covered by two 15s who have lost their yard of pace

When BV said their would be some surprises in the team selection i guess he meant dropping Earl!?

I am really disappointed with this team. I like Tompkins but Sione has been one of the standout players of pre-season. And where is Jack Bracken?

I presume George Martin must be carrying a knock, because I'm sure he would have been very keen to play against his former employers.

This team stinks to me of Mark McCall team, and I don't see a Brendan Ventner influence at all. As I say, very, very disappointed.

Martin missing is a shame but evens out with Leicester missing Chessum
I worry about us at scrum time
No surprises in the backs, J Bracken was never going to get thrown in away at Welford Road - his time will come in one of the next couple of home games
I just hope the few of them that had absolute stinkers there last season have a better game (Daly, Tompkins, Malins)

Feels like a very “safe” selection and I’m not massively surprised considering the fixture but I hope this isn’t a sign of things to come otherwise it’ll be like Groundhog Day.

Tigers

15. Freddie Steward (131)
14. Adam Radwan (34)
13. Solomone Kata (58)
12. Joseph Woodward (55)
11. Gabriel Hamer-Webb (16)
10. Billy Searle (25)
9. Jack van Poortvliet © (114)
1. Mako Vunipola (1)
2. Samiuela Moli (2)
3. Joe Heyes (183)
4. Finn Carnduff (20)
5. Cameron Henderson (88)
6. Aaron Wainwright (0)
7. Tommy Reffell (157)
8. Olly Cracknell (87)

Replacements

16. Corbin Thunder (0)
17. Tarek Haffar (21)
18. Will Hurd (79)
19. James Thompson (15)
20. Joaquin Moro (29)
21. Tom Whiteley (68)
22. Orlando Bailey (29)
23. Ollie Hassell-Collins (75)

Unavailable for selection

Charlie Bemand, Jamie Blamire, Lewis Chessum, Ollie Chessum, Charlie Clare, Jack Doorey-Palmer, Emeka Ilione, Joe Jenkins, Joshua Manz, Harry Palmer, Elliott Stooke, Finn Theobald-Thomas, Charlie Titcombe, Archie van der Flier, Samuel Williams

4 hookers amongst that unavailable list!

One positive- 17 EQP against the need for an average of 15 over the season!

Tigers have a lot of names missing, including Chessum and Ilone. As noted above, a few of our lads need to right some wrongs from last season. No better opportunity to do so.

Quote:

TommyKentish
Feels like a very “safe” selection

Is it?

It’s a group of players who have failed to make the play offs in recent years, with results getting worse and worse.

Feels like madness, rather than a “safe” selection.

Good to see the last couple of seasons of “transition” have seen us transition to the likes of Mawi, Tizard, Isikwe, Tompkins, Daly, Malins etc etc etc.

Oh, and always good to see the old 6-2 split which has served us so well in the past.

I realise we might all be being tough on BV, but this is so disappointing. Where is the picking on form that was promised?

If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got, and I can see us getting absolutely nothing out of this fixture with this team.

All the people moaning would you seriously want to go to Welford Road for the first game of the season with 5 debutants and several other youngsters who have only played a handful of games?

Although scrum is a worry for us, line out must be a massive worry for Leicester with inexperienced throwers - can see this being a target for us with 4 good jumpers in the team
Would expect a lot of kicking early on

I just don’t get it

It's the first Prem game this season and it's great to have the team back.
Overall it looks decent and whilst I appreciate some got very excited by the youngsters in the pre-season it was highly unlikely they'd make the 23 for this game. It will be great to see how Maro is after a proper break and if we can continue the pre-season positivity with a great result.

We've got Burke at 10, Hartley at 12 and get to see more of Williams starting and Elliott on the wing. All big positives. I'm ok with the experience and quality of Tompkins and Segun in those backs too although like others I hope the youngsters get more opportunities during the season. A great opportunity for Dan to really grab the starting short with strong and accurate set piece and carrying in the loose.

Tigers missing a few big players but with both teams missing their respective "big reds" (ours is bigger than theirs!) as well as Martin and George for us I think it evens out. Hopefully Martin just being managed through a niggle but a shame not to see him for this game.
Against Tigers I get the 6/2 but like others above I hope we don't return to that as our default. Hopefully our backfield catch and Taffar doesn't destroy our scrum and skittle our defence when he comes on like he did on his last appearance.

I like both Tizard and Isiekwe but too often when they play together I get left with the feeling we are a bit underpowered. Of course if we play to their strengths like Isiewkes great lineout work that's less of an issue but if we're asking them to carry you wonder if starting Sodeke instead of one might have been an option.

Ultimately we've heard all the soundbites but now we'll get to see how this team plays. The coaches have the exposure to those players and how they fit the plan so I will go for them having it right and a narrow win away.

Quote:

Sarrov
When BV said their would be some surprises in the team selection i guess he meant dropping Earl!?

I'd guess that he and others thought dropping Farrell, unless he's injured, would have made a big impression. That it's not even been commented on says it all for me but personally unless he's starting next week at home that's a positive even though it seems to have been used as an excuse to stick Daly at FullBack whilst Malins covers from the bench.
Hopefully Burke and Malins get to play together rather than be ships in the night.

Quote:

MarkCol7
All the people moaning would you seriously want to go to Welford Road for the first game of the season with 5 debutants and several other youngsters who have only played a handful of games?

Yes

Quote:

MarkCol7
All the people moaning would you seriously want to go to Welford Road for the first game of the season with 5 debutants and several other youngsters who have only played a handful of games?
Although scrum is a worry for us, line out must be a massive worry for Leicester with inexperienced throwers - can see this being a target for us with 4 good jumpers in the team
Would expect a lot of kicking early on

Agree. It's very unlike me to be the voice of positivity but it's the first game of the season at a very tough away game. This isn't the fixture to expose too many youngsters to their first full on game.
Also let's at least have one game, heck even three or four until we decide that we're going to play the same and possibly make similar mistakes to the previous seasons.

With Williams boot and our defensive lineout jumpers I'd hope we'll be kicking out a fair bit and putting serious pressure on their lineouts in their half and their exits. If and when space opens up in attack we have strong options to maximise our chances.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026:09:25:13:02:22 by PaulHerox.

Quote:

MarkCol7
All the people moaning would you seriously want to go to Welford Road for the first game of the season with 5 debutants and several other youngsters who have only played a handful of games?
Although scrum is a worry for us, line out must be a massive worry for Leicester with inexperienced throwers - can see this being a target for us with 4 good jumpers in the team
Would expect a lot of kicking early on

I can't speak for others but my frustration is that all the talk of picking on form from BV was clearly empty words.

Daly was awful in preseason and missed a load of last season.

Nobody has been rewarded for good form. If you are going to back experience then say that.

Why do we need to go 6/2 against a depleted Tigers pack?

Quote:

Sarrov

Quote:

MarkCol7
All the people moaning would you seriously want to go to Welford Road for the first game of the season with 5 debutants and several other youngsters who have only played a handful of games?
Although scrum is a worry for us, line out must be a massive worry for Leicester with inexperienced throwers - can see this being a target for us with 4 good jumpers in the team
Would expect a lot of kicking early on

I can't speak for others but my frustration is that all the talk of picking on form from BV was clearly empty words.

Daly was awful in preseason and missed a load of last season.

Nobody has been rewarded for good form. If you are going to back experience then say that.

Why do we need to go 6/2 against a depleted Tigers pack?

If this Venter stint is any bit as similar to his first I think we have to take most of his comments as tongue in cheek

I am a dissenter to the majority opinion above as I think that is the right starting XV and whilst I might have gone 5 vs 3 on the bench I can see why BV might want to try and dominate up front for 80 mins and win ugly. The Tigers backs actually look stronger than their forwards, which is not an observation I have made often in the last 40 years! Their relative weakness at hooker is something we need to capitalise on by putting pressure on their line out. Plenty of games to come for the likes of Jack and Sione to have the chance to shine.

We also have 3 home games in October in the prem against Sale, Bristol and Newcastle which in theory provides good opportunities for game time for the younger players. I won’t lie though, I’ll be disappointed if we don’t see more of the likes of Hall and Bracken, injuries allowing of course.

Quote:

ComeOnSarries
I am a dissenter to the majority opinion above as I think that is the right starting XV and whilst I might have gone 5 vs 3 on the bench I can see why BV might want to try and dominate up front for 80 mins and win ugly.

Out of interest- why is it right to go and win ugly? If any season is not a win at all costs season, it’s this one. I’m afraid the team selected for tomorrow is not going to win the league and is not going to trouble the scorers in Europe.

Why do I say that?

Because it didn’t really look competitive 3 years ago, was even less competitive 2 years ago and was completely uncompetitive last year. Why should it be much much better this year? When they’re all even older and even slower and even more set in their ways. If you think Daly has suddenly got his pace from 2017 back and won’t just grubber the ball away all game long I have a bridge to sell you.

This season, with a new coach, was a perfect opportunity to try something different and create a team that won’t win the league this year, but will be closer next year and maybe right there or thereabouts the year after.

A ugly win on Sunday still won’t change the picture.

From available players what are the XV/23s people would have got excited about seeing for the opening game.

TommyKentish I think I'd prefer that we made the StoneX a fortress again with our strongest team and made more changes for away games.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026:09:25:16:04:42 by PaulHerox.

Quote:

Sarrov

Quote:

MarkCol7
All the people moaning would you seriously want to go to Welford Road for the first game of the season with 5 debutants and several other youngsters who have only played a handful of games?
Although scrum is a worry for us, line out must be a massive worry for Leicester with inexperienced throwers - can see this being a target for us with 4 good jumpers in the team
Would expect a lot of kicking early on

I can't speak for others but my frustration is that all the talk of picking on form from BV was clearly empty words.

Daly was awful in preseason and missed a load of last season.

Nobody has been rewarded for good form. If you are going to back experience then say that.

Why do we need to go 6/2 against a depleted Tigers pack?

Absolutely this.

Like word for word.

Quote:

PaulHerox
From available players what are the XV/23s people would have got excited about seeing for the opening game.

For what it’s worth I’d start Brantingham and Sodeke ahead of Mawi and Tizard, both of whom have had plenty of opportunities with very little output recently.

Backline I’d have gone Tomos, Burke, Jack, Olly, Sione, Tobias, Max.

Might seem harsh on Segun who has done nothing wrong, but Jacks ceiling is just much much higher.

Isikwe is on borrowed time too imo, but he is very effective at the lineout so would keep his place for that atm.

Quote:

PaulHerox
From available players what are the XV/23s people would have got excited about seeing for the opening game.

Earl for Isiekwe
Malins for Daly
5/3 bench
Hall and J Bracken on the bench

I can see the current side struggling at the breakdown and the bench has limited potential impact.

We dont need 4 lineout forwards

I am a big fan of Daly but he looked in poor form over preseason.

I think Tigers will be delighted if we get in to a kicking and 1 man carrying slug fest. We should be looking to turn up the tempo and blow them away imo



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026:09:25:16:31:53 by Sarrov.

Quote:

#wolfpack1

Quote:

ComeOnSarries
I am a dissenter to the majority opinion above as I think that is the right starting XV and whilst I might have gone 5 vs 3 on the bench I can see why BV might want to try and dominate up front for 80 mins and win ugly.

Out of interest- why is it right to go and win ugly? If any season is not a win at all costs season, it’s this one. I’m afraid the team selected for tomorrow is not going to win the league and is not going to trouble the scorers in Europe.

Why do I say that?

Because it didn’t really look competitive 3 years ago, was even less competitive 2 years ago and was completely uncompetitive last year. Why should it be much much better this year? When they’re all even older and even slower and even more set in their ways. If you think Daly has suddenly got his pace from 2017 back and won’t just grubber the ball away all game long I have a bridge to sell you.

This season, with a new coach, was a perfect opportunity to try something different and create a team that won’t win the league this year, but will be closer next year and maybe right there or thereabouts the year after.

A ugly win on Sunday still won’t change the picture.

Firstly, I think you are way too harsh in your criticism of Daly who is in my opinion still a better catcher and kicker of the ball than Malins. He may not have the pace of yester year but he remains a very talented ball player and a key member of the squad who I am sure the young tyros look up to and learn from. Going to a packed and noisy Welford Road will not faze him.

Looking at the Tigers team this week I actually see their relative strength being in their back division and so I would be looking to our pack to have the edge and control field position. Whether we then score through penalties, rolling mauls or skillful back play is of little concern, just that we do!

I wasn’t saying this is the team to win the League and anyway no such team exists as to win a League requires a strength in depth across the squad. I do believe that this is the right squad to go to Welford Road and get a win and to be honest even if it is close and we miss out on a try bonus I would be very happy with 4 points as a start. Some commentators even have Leicester as favourites to win the League so this is a very tough first outing and very different to the run outs against Pirates and Ampthill.

Roll on Sunday!

Geez, there's a lot of negativity for a team selection. Performances against 2 Champ sides and a poor URC side won't reflect how a player will perform in the Prem, we should back BV/JS and expect them to have considered the desired gameplan and training performance when selecting the side, notwithstanding injuries which we're not privy too.

You have to wonder why some people even pretend to be "supporters".

Apart from swapping Daley with Malins I’m happy with the starting 15. Would have been good to have Carre and Martin somewhere.
Can’t wait to see Williams play for us

Interesting changes #wolfpack1 and Sarrov.

I like Brantingham but we've seen very little of him since he moved from Falcons and for me Mawi is a solid operator. Maybe that's damning with faint praise but up against Heyes who is top quality I think I want the stronger scrummager. Is that Brantingham. Certainly Mawi offers a lot in the loose and both he and Brantingham are good for the odd turnovers which the new take on the laws may encourage. He's on the bench so we'll at least get to see how he fares when he does come on.

#wolfpack1 that looks like a very exciting backs selection. Would you not have any concerns about putting Sione straight in. I'd like to see him rotated with Hartley to get a good look at both with a bit of experience with them. I think both would benefit from experience inside and out in terms of positioning and attack.

Agree about FullBack and also on replacing one of our starting locks. For me I think the physicality of Sodeke as we're missing Martin. I'm very happy with wings but like you I feel that Malins covering could have given us the opportunity to have J Bracken or Hall at 23 but I can also understand with Tigers traditional physicality why they've gone 6/2.

Also great to see JMG starting and getting his 50th cap after his injury last season. I look forward to seeing him in the wider channels turning defenders inside out and nicking ball.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026:09:25:17:48:56 by PaulHerox.

Quote:

Dolph42
Geez, there's a lot of negativity for a team selection. Performances against 2 Champ sides and a poor URC side won't reflect how a player will perform in the Prem, we should back BV/JS and expect them to have considered the desired gameplan and training performance when selecting the side, notwithstanding injuries which we're not privy too.

I am probably being too negative but it has little to do with pre-season/Prem Cup

The 6/2 was a disaster on a number of occasions last season. This year we have even stronger backline options and we (for this game at least) arent making best use of them imo.

Burke and Malins worked superbly at the end of last season. If we are picking on form, as BV and the coaches have repeatedly said we will be, what has Daly done to earn the start?

I think a lot of people were looking forward to a fresh start with an exciting squad. This selection feels like more of the same.

I am pretty happy. He’s gone with the 8/9/10/12 axis I wanted and hasn’t reverted to Faz. Roti deserves his start on the wing after his best season for us last season and Tobias imho is potentially one of our best back 3 players, even with all the excitement of Noah and Jack. I think Issy is at 6 to give us some bulk for the scrum and I think that may well be something we see this season, a lock at 6. Marcus and Theo are starting which is great. And we have JMG starting, a top-class back rower who is still relatively young considering his international experience. He doesn’t tend to play longer than 50 minutes either, so The Earl of Barnet will be on. Pleased to see Mitch and Charlie on the bench. I know what people are saying about Daly, but he is still a great thinking rugby player and play maker coming into the line. Max is on the bench to cover 10 as well, which I am still to be convinced about after pre-season and it does leave us short if we get an early injury.

Overall pleased with the amount of experience and youth in this team going up to Welford for a tough first game of the season. Don’t be surprised if we come away with a result.

Quote:

PaulHerox

#wolfpack1 that looks like a very exciting backs selection. Would you not have any concerns about putting Sione straight in. I'd like to see him rotated with Hartley to get a good look at both with a bit of experience with them. I think both would benefit from experience inside and out in terms of positioning and attack.

I don’t think so. Especially as (as per my comments above) I think this season is an opportunity for a proper transition season (rather than those fake transition seasons we’ve been told about the last couple of years).

Maybe it wouldn’t work, but at least we’d learn a bit about him (and Jack B etc). What will we learn on Sunday about NT? We know about his strengths (good defensively, tries really hard, always fit and available) but also know about his weaknesses (he struggles to get over the gain line against better defences , struggles to fix defenders).

Surely Earl is covering center? ;-) So it's a 6/3 bench!

I don't get the inherent resistance (negativity again?) to a 6/2 bench. Sure 2 injuries to anyone in the 10 - 15 shirt would be impactful, but bigger bodied forwards tire quicker than smaller backs so having that extra forward power is an advantage.

Quote:

Sarsen
You have to wonder why some people even pretend to be "supporters".

I’m pleased to see that, unlike the the previous transition seasons, these comments are in the minority.

Like many I pretended to be a supporter in Lyon, Edinburgh, Twickenham, Cardiff, Newcastle, Southgate, Toulon, Somerset and too many other places to name.

Like many I just don’t see why the selection that didn’t work 3 years ago, 2 years ago and last year will suddenly work now.

We may win Sunday and I will be vociferously cheering the boys on from my sofa. But we won’t do anything of note with a side like that.

Hope I’m wrong



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026:09:25:20:40:26 by Stonexjim.

Quote:

Dolph42
I don't get the inherent resistance (negativity again?) to a 6/2 bench. Sure 2 injuries to anyone in the 10 - 15 shirt would be impactful, but bigger bodied forwards tire quicker than smaller backs so having that extra forward power is an advantage.

It's not 2 injuries. Either winger going down means we have Daly or Malins on the wing, neither of whom have the pace these days to play there.

We have a pretty lightweight back 5 in the scrum. Apart from maybe Barbeary they can all comfortably go for 80mims. We aren't like the Boks where you are replacing power with more power. 6/2 would actually make a lot more sense if Martin was playing as you would then be asking him and Barbeary to empty the tank for 50mins.