Morning all!

[Brandnewtorugby]

Morning all, best wishes to you and yours.

Still unable to post in the other place, but great that I can comment here and get my fix. Funny feeling about today, I get the feeling that the injury list has prevented us from putting more first team experience in the mix, which is a shame for the guys playing, but fully understandable. I suspect we might see a few more next week at home as we ramp up to aviva again. I am a little concerned about the rest and relaxation. I get that they needed it and have earnt it, but I always get the feeling they come back a little off the pace and Quins away hasn't been great for us.

Look forward to seeing hearing and finding out as much as I can about the game and the performance of this group. If they go well against a near full strength Irish then what a statement for the future.

Here's to a great game and some great performances.

Notso

[Neils]

Morning (not quite) sitting at Stansted awaiting flight to sunny Glasgow  (not). Will be able to pick up the club's commentary on the airport bus. Not too hopeful but hope somebody unexpected shines.

[Raggs]

Rather belated morning all!

Went north yesterday in a minibus with another family, to hunt for some snow.  After suspecting we wouldn't find any, we succeeded, dealt with the ludicrous traffic that occurs when Israeli's find out there's snow, and had a fun time, even took the dog to enjoy himself (he wasn't crazy about the several hours drive, but he'd only have been sat at home).

As for the game, no great surprises there, but I disagree with those who say there should be restrictions on the squads, I'm happy to have it used by different squads for different purposes, even if that creates some big scorelines.  Our players would have learnt more against a team with cohesion, than playing another mixed up team of similar ability.

[Brandnewtorugby]

I agree, leave it as it is, give teams the flexability. It was a great opportunity for some of our players, although I suspect if there were a few more first team players they would learn more about our structures? Cannot have everything though. I can never quite get my head around the arguments with 7's and AW. There seem to be some adamant it should be taken seriously and others that feel it should only be development players. In our case 7's was useful warm up and this last AW game was chance to rest starters, maybe the next will be to help returning injured. In the last game it suited Irish to build momentum and it was a home game so perhaps giving supporters something to cheer as well, maybe they will use the next one for development. I don't see the issue, by the way, my first game was an AW loss to Cardiff Blues a few years ago, it didn't stop us coming back for more!