Tigers battle to vital win

A gritty, a battling, a brilliant performance from Tigers ended the 3 game losing run and restored some pride with a 6 point win over equally troubled Harlequins.  17 points from the boot of Welshman Owen Williams and a try of rare quality from Californian Blaine Scully was enough to see off the Londoners who responded with a 3 penalties from Kiwi Nick Evans and a sniping try from Karl Dickson.

This was an old fashioned match with both teams attempting to win the arm wrestle up front, both teams decidedly only playing when it was clearly on and neither team making a rash of substitutes; Tigers made 2 subs and Quins only 3.

Tigers made a fast start; Fraser Balmain and Leonardo Ghiraldini sweeping a loose ball in midfield away to Ben Youngs.  The ball was quickly shifted through Mat Tait and Manu Tuilagi for Jamie Gibson to roam into some open space.  The blindside did well to hold the ball for long enough to commit last man Luke Wallace just enough to let Blaine Scully squeeze by for the American's fifth try for the club.

Some Quins fans have been suggesting the final pass was forward.  All I can say is that after last year the irony is delicious.

Tigers will feel hard done by Wigglesworth's first penalty against them, even on multiple viewings I can't find an offence.  No help from BT sport who seem to view actually discussing why penalties were given as completely beneath them.  Rizzo's drive is directly over the ball and Gibson's release and roll speedy.  Either way Evans made a good 3 points.

The next spell saw three penalties in as many minutes.  First a scrum penalty against Quins was converted from 43m out by Williams; Quins dragged one back after Ghiraldini collapsed the maul he set up with a stand up tackle on Tikoirotuma; Tigers rounded off the period with another 3 points from long range after Will Collier's lazy attempt to slow play down at a ruck.

Tigers had a great chance to go further ahead before half time; Quins failed to deal with a fairly standard garryown and Goneva was first to the bouncing ball, only a try saving tackle from Matt Hopper forcing the Fijian into touch stopped a certain 5 pointer.  

Owen Williams' usually reliable radar was then faulty at two more long range attempts but in my view both should have been re-taken. 

The reason was rule of the game 21.5 (c) :

If the kicker indicates to the referee the intent to kick at goal, the opposing team must stand still with their hands by their sides from the time the kicker starts to approach to kick until the ball is kicked.

The Londoners seemed to think they were at Piccadilly circus such was the movement at Williams' kick, following a bit of sealing off from replacement hooker Dave Ward.  Lock forward George Robson was the chief offender both times.

Tigers did get another 3 points in the first half after a tough penalty against Chris Robshaw for what seemed to be a good disruption attempt.  This time the kick was from the 22 rather than half way and the tireless Quins managed to keep themselves still for a moment.

After half time it was much the same, trading penalties, Tigers eeking out a territorial advantage with a better executed kicking game.  Evans opened the scoring 5 minutes in; Balmain simply lost his footing at a Quins scrum and such are the rules of the game a good kicker like Evans takes 3 points.

Williams canceled the slip immediately, Scully's hustle from the kick off was rewarded with a dominant man-and-ball tackle on Tikoirotuma forcing the Fijian to hold on for the penalty.  Williams gained the 3 points and had a chance to extend the lead 5 minutes later.

Salvi poached an over throw, Tigers were rampant in the Quins 22 surging forwards and left.  Going right against the grain Williams on an outside arc could have gone himself but instead forced the pass in front of Scully who was unable to take it.

Williams was treated for a blow to face, which he took clearing out a ruck.  After the game Williams could be seen vomiting profusely on the side of the pitch, a common symptom of the current zeitgeist injury concussion.

Whether it was the head knock, the now torrential down pour or simply the difficulty Williams was unsuccessful with another 40m+ long range kick a few minutes later.

A fairly simple 3 points was offered almost 20 minutes after the last disturbance to the score board, Charlie Mathews getting on the wrong side of a tackle. Williams took the 3 and Tigers must have felt the game was won.

Harlequins to their credit responded immediately; claiming the re-start, upping the tempo and gaining possession inside Tigers 22 for the first time in the match.  The sealing off was blatant even by modern standards but unpunished as Quins recycled possession probing for a gap.  Eventually they manufactured one as Karl Dickson took advantage of Manu Tuilagi being unaware of his surroundings on the fringe defence.

I thought Quins would keep going with the style that reaped them immediate rewards but instead they were content to play kick tennis and hoof the ball off the field with the clock dead.  Shows that Tigers aren't the only side in the league that might be lacking a bit of confidence.

Scully takes Flight and Tigers set to face Russian Test?

Scully set to miss run up to Quarter Final

Tigers are set to miss Blaine Scully for the final two weeks build up to the monumental trip to Clermont in the Heineken Cup Quarter Final.  Winger-cum-full back Scully has been named as part of Mike Tolkin’s US Eagles squad that takes on Uruguay in a two legged Rugby World Cup qualifier.

The first leg is set for this Saturday in Montevideo with the return fixture at Kenneshaw State University in Atlanta a week later.  That rules Scully out of the Exeter game this Sunday as well as the visit to Northampton.  The Saints will be missing Samu Manoa who is amongst 11 players from the top three divisions of English rugby selected.

Scully’s absence deals the Californian wingers chances of playing in Clermont a body blow.  Cemented in the First XV at present his national service will give Adam Thompstone or a fit again Miles Benjamin a chance to press their claims.  You cannot begrudge a man an international cap but the creep of the international rugby continues unabated.

USA Squad:

Forwards: Todd Clever (NTT Shining Arcs), Tom Coolican (Richmond), Cam Dolan (Northampton), Eric Fry (London Scottish), Olive Kilifi (Seattle-OPSB), Titi Lamositele (Saracens), Scott LaValla (Stade Francais), Samu Manoa (Northampton), Hayden Smith (Saracens), Lou Stanfill (Seattle-OPSB), Kyle Sumsion (BYU), Phil Thiel (Life), Tai Tuisamoa (OMBAC), Nick Wallace (James Bay)

Backs: Miles Craigwell (Seattle-OPSB), Luke Hume (Narbonne), Seamus Kelly (Cal), Toby L'Estrange (London Welsh), Tim Maupin (Olympic Club), Folau Niua (Glasgow), Mike Petri (NYAC), Blaine Scully (Leicester), Robbie Shaw (London Scottish), Andrew Suniula (London Wasps), Shalom Suniula (Seattle-OPSB), Chris Wyles (Saracens)

 

Tigers to play Russian Champions?

Brown’s Sport & Leisure Club in Vilamoura, Portugal, have been advertising that they will be hosting a match between Russian Champions Krasny Yar and English Champions Leicester Tigers on Friday April 11^th.  

Link Here 

And another here 

And Facebook Here 

As part of the “Algarve Rugby Festival” Krasny Yar will also be playing the British Army the week before.  Last season London Irish faced the Army in the 2013 edition of the “Algarve Rugby Festival” so this is not perhaps the wild fantasy it appears to be.

Tigers have not confirmed the fixture or the level of team being sent.  It is unclear whether the invasion of Crimea by Russian forces will affect this event.

Krasny Yar features a professional squad with the most recognisable names to western fans being ex-Northampton wing Vasily Artemyev and ex-Wasps flanker Victor Gresev.  They topped the regular season table in Russia before beating cross town rivals Enisey-STM in a two legged final.

Thompstone on Time as Tigers tackle Treviso

A last play try from Adam Thompstone kept Tigers' European hopes alive as it secured the 4 try bonus point; Flood's conversion made the final score 34-3.

The result needs to be put in the context that Treviso finished the last season 7th in the RaboDirect Pro12; this is where Bath finished in the Aviva Premiership.  We would not be moaning if we got a 5 point win against Bath what ever the circumstances.

The performance though was mixed to say the least.

Tigers are never comfortable under lights, this game was moved due to a clash with Leicester City v Huddersfield (won 2-1 if you're interested), and this nasty habit reared its head again.  Treviso were excellent for large parts at spoiling the possession.  The laissez faire approach to the ruck by Pascal Gauzere was taken up with relish by Barbieri, Zanni and Vosawi who were a constant nuisance in and around the break down.

Ed Slater was magnificent, his line and pass for the final try were inch perfect, but he really is a lock in his break down work.  That is not an insult or an attempt to disparage him, he is a smasher not a grabber.

Outside of Slater, often marooned on the wing like our blindside often is, and the effervescent Tom Youngs Tigers carrying game was stilted and ineffective.  Waldrom made several telling interventions but tired, whether it was a lack of match practice or an injury I cannot say.

The back play drew most of the ire from the messageboards, and it was not good, but the ball was slow and stodgy whilst the Trevisian defence was fast and aggressive.  Going wide and deep plays into their hands.

Leicester opened the scores after 16 minutes.  Ben Youngs ran a smart wrap around with Bowden as the pivot to open up the Italian's blindside defence from a midfield scrum.  Youngs kept the move alive but without an offside line the Treviso defence recovered.  Hepetema, an early sub for Goneva, showed some lovely foot work to beat his man before Michele Rizzo sped out of the line to smash Toby Flood late and incur the penalty.

From the restart Berquist kicked straight out so Tigers had another midfield scrum.  A penalty was awarded when Rizzo, again, stood up.  Youngs scented the chance and went quickly, he drew his man and put Niall Morris into space.  McLean was beaten all ends up as he turned his back on the play.  But no!

Pascal Gauzere ruled that Youngs had taken it in front of the mark.  With the aid of my TV recording I can clearly see that he was wrong and that Youngs was indisputably not in front of the mark.  It was not even particularly close.  Perhaps J.P. Lux had had a word?

An harsh call for a forward pass by Toby Flood lost the move from the penalty.

But Tigers were finding their grove if not quit finishing it off.  Ben Youngs kicked intelligently for the corner and Californian winger Blaine Scully showed real desire chasing the kick, putting McLean under pressure.  His clearance kick was long but flat giving Morris excellent counter attacking ball.  His trademark break and off load saw the Tigers forwards stampeding through the center ground.  

Now that is more like it!  Tom Youngs takes it on. Kitchener turns it inside with a basketball pass to Mulipola on the charge.  Quick ball and Flood puts it inside the rush to Ed Slater; he goes inside right again to Waldrom who makes 10 yards.  No ruckers from Treviso means Kitchener can pick and go through the heart.  Botes just about stops the rampaging Salopian on the 5m but refuses to roll away.  Advantage.  Flood wastes it with a nothing chip.

Fair play to Gauzere he had no messing around and produced the yellow card straight away.  Tigers now completely in the ascendency and playing beautifully.  They take the points 6-0.  Not aggressive enough or showing the opposition correct respect?

Treviso weathered the storm well though as they played possession for the bulk of the 10 minutes.  The rain was now getting more persistent and Tigers hands started to falter.  Hepetema juggled but gathered then Geoff Parling fumbled an easy catch.  From the scrum Salvi then Waldrom slipped off tackles on Bob Barbieri.  He fed Manoa Vosawi for an eye catching break but wasted it with an atrocious pass to no one in particular

A succession of penalties from Treviso marched them back to their own goal line.  They dealt with the first maul well enough but again did not roll away and Tigers did not need asking a third time.  A well constructed maul saw Thomas "the Tank" barrel his way over for a 13-0 half time lead.

Tigers were back on form at the start of the second half, a trademark Ben Youngs break opened up the play and Ed Slater took advantage of an extremely loose definition of tackler not held to snatch a huge gain.  Traditional Tigers multi phase rugby saw the ball travel to within 5 yards of the try line where Thompstone was tackled into touch.

It wasn't over though.  Kitchener pilfered the Italian lineout.  Waldrom Went through the heart of the ruck and wriggled and squirmed and crawled and finally made it over the line.  Ruled as a double movement I have to question at what point was he held?  To my eye the first crawl is clearly unheld then he scores the try with his permitted single movement.  Little did we know at the same time they were also discussing this at Wembley.  Waldrom's was a darker shade but both decisions were gray rather than black or white.

The frustrations began to set in.  A poor pass from Ben Youngs.  A penalty against Cole.  A penalty against Tom Youngs.  13-3; a penalty for Botes the South African-Italian scrum half.

Flood passes to no one then cross kicks to no one in particular.  The clock is ticking away and the crowd is becoming agitated.  Another Flood pass goes to floor then bounces over Scully's head.  The rain is pouring down.

Flood is drifting away from Youngs, the passes have to be longer and loopier.  The Treviso defence is driving, pushing, harrying the Tigers into mistakes.  Flood and Hepetema mistime a simple switch.

The tide turns as Gauzere first bins the captain Antonio Pavanello for not rolling away then 40 seconds later Tongan-Japanese winger Christian Loamanu for a swinging arm high tackle on Blaine Scully.  Down to 13 men the Italian barricades finally are breached.

Another driving maul, this time with Tom Youngs in the driving seat.  Louis Deacon and David Mele are now on.  Deacon's muscularity is immediately to the fore as the maul surges over the line for a Tom Youngs try.

It was not all our own way though as Mele tried to use Thompstone on the blidside rather than let the maul do its work.  Now it was Bowden's turn to have a few moments.  A poor pass in the vicinity of everyone but to the hands of no one was followed up with a fairly sloppy dropped catch when quick hands could have seen a try.  Hepetema then throws a pass behind Thompstone's feet and into touch.

The need for 4 tries was seeing the players choke. The crowd were getting on to them and they were trying to force it too wide too early.  Forwards through the middle, draw them in would have been far far more effective.  Ed Slater slashes through a few week tackles but Salvi knocks it on at the ruck.  AHHHHHHH.

Dan Cole snaffles a turnover in midfield and Tigers break through.  Swift inter passing from Crane, Morris, Bowden and Thompstone gets us to within 5 of the line on the Crumbie touchline.  Deacon straightens a Flood pass into the shadow of the posts and we have advantage for an Italian offside.  It goes back left to Bowden who is gang tackled.

Mele takes the tap penalty.  Simple hands, take pass, draw man, pass from Flood and Crane puts Scully into the corner.  A delightful delay from Crane makes sure of the try.

Back to 15 men and Treviso are back to frustrating us.  It's panic stations and it isn't working.  Treviso are building possession in the 22, it's not the score we are bothered about it's the time.  5 minutes left.  Then 4.  Then 3.  We are still in our own 22.  

79 minutes up and we win a penalty from a scrum in our own 22.  It's now or never boys.  No mistakes.

Parling wins the lineout and Bowden takes it up.  Briggs and Mulipola prominent with their carries.  Dan Cole picks and goes.  It attracted the defenders, Slater and Thompstone slip wide and Bowden fires the pass wide to find Slater with the 2 on 1.  Slater does the simple thing that many make look so hard by holding his line, holding his nerve and passing as late as possible.

It is no easy finish for Thompstone as he steps off his left foot towards the posts beating one, beating two, beating three.  Relief.  He's got it.  Try number 4, worth 5 points.  Leaves us with 6 points in the group.

So it wasn't vintage Leicester but we'd be pretty chuffed stopping Bath at source and putting 4 past them so let's not get ahead of ourselves.  Work to do but job done.

Meet the New Guys: Part Two

Name: Jamie Gibson

D.o.B.: 29/7/1990 (23 years old)

Position: Flanker

Experience: 69 Pro Games (London Irish)

At 6’5” and well over 16 stones it is fair to say that Gibson is hardly from the Neil Back School of opensides.  Frankly being openly sizest I doubt he can actually cut it as an openside with that height to overcome.  But apparently he is to be competition not for Steve Mafi and Tom Croft at 6 but for Julian Salvi as a 7.

Gibson is not altogether a typical Tigers player having gone to super posh Marlborough School, whose fees of over £30,000 a year will be more than most Tigers fans earn in the same period.  After that school of hard knocks Gibson went on to read Classics (that’s the super useful subject of ancient Greek and Latin) at University College, Oxford for the bargain price of £9,000 a year. 

At least he should be able to give Richard Cockerill some posher insults to hurl at the officials.

Despite the claim he will be covering 7 I can’t help but feel Gibson will be used mostly as a utility back row sub replacing whoever is playing worst.

Name: David Mele

D.o.B.: 22/10/1985 (27 years old)

Position: Scrum Half

Experience: 141 Pro Games (Perpignan)

Mele is your typical French scrum half.  Short, aggressive, prone to a bit of diving, a goal kicker and confident enough to turn his hand to fly half.  Mele was an ever present for Perpignan last season slotting in at both his favoured scrum half position and at fly half.  A prodigious goal kicker, including 14 drop goals (compared to Flood’s singular effort for Tigers) he doesn’t trouble the scorers with tries too often as he has only scored twice in his 141 games for the Catalan side.

Mele has come with the intention of ousting Lions scrum half Ben Youngs from the side and winning French international caps but may have to make do with scrapping against Sam Harrison for the right to warm the bench.  Harrison has seen off many pretenders to his position in recent years so I wouldn’t bet against him.

Primarily Mele will be used when Youngs is on England duty and should be good enough to allow a little bit more rotation as Tigers push for trophies on three fronts this season.

Name: Neil Briggs

D.o.B.: 1/6/1985 (28 years old)

Position: Hooker

Experience: 185 games (2 Sheffield, 22 Rotherham, 122 Sale, 21 Bourgoin, 18 London Welsh)

There would have been a time when a player moving on to his 6^th club by the time he was 28 would have been the butt of the old “more clubs than Tigers Woods” jokes.  These days it seems to be if not exactly common certainly unremarkable.  Except I am remarking on it.  Well whatever.

Briggs started his career proper by playing a season at Rotherham before spending the bulk of his career to date at Sale, where he was part of their Champion side in 2006.  A fall out with Mike Brewer saw a move to ProD2 with recently relegated Bourgoin, after their monetary problems he joined Lyn Jones for London Welsh’s Premiership adventure.

Briggs is coming to provide more competition to Tom Youngs as first choice hooker and will probably force Rob Hawkins, who has never quite convinced, down to third place.  Like many of the current squad Briggs in the 27-28 age bracket so should be entering his prime.  Almost like Cockerill has had a long term plan or something.

Name: Gonzalo Camacho

D.o.B.: 28/8/1984 (29 years old)

Position: Winger

Experience: 77 Pro Games (21 Argentina, 30 Harlequins, 26 Exeter)

Camacho joins Tigers from Exeter Chiefs where the emergence of Cornish youngster Jack Nowell limited his opportunities last season to just 8 games.  The previous season he had been a mainstay of the Exeter side as he featured 18 times.

Previous to his stint at Exeter Camacho had become a crucial part of a resurgent Quins side, leaving the summer before they won their inaugural title having played 26 times in 2010/11.

Never exactly a prolific winger Camacho has only scored 7 tries in 56 games of English Rugby; those numbers do warrant the question of what exactly do we want with a 29 year old winger who will be missing until October when we have Morris, Goneva, Thompstone, Benjamin and Hamilton as well as a plethora of academy lads available to us?

Argentina regularly pick him ahead of Horacio Agulla, who impressed us all so much, so maybe these highly paid professional coaches see something I am missing.  Argentina test commitments mean Camacho will be missing until the Ulster away game at the very earliest as that is 6 days after the last game in the Rugby Championship.

Name: Blaine Scully

D.o.B.: 29/2/1988

Position: Full Back

Experience: 12 Pro Games (USA)

Californian Scully joined the club on trial over the summer, as exclusively revealed by @LTUSM, and impressed in Tigers best ever campaign in the J.P. Morgan 7s.  Scully was an ever present in the Eagles line up for the 2011 World Cup at Full Back and it seems that is the position he will fill for the Tigers.

Born and raised in Sacramento, California, Scully only took up Rugby when he enrolled at UCLA where he played for two years before transferring to Cal, which is the University of California Berkeley, for a further three years.   At Cal he won two national titles and was named as an All American.  All of this makes Tigers his first ever proper Rugby club!  Might as well start at the top I suppose.

Scully is providing cover at full back whilst Mat Tait recovers from a summer operation and his initial deal runs until Christmas.  Scully will probably get his chance in the A League and the LV Cup to press his claims for further game time.  

Read Part One Here 

7s Heaven Tiger Cubs Win Through to Final Stages

In the week that the RFU dismissed their efforts as meaningless the Tiger cubs showed just what wearing the famous jersey meant to them as they roared to not only their first ever victory in this event but also into next weekend's final series in Bath.

Michael Noone and Oli Bryant had pulled out from the initial selection injured and were replaced by David Williams and Tahir El Mahdi.

First up were the Sale Sharks, the aggregate score over the last three years between the sides was 130-15 to the Cheshire side.  With Canadian international Phil Mackenzie and regular first team player Nathan Fowles leading Sale no one gave the young Leicester lads much chance.  

To begin with the doubters were being proved right as Sale dominated territory, pinning the Tigers back in their 22m cage, and possession, starving the Tigers of the ball.  From a quick tap Nathan Fowles had the Tigers back pedaling and USA 7s specialist Blaine Scully could do nothing as Fowles stepped about 5m laterally to round him for the try.

But the fighting spirit so often associated with the club was once again to the fore as the Tigers fought back valiantly to keep a toe hold in the competition.  

Scully made a long striding break to get up to halfway, the ball was spread to Pasqualle Dunn the school boy Kiwi Rugby League International who stood still, inviting, daring, challenging the Northern hordes on to him to tackle him, to down him.  They came at him but beat one man, beat two, beat three to set the Tigers up on the 22.  The 7 minutes was now up, one mistake and its was Nil Points at half time,  and Tigers lost it.  All Sale needed to do was win the ruck and kick it out.  But they couldn't.  Harry Wells was on top of them jackaling the ball away and putting Jake Farnworth into the corner for the score.

Tigers started the second half brightly, with Scully almost freeing Perry Humphrys but failing to free his hands from the tackle.  Lucas Guillaume went close but was turned over inches from the line.  Will Cliff, Sale's experienced Premiership operator, took out George Tresidder late and earned himself a 7s-style 60 second sin binning.  With the Sharks down to 6 men the Tigers had an attacking scrum on the left hand flank.  The ball was centered to late call up Tahir El Mahdi, with a continental football style nickname of "Cookie" on his back.  He did an underrated tactic in 7s.  He ran at the defence with commitment and pace.  "Tackle me, if you can" he said.  One little brush off against Tom Brady, another Premiership campaigner, and he was through for the winning try!

Victory!  For the first time in the J.P. Morgan 7s Tigers had returned with a win.

Leicester had no time to rest on their laurels though as they had to back up with a match against 2011 Champions Newcastle.  Harrison Collins stepped inside Harry Wells for Newcastle's first try and dove straight through a ruck a meter out for the second.  Tom Catterick made it 19-0 at half time after bludgeoning over from a quick tap penalty.

Normal service resumed?  Not a bit of it.  The Cubs came out fighting and won the second half 10-0 as they showed they were no pushovers.  Good pressure defence from the Tigers forced the Newcastle error and George Catchpole was on hand to turn it inside to Pasqualle Dunn who trotted to the line for the score after only 30 seconds of the second half.  Newcastle are a quality 7s side and attacked again, Blaine Scully the Californian on trial at the club pulled off a miraculous classic cover tackle to force the Falcons into touch, before a NFL-style throw released Henry Purdy on the far side of the posts to break out and turn defence into attack.  Leicester's competitiveness at the breakdown went too far once too often and Jake Farnworth was shown the yellow card.  Newcastle couldn't take advantage of the 6 man Tigers though as it was Leicester who had the final word.  

Henry Purdy pilfered the pill at a midfield ruck, allowing Tresidder to race away down the right hand flank.  He passed inside for Jake Farnworth to scuttle his way over from the 22.  Tigers had a conversion to earn the bonus point but with no kicker in the team it was not to be.

That meant the final game against Northampton was winner takes all.  The victor would move on to the Finals Series played at the Wreck, Bath, whilst the loser would go home to think again.  

The St.James crowd was in fine voice as the match began but it was Tigers who started better with Jake Farnworth wrestling the ball free in the first tackle.  Watching on from the stands were first teamers Julian Salvi, Graham Kitchener and Niall Morris and they looked on approvingly as Tigers benefited from a classic piece of 7s rugby.  It was Northampton on the attack and they looked all set to score after rounding El Mahdi, but scorching across the August turf was the American Scully to put in another trademark cover tackle.  Scully and Steele turned it over and Tresidder played it outside to the rapid El Mahdi.  He turned the defence inside out as he raced away for the try. 

El Mahdi was the man again for Tigers second try, Purdy picked and went through the middle of the ruck drawing defenders like flies to honey, Tresidder drew the last man and it looked like an easy run to the line.  But "Cookie" had other ideas as he turned back towards and the posts and monstered past three defenders before reaching out and grazing the line with ball on the limits of his finger tips.  He'd have been shot if he'd messed it up but when you score there are no questions to answer just praise for the finish.

Northampton pulled it back to make it a one score game as Alex Day pounced on Ryan Glyn's chip through to make it 10-5.  The Saints had their tails up now and were sniffing a finals place. 

Tigers defence hassled, harried and hustled the Saints into a litany of errors.  Disruptive breakdown work from Purdy allowed captain Scott Steele to steam through the middle of the ruck and kick the ball loose.  George Catchpole was on hand to clear up the mess and he found David Williams, a 17 year old from the city's Lancaster Boys School, who sealed Tigers place at the Rec with the try.

Afterwards Tahir El Mahdi impressed us all with his singing voice in an interview with Craig Doyle:

7 Hells, Tigers give cubs baptism of Fire

Tigers name another team of cubs for J.P. Morgan 7s as the search goes on for the Tigers first ever win in the competition.  Coming in with an average age of only 19 Tigers have certainly once again given youth its head in what will be the club's first appearance on the new BT Sport channel.

Captaining the side is Scotland Under 20s scrum half Scott Steele, who first played for the club in the 2011 7s at Stockport.  Steele is an old head in the squad having celebrated his 20th birthday last week.  Joining him in the "experienced" bracket is 23 year old Irishman Michael Noone, who made a huge impression in last seasons A League and LV Cup, and 22 year old French flanker Lucas Guillaume.  

The only truly experienced player in the squad is also the only unusual name to Tigers fans ears.  Blaine Scully is a 25 year old winger-cum-full back whose trial with the club was exclusively revealed by the UltraSubMarines on our twitter account two weeks ago.  Scully took up rugby whilst at UCLA and has represented the USA at both 7s and the full fat version, including playing for the Eagles at the 2011 World Cup.

Forward Harry Wells and back Henry Purdy were both part of England Under 20s squad which won the World Cup for the first time this summer; both also made their first team debuts in last seasons LV Cup and were impressive for the A team.  

George Catchpole and Pasqualle Dunn are both centres who can play on the wing, Catchpole is originally from Norfolk whilst Dunn is originally from New Zealand and has a background in Rugby League.

Jake Farnworth, George Tresidder, Oliver Bryant and Perry Humphreys were all part of the Academy's Under 18s side which won 6 out of 6, all with try bonus points, in the inaugural Academy League.  Farnworth is a flanker/#8 fro Staffordshire who scored 5 tries in that league campaign from 2 starts and 4 appearances from the bench.  Bryant was the team's captain, fly half and goal kicker so unsurprisingly top scored the side; Bryant is originally from Redruth in Cornwall.  Perry Humphreys is a full back from Lincoln and George Tresidder spent much of last year out with injury but returned to play for England Under 19s and made the final game of the Under 18s league, he is from Derby.

As a fan who likes to remember that we are still called Leicester Football Club there is a part of me that is sad that none of this squad is from our fair city, or even the county. 

Leicester Tigers (JP Morgan Asset Management Premiership Rugby Sevens, Friday, August 2, Franklin's Gardens, kick-off 7.15pm)
1 Michael Noone
2 Jake Farnworth
3 Lucas Guillaume
4 Harry Wells
5 Blaine Scully
6 George Catchpole
7 Pasqualle Dunn
8 Henry Purdy
9 George Tresidder
10 Oliver Bryant
11 Scott Steele (c)
12 Perry Humphreys

Northampton name Russian test winger Vasily Artemyev in their squad alongside long serving club man Paul Diggin.   Alex Day was part of the World Champion Under 20s this summer.  Older fans will recognise the name of Olver, fly half Sam is the son of long time Saints hooker John Olver.  Saints also pick Andy Robinson's son Andy who is playing as a "guest" from Moseley along with Buster Lawrence.

Northampton Saints: Vasily Artemyev, Tom Collins, Alex Day, Ryan Glynn (c), Will Hooley, Sam Olver, Tom Stephenson, Harry Bett, Paul Diggin, Sam Harry, Buster Lawrence, Olly Robinson
  
Dean Richards names previous Falcon's coach Alan Tait's son Michael in his squad alongside Milky Bar Kid look-a-like Joel Hodgson and schoolboy wing sensation Zack Kibirige.  First teamer Kiwi back row Richard Mayhew captains the squad.

Newcastle Falcons: Harrison Collins, Ben Morris, Richard Mayhew (c), Glen Young, Michael Tait, Tom Catterick, Zach Kibirige, Chris Harris, Andy Davies, Joel Hodgson, Sean Brown, Tom Penny

Sale Sharks select one time Tiger James Doyle in their squad alongside Canadian international Phil Mackenzie, a summer singing from London Welsh, and experienced Premiership campaigners Will Cliff, Tom Brady (not that one) and Nathan Fowles.  Doyle came off the bench in the win against Harlequins in the 2012 LV Cup group stage.

Sale Sharks: Cameron Neild, James Doyle, Jason Hill, Jack Allcock, Luke Wishnowsky, Will Cliff, Nathan Fowles, Tom Brady, Phil MacKenzie, James Mitchell, Josh Fowles, John O’Donnell