Tigers win but Sale are Kings

Tigers concluded their pre-season with a bonus point win at home to Sale, but the away side still walked away with the crown “Kings of the North” as Tigers failed to beat their points difference.  Whilst Tigers would have preferred to claim the title the coaches will be satisfied with the performance.

Mike Williams and Peter Betham were particularly impressive as Betham, Croft, Bell and Odogwu crossed for tries.

Tigers were hunting a 35 point victory and started impressively.  Running with intent Betham slid between two tacklers and burst through to touch down in front of the Crumbie.  Burns was successful with the conversion and a penalty after Tigers had attacked from their own 22.

Sale were attacking themselves and went close in front of the Met RX stand twice.  On the second occasion Greg Bateman over threw his jumper and opposite number Tommy Taylor was on hand to collect the poor throw and pounce for the try.  Sale levelled after a penalty against Mulipola for being Samoan, when Courtney Lawes is penalised for tackles like these I believe it’s not bias against Islanders.

Anyway Tigers prioritised with win over chasing the points difference too aggressively and Burns nailed two more kicks.  The first though should not have been taken by him as he was off the field for a “Head Injury Assessment” when the penalty was awarded.

A second penalty was earned and the score 16-10 at half time.  Sale were on the attack early pushing for the victory but as a contest the game was over following Peter Betham’s goal-line intercept and break.  The Australian picked off Cipriani’s pass and raced away, unable to finish he smartly passed from the floor to find Adam Thompstone in deep support, Thompstone’s intelligent quick pass to Croft saw the flanker exhibit his pace and finish from the 22m.

Tigers now did chase the tries, bonus point and points difference kicking penalties to the corner but struggled to convert some excellent positions.  Eventually Tommy Bell was given a clear run in from Betham’s pass down the Crumbie touchline.

Sale were fortunate to see Harry Thacker binned when he thought he had pilfered a ball at the back of a ruck and ran clear.  Decisions like this from referee Craig Maxwell-Keys is why England do not produce world class 7s.  The ball was out, and if it was in it was marginal, but rather than settle for a penalty due to a difference in interpretation he must feed his ego by flashing the cards about.  A poor referee that I doubt we will see in the Premiership this season, he has learned nothing from his grilling after the Hughes affair.

The Sale try was hard earned as Tigers defended stoutly, Mark Jennings burgling himself over in a similar position to where Betham scored the Tigers first try.

With the title gone but the win secure Tigers relaxed slightly and played better.  Fonua carried prominently but his ball control requires work.  For the final try he was the decoy as it was spun wide with Odogwu the man on the end scoring.

Williams and Betham were the standout men with Fitzgerald also adding to his reputation.  Burns seems more settled, his first step was usually forward and there were two classic matador breaks from his own 22.  Odogwu and Fonua showed glimpses in their cameos while Tom Croft is looking back to his best.

With three bonus point wins in pre-season and the defence stiffening markedly since the reverse fixture Tigers will go to London Irish full of confidence for a decent start.

Tigers Power to Local Win

Tigers title ambitions remain alive after a nerve jangling 26-21 win away to newly local rivals Wasps.  Tigers went into the game knowing that only a win would do and responded to the knock out rugby pressure with a fantastic performance bristling with power but married with the patience needed to break down modern defences. 

Tigers raced into a 10 nil lead in the first ten minutes and kept it the whole game with a Freddie Burns penalty followed up by the first try.  Tom Youngs and Graham Kitchener combined down the front of the line out, an old Wasps move we have been tricked by more than once, gaining good ground inside the 22 and skilfully keeping the ball in play.  Jordan Crane recycled possession and set an off side line before Mulipola and Tom Youngs trucked it up again.  Mat Tait and Adam Thompstone squirmed their way through tackles before Ben Youngs spotted Niall Morris one on one against Christian Wade.  Goneva drew the last man and Wade was powerless to prevent the Leicester full back shrugging off his challenge to score in the corner.

Goode got Wasps onto the score board after a soft offside 40m out by Seremaia Bai; Burns nibbled another three points after Wasps full back Andrea Masi was caught by a terrific Tigers kick chase only for Goode to score another 3 points following heavy pressure in the 22, Tigers lasting 14 phases before conceding the penalty to bring the score to 13-6 to Tigers.

Tigers’ second try came after 30 minutes, from a lineout Mulipola, Cole, Crane and Thorn smashed forward into the 22 before Seremaia Bai isolated Andy Goode on the fringe of the ruck and drove him back to within inches of the line.  Once again Ben Youngs was the architect of the score phase, a fast whipped pass cut out 5 Tigers and 4 Wasps to leave Burns and Goneva with a two on one against a hapless Wade.  The Wasps wing could do nothing as Burns drew him in before sending Goneva over for his first try since December.

Goode quickly reduced the arrears with a penalty for something in a ruck, Barnes explanation is cut off and BT never bother to show a replay.  Off feet against Gibson I think?

Tigers were playing with real intent, running the ball from within our own half and the forwards passing to each other just before or just after contact.  Go forward rugby.  Smashing the rucks to clear out the men, not relying on the officials to give us quick ball.

And then it all boiled over.  Just before half time Nathan Hughes was off his feet and killing the ball the penalty was due to us, but Barnes was not signalling and Seremaia Bai decided to ruck him out.  The contact looked jarring at full pace and Barnes produced a yellow card.  Then renowned Tigers fans Sean Davy made him watch again, with unclear camera angles in super slow motion, to wrongly decide Bai had made contact with Hughes’ head.  

On the replay he clearly smashes into Hughes shoulder, but Davy and BT show the angle from in front of Hughes many times where we cannot see the point of impact and only see Hughes head move only once showing the wider angle from above where you can see the impact is on the shoulder and the head only moves because of a glancing blow from Bai's arm.

Bai has a right to ruck Hughes out there and his technique whilst arguably illegal was no different to any other player on either side at any other ruck.  When Hughes kicked George North’s head and injured him out of the season BT commentator Laurence Dallaglio led the media campaign to clear him.  Does our own Austin Healey do the same for a piece of legitimate play that ends with no injury to Hughes?

No he does not.  Instead he bleats for a card prompting the replay on the big screen, it takes the BT Sports feed, which causes the red card.  Thanks Austin!

On half way what should have been a chance for Tigers to stretch their lead ended up with Goode reducing the deficit to only 6 points.

In the second half Tigers did not let the man missing affect their game.  Wasps had more of the territory and won scrum penalties where Tiger chose to pack only 7 men.  On our first entry to the Wasps 22 Mat Tait was pile drived head first into the turf by Alapati Leuia, though Barnes seemingly has no problem with this potential neck breaking tackle or the no arms tackles from Wasps’ hooker Festuccia, he does spot Ashley Johnson off his feet and Burns slots the penalty to stretch the lead back out to 9.

With the extra man and the impetus in their favour Wasps were slowing gaining more chances, Adam Thompstone winning the foot race to a ball kicked in goal, Burns being charged down then Wasps bursting through the left wing.

None came to much but Wasps dug into Tigers lead with two penalties, the first for holding on just outside our 22, the second for a harsh off feet call on Salvi when Haskell clearly enters the ruck from the side.

With the lead trimmed to 3 points Tigers knew they couldn’t just dig and hold on any more.  With Sam Harrison, Ed Slater and Christian Loamanu on Tigers took the game back to Wasps.

A lineout was won scrappily on half way but Tigers kept possession grinding out 18 phases, driving into the Wasps 22.  On the 18^th ruck Burns broke right towards the touchline, smashing Andy Goode in the tackle, on the front foot and with quick ball Loamanu times run to the line perfectly to slip between Johnson and Goode.  Stopped agonisingly inches short the ball again quickly recycled and flung wildly to the wing where Adam Thompstone was on hand to dot down in the corner.

Onto the TMO and whilst Loamanu may or may not have reached the line there was no question of a double movement so the try stood.  Tigers could question though why we were not awarded a penalty try, as there was a clear attempt to kick the ball out of Loamanu’s hands.  After recent events you’d have thought Wasps might know better than that.

With Burns pushing the kick wide Tigers had an 8 point advantage.  Wasps quickly cut the advantage to 5; Alex Lozowski slotting a long kick after a very tight call for an early tackle against Salvi.  On slow motion replay the decision is wrong but was so tight you cannot complain about the real time call.

That made the closing moments tight.  Tigers ran down the clock with a number of scrums and looked to earn the winning penalty at least 3 times, only for Barnes to blow the other way and keep the game alive.

Wasps were game and played the ball wide getting to the edge of Tigers 22 but in a clash of Marcos Ayerza, fuming after the last penalty, and James Haskell it was the Argentine who came off better forcing the ball loose to end the game.

With the shock Exeter victory over Saracens on Sunday we know that a win, any win, over Northampton will confirm Tigers as third in the league and face a trip to Bath whilst a loss will almost certainly see us miss out on the play offs for the first time in over a decade.  Pressure brought out the best in us this week, can we really keep it up for another 3?

Parling Try Moves Tigers into Top 4

Tigers moved into the Premiership’s play off places with a solid 25-18 win at home to Exeter.  Tigers took advantage of poor Exeter discipline with Freddie Burns landing 6 penalties; Geoff Parling’s first try at Welford Road for 5 years sealed the win but a very controversial try gave Exeter a way back before a soft penalty with the 80 minutes up let Exeter steal a thoroughly undeserved losing bonus point.

Tigers were never behind in the game; taking a 3-0 lead in the 10^th minute after their first attack was halted by a Chiefs penalty.   Exeter’s rising star, so the papers tell me, Henry Slade was wide with two earlier chances and refused to take a shot at levelling the scores instead pumping it to the corner.

Tigers defence turned them away with Dan Cole surging through the maul and Seremai Bai holding the ball up.

Burns doubled the lead after Geoff Parling was taken out without the ball and Slade was finally on the score board in the 22^nd minute; Jamie Gibson the transgressor after picking up the loose ball from an offside position following a Tigers charge down.

Exeter had the best of the next ten minutes, dominating possession and territory after Tigers failed to deal with the kick off.  The Chiefs strung together almost 30 phases of possession, but produced nothing to threaten the Tigers defence.  With the inevitable penalty against the defence, a travesty in this case as Salvi was on his feet and should have seen the whistle blow the other way, Exeter again refused a drawing kick instead going to the corner.

In contrast to a fortnight previously Tigers again turned Exeter back, forcing them wide until Matt Smith’s ferocious defence took Ian Whitten and the Chiefs into touch.  Tigers cleared the pressure and were rewarded with two penalties before half time.

The first followed a devilish break from Miles Benjamin, unfortunately his last involvement before a knee injury, with the front five also prominent creating the space on the blindside.  The second followed a smart line out move with Ben Youngs breaking onto brother Tom’s quick throw.  Ben returned the ball to Tom but he was unable to finish.

Tigers showed no patience in attack, with the ball flung 20 yards backwards to try and exploit a marginal overlap on the other touchline, rather than continuing to drive through the forwards.  Thankfully there was an advantage and Tigers went into the break 12-3 up.

Into the 2^nd period Tigers first attack of the half was ended when Exeter took the man early again.  Tigers fifth entrance to the Exeter 22 and the fifth Exeter penalty did not seem to interest Doyle with a yellow card but Burns made no mistake to earn a 15-3 lead.

In Exeter’s first attack of the second half, and in stark contrast to Tigers rushed approach, they scored the game’s first try.  Thomas Waldrom was the scorer as Exeter picked and went round the corner until they exposed the weak shoulder.  There was no video evidence of the grounding but referee JP Doyle was on the spot and happy to make the award.

Despite the score being almost under the posts Slade missed the simple conversion, under pressure from Gibson’s charge he skewed the kick horribly into the post.

This seemed to stir Tigers into action, with Goneva become much more prominent, breaking through the middle of a ruck before popping up on the outside later.

Goneva was almost in at the corner following a string of Tigers attacks but was forced into touch by Nowell.  Exeter overthrew the lineout allowing Dan Cole to claim possession but the burly prop was held up in his attempts to ground the ball.

Tigers attacked from the collapsed scrum finding De Chaves on the left flank who drew the last Exeter defender and freed Parling to scoot in by the touchline.

Exeter’s second score had controversial origins, their replacement hooker Elvis Taione playing the ball from a clearly off side position to secure one of the game’s rare turnovers, with the Tigers defence disorganised Slade cut through the left side and found Chudley in support to dart under the posts.

Tigers missed the chance to extend the lead when Tommy Bell’s estimate of his kicking range proved optimistic but Freddie Burns was able to push the lead out to 10 points after Dean Mumm played the half back from within the ruck.

Tigers looked to be cruising to the win and so it proved but not before a soft scrum penalty with the clock dead gave Exeter their losing bonus point.

A fifth league win in a row has lifted Tigers into the top 4, currently 3^rd but expected to drop when Bath face Welsh today, and with games against Saracens, Wasps and Northampton to come we hold of destiny in our own hands.

Tigers win in Newcastle

Regular readers will know I am no Premiership rugby puff boy; not a fluffer who writes endless articles about how, like, utterly amazing the Premiership is and how it's super duper competitive.  Better Than Ever.  The kind of site who either posses a memory that would make a goldfish's wife worry her husband has dementia or genuinely only started watching rugby in 2008 and has never really bothered to find out what happened before.

The kind of "independent" blogs suspiciously well promoted by BT Sport and Premiership rugby on twitter and facebook.

But this season's run in is turning into a remarkable tale.  It's March and four sides will have the domestic double as a realistic goal and Northampton & Saracens will internally be targeting the elusive beast.  The Treble.  Bath still have ambitions for the Premiership & European double that Tigers won in 2002 and Wasps won in 2004.

Tigers dream of only their second ever domestic double.  Despite the spite directed at the team.  Despite 45-0 at they who shall not be named.  Despite only scoring 25 tries in 17 games.

Despite what was a pretty poor opening hour on Sunday.  Tigers were toothless in the first half.  Blunt.  Lacking incision.  We had plenty of ball in the opening exchanges, dominating the first 10 minutes of possession and territory.  But a series of poor kicks were replied to with exquisite Falcons replies, eventually forcing Mat Tait to lamely limp into touch just 5 metres out.

With Newcastle's formidable maul hardly a secret the result, whilst hardly inevitable, was no surprise.  Scott Lawson the baldy nuggety hooker from Scottish borders claimed the spoils.  You have to question the thought process from Tait.  He had options.  Kicking gains a few yards, often crucial in defending mauls; standing up and trying to stay in play would have gained us a ruck and again a better clearance; and controversially, dotting down behind our own line would have given a scrum.  And from a scrum, often as not, we were getting penalties.

Deliberately conceding a 5m scrum is a cardinal sin.  Usually.  But with current interpretations making maul defence impossible against well drilled units the lottery of the scrum has a certain attraction.

Tigers chipped into the lead with a Burns penalty after a collapsed scrum, reading the wind or getting lucky with the swerve as it carved its way left to right and through the middle.  

Newcastle caused problems every time they attacked.  Catterick was an impish threat reminiscent of Healey in his pomp, the evasion, the visions, the ahem, "tactical" kicking.  Sinoti Sinoti was equally dangerous with ball in hand.  A hitchkicker defenders naturally stand off him afraid of over committing.

Tigers cut back to 7-6 following an impressive Tait break down the left and a Newcastle penalty in the ruck but it was not long before Newcastle extended their advantage.  With Tom Croft down injured Tigers had the ball slightly outside the 22, unable to kick directly to touch Burns heaved the ball down centre field.

Alex Tuilagi, needing no introduction, bulldozed his way through the Tigers defence.  Morris nailed him and with the help of Pearce kept the behemoth out.  Newcastle quickly swung the play to the opposite flank and Sinoti.  Sinoti stepped in, he stepped out.  He wriggled his way over, freeing his arms to slam the ball home as his body was being dragged into touch.

The wide conversion was dragged wider and halftime was quickly signaled.

The second half was different.  Salvi was introduced for Croft, Bell for Morris and Crane for Pearce all in the first ten minutes.  They made an impact as Tigers firstly subdued Newcastle's attack.  Catterick had their one golden chance in the second period, after some neat interpassing of the Falcon's pack he broke free only for a Sam Harrison lunge to dislodge the ball.

Tigers forwards were introduced to each other at half time and told, it seems, that they were in fact allowed to pass the ball and that despite the smells it was probably a good idea to get close and support the man in possesion of it.

These revolutionary tactics bore immediate rewards as Tigers became noticeably more fluent with Crane a real influence on proceedings.  New leaf freshly turned over, along with the ball, Tigers attacked through Goneva and Mulipola.  The momentum building until Newcastle offended Tigers closed the gap to 3.

Catterick's kick off drifted on the wind directly into touch.  Tigers replaced the entire front row to immediate effect as Rizzo had Newcastle's loan prop Rogers in all sorts of trouble.  Burns was short but the momentum was with Tigers as Gibson rose to deny the Falcons' clearance.

Tigers were now rampant and Newcastle badly retreating into their shell.  A Tigers attack or two were denied for attacking penalties but the collisions and the rucks were only going one way now.  It was Michele Rizzo who burst through, with Balmain joining to create the maul that Newcastle dragged down, Burns kicked cross field but to noting.  To the corner and another maul.  Dragged down again.  Another advantage.  Another cross field kick.

But this time it worked.  Mat Tait leaped into younger brother Alex, knee high in the traditional style he could not claim the ball but did enough to disrupt his sibling.  The ball spilling loose on the plastic turf.  Bell swept forward and applied the finish.

It went to the TMO.  And he looked. And we looked.  And I couldn't see anything at all as it was at the other side of the ground.  But he gave it.  On reviewing the highlights he could hardly have done anything else, Mat Tait does not touch the ball but he is clearly trying to.

Burns was faced with the crucial conversion.  Miss and Newcastle would have ample time to pressure Luke Pearce into finding a penalty against us, whether one existed or not, but succeed and we are immune to the penalty and can defend with the extra edge that a 4 point cushion allows.

From the same spot that Catterick missed the Bath born fly half made no mistake, the wind mercifully quiet as he struck it elegantly through the posts.

In the end Tigers should have been awarded another try.  Burns swopped on a free ball and an ingenious kick pass from Mele to Thompson brought Tigers onto the goal line again.  Jordan Crane picked his spot through the ruck and went for the try.  One camera showed him well over the line, but unsure on the grounding, and another showed him on the ground but not where he was in relation to the line.  Apparently it is beyond the wit of Trevor Fisher to add these images together to make a try.

With a bizarre penalty at the resultant scrum Newcastle had a lifeline but never looked capable of the unlikely 90m try.

And Tigers remarkable season of utterly unremarkable games carries on.  Despite the first hour.  Despite a points difference of +7.  Despite ourselves.  The dream of the double lives on.

3 Star Tigers Take Ulster Scalp

A breath taking 20 minutes which saw Tigers score three tries was just enough to seal a crucial 25-18 European win against Ulster at Welford Road.

Tigers coped with losing talisman Manu Tuilagi on 14 minutes brilliantly by scoring tries from Owen Williams, Graham Kitchener and Freddie Burns in the next 20 minutes whilst Ulster crumbled from a solid 3-0 lead to trail 19-3 at the break.

And it could have been more had Tigers not started the day with the indifferent Burns attempting the kicks to the posts.

Ulster opened the scoring with a Paddy Jackson penalty on 8 minutes after Tigers had infringed at the ruck, and Tigers were lucky that the red haired Irishman was off target with an earlier kick or it could have been 6-0 down in almost as many minutes.

Tigers responded immediately as Blaine Scully leaped like a salmon to claim Burns' restart and power into the heart of the Ulster defence.  Eventually scragged down Ulster's last man looked to have deliberately knocked on in the following move but referee Poite was unmoved, not the only time Ulster were lucky to escape censure from the Frenchman.

Ben Youngs wasted two good opportunities in the 22 through a chip to no one and a floated pass that was intercepted but Tigers were not to be denied.  Julian Salvi broke down the right hand side before play was switched to Tuilagi rampaging down the left, drawing a penalty from Ulster on the 5m line; Manu re-injured his groin in the move though and was swiftly withdrawn as Tigers kicked for the corner.

From the lineout Tigers drove and were denied, the pack heaved again and were denied, before Owen Williams, warming to his role as a crash ball centre, took the ball at pace and with intent.  The Welshman slammed into three Ulster bodies and fought to successfully ground the ball.

There was no mistake with the conversion but Burns was off target with a later penalty skewing it badly wide right.  Again Ulster rode their luck with Mr Poite as Tommy Bowe's ugly challenge on Miles Benjamin in the air was punished with only a penalty.

Ulster challenged again but were unable to convert any possession to points; Tigers slowly won the kicking battle to gain good territory in the Ulster 22.  The conservative kicking strategy was vindicated when Youngs picked off an innocuous pass from the base of an Ulster maul setting Graham Kitchener up for the second try before the half hour mark.

Tigers extended the lead just 5 minutes later when Burns, now relieved of the goal kicking duties, dummied his way over bamboozaling four Ulster defenders in the process.  

Ulster were down to 14 men at this point following a yellow card to Craig Gilroy for yet another tackle on the man in the air.  Ulster were very fortunate that referee Poite did not produce a red card.  With these two incidents and the one last year against Saracens you have to ask is this a deliberate tactic from Ulster designed to intimidate opposition players?

Tigers looked to have taken full advantage from the extra man and the wave of momentum when Leonardo Ghiraldini twisted, worked, wrestled and squirmed his way over in the Crumbie corner on the stroke of half time but he was correctly denied by the TV ref; Ben Youngs foot just barely grazing the line before the final pass was completed.

Tigers won the lineout but were unable to finish the job off, forgetting how effective running hard, straight and flat to the gainline had been for Owen Williams' try instead we went wide and deep attempting to take advantage of the missing winger.  It did not work.

With the break for half time the momentum Tigers had built was lost and never to be regained.  The second half was almost all Ulsters.  The kicking game that was so effective in the first half was not so much over done as done much much worse.  Playing territory and forcing another mistake was a good strategy but badly employed.

For me much of the blame must go to Burns.  His kicking for territory was poor and when he did successfully earn us possession in their half he flippantly wasted it with his selfish and immature chips to nowhere and no one.  It was a real slap in the face when this alleged England contender was replaced by scrum half David Mele to see out the match.

But Tigers did start the half well extending their lead to 22-3 when Owen Williams converted a straight forward scrum penalty.  Ulster were a totally different team in the second half running the ball with vigour and verve, causing us all sorts of problems to our defence.  First they cut the gap with a penalty following Tigers collapsing an attacking maul.

Then they scored the try of the day, the first of two outstanding efforts; Ulster won 30 yards from a kicking duel between the back threes ending with a lineout on half way.  Sweeping a rare clean catching off the top they went through the hands, taking advantage of Miles Benjamin's poor decision to step in they raced into the 22 and smart running lines and sharp passing helped them evade the Tigers scramble defence for the try.

The score rattled Tigers.  They looked panicked.  Trying random 50m drop goals and retreating further into our shell.  A scrum penalty successfully converted by Williams helped calm the nerves, and of course eventually was the match winning score.

Ulster's second score had two parts, first was the delicious inside ball to British Lion Tommy Bowe who scythed his way forward, only stopped by a crunching Blaine Scully tackle.  Second was the finish by Franco van der Merwe, a huge swinging dummy was bought by all before the lumbering 6'6" beast dove over the ruck like an NFL running back diving over a pile of bodies.  In this game of course you've got to get back to ground the ball and the South African just about did despite the attentions of Ben Youngs.

Crucially Paddy Jackson was unsuccessful from the simple conversion.  Did the young man get a case of the yips and skew his kick you wonder?  No, the growing force of Jamie Gibson was sharp on the uptake and using all of his 6'5" frame, all of his wingspan and all of his vertical leap he managed to charge down the conversion!  I can't remember ever seeing that in a top level game before.

That left the gap at 7 points and Tigers in a bit of a quandary when a chance for 3 points came.  Are we battling with Ulster or Toulon in this group?  Do we take 3 points and deny Ulster the losing bonus, or are we challenging Toulon, do we go for the try and damn the risk of Ulster's point or possible draw?

We went for the ambitious.  We went for the try.  We went for Toulon.

We messed it up.  Twice.  Then again sort of a third time.  Well, you can't fault the ambition.   First line out was taken cleanly and the maul set up, but Ulster resisted and emboldened by Tigers spurning the kick infringed again.  This time we tried a trick line out.  Why?  Your guess is as good as mine.  Ulster cleared but only to the 22.  We tried another trick line out.  Why?  According to ESPN's stats these were 2 of only 3 line outs we lost all game, the other was a not straight call.

Ulster tried for the draw but Tigers defence was stout and held out.  Before the match I'd have taken a win, any win, 2 weeks ago I'd probably have taken a close defeat; but today and last night I'm gutted we didn't kill them off with the 4th try.

Tigers take Sandy Park Spoils

Leicester secured their 3rd straight win at Exeter's Sandy Park to share an early lead of the Premiership table.  Tigers won 24-20 after tries from Anthony Allen and Ben Youngs plus 11 points from Freddie Burns and a final penalty from Owen Williams.  Exeter lead 17-13 at half time through scores from Dave Ewers and Haydn Thomas.

Tigers were down a man early after the ludicrously harsh yellow card for Vereniki Goneva's allegedly high tackle.  Goneva's arm clearly makes contact under the collarbone, possibly slipping up to justify a harsh penalty, but by no means over the shoulder to warrant a yellow.

Exeter were by far the better side in the first completely deserving their 4 point half time lead.  Exeter out enthused Tigers, raising the tempo and fly into everything.  Tigers seemed heavy legged and negative in contrast.

Both Exeter tries came after poor control at the base of the scrum from Barbieri; Dave Ewers twisted out of Geoff Parling's tackle for the first score whilst Goneva was still in the bin with Thomas spinning out of Balmain's challenge for the second.

In between Tigers had struck back to level the score with Anthony Allen try.  Following a pin point kick to the corner Tigers pack drew a maul penalty from the Chiefs; with advantage Freddie Burns took the ball level with the left hand up right, leaned back and dithered deliberately to draw the defence closer, and slotted a delicious grubber kick between the posts for Anthony Allen to snaffle for his first try since March.

Dave Ewers breaking his bind from a scrum quickly gave Burns the chance to avenge Thomas' score.  A late flurry of penalties saw Steenson nail another kick after Salvi was ruled to have not released in the tackle, then at the first ruck from the kick off an Exeter were off side from the kick ahead and Burns gave us the half time score of 17-13 to the hosts.

Tigers were much improved in the second half, controlling the territory and raising the physicality levels.  Almost immediately from the kick off Tom Youngs counter ruck forced Haydn Thomas off his feet in the ruck.  Burns was cool under pressure to reduce the arrears to 1.

Burns was again to the fore with two excellent raking kicks pinning Exeter back into the corners.  From the second Kitchener raised his giant paw to claim the throw in and Tigers set the maul.  With another penalty advantage Ben Youngs organised a drive with Leonardo Ghiraldini driving the half back over.  Burns sole blot on his copy book was the missed simple conversion.

But Tigers had the lead for the first time after almost an hour and bitterly hung on to it.  

Gareth Steenson clawed back 3 points when Julian Salvi was ruled off side, after turning down a shot at goal minutes earlier, but it was in vain as Tigers dominated the final 10 minutes to snuff out any chance of defeat.

Jamie Gibson was only denied a fantastic turnover by a Exeter player holding on; Burns found a great touch only 5m from the line and Tigers pack rumbled forwards again.

Only Dave Ewers despairing lunge from the side prevented a try and there was a serious case for a penalty try, if a scrum was marching forward like that I doubt the referee would not storm under the posts.

Tigers took the lineout again but could not replicate the drive; the forwards were more than content in rumbling around the fringe and when Exeter conceded a central ruck penalty Owen Williams was more than happy to slot the 3.

Exeter had some decent territory in the final throes but that was snuffed out with debutant Riccardo Brugnara earning a penalty by forcing Moray Low to stand up in the scrum.

From that line out Tigers ground the clock down and secured the early season win that might prove vital in the final reckonings.

Burns kicks Tigers to win in the rain

Tigers finished a mixed bag of a preseason with a tight 21-17 win against Cardiff in the Welford Road rain.  Freddie Burns slotted 11 points with tries from Bob Barbieri and Ben Youngs; Cardiff’s points came through a Lloyd Williams try, a Rhys Patchell drop goal and 3 Patchell penalties.

Tigers debuted their new bright orange away kit, “Cherry Tomato” as the manufactures have it, and their new bright orange new big screen sponsors Sthil.  Equally eye catching was the opening 10 minutes; Tigers attacked with pace and vigour to score two tries of good quality.

First Manu Tuilagi took the ball down the Crumbie blindside; with his path blocked, belying the internet intellegencia who decry him as a bosh merchant without a brain or skill, he fancied his chances with a grubber kick.  The bounce deceived Wales 7s international Dan Fish and let Bob Barbieri claim the loose ball for his first try in Tigers colours.

The second was an all time Welford Road classic.  Burns threw a fantastic long pass to find Tuilagi, the Samoan burst powerfully through the middle before passing to Goneva.  The Fijian freed the arms and found Ben Youngs sweeping behind in support, who beat the last man to score.

Burns was on target with the first conversion but elicited the famous Crumbie groan when his second attempt sailed wide.  Welcome to Leicester, Freddie.

Cardiff had looked out of sorts in the early stages, as if Warburton and co. had celebrated the week’s long awaited peace deal between the WRU and the Regions a little bit too much.  The visitors eventually found their feet and scored from their first real attack.  Fly half Patchell made an outside break, his pace taking him away from a despairing Barbieri lunge, with the defence broken he committed Goneva before passing to Williams, the Welsh scrum half just eluded the covering defence to score.

Patchell missed the conversion but chipped further into the lead when referee Mathew Carley ruled Salvi offside from a contested high ball.  4 minutes later Patchell landed a second penalty for a half time score of 12-11.

Cardiff made a raft of substitutes at half time including a whole replacement front row; it made little difference as Tigers possessed superior power all game.  Patchell gave Cardiff the lead after half time with a superb drop goal and then stretched the lead following a bizarre penalty against a rampant Tigers scrum.

In a heavy down pour Tigers tightened up and started to utilise the forwards much more to bring the game under control.  Tigers produced a sustained period of pressure in the Cardiff half with the Welsh side giving away a penalty for Burns to reduce the arrears to two.

Some of the Tigers fans were disappointed that we didn’t try for the corner and the 5 points from the second half penalties, but I can’t agree with this.  Burns needs to get used to kicking at Welford Road and kicking under pressure.  The first priority has to be to win and kicking the goals was the way to do that.

Burns missed his first chance to go ahead after a fierce driving maul but just moments later a scrum penalty gave him a second chance which he took.  The coup de grace was applied after a towering Garryowen and a superb chase by Manu Tuilagi.

Tuilagi really was the difference between the two sides, the two times in the first half we gave him the ball in the opposition half we scored.  Manu's injury badly affect us last season, we failed to gain a single try bonus point during his abscence, so Cockrerill will hope to have Hinckley's favourite Samoan fit and firing all season.

40m Mele kick saves Tigers' blushes

Tigers required a last second penalty from second half replacement David Mele to spare their blushes and return from Melrose with an 11-8 victory over Edinburgh.  Tigers were wasteful in possession but committed in defence; two Goneva tries ruled out by a Scottish referee providing a gentle reminder of why serious games have neutral referees.

Cockerill named a multicultural starting line up with 9 different nationalities represented, if we count Barbieri as Canadian, and the globally assembled Tigers started brightly.  The borders were bathed in sunshine as Tigers attacked through the forwards into the Edinburgh 22.  Interplay between backs and forwards, Croft particularly to the fore, allowed Niall Morris to scythe towards the posts.  The Irishman was tackled short but good retention by Sio & Croft let Ben Youngs whip the pass out to Seremaia Bai whose pop pass out of a dump tackle gave Mulipola an easy finish after just 10 minutes. 

Freddie Burns was skew-if with his conversion attempt and generally failed to impress on his Leicester debut.  Two promising positions were wasted with his indulgent chip kicks and a further simple penalty was cuffed right in the second half.  Owen Williams will surely start against Newcastle unless Burns can find some better form against Cardiff next week.

Tigers fans will be worried as Geoff Parling was withdrawn after only 14 minutes with another head knock.  It seemed innocuous at the time but so did last season’s that ruled him out of the semi-final.  Harry Wells replaced him and impressed, taking full advantage of his second chance at Tigers.  Bedford will be wondering when they will be getting their man back.

Tigers scrum struggled in the first half as Aniseko Sio seemed unable to stay low and was popped up more than once.  Edinburgh missed a 17^th minute penalty after Tigers struggled with an advancing Scottish scrum.

Burns made it 8-0 after 26 mins with a simple kick 5 metres out and in front of the posts.  Tigers had turned down an earlier penalty to go for the corner and were rumbling well towards the line before Edinburgh refused to roll away.  Ben Youngs wasted the advantage with a speculative wide pass to no one in particular.

The forwards were taking a battering from the Scots and Edinburgh was able to take their first real possession inside the Tigers 22.  Stout defending denied them and Goneva looked to have grabbed a crucial interception, racing 95m for a second Tigers try, only for the Scottish referee to rule out his length of the field effort for a phantom offside.

Edinburgh took full advantage of their home based referee’s reprieve; Roddy Grant crashed over for a try following an impressive Edinburgh maul.  A 14 point swing on the stroke of half time meant the home side trailed by a solitary point, 8-7, rather than 15-0.

As the sides swapped ends at half time the heavens opened and what had been a glorious day turned grey, wet and sodden.  Edinburgh rang the changes, most notably Tom Heathcote at fly half, whilst Tigers replaced the ineffectual Sio with Riccardo Brugnara.  The Italian shored up the scrum and made some noticeable carries in his 23 minute cameo, before giving way to Tom Bristow for the final efforts.

The rain badly affected the game, what had been a tight but high quality game descended into more handling errors and scrums as both sides struggled for their first half fluency.  Tigers were again first to make waves with a neat grubber kick from Burns finding a charging Goneva to dot down.  Again the home side were saved by some lamentable refereeing.  Goneva’s score chalked off again for the phantom offside offence. 

It is worth remembering that marginally better execution (or better refereeing) would have put Tigers 22-0 up rather than scrapping around at 8-7.  

More subs were now made with Briggs, Balmain, Crane and Mele replacing Ghiraldini, Mulipola, Croft and Youngs.  The new front row found more favour with the refereeing earning 62^nd minute penalty bang in front of the posts and 22m out.  As mentioned above Burns had left his kicking boots at home and shunted the ball right of the sticks.  

Burns and Morris were subbed in the 64^th minute to be replaced by Pohe and Smith, Fijian Bai moving to fly half.  Without being harsh on Smith or Pohe both are more physical players and the back line suffered from the lack of subtlety and from the lack of kickers to clear the lines in defence.

The rain and reported gusting wind made life difficult for Edinburgh’s kickers too.  The home side by now had their tail up and were asking Tigers all sorts of searching questions.  Old fashioned fast paced forwards ruck play was to the fore for the Scots as Tigers defence struggled to turn ball over or stem the flow. 

The home side missed a penalty on 68 minutes when Tigers were ruled to have gone off their feet then on 72 minutes Edinburgh were awarded a penalty for a midfield offside (not for Briggs excellent turnover at the same ruck it should be noted).  Using his earlier effort as a length finder Tom Heathcote showed fellow Bathonian Burns how to do it nailing his kick through the middle from 35m out for Edinburgh to take the lead for the first time 10-7.

Tigers kick off did not go 10, though Edinburgh clearly played the ball first, so they were awarded the half way scrum and when the scrum collapsed Heathcote was given an opportunity to hammer the final nail into Tigers’ coffin.  This time it was just too far though and Tigers were reprieved.

Now fully psyched up and raring to go Tigers tore into the Scottish defence but were found wanting as they could not break through.  With the clocking ticking down Goneva was held up and turned over on the far the touchline on the Edinburgh 10m line.  With that brilliant defence Edinburgh surely must have felt they had won it.  All they had to do was secure the scrum and see out a phase, maybe two, to secure the win.

But Balmain and co. were not lying down.  The Tigers pack, wary of the Scots tricks at the last scum, powered forward to disrupt the wonderfully named Sam Hidalgo-Clyne (perhaps a Spanish-Scottish ship building conglomerate?) at the base of the scrum.

Another scum and another huge effort from the Geordie bruiser and his mates earned Tigers a shot at redemption and avoiding a second embarrassing defeat in a week.  The clock had gone past 80 and it was the last play.  Frenchman David Mele stepped up to the task and drilled his kick, high and handsome it sailed through the posts to the delight of the huge travelling army of Tigers fans.

Cockerill will be pleased with the determination shown in defence and in those final scrums from the young props but will be worried by the form of Burns. 

Tigers: Morris (Smith 63); Scully, Tuilagi, Bai, Goneva; Burns (Pohe 63), Youngs (Mele 56); Sio (Brugnara H/T(Bristow 63)), Ghiraldini (Briggs 52), Mulipola (Balmian 52); De Chaves, Parling (Wells 14), Croft (Crane 52), Salvi, Barbieri.

Scoring: 5-0 Mulipoa Try 10 mins;8-0 Burns Pen 26 mins; 8-7 Grant Try 40mins, Tonks Con; 8-10 Heatcote Pen 72 mins; 11-10 Mele Pen 80 mins.

Transfers: A summer update

Tigers have had another busy summer in the transfer department with 8 players joining the club and 15 moving on to pastures new.

After last season’s disappointing season Richard Cockerill has decided to splash out to capture 7 internationals.  With an extra £500,000 of salary cap money to spend Cockerill took advantage of internal strife at Treviso to prize 4 top class internationals from the Italian’s mitts, whilst also replacing playmakers Toby Flood and Dan Bowden with international options.

Tigers headline signing is England fly half Freddie Burns who joins from perennial rivals Gloucester.  Burns had a disappointing season, being kept out by Ryan Mills at Gloucester, but his performance in England’s first test with New Zealand has reassured many that Burns is a quality operator.

Burns is a Bath native but left his home town club for Gloucester at age 18; breaking into the Cherry ‘n’ Whites First XV in 2009 he made 98 starts in 5 seasons.  Burns is a running threat at fly half with his chip kick a particular favourite, but will have to prove his reliability under pressure; question marks have been raised over his temperament and equilibrium. 

Taking second billing is 67 cap Italian international hooker Leonardo Ghiraldini who joins from Treviso.  The Italian started his career at Petrarca in his birthplace of Padova; in 2005 he joined Calvisano who he captained to the 2008 Italian Championship.  After the untimely demise of the Lombardy club he moved to Treviso where he added a second Scudetto before the Benetton boys joined the Pro12 in 2010.

Ghiraldini comes to provide competition to Tom Youngs as first choice hooker, replacing Rob Hawkins in the squad.  The Italian has a similar reputation to Youngs: a tough carrying, ball of energy with some fans questioning his throwing at the highest levels.

Treviso provides three other recruits this term: outside back Christian Loamanu, number 8 Robert Barbieri and prop Michele Rizzo. 

Most exotic is Christian Loamanu, a Tongan born Japanese winger; he has drawn comparison to Alesana Tuilagi with his bullocking style.  He has also been subject to notable controversy, such as a nightclub brawl with a female professional wrestler and being banned for life from Rugby in Japan for taking Marijuana “and other chemical substances” whatever they might be. 

His comparatively banal European career has seen him spend 3 seasons in the Top 14 with Toulon before 2 seasons splitting time between centre, wing and the backrow for Treviso in the Pro12. 

Keeping up in the confusing nationality stakes is Robert Barbieri.  Know as Bob he was born and raised in Toronto before being spotted by Italian scouts on a Canada Under 19s tour to Europe.  Barbieri has been Treviso’s regular number 8 in recent seasons but is more than comfortable on the flank gaining 30 of his 37 Italy caps there thanks to the presence of a certain Sergio Parisse.

Last but not least amongst the Treviso joiners is prop Michele Rizzo.  31 year old Rizzo is perhaps best known for getting red carded in this year’s Six nations encounter after punching Stade Francais’s Rabah Slimani.  Rizzo, like compatriot Ghiraldini, is from the Italian rugby heartland of Veneto.  Starting out with Petrarca, where he was captain, he joined Treviso in 2009.  Rizzo takes Boris Stankovich’s place in the squad as experienced cover for Marcos Ayerza.

Dan Bowden’s departure to Japan is offset by the arrival of wily veteran Seremaia Bai, the 35 year old Fijian Fly half-cum-inside centre has won 57 international caps.  Tigers will be Bai’s 8^th club in 7 countries after a well travelled career that has seen him play for Cross Keys in Wales, Eastern Suburbs in Australia, Tailevu Knights in Fiji, Southland in New Zealand and Secom Ruggets in Japan.

Bai joins from Castres in France.  Last year he played the full 80 minutes in their upset victory against Toulon; this year he came off the bench to take Castres back to the final with a beautifully struck drop goal in extra time to break Montpellier’s hearts.

Tigers’ summer business is completed with two rough diamonds.  Laurence Pearce is a 6”3’ 20 stones wrecking ball No.8 signed from Rotherham; originally from Kesteven he tried his hand at league with Hull F.C. before switching back to Rugby.  Aniseko Sio is a Samoan loosehead prop who signs from Samoan club Vaimoso.  Both will aim to impress in the Extras and force their way into the First XV like Steve Mafi, Logo Mulipola and Ed Slater before them.

Transfers:

In: Freddie Burns (Gloucester), Leonardo Ghiraldini (Treviso), Christian Loamanu (Treviso), Robert Barbieri (Treviso),  Michele Rizzo (Treviso),  Seremaia Bai (Castres), Laurence Pearce (Rotherham),  Aniseko Sio (Vaimoso)

Out: Toby Flood (Toulouse), Thomas Waldrom (Exeter), Dan Bowden (Yamaha Jubilo then Auckland Blues), Boris Stankovich (Newport), Rob Hawkins (Newcastle), George Chuter (Retirement), Scott Steele (London Irish), Ryan Bower (Worcester), Joe Cain (Retirement), Michael Noone (Unknown), Jerome Schuster (Tarbes), Pasqualle Dunn (Unknown), Lucas Guillaume (Unknown), Henry Purdy (Gloucester), Harry Rudkin (Unknown)

Ins: 8

Outs: 15