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the left, drawing a penalty from Ulster on the 5m line; Manu re-injured his groin in the move though and was swiftly withdrawn as Tigers kicked for the corner.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.

Gloucester get a kicking from Tigers

What a difference 6 days makes.  From the shambles at home to London Irish where the backs looked like they had never met each other to a fantastic statement of intent against Gloucester.  The match had been billed as Gloucester’s backs vs Leicester’s pack, but Tigers backs found their stride in a 22-17 victory at Kingsholm.

Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves; there was still plenty of rust on the engine, plenty of rough edges needing sanding down, plenty of French polish for Cockerill to still apply.  Both their tries game from loose play.  The first an interception by Freddie Burns.  Flood’s heir apparent and in Tigers sights, apparently, he picked off a flat Flood pass and streaked away in the 9^th minute for the opening score.  Flood was aggrieved with a short advantage from referee Greg Garner.

It was Burns's only contribution on the night.  He had a shocker with the boot, as did replacement kicker Rob Cook, and it killed a lot of Gloucester’s momentum, it stopped them building a lead at any stage.  In contrast Flood responded to his mistake well.  It didn’t cow him and he kept playing aggressively and close to the defence.  He kicked his goals well, 6/9 is a fine return if not spectacular, though the misses will grate.

The second Gloucester score was just as opportune but did require a touch more skill.  Tigers by this stage were 13-7 ahead after 2 Flood penalties and a terrific score from Dan Bowden.  While we're here let’s talk about that; it all came from a scrum.

And that scrum came from an exhilarating piece of forward interplay down the left touchline.  Flood found Deacon on the half way line, his inside line drew the man and he offloaded to an on rushing Waldrom.  Waldrom then Kitchener passed a little early for my taste but Ayerza now had it on the 22, in the excitement of all that passing and running he lost his head and threw the miracle off load about 10 meters forward.

Some more context, we’d just pushed them off the last scrum, we were in their heads.  This time Gloucester got the heel but was under pressure.  Robson just wanted to get it out, just get it away.  He panicked and Ben Youngs was in like a shot intercepting his pass.

With the Gloucester defence in disarray he found Salvi then brother Tom Youngs on the charge.  The Cherry ‘n’ White defence never re-set properly and Flood was against Nick Wood and lock Lua Lokotui, he danced in off his right foot to almost break the tackle but Dan Bowden, so anonymous last week but so impressive this, was on his shoulder for the back of the hand pass and the easy dive over for the try.

Back to Gloucester’s 2^nd try; you can see why we were confident, why we had our tails up and trying silly things.  Confidence was seeping into our play and visibly draining from Gloucester. 

Quick hands down the backline and a good Tom Croft impression from Jamie Gibson saw the Tigers go from halfway to inside the 22 with clock as good as gone 40.  Tigers were pouring forwards but all the backs were in the ruck, Miles Benjamin ran a perfect line and was through the hole looking, seeking, searching for the killer off load.  But it wasn’t there.  But he threw it any way. 

Taken by Dawiduick he sent it to Trinder, only Dan Cole, Marcos Ayerza and Kitchener were between Jonny May and the try line all 90 meters away.  Trinder kicked forward.  The bounce was perhaps fortuitous but there was no Tiger near enough to take advantage if we had got the bounce.

The second half was a nervier affair as Tigers tightened up and Gloucester desperately tried to hang on.  Gloucester pushed to 17-13 after Blaine Scully was adjudged to be holding on; Billy Twelvetrees the third Gloucester kicker to have a crack at the posts after Cook had missed an earlier attempt. 

Time was beginning to run down, with 16 minutes left Gloucester took Ben Youngs out at the back of a ruck following a Graham Kitchener break and Toby Flood reduced the arrears to a point.   

Four minutes later Tigers should have been in the corner but an early pass from Hamilton, a poor hand off from Scully and a great effort in defence from Cook combined to keep Tigers out.

But Tigers moved ahead anyway, Gloucester fumbled the lineout and disintegrated in the scrum.  A quick word here on advantage.  When the scrum wheels like that why is it not advantage, letting the number 8 pick it up and score the try?  We had committed no offence so why can’t we walk over the line and score a try?  Another question for another day.

19-17 now to the visitors.  And it became 22-17 when the scrum wreaked more havoc with 5 minutes to go.  Tigers executed the current fad “choke” tackle through Kitchener, Ayerza and Waldrom then marched the Gloucester pack to gain the penalty reward.

Tigers had the chance to deny Gloucester the bonus point after Gloucester pulled down the Tigers maul but Flood missed the kick. Gloucester had one last chance for victory.  Gloucester needed to be perfect and go from behind their own posts.  They were for 3 minutes with the clock dead.  Then the mistake, a crossing penalty and Tigers had won.

Graham Kitchener and Dan Cole were outstanding with their contributions whilst Jamie Gibson had his best game in a Leicester shirt, I’m still not a fan but he certainly played well here.  Miles Benjamin has really found his grove; his floating style is predicated on an understanding with the fly half and rest of the team, after 4 straight starts he is finding that now.  

There was such a vast improvement from 6 days previously how much better can we get in the 9 days before we face Montpellier?

3 Tigers named in Saxons Side to Face Ireland Wolfhounds

In the week that it was announced he was leaving Leicester due to his career stalling George Ford has been named as starting 10 for England Saxons as they face the Ireland Wolfhounds in Galway.  Our Lord and Saviour JC has been named as the captain of the side from number 8 whilst impressive young lock Graham Kitchener revives the partnership with George Robson that went so well in the South Africa Tour's mid week side.  Ed Slater will provide cover on the bench.  Tigers transfer targets Jamie Gibson and Matt Mullan are also on the bench.

Team: 
E Daly (Wasps)
C Wade (Wasps)
J Tomkins (Saracens)
J Turner-Hall (Harlequins)
T Biggs (Bath)
G Ford (Leicester)
R Wigglesworth (Saracens)
N Wood (Gloucester)
J Gray (Harlequins)
P Doran-Jones (Northampton)
G Kitchener (Leicester)
G Robson (Harlequins)
G Kruis (Saracens)
W Fraser (Saracens)
J Crane (Leicester, capt).
Replacements: R Buchanan (Harlequins), M Mullan (Worcester), S Knight (Gloucester), E Slater (Leicester), J Gibson (London Irish), J Simpson (Wasps), G Lowe (Harlequins), K Eastmond (Bath).

Teams named for Welford Road season opener

Tigers make 4 changes to the side that scored 5 tries away to Worcester as Sam Harrison replaces the injured Micky Young, Graham Kitchener returns to fitness at the expense of Rob Andrew and the props are all swapped.  Scott Hamilton is set for his 100th start in The Stripes while Pat Phibbs could make his competitive debut from the bench.

15 Geordan Murphy (c)
14 Scott Hamilton
13 Manusamoa Tuilagi
12 Anthony Allen
11 Vereniki Goneva
10 Toby Flood
9 Sam Harrison
1 Boris Stankovich
2 Tom Youngs
3 Martin Castrogiovanni
4 Graham Kitchener
5 Geoff Parling
6 Steve Mafi
7 Julian Salvi
8 Thomas Waldrom

Replacements
16 Rob Hawkins
17 Logovi'i Mulipola
18 Dan Cole
19 Rob Andrew
20 Jordan Crane
21 Pat Phibbs
22 George Ford
23 Matt Smith

Worcester name an unchanged side from the one that fell to a last minute penalty at home to Bath.  Former Sale and Toulon lock Dean Schofield captains them in only his second game for the club.  Andy Goode, 5 time English Champion with Tigers, is again preferred to the flaky Joe Carlisle.  Both Worcester's centers are English born and raised though both play international rugby for other countries, Grove for Scotland and Matavesi for Fiji.
Worcester Warriors
15 Chris Pennell
14 Josh Drauniniu
13 Alex Grove
12 Josh Matavesi
11 David Lemi
10 Andy Goode
9 Shaun Perry
1 Matt Mullan
2 Aleki Lutui
3 John Andress
4 James Percival
5 Dean Schofield (c)
6 Chris Jones
7 Sam Betty
8 Semisi Taulava

Replacements
16 Ollie Hayes
17 Ceri Jones
18 James Currie
19 Craig Gillies
20 Matt Kvesic
21 Jonny Arr
22 Joe Carlisle
23 Ben Howard