Poll Results In: UltraSubMarines Faith Rewarded!

Poll Results In:

Before the Ospreys game we asked you, our readers, to vote on whether Tigers would get through to the Quarter Finals of Heineken Cup or not; voting closed on Sunday at 2:59PM just before the kick off of the Toulouse game.  

The votes have been counted and verified; and we can reveal that 93% thought that Tigers would qualify.  We haven't seen those numbers this side of the Iron Curtain!

Tigers backed up their fans' faith with a huge performance to knock out Toulouse and set up a mouth watering quarter final with Jonny Wilkinson's star studded Toulon.

You Vote Quins Match Best in 2012

Poll Results In

Tigers 36 Gloucester 3, 4th March	1 (2%)
London Irish 32 Tigers 41, 25th March	0 (0%)
Harlequins 33 Tigers 43, 21st April	23 (56%)
Tigers 39 Ospreys 22, 21st October	2 (4%)
Tigers 32 Maori 24, 13th November	14 (34%)
Its coming in December	1 (2%)

The Poll is now closed; the votes have been counted and verified.

The Ultra SubMarines have spoken. 

With 56% of the vote the overwhelming winner was the terrific come from behind victory away to Harlequins on the 21^st of April.   

Tries from Alesana Tuilagi, Steve Mafi and a brace from Thomas Waldrom secured Tigers the bonus point victory, but the real story was the come from behind nature of the win.  After Waldrom’s first try, from a driving maul, Ugo Monye intercepted Toby Flood’s pass for one try whilst Nick Easter shrugged off Tom Croft, who broke his neck in the tackle, for a second to make the score 23-10 to the home side after half an hour.  Steve Mafi replaced the stricken Croft and scored a neat solo try, picking up from the ruck and going through the middle, which started the comeback on the stroke of half time.

Two Flood penalties drew the scores level at 26 all before George Lowe pounced on Nick Evans grubber to put the Quins ahead again.  This was when the Tigers really clicked into gear, with 15 minutes to go Ben Youngs and Anthoney Allen made breaks to put Tigers deep into the Quins 22 before Geordan Murphy’s laser guided pass found Alesana Tuilgi for the score in the corner.  The momentum was all with Tigers now and Flood found Waldrom on a trademark supporting line for the bonus point try.  Tigers were back in the lead for the first time since the 19^th minute.  With barely a minute to go George Lowe gambled that the ball was out and lost his side the losing bonus point as Flood converted a penalty to make the final score 43-33.  What Ifs are pointless but What If he’d have been fit for the final?  I guess we’ll never know.

Clear in second place was the magic Maori match, where tries from Thompstone and Morris ended the Maori’s 5 year unbeaten run.

Just edging third was the Ospreys match with its crazy ten minute rampage that could still prove crucial in determining our Heineken Cup hopes.

NEW POLL: Best performance of 2012

So the year is winding down and we can reflect on what were the highlights of 2012?  Well we won the cup against Northampton, which was a pretty good way to chalk up our 18th major honour and tie with Bath on that score.  We went on a record run of bonus point wins to secure a home semi-final, which we duly won, but came up short against Quins at Twickenham where we missed Toby Flood.  After the summer we came back with a bang, extending our record for regular season matches won with a bonus point by two more, but then looked poor against Saracens, Quins and Toulouse.  Ten crazy minutes against the Ospreys will live long in the memory as will staring down the Haka and being the first side to defeat the Maori for 5 years.  But which matches make it on to our short list and which one will you choose to make our performance of the year?   Tigers 36 Gloucester 3, 4th March    It was pissing down with rain and the terrace was sodden.  But Ben Youngs and Toby Flood shone through the rain and guided Tigers to 5 try romp.  They came from Mulipola, Mafi, Ben Youngs, Smith and Alex Tuilagi.  Easily the most memorable was Super Steve's effort, he claimed a lineout on the 22 turning to set it back and form a maul; but sensing no pressure on him as Gloucester flooded past he took flight and raced away to the line side stepping the despairing Matt Tindall on the line.

London Irish 32 Tigers 41, 25th March   Losing 32-31 with just 2 minutes to go the Tigers pulled it out of the fire as Toby Flood landed a penalty to gain the lead before Tom Croft steamed in from 40 yards to secure the win and with it the bonus point.  Flood grabbed 26 points and one of the other highlights was watching Manu Tuilagi poleaxe Dan Bowden with a trademark tackle.

Harlequins 33 Tigers 43, 21st April   On 34 minutes Quins were leading 26-13 but Steve Mafi led the fight back with a cheeky try after reaching back into the ruck to pick up the ball then waltzing in for the score.  Alesana Tuilagi scored a cracking try after a Anthony Allen break and the bonus point, the come back and the win was sealed with a Waldrom try in the final ten minutes.

Tigers 39 Ospreys 22, 21st October   3 tries in the final ten minutes secured the 4 try bonus point but more than that reignited our hopes of winning the pool after a disastrous game in Toulouse the week before.  Manu Tuilagi scored the 4th try after his off load had set up the previous ruck, earlier Steve Mafi had put Ben Youngs away down the left touchline and Toby Flood had sparked the rampage with an interception try.

Tigers 32 Maori 24, 13th November   One of those magical Welford Road nights under the lights.  The Maori came to play but didn't count on the spirit of the Tigers.  First half tries from Morris and Adam Thompstone gave Tigers a 26-7 lead which they defended stoutly to be the first team to topple the Maori since 2007.