UltraSubMarines Awards 2015

Later than usual this year we once again dive it my mind and discover its many, varied and often conflicting opinions about Tigers and our year.

Off the bat it’s fair to say this has been our annus horribilis on just about all fronts.  Playing wise it was the worst for a decade, Paul Burke became the first coach sacked by the club since 2007, bookended by the most dispiriting and devastating defeats I can honestly remember.  Off the field we’ve had a star player convicted of assaulting women police officers and a coach found to have made a profit betting on us to lose and banned.

We also said goodbye to Louis Deacon a truly iconic player of the club, after Martin Johnson Deacon is Leicester’s finest home grown lock, and Anthony Allen a stalwart of the club’s success between 2010 and 2014.

But let’s not wallow in it.  Let’s crack on with the awards! Same order as last two years:

Signing of the season

2013: Vereniki Goneva

2014: Owen Williams

Tigers were as busy as ever in the transfer market last summer securing Freddie Burns, Seremaia Bai, Brad Thorn, Christian Loamanu and Italian international trio Michele Rizzo, Leonardo Ghiraldini and Robert Barbieri.

Much was expected of Burns but he struggled for form in the early half of the season.  Once Owen Williams was ruled out with injury and his place secure he did grow into the role and was exceptional against Wasps at the Ricoh.

Brad Thorn arrived gave his all and had a real presence about the field but age had slowed him down to a glacial pace at times.

Loamanu showed glimpses of his potential against Wasps and in the late season but a niggling injury meant we never saw the best of him consistently.  Seremaia Bai was a steadying hand for much of the season and a canny addition.

My signing of the season though has to be the aggressive and rambunctious Italian hooker Leonardo Ghiraldini.  I’ve long admired his performances in the Six Nations and he did not disappoint upon closer inspection.  Accurate in the lineout and daring around the field Ghiraldini is the perfect foil for Tom Youngs.

Try of the season

2013: Adam Thompstone v Treviso (A)

2014: Vereniki Goneva v Newcastle (A)

Slim pickings for this award this season.  Normally I peruse the list of matches and the scorers, come up a quick shortlist and google the tries to refresh my memory and make a decision.  Some years it’s easy, this year not so much.  Not a single winner of the Premiership’s Try of the Week and it seems just one nomination.

In the end though we did score some crackers and my favourite was Vereniki Goneva’s second score away to Northampton in December.

Inside his own half and only recently introduced Miles Benjamin receives the ball after Mat Tait had regathered his own up and under.  Going inside then out Benjamin scorched past 4 men and into the 22, a superb cover tackle stops him short but Ben Youngs is on had to quickly clear the ball.

Tait again is involved shipping the ball onto Ghiraldini who draws the last man and finds Goneva lurking on the wing to apply the finish.

Game of the season

2013: Premiership Final v Northampton

2014: Montpellier away

Despite the season several games still standout as really memorable performances.  Wasps at the Ricoh and Sale at home were glimpses to what we can achieve when we pass the ball whilst the game in December again Toulon was a classic backs against the wall true grit performance.  The performance against Ulster at home in October also hinted that this team could do it on the biggest stage.

But one game stood out for me.

Comebacks are surprisingly rare in Tigers history, certainly not from 15 points down and with only 30 minutes to go.

Sale away, December 27th.  Tigers were in the lead for a grand total of 3 minutes.  The locals were not best pleased as we left the ground.

Sale had torn us apart in the first half, genuinely exciting attacking rugby cut us to ribbons and we did well to keep the score respectable, stopping two tries over the line.  When they crossed for the bonus point try in the 45^th minute it looked grim.

But Ayerza, Tom Youngs, Balmain, Thompstone came off the bench and changed the game.  Miles Bejamin scored in the corner to make the game one score then Julian Salvi was driven over by Seremaia Bai with just those 3 precious minutes remaining.

Crazy.

Academy Player of the Season

2013: Henry Purdy

2014: Owen Hills

A quick re-cap here, to qualify for this award you must have played in the Premiership U-18s league.

Tigers U-18s finished second to Northampton in the northern section and beat Bath to claim third place overall.  Last year’s winner Owen Hills had another strong year with 6 tries in 6 starts including a hat trick against Leeds and a first start for the A side.

Four players featured for the U-18s and made first team appearances.  Charlie Beckett started the first game of the U-18s season against Gloucester and made his First XV debut away to London Irish in the LV Cup making a further start at home to Sale and a bench appearance against the Barbarians.  Charlie Thacker featured from the bench in the games against London Irish and Sale whilst Stone Priestley-Nangle featured in the Sale game too.  George Nairn played 3 games for the U-18s and came off the bench against the Barbarians and Cardiff.

Hills and Beckett also appeared for England Under 20s.

My academy player of the year is Charlie Beckett, strongly built with a terrific work ethic this Liverpudlian has already featured for the First XV and impressed.  With a long line of players in front of him he will have to learn from each of them to overtake them but he certainly has the potential to push ahead.

U23 Player of the Season

2013: Manu Tuilagi & Ben Youngs

2014: Manu Tuilagi

With Manu Tuilagi “graduating” from this age bracket there is no defending champion here; qualifying players include Fraser Balmain, Owen Williams, George Catchpole and Harry Thacker. 

Catchpole over took Matt Smith to become a feature of the match day squad post-Christmas, whilst Harry Thacker was trusted with two starts in November where he excelled.

Really though the award is a toss up between Fraser Balmain and Owen Williams.  Balmain become a fixture in the side last season almost by default but this season he was rightly rewarded with being preferred in the match day squad to Italian test prop Michele Rizzo who was in good form himself.

Williams was shunted to 12 early in the season to cover the injuries to Anthony Allen and Seremaia Bai but once the injuries slightly abated he re-claimed his starting 10 jersey from England fly half Freddie Burns.  According to goalkickers.co.za Williams was the best kicker in the Premiership last season and without his cool head many of the tight games before Christmas would have gone the other way.

Therefore my Under 23 player of the Season has to be the Welsh wizard Owen Williams.

Player of the Season

2013: Tom Youngs

2014: Vereniki Goneva

2013’s winner makes a strong case for the award again as his industry and attitude were priceless in many of this season’s lower moments.  Also worthy of a mention in dispatches is Graham Kitchener.  The lock forward came of age as a leader this season, his no nonsense side coming to the fore in the trench warfare of winter whilst his pace and fitness is invaluable in the later season.  How Stuart Lancaster can ignore him is beyond me.

But this season’s stand out player has been the stand in captain Ben Youngs.  Quickly promoted to an unnatural leadership role due injury Youngs thrived on the responsibility and Tigers never looked better than when he took more of the play making responsibilities onto his on shoulders.

A quick and accurate pass is a pre-requisite for a scrum half so it is the game management where Youngs excels, his box kick is world class whilst this season we saw the return of his trade mark breaks around the base.

On a personal note he secured the starting jersey for England ahead of Richard Wigglesworth and long-time adversary Danny Care and seems certain, injuries permitting, to play for England in this autumn’s World Cup.

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?

Derby Day Defeat

Tigers suffered a derby day defeat despite Northampton spending 56 minutes with a man less following Dylan Hartley's dismissal for an ugly elbow to Matt Smith's face.  Tigers and Saints scored three tries each but Stephen Myler was more effective with the boot slotting 8 points to Williams & Burns combined effort of 4 points.

But to lay the blame solely on the kickers would be wrong.   Tigers defence was shocking in the second half, with a man advantage Saints created overlaps at will, and the home side dominated both possesion and territory.  ESPN's "Match Stats" records Saints having 76% of territory in the second half (what that exactly means I couldn't tell you but its not likely to be good.).

The kicking strategy from hand was simply not good enough.  With a man advantage you should be able to kick to land not hand, as the old saying goes.  If the kick is not on then there must be space somewhere in the defensive line.  Instead Williams' kicks were almost always fielded by Ken Pisi, George North or James Wilson; not a trio you want running back at you.

Both times we got the ball into their 22 we scored tries relatively easily.  But we barely had the ball inside their half let alone their 22.

The first 20 minutes was Tigers best spell, dominating the scrum but giving away very soft line out penalties that only J.P. Doyle will know what for.  From a terrific Salvi turnover Tigers spread the ball wide left with Goneva making inroads to the 5m line.  Northampton did well to bring him down but cynically infringed to slow the ball down.  On the advantage play Smith drove Hartley out with a text book ruck clearance, the Saints captain took exception to this and after the whistle slammed the point of his elbow up Smith's nose.

Doyle's initial reaction was, baffling, only a yellow card; claiming it was a forearm to the jaw.  Sean Davey, the TMO, insisted that it be upgraded to a red.  When Sean Davey is having to tell the referee to stop being anti-Tigers you know its going to be a bad day.

Dorian West stormed down to the touchline to harangue the fourth official, I await with bated breath the e-mail campaign from the Saints fans offended by his behaviour.

Saints sacrificed centre Stephenson rather than a forward but it made no difference as Tigers mercilessly drove the home side over for a penalty try.  Unfortunately that was where the mercilessness ended.  Some weak refereeing in the face of a home crowd gave Myler the chance to nibble into the lead and Doyle evened the numbers up for ten minutes after the softest high tackle call I have ever seen on Tom Croft.

Tigers lead 7-6 at the break and were surely confident of the win.  But in the second half we were out psyched, out muscled, out thought and out fought.  Northampton wanted this and the triffling matter of missing Hartley was not going to stop them.

Tigers lost Blaine Scully to injury at half time and with him went a lot of defensive solidness and our energy.  He is not the perfect winger, I could not see him making the kind of break Benjamin did for the third try, but he energises those around him.  It was down Benjamin's wing that Northampton scored all three of their tries.

The first was whilst Croft was still off; North took the ball at first receiver and cut out 4 Tigers defenders with a beautiful pass, Ma'afu fed Waller who dummied his way past Benjamin and over the line.  For me Benjamin has to smash Waller and see if the prop can make the testing final pass.

Wilson missed the conversion and the game settled down for 15 minutes.  Freddie Burns was on for Matt Smith, booed from the field by the Saints fans for his crime of being assaulted, and made a delightful shimmying break through the midfield to the 5m line.  Tigers recycled quickly and Goneva burst through two ineffectual tackles to give Tigers the lead 12-11 on 60 minutes.  Williams missed the testing wide conversion.

Saints struck back with a piece of clinical finishing.  Myler spotted the blindside overlap; drew in Benjamin as the last man and manufactured a cheeky off load that I'd doubt you'd see in a text book.  Foden raced away using the supporting North as a decoy to create confusion in Tait's mind before having the strength to hold off Ben Youngs.

At this point it looked like Saints were going to race away to a big winning margin.  But Tigers dug in.  And kept kicking.  And kept kicking.  It was baffling, frustrating and stupid.  And it worked.  

Mat Tait chased his own up and under.  The lithe full back tackled Foden and in the ruck slipped the ball on our side.  Crane fumbled, but backwards, I think, I'm sure, in clearing the ball wide but it mattered not.  It went to Benjamin on half way.  He went inside.  He went outside.  He scorched past Phil Dowson and curved into the 22 beating more men.  He couldn't quite make it but Youngs was there quickly and whipped it away to Burns and through Ghiraldini onto Goneva.  Burns nailed the conversion from the same spot Williams missed the first and Tigers had the 3 point lead with ten minutes to go.

Northampton huffed and the they puffed.  Could we do it?  We were holding, just barely but we were holding them.   We couldn't get the ball and they were steaming forwards, their big beasts of Manoa, Lawes, Dickinson and Burrell were coming to the fore.

They got a penalty and kicked for the corner.  If we could hold the maul we could win the match.  But the Saints were confident.  You could see it in them.  Flowing from us folding in the semi, they fancied it.  I fancied us but there was just a niggle.  Just a random thread hanging loose.

We smashed back the maul.  Yes.  They came left.  We held.  They came left.  We didn't.  Burrell took three men to tackle him.  We were sucked in.  Again.  And they scored through Elliott.

We didn't deserve to win, but that's not the point.  We could have won with 3 minutes of better defending, or better kicking.

Tigers are now 11 points off second place with 12 games to go.  The comeback has to start now.

Goneva Hat trick clips Falcons' wings

Tigers opened their season with a second half blitz that saw 4 tries in half an hour and the bonus point claimed in a 36-17 win.  Flying Fijian winger Vereniki Goneva matched George North and Dave Strettle by grabbing an opening day hat trick with substitute scrum half David Mele scoring the 4th, Freddie Burns scored 16 points with the boot.

The first half was a territorial battle; a rare chance came the way of Tigers following Seremaia Bai's chip down the left flank.  Chased by Goneva the Fijian won the foot race and hacked on only to be taken out with the line at his mercy.  Bizarrely referee Luke Pearce did not even award a penalty, let alone the penalty try and red card the trip might have merited.

Newcastle defended the subsequent 5m lineout excellently, stopping a rampant Mulipola short then holding Tigers attack out for multiple phases before conceding the penalty for offside.  Burns slotted that and 2 more for scrum offences with Socino claiming Newcastle's sole first half points after a contentious off side call against Jordan Crane for a 9-3 score line.  A further penalty for Newcastle killing the ball inside the 22 gave Tigers a 12-3 half time lead.

The second half was a completely different game with 6 tries and a lot of running rugby.  Newcastle started the half with a bang.  Burns missed touch along the Crumbie side as Sinoti Sinoti tip toed down the line.  The Samoan fed the ball inside to the impressive Simon Hammersley, a summer singing from Hull Ionians, who carved the Tigers defence apart.  With only Burns remaining he was powerless to stop Hammersley drawing the man and finding Richard Mayhew for the easy run in.

This visibly stung Tigers into action.  Attacking with purpose we got the ball into Manu's hand, always a solid plan, and waited.  He did not disappoint, powering past his man he was hauled down inches short and looked to have lost the ball forward.  Goneva was following up and pounced on the loose ball to claim the try.

Luke Pearce passed the decision to the TMO, and it quickly emerged that Manu had slam dunked the ball into Godman's head, and very clearly he had done it backwards.  One of the odder tries Goneva will score.

Goneva doubled his tally just 5 minutes later.  Burns was the creator dancing through a gap he created with a mesmerising dummy, before an inside pass to Goneva who muscled his way past the last man before stretching out to find the line.

Newcastle now really came into it, looking a completely different side to the first half and the one that struggled last season.  They carved Tigers apart again before the half back partners of Burns then Youngs combined in the ruck to force a crucial turnover.  Again the Falcons came with Sinoti Sinoti making a dangerous burst inside the Tigers 22, unfortunately the Samoan lost his bearings and simply dropped the ball whilst in full flight.  Was it a pass to no one, a fumble or an attempted kick?  Who knows it ended up as none of them.

Newcastle were looking dangerous and cut into the 22 again.  In a crazy passage that I'm struggling to describe the Falcon attacker was cut down in full flight and passed, for my money, before a ruck was formed.  That off load allowed Goneva to lurk in the back field, stepping in to intercept a Newcastle pass when the Falcons had a massive overlap and the try line begging.

Have pilfered the pass he outpaced the Kieran Brookes, a tough ask, and Sinoti Sinoti all the way to seal his opening day hat trick.  

The interception seemed to take the wind out of Newcastle's sails; a 21 point deficit rather than a possible 7 point gap.  The bonus point seemed inevitable and it came just 5 minutes later.  Another of Bai's excellent chips forced the Falcons to scurry back and Powell only just beat Blaine Scully to the loose ball, conceding a 5m scrum in the process.

The Tigers pack heaved, with Geordie Fraser Balmain at the heart of it, and Newcastle crumbled.  The Falcons did well to stay together and force the grounding from Mele, making the conversion harder in the process.

Barbieri's bunny hops with the ball trapped between his ankles were a masterstroke, keeping the ball under control and unarguably in the scrum.

After the final try the game fizzled out as Tigers cleared the bench.  Newcastle grabbed a consolation try with 10 minutes left and kept attacking until the end but ultimately in was the 25 minute 4 try blitz from Tigers that sealed the victory.

The UltraSubMarines Awards 2014

It’s that time of year again when the rugby is over, earlier than usual for us, and we must make do with that pale substitute: arguing about our opinions on rugby instead.  This year hasn’t been a classic for Tigers; scarred by injuries that seemed to come in debilitating bunches; always fighting an uphill battle in the league following bright starts from Saracens and Saints; Our captain deserting ship mid campaign.

But no season is complete doom and gloom.  The high points were still there.  The win in Montpellier, out singing the home fans in the process, will live forever in the memory.  The record tying win against the Saints.

So let us crack on, the same categories as last year in the same order.

Singing of the season

Last Year: Vereniki Goneva

Won last year by our Flying Fijian we have some strong contenders this year.

Pablo Matera is a quality operator but young and often naive to the whims of English referees, whilst David Mele could not shift Ben Youngs from his perch.  So they miss out.  Jamie Gibson benefitted from injuries to Mafi and Croft to cement his claim on the 6 shirt making 24 starts.  An honest worker to the end he seems to lack that bit of magic we require from our flankers. 

If work rate is what you require Blaine Scully will provide it in spades.  The Californian has made chasing lost causes a speciality.

The winner though has to be Owen Williams.  Arriving unheralded from Llanelli his calm demeanour and pin point kicking quickly saw him over take Lamb in the pecking order.  Following the fallout from Flood’s move to Toulouse he steered the ship to 7 league wins and a draw in 2014.  Scoring 187 points, including Tigers first drop goal for almost 2 years, he was the real find of the season.

An RFU injustice has robbed him of the chance to wear a Wales test jersey but on this season’s form another chance will surely come before the Rugby World Cup.

Try of the season

Last Season: Adam Thompstone v Treviso (A)

Tigers score a lot of tries.  Despite what the critics say we’ve scored 86 tries this season, a fantastic return.  You’d need a better memory than me to remember them all, but some stick out as classics.

Logo Mulipola’s 25 yard rampage against Exeter; Goneva’s weaving run versus Worcester on the opening day of the season; his “fumble and go” against London Irish will be replayed on rugby’s equivalent of “Own Goals and Gaffes” forever.  In the biggest games we scored some attractive tries too, Jordan Crane finishing Owen Williams cross field kick in Clermont lives long in the memory. 

But this year’s winner has to be Vereniki Goneva’s try away to Newcastle.  It starts with an Ed Slater break, spotting the referee in the defensive line he uses him and break the line swotting the Falcons away like flies.  After the ruck Ben Youngs speeds the ball away and Dan Bowden’s floated pass finds Goneva well marked.

Or is he?  He beats one man in a phone box, his footwork bamboozling, hands off another and is free.  Only the full back to beat, he goes for the chip.  And chases.  He out strips the defence to win the race and put us back in the lead after a difficult half when it looked like our play off dreams were fading.

Game of the season

Last Season: Northampton (Premiership Final)

One candidate stands head and shoulders above the others for me.  Montpellier away became a sort of bench mark for the side.  We hadn’t won in France for 7 long years and the monkey on the back was in danger of turning into a Gorilla. 

The only match I can ever remember that ended nil all at half time it was thoroughly absorbing none the less.  Both teams had chances in that half but Tigers broke the deadlock early in the second period.  Tom Youngs devastating side step taking him past the close defence.  Montpellier struck back with a strike against the head and a breakaway try from half way by fly half Selponi.

The advantage was extended by Lucas Delpoint after Gorgodze’s break.

We were 9 points down with 9 minutes to go.  Away in France and winless in 7 years across La Manche.  Ryan Lamb’s spell in Leicester was brief but he’ll be forever remembered for what came next.  A scrum won a penalty 45m out, Lamb nailed it to reduce the arrears to 6.  Then a frenzied final attack, a master break from Miles Benjamin set us up in the 22 before the ball went wide.  Well executed simple hands from Morris, Slater and Ayerza put Goneva in at the corner.

The Fijian maestro kept the ball off the floor in goal to make the conversion more central and Lamb stepped forward once more to nail the kick and send the travelling supporters into raptures.  This one lives long in the memory. 

Academy player of the season

Last Season: Henry Purdy

To be eligible this player must have featured in the Premiership Under 18s Academy League this season.

It was another strong year for the Academy in the league, a single loss away to Gloucester cost Tigers the chance to claim the inaugural national title but the rest of the Northern Conference was dispatched with try bonus points secured in all games.  Overall 38 tries were scored in 7 matches and 41 players were used.

Strong players this year were number 8 Charlie Beckett, centre Charlie Thacker, brother of Harry, and David Williams, who scored a great try in the Premiership 7s series. 

The one player to break through from this level into the first team was Wrexham winger Rhys Williams, who featured from the bench in the LV Cup against Bath.

My player of the year is loosehead prop Owen Hills.  The Market Bosworth native has had a terrific season with 7 tries in 7 starts in the league, squat and powerfully built he has the stature to go further in the game.

U23 Player of the season

Last Season: Ben Youngs & Manu Tuilagi

Last year I said in the rush to claim new blood every year we didn’t want to forget who was actually the best player.  This award would go to the best players, not the newest passing fancy.

So really it’s obviously Manu Tuilagi.  He is clearly the best qualifying player.  But let’s at least pretend to look at the other options.  In terms of serious minutes the other eligible players are Fraser Balmain, Owen Williams and Pablo Matera.

Balmain has grown this year, being involved in all but one match day squad, and is now a solid set piece option that carries industriously.  Williams has been discussed above and really came into his own once given the reigns.  Matera came with big expectations and hasn’t hit them, still so young and plenty of time to overtake Salvi.

So having looked at the options its still Manu.  His return from injuries ignited our back play almost instantaneously.  It’s not been his best year but it’s the mark of the man that it is still the best.

Player of the season

Last Season: Tom Youngs

There have been many individual highlights for our players this season, Blaine Scully qualified for the 2015 Rugby World Cup with his US Eagles, whilst Vereniki Goneva was honoured by his fellow players to become Players’ Player of the Season.  Ed Slater celebrated his first call up to the England squad and was also chosen to lead the club as captain. 

Ed Slater had a remarkable year coming from a bench place last year to leading the club as captain in 2014.  His industrious carrying has been coupled with some beautifully soft hands that really make him the modern lock.

Others to have had strong seasons were Logo Mulipola.  Covering Marcos Ayerza as a loosehead early season he switched sides to tighthead once Dan Cole injured his neck.  The 20 stone Samoan has proved almost impossible to tackle and often damages those who try.  Jack Nowell’s still yet to come back from that shoulder injury. 

Ben Youngs was also back to his best.  Cruelly ignored by Stuart Lancaster in favour of his Leeds prodigy Danny Care the British Lion was immovable from the number 9 shirt for Leicester.  The consistency of not being faffed about by England paid dividend for Tigers as he was constantly challenging and asking questions of forwards around the ruck. 

But really there can only be one winner.  Vereniki Goneva.  The Flying Fijian joined us last season from Tarbes in ProD2 and finished last season as a try scorer at Twickenham.  This season he was has carried our attack scoring 14 tries in 25 games.  When an injury crisis crippled our centre reserves he stepped into the breach and proved his genius on many occasions, genuinely carrying the attacking threat of our team singlehandedly on many occasions.

Long rumoured to be leaving the club to join Castres he squashed those rumours to sign on for at least 2 more years.  He has power, pace and sublime footwork.  If he hasn’t beaten you with his trickery then he can just run over you instead.  Voted by his fellow professionals as the best player this season who am I to argue?

Tigers Flood with Confidence

Tigers secured their 9^th straight playoff semi final with a thumping 6 try 42-22 victory away to Sale.  First half tries from Vereniki Goneva and Toby Flood gave Tigers a 14-3 half time lead to which Tigers quickly added, racing to a 35-3 lead before falling off and allowing 3 consolation scores to Sale.

Previous trips to Sale have required sterling second half comebacks but this one was a more comfortable affair as Tigers squeezed Sale in defence whilst finishing our own chances relatively clinically.

Sale had the early territory and possession but could not make it count, a knock from Tom Brady spoiling a 7 phase spell inside the Tigers 22.  Sale varied their game well, keeping the Tigers defence on their toes with a mix of pick and goes with distributing to the wider channels. 

Tigers opened the scoring on their first real attack.  It was a classic multi-phase Tigers score.  Anthony Allen kept the defence honest, straightening from a strong Tigers scrum.   Tait went wide and we recycled through Slater.  Sale’s defence was up fast and twice was on Youngs before he passed.  Allen though swept up the loose ball and straightened, silkily off loading to Ayerza whose back hand flip set Morris through the middle.

Quickly it went right and a hint of an overlap was extinguished, but not before Mulipola rumbled to within 5.  This caught full back Tom Arscott in the ruck.  With inexperienced wingers Tom Brady and Charlie Ingall unaware it was Owen Williams who exploited the gap with a delicious Andy Goode-esque chip off the outside of his right boot.  Tuilagi and Goneva were first to it with the Fijian claiming his 14 score of the campaign.

Sale quickly claimed their first points following a terrific break from kiwi Michael Paterson, Jamie Gibson was harshly ruled to have not released the man and media darling Danny Cipriani nailed the 3 points from in front.

Tigers lead should have been more but for 3 uncharacteristic penalty misses by Owen Williams.  The first when the score was nil all went wide right and the next two skewed left.  6 from 9 in total though can hardly be considered a poor return.

A try was also inexplicably ruled out in the 22^nd minute.  Ed Slater made a lovely inside break from Williams’ pass; Niall Morris executed a dead eye grubber which Anthony Allen pounced on to finish strongly.  Referee JP Doyle however chose to go back and check the midfield pass he had ruled fair in the build up.  Quite how the hands were ruled to be going forwards I’ll never know.  Compare that try to Jonathan Joseph’s given in the home game against Bath by the same referee.

Compare also to the try in Toulouse v Clermont where the man running on the angle throws the ball on the inside, clearly travels 3 yards forward but is allowed as the hands were going backwards. 

Tigers were quickly in the ascendency again; Goneva steaming in but unable to hold Ben Youngs’ delayed pass.  Sale adventurously countered from behind their own posts.  Leota’s inside pass to Fihaki sent the number 8 on a gallop from one 22 to the other.  Anthony Allen made a superb try saving cover tackle on Tom Brady, injuring himself out of the game in the process.  In the after match analysis Sale will be disappointed with the option chosen by Fihaki, Allen’s hips were turned and an inside pass available.

It was his replacement Toby Flood who grabbed the next try.  Owen Williams made a good break, handing off Moldovan prop Codilas and out pacing flanker Gaskell, before Ben Youngs and Jordan Crane found Flood against Cobilas and his propping partner Lewis-Roberts.  The props had 4 defenders to mark in far too much space and Flood easily ran between them.

The second half saw Tigers continue in the same rich vein of form.  Niall Morris, returning after 3 months of injury, capped his 50^th start with a try.  The Irishman was on hand with a terrific supporting line to take Williams’ pass from contact following a nice break from the Youngs brothers combining down the blindside.

A fourth try and the bonus point to secure a semi final was quick in coming just 8 minutes later.  A midfield obstruction by Henry Thomas gave Leicester good ball inside the Sale 22.  Tigers were finding the Sale defence much tougher this time being driven backwards and forced wide, the key to unlocking it came from a glorious off load from Jordan Crane.  A little diamond of skill the number 8 slipped the pass behind his back, attracting the defence and allowing Gibson to slip up the inside.

With the Sale defence now stretched it took one more phase before Toby Flood, running his trademark fast and tight line from Ben Youngs, went over for his 2^nd try.  Danny Cipriani sportingly patted Flood on the back rather than try and tackle him.  What a nice chap.

Flood was almost in for his hat trick moments later.  Tigers had gained possession in the Sale 22 from a weaving Ben Youngs break and a Sale offside.  Goneva’s dummy line attracted the Sale defence as Morris swept behind him; the Irishman straightened and found Flood but good defence, and perhaps an early tackle, from Tom Brady prevented the grounding.

It hardly mattered though as Tigers scrum marched the Sale pack at a rate of knots to earn the penalty try.

With the game secured in the 60^th minute there was a marked drop in Tigers' intensity and the bench was emptied.  Sale grabbed three tries but never really looked like getting the most unlikeliest of comebacks. 

First it was Michael Paterson exploiting Toby Flood’s poor decision to blitz and racing in at the corner, then Henry Thomas scored following a line out front peel.  David Mele and Vereniki Goneva looked completely uninterested in tackling the 20 stone of Bath bound beef on the hoof and really can you blame them when winning by such a margin?

There can be no complaints on Johnny Leota’s score though as the Samoan raced in from half way with a lovely swerve to beat Niall Morris.  Tigers though will be disappointed with Waldrom’s first up tackle and Mele’s miss in open field.

The diminutive Frenchman made amends though with the final score.  Niall Morris had a good chance for a second score of his own but fumbled the grounding, with Sale now running everything Tigers were able to turnover an ambitious cross field kick before gaining a penalty.  With the scrum taken but not marching forwards like the previous one Waldrom picked up and backed into the halfback, off loading to Mele for the easy dive in.

A stonking scoreline and 9^th successive Play Off semi final, all in all a good day at the office in anyone’s book.  Tigers though will not be happy with the spurned chances.  Tom Croft is rumoured to be fit again and what a boost in the search for an 11^th Championship that would be.

Two for Tuilagi as Goneva signs New Deal

Vereniki Goneva celebrated signing his new contract by grabbing a try as Leicester beat Wasps 27-15 at Welford Road.  The Flying Fijian was given a rapturous welcome by the Crumbie terrace as he came out to warm up and he showed why Tigers fought so hard to keep him; on the stroke of halftime he held off two tacklers to squeeze in at the corner for his 12^th try of the season.

Manu Tuilagi had an influential game and bagged a brace with two trademark powerful finishes.  He opened the scoring for Tigers in the 18th minute when he crashed through the Wasps defence from 5 yards following a powerful driving maul.

Not content with scoring tries he saved one at the other end.  He had the strength to wrap up Tongan international Will Helu and prevent him grounding the ball following good build up play from the Wasps forwards.

His second came in the second period where he brushed off the attentions of Italian international hooker Carlo Festuccia before a brutal hand off of James Short. 

In between Manu’s first score and Goneva’s on half time Wasps had taken the lead following a brilliantly taken try from Guy Thompson.  Flanker Thompson was the Jersey’s top try scorer last season and showed tremendous finishing ability after Tom Palmer’s borderline knock on in midfield was ruled a clean catch.

With Manu’s second try taking the score to 19-10 Tigers extended the lead again as Owen Williams slotted a long penalty following Festuccia’s ruck offence.  Williams struggled kicking in a stiff breeze hitting only 50% of his kicks at goal and often being wayward with his punts.

Wasps defence was spoiling Tigers ball, Fijian No.8 Nathan Hughes particularly to the fore, successfully utilising Andrew Small’s immediate call of maul rather than tackle.  Small’s assessors might like to remind him that once he calls maul both sides must enter from the back and it cannot be collapsed.

Tigers’ fans were starting to sweat when Elliot Daly’s delightfully angled kick rounded Mat Tait and found Tommy Bell perfectly in stride.  The Devonian got the score but Andy Goode could not find the conversion leaving Tigers 7 points ahead.

Tigers had switched their midfield around as Toby Flood replaced Matt Smith, with Manu shifting back to 13, and struggled for fluency in their new formation.  Ben Youngs was struggling to deal with the slow ball caused by Wasps and was replaced by David Mele.

A bonus point required one more try and that extra point could be crucial in the fight for a home semi final.  Tigers were pressurising the Wasps line with a series of pick and goes but couldn’t make it count, Hawkins knocking on under heavy pressure.  

With just 4 minutes left Tigers got a penalty after Blaine Scully’s progress was stopped by a high tackle.  With Toby Flood walking away from the spot time was lost as Owen Williams ran across the field before kicking to touch.  It didn’t matter though.  Tigers drove the lineout and David Mele snuck in the side to secure the ball, secure the grounding and secure the bonus point.

Job very much done but Tigers will be worried by Logo Mulipola’s withdrawal, hopefully a precaution, and by the lack of fluency in the performance.  Wins away to Quins and Sale in the next two fixtures will require better than this.

Island Power Tigers to Victory

Tigers secured a second consecutive bonus point victory defeating Exeter 45-15 at Welford Road.  Tigers crossed the whitewash 6 times showing terrific power, pace and execution.  Vereniki Goneva was to the fore again, and afterwards Richard Cockerill hinted that his move away this summer might not be a lost caused just yet.  

To go with that potential fillip the fans received a huge boost as Tom Croft played a full part in the game’s warm up.  It had been said he would act as water boy in this match but to take contact in the warm up is a huge boost.  Clermont may be too soon but the Premiership play offs surely beckon.

Tigers were in fine form without Croft though as Manu Tuilagi and Anthony Allen re-united what is Tigers most selected centre partnership in League history; the pair last lined up together in May’s Twickenham Final. 

Tigers played into the wind in the opening period and used the conditions to great effect.  The wind held up Ben Youngs’s box kicks and Owen Williams’s garryowens allowing Tigers chase to put the Exeter catchers under great pressure.  Tigers’ forwards played well, breaking tackles in attack and driving them back in defence; Ed Slater really sets the tone with this side; his raw energy and passion drives the side forward.

Exeter opened the scoring with a penalty after Tigers had made the early play.  Referee Dean Richards had an odd, old fashioned, interpretation of the maul that took Tigers some time to understand.

It was Tuilagi though who crossed the whitewash first as Tigers gained the lead they would never relinquish.  Jamie Gibson blocked Exeter’s attempted clearance to gain the turnover in the attacking half; Ben Youngs quickly freed Tuilagi who brushed off Jack Nowell’s attempts at a tackle.  Turning it back inside Tuilagi secured possession before Tigers went right though Crane.  Ben Youngs was quick to the breakdown and found Allen running tight to ruck; he drew in two Exeter defenders before off loading to Goneva.  The Flying Fijian committed the last man to give Tuilagi the easiest of run ins for his first try of the season.

Owen Williams’s conversion was good but the touch judges bafflingly missed it.

Tigers were straight back onto the attack with Hamilton and Tuilagi making impressions up the right hand side.  Tigers were attempting to get outside Exeter’s rush defence with mixed results when Williams found Goneva running a deep outside arc.

The Fijian magician was through the hole and, carrying the ball in one hand, committed three men before bringing a bullocking Mulipola back on a switch towards the posts.

Jack Nowell had no chance to stop the 20 stone of prime Samoan beef as he strode through the Cornishman’s tackle to score under the posts.

Williams had no problem with the conversion, and this time the touch judges agreed.

A deliberate knock on, no yellow this week, gave Williams a chance for the penalty.  The Welshman missed by the slimmest of margins as the ball drifted to strike the left hand upright.  It mattered not though as Tigers claimed the bouncing ball and earned Williams a quick chance at redemption.  Second time around he was perfect.

Exeter responded well; though Ben White was lucky to gain the penalty for Crane holding on the floor rather than give one away for failing to release a tackled man.  From that decision Exeter scored from a driving maul.  Tigers looked to have stopped it twice, but Richards’s old fashioned interpretation gave Exeter another go that let hooker Jack Yeandle take advantage.

As with the first try Tigers struck back immediately.  Regaining the momentum is a crucial part of the game and always makes the game feel more comfortable. 

Jordan Crane made a powerful surge through the middle, offloading to Julian Salvi for the crucial extra yards.  With quick ball Ben Youngs showed to go right before turning back left.  Exeter's defence was at sixes and sevens, Goneva came onto the ball at pace.  Slaloming through the would be tacklers he beat 4 men to go under the posts after receiving the ball 30 yards out.

The new big screen showed the moves and the crowd was wowed by the Fijian’s footwork.

Its next use saw Exeter Captain Dean Mumm get a yellow card; his high tackle on Owen Williams received the expected outrage from the Tigers faithful.  Whilst Mumm was missing Tigers piled on the pressure.  With another advantage Vereniki Goneva scored again as he powered through Exeter’s defence from Ben Youngs’s pop pass.  But referee Richards was not happy.  Eskewing the TMO he ruled it out for a tight forward pass.

Williams slotted the penalty for a half time score of 25-10.

Some good old fashioned scrum power saw Williams get another chance early in the second half; Tigers were patient when looking for the bonus point and the Welshman put Tigers 18 points clear.

The bonus point was secured just 6 minutes later.  Owen Williams cleared a penalty from one 22 to the other to set up the line out.  Jordan Crane claimed cleanly at the tail before Anthony Allen was freed into the midfield straight away. 

Quick ball and Owen Williams had it again, Tuilagi used as a dummy to draw the men in, allowing Scott Hamilton to roam in the open spaces.  Hamilton feeds Thompstone straightening for the final flourish.  Bonus Point secured the intensity drops as Tigers use 7 of their 8 subs in the next 10 minutes.

Ed Slater forced a 5m lineout with a charge down of Henry Slade’s desperate clearance.  Good pressure from Tigers in the lineout forced the knock on and Tigers scrum.  A big push on the loosehead side from the freshly introduced Boris Stankovich gave David Mele the short side and the Frenchman gladly took the ball with the line begging.

Ten minutes later and it was Mele snipping again for the try.  A quick tap from Mele saw Waldrom just short but with quick possession the Catalan half back could weave his way through the defence for the try, with only a hint of a fumble on the grounding.

Mele’s third try of the season eclipses his total in 130 games over 7 seasons of rugby with Perpignan.

A third try bonus point win of the Premiership season in the only three games that Manu Tuilagi has started are a testament to the man’s influence on our play.  Away trips to Northampton and Clermont are next to come.  If Tigers can play like this in those two fixtures then who knows what this season, so blighted by injuries, might still yield?

Bonus Point Blitz

Tigers roared back into the Premiership’s Top 4 with a stunning bonus point win away to Dean Richard’s Newcastle Falcons.  The 41-18 win was secured with a 3 try second half blitz that saw Tigers storm away from Newcastle who had closed the gap to 20-18.

Manu Tuilagi made only his second start of the Premiership season as Tigers recorded their first Premiership bonus point victory since September, also against Newcastle and notably the last game Manu started.

Lee Smith opened the scoring for the hosts with a monster 50 meter penalty only for Rob Vickers to block Marcos Ayerza on the kick off and let Tigers level up straight away.  Newcastle controlled the possession well during the opening stages and took advantage of some rusty Tuilagi defence for Noah Cato to step the centre and Ayerza for a try.

Owen Williams closed the gap to one point with two more successful penalty attempts.  Tigers were growing into the match; Jordan Crane’s pick and go through the middle made huge yards as did Marcos Ayerza who collected the off load.  But Ayerza was unable to find Ben Youngs with the try line begging.  Youngs was again at the centre of the action after his tap and go split the Newcastle defence.  His ambitious pass to Scully was under cooked and the Californian knocked on.

Maverick Fijian genius Vereniki Goneva unlocked the Newcastle defence late in the first half with a body swerve and forceful hand off followed by a gloriously delicate chip ahead; winning the foot race to ground the ball.

Goneva received the ball after a break from Ed Slater.  The captain ran an inside line to burst between two defenders and gain 20 yards.  Quick ball to Dan Bowden was shipped on to the Fijian for his magic finish.  Owen Williams was off target with his conversion making it 14-13.

A single point advantage at half time was quickly expanded to a 7 point lead after two Owen Williams penalties.  The first was after Scott Lawson failed to release the tackled man and second came straight from the kick off.  Newcastle’s kick off failed to go 10 meters and they conceded the penalty from the scrum.

Newcastle came back strongly though with good bursts from their forwards pivoting around Mike Blair.  Noah Cato looked dangerous again but Alex Tait couldn’t hold on to his pass under pressure from Ben Youngs.  

Bafflingly referee Greg Garner saw fit to sin bin Youngs for defending his own line.  Apparently because he tried to tip the ball up and catch it that is now illegal and considered more damaging to the game than late tackles that injure fly halfs out of Grand Finals.

The rule book actually states that players must not intentionally knock the ball forwards.  Nothing about number of hands.  Just intentionally forwards.  The fact we have a generation of referees that have never played the game is clear from instances like these.  

Why wouldn’t Ben Youngs be trying to catch that ball?  The referees seem to think they are being clever and that the players are cynical when most of them just see the ball and go for it. 

Then to see a deliberate knock down punished more strongly than dangerous play that injuries people out of action is not only wrong but offensive to all those that play the game.

Newcastle profited from Garner’s mistake as Scott Lawson burst round the side of a ruck to sprint in on the blindside corner.

The Tigers though were only made more determined by the Coventry raised referee’s anti-Tigers officiating after he ruled out a good try for a forward pass.  The ball was spun wide left and after Owen Williams’s pop pass Pablo Matera straightened his man, got his hand round the back and rolled the pass to Blaine Scully.  No debate about it the try was good.

In Ben Youngs’s absence Dan Bowden stepped into the scrum halfs shoes to great effect, keeping the tempo high and even setting up Goneva’s second try.  Straight from the incorrectly ruled out effort Tigers had an attacking maul.  The set up was superb as Tom Youngs handled the ball at the back.

Bowden broke round the side and popped the pass to Goneva wrapping around from the left wing.  Goneva did well to hold the pass and broke the arm tackles of Noah Cato and Mike Blair.  Relief was palpable as Tigers were clear again.

Goneva almost secured a hat trick 3 minutes later but couldn’t hold on to an interception attempt.  Thankfully Garner seemed to apply some logic to this chance and it was only a knock on.  With Tigers back to full strength it was Thomas Waldrom who next crossed the white wash.

Good ball retention in the Falcons 22 saw Tigers probe to the left and right.  Goneva set up a ruck from a classic switch and Waldrom ran a tight line back towards the ruck.  A ballet dancer’s side step saw him clear of the last man and under the posts.

Garner yellowed Manu Tuilagi for the imaginary “deliberate” knock on 3 minutes later, because obviously Manu wanted to knock it on on the half way line when had he held it a bonus point try would have been a walk in.

A man down Tigers were still pushing for a bonus point to put us level on points with Bath.  It looked like time was draining away after Ed Slater dropped Toby Flood’s close contact pass.  But as ever it was Tigers scrum that came to our rescue when Gary Strain couldn’t take the power of Fraser Balmain.

With 79 minutes now showing on the clock it was now or never.  Flood kicked to touch and Tigers set the line out.  Tigers drove the lineout before Tom Youngs and David Mele broke to the open side.  Pablo Matera following play decided to test the fringe defence of the Falcons and it was found wanting.  After an initial repulse the Argentinean tyro was not held so surged again to power forward for his 2^nd try in Tigers colours.

With the bonus point secure there was only just time for Greg Garner to further embarrass himself with the sin binning of Toby Flood despite getting both hands to the ball on his interception attempt.  This was the first time Tigers have suffered 3 yellow cards in a single match since 17^th March 2007 at home to Bath; that day we also secured a bonus point victory as Tom Varndell, Henry Tuilagi and Alex Tuilagi all saw yellow.

A fourth victory during the international window and Tigers shift into a share of 3^rd place.  A home semi final is still a long way away but more results like this and we just might make it.