Hapless Tigers lose in London

Tigers slim hopes of a home play-off semi-final were extinguished in Barnet after one of the most woeful attacking performances ever seen from Tigers.  Tigers constipated attack could only muster 6 points, all generated from penalties inside the first 20 minutes.  Saracens only 6 days after their heroics in Paris managed three tries in a ten minute spell either side of half time to secure a 22-6 victory.

Tigers played the first half with the wind and built their 6 point cushion courtesy of two Saracens penalties; the first for a mid-field offside following Chris Ashton’s muffed catch, the second after a Tigers lineout steal.  Tigers ambition to pay with the ball was negligible and kicking game executed poorly with no real attempt to chase the kicks.  If these tactics are to be employed you have to question the absence of Blaine Scully. 

But with a tough defence and the wind at their backs giving good field position Tigers maintained their lead right to the stroke of half time, courtesy of two terrible misses from Bosch and then Alex Goode from easy kicks.

The tide was turning with Tigers failing to clear properly from Goode’s missed kick and Saracens countering deep into our 22.  Matt Smith was on hand to intercept a potential scoring pass but suddenly the whistle was blown and Tom Youngs yellow carded.  On the replay we see Ashton with an extravagant dive after a Youngs stuck an arm out to slow down his chase.  A very soft penalty and yellow card.

Tigers scrum, which had been so solid, suddenly was forced into reverse gear with a series of penalties conceded.  Eventually Billy Vunipola picked from the base and forced himself over the line.

Straight from the second half kick off Tigers were flustered.  Parling and Tait combining to fail to catch the simple kick off under minimal pressure.  With Saracens tail now up they returned the box kick and attacked quickly down the left.  With Alex Goode looking to have interfered with play just as much as Youngs Saracens scored down the left.

Saracens made much more of the wind at their backs, attacking with pace and dynamic rucking winning quick ball.  Gaining good ground attacking wide they found themselves with a 5m attacking scrum.  With Vunipola held up then stopped short they spun the ball wide to easily find a gap in 
Tigers porous defence, American winger Chris Wyles going in for the score.

With 30 minutes still to go and 2 tries down Tigers were still in with a shot of turning the game around but they were bereft of ideas.  We had two weeks build up to this game and yet we seemed to have no idea of what we were doing or how we were going to break down the opposition.

We flung the ball ever wider and backwards with Burns the chief culprit in failing to draw any defenders.  He was by no means alone, though any Tiger who ran at the Londoners certainly was.  It is a difficult thing to say but our forwards are either too lazy or too thick.  They don’t get to the rucks in sufficient numbers or early enough.  Therefore we rarely get quick ball, and should we fluke it are so bewildered by it we have to slow it down again.

Either the forwards cannot read the game to anticipate where they are needed or they are not fit enough to get there.  Equally the backs need to be better at generating ball when they have to enter the rucks.

In a shambolic display there was only one chance carved from a good 20 minutes of possession; creating a three on one on the right wing following powerful bursts by Pearce and other forwards Burns decided to go straight to Goneva on the wing, instead of going through the other players hands.  This allowed the defence to get to Goneva to make the covering tackle, instead of the Fijian having a simple walk in.  Goneva should possibly have finished it anyway but threw the pass to no one instead.

I don’t know if Aaron Mauger and his new arrivals will be the solution to our woes but I am now sure the current coaching staff and players are simply not up to it.  To have two weeks to prepare for the game and produce that is simply unacceptable.  To have one game where we are not at the races is one of those things but this is just the latest in a string of disastrous games Bath, Gloucester, Llanelli, Harlequins and Ulster away were all similar.  If the current coaches have the solution then why aren’t they implementing it?

With two weeks to lick our wounds I sincerely hope they spend it a little bit more productively than the last fortnight.  We have not scored 50 points since 2011’s home game against Treviso, I expect that to change against the hapless London Welsh.

The Transfer Merry Go Round

Cast your minds back to pre-season, all that hope, all that optimism.  We had Louis Deacon declaring that this was the best squad we'd had in his time at the club.  Well a certain game in September crushed that idea pretty quickly.

But this isn't a post about the season or the injuries we've suffered.  Its about this summers transfers, who has left, who is arriving and what else might change.

The inset graphic is the squad that we were looking at it August when Deacon made his infamous claim.  In red are those confirmed to have left the club, in yellow are those rumoured to be leaving.

Two players left before the season even kicked off.  Steve Mafi departed for Australia, for family reasons and an audacious attempt to re-qualify for Australia using the Olympics; Pablo Matera was injured on international duty with Argentina and had his contract offer withdrawn.

Several players have joined to beef up the squad.  Brad Thorn has arrived as injury cover, Jack Whetton & Greg Peterson two young Australasian locks arrived on trial, Jack Roberts has come in at centre whilst Tommy Bell joined from Jersey to cover full back and latterly fly half.

Thorn will likely be retiring in the summer by most accounts whilst neither Whetton or Peterson have particularly impressed in their very brief outings.

Those players confirmed as leaving are: Mafi and Matera as mentioned, Deacon retiring after a stellar and legendary career, Parling to Exeter, Price to Llanelli, Briggs to Sale, Gibson to Saints, Scully to Cardiff  and Tait to Bayonne.

Rumours have swirled around several other players.  Adam Thompstone has been linked to the Exeter Chiefs but that speculation has been squashed by the clubs propaganda arm, a.k.a. the Leicester Mercury, whilst Terrence Hepetema has been reported on website of questionable repute to be leaving for "more game time".  Scott Hamilton is said to be joining eternal rivals Coventry as a player-coach.

Julian Salvi's situation has been heavily commented on; Fissler in The Rugby Paper reported he terminated his contract a year early to cash in, the player told fans at a charity dinner pre-Christmas he wasn't even talking to other clubs, Cockerill told an open Fans Forum that there was a "best and final" offer on the table only for Salvi to tweet that he had thought this offer withdrawn but was now signing it and finally the club denied any and all of this!  Quite what the real story is they'll never tell us but its hard to think how anyone can come out looking particularly good from it.

The graphic highlights the two main areas of change in the squad this summer as the back five of the scrum and the back three.

We've lost 6 players in the back five of the scrum, with rumours circulating about the futures of two more, plus the trialists with unknown futures and Thorn who will leave in the summer.

In their place Tigers have announced 4 new signings so far.  Headlining them is London Welsh's wreaking ball number 8 Opeti Fonua allegedly weighing in at 150kg; that is 23 and a half stone in old money.  Fonua was terrific against Tigers in November and whilst the size of a baby elephant he has shown an ability to get over the ball and create turnovers too.

Strengthening the back row further is 25 year old Brendan O'Connor, currently playing openside for Auckland Blues in Super Rugby he is thought to be the replacement for the not yet gone Salvi and has Cockerill has compared him in style to Josh Kronfeld and he has been reported to beat Salvi on every stat the club measures.  O'Connor qualifies for England through a grandmother and harbours international ambitions.  


Replacing Deacon and Parling Tigers have signed two locks called Mike.  Mike Williams is a familiar figure in English rugby since joining Worcester.  The outsized Zimbabwean is similar in many ways to Slater, most comfortable at lock but with the awareness and speed to cover in the back row.  If there are any doubts about his tackling check out the video for a massive smash on Mulipola last season.

Mike Fitzgerald is a New Zealander coming from Waikato Cheifs where he has been an ever present in their line up so far this season.  Likened to Louis Deacon as a no nonsense worker he currently faces stiff competition in the Chiefs second row from Brodie Retallick, the All Black, and London Irish bound Matt Symons, brother of former Tiger Andy.

With the departures of Mafi, Matera & Gibson, possibly Barbieri too plus the rumoured pay as you play deal agreed with Tom Croft Tigers have plenty of cash to either make another signing or swallow their pride and re-sign Salvi.  

As it stands next season Tigers will have three burly number 8s to pick from in Crane, Pearce and Fonua but just two flankers and one of those will miss the start of the season with a dislocated shoulder.
 
Refreshing the back row is a priority; as much as Salvi, Crane and Gibson are admired as hard working durable players they are not Neil Back, Martin Corry, Dean Richards or Lewis Moody.  Croft sits comfortably with those great players but is so injury prone he has managed just 137 games in 10 seasons.

Clearly bodies are needed.  Rumours suggest Lachlan McCafferty of London Welsh has been looked at, a rangy and loose flanker I just cannot seem him being a worthwhile signing.  We would be better off trusting youngsters Ed Milne and Charlie Beckett than signing dross just to hold a tackle bag.

The other area of major change is the back three where Mat Tait is leaving after three seasons as first choice full back.  Also leaving is USA winger Blaine Scully who has quickly become a fan favourite for his full hearted displays after joining in the summer of 2013 as a 7s specialist.

Scully's situation is strange; Cockerill has been quoted saying we couldn't match Cardiff's offer.  Given the Welsh regions Salary Cap is some £3.5m compared to an English cap of £5m+ next season I'm not sure that passes my sniff test.  Clearly we can afford to match and beat Pro 12 teams offers if we want, but in this case we don't.

No in-comings are confirmed for the backs but Australian media has reported Peter Betham the twice capped Wallaby wing as joining. Betham is usually on the Waratahs bench behind Rob Horne and Fijian winger Taqele Naiyararovo, who Scotland are apparently targeting to naturalise for their international team, but has featured in 5 games this season scoring 2 tries.

Otherwise Tigers have been linked with all and sundry.  Kurtley Beale, Israel Dagg, Willie Le Roux have all been discussed with various degrees of seriousness.  Perhaps more realistic is a move for Chris Pennell, the ever loyal Worcester man can surely not stomach a second season in second division if they miss out on promotion this season.

Much like the back row the back three is an area we are not up to scratch at the moment.  Slimming the numbers but increasing the quality in this area is a solid idea from the club so I would expect only one signing in this area unless more players are to leave.

With all the known leavers and handful of arrivers, a further £500k increase in the salary cap and the second marquee signing spot I would be amazed and disappointed if our transfer activity ended without at least one more major signing.  The shape of the squad suggests a marquee full back but Tigers have often confounded expectations.

We thought we had our best ever squad in August, we clearly have not, can our signings give us the same optimism this summer?

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 don't pass Semi Chance

Tigers were dumped out of the LV Cup by Exeter, losing by 8 points at the semi final stage.  Tigers shot themselves in both feet, several times, conspiring with the referee to hand the match to a bemused Exeter who did next to nothing to earn the win.  Just stand back, let the referee whistle the opposition off the park and watch them implode when he didn't.

In essence you can boil the game down to two crucial decisions.  Two crucial pass.  Two ex-rugby league forwards.  Laurence Pearce, with turnover ball, didn't raise his head, didn't look around and fed Exeter wing Vainakolo with a simple interception pass.  About an hour later Brad Thorn, after a scintillating Miles Benjamin break, was the last but one man with a single defender in front of him he didn't raise his head, didn't look around and this time didn't feed the Tigers winger waiting for his chance.

14 points swing right there.  And with that we wouldn't be micro analysing Tim Wigglesworth's joke shop refereeing, we wouldn't be asking where, exactly, the Hull based offical feels the middle of a maul is if it isn't where the ball is and we wouldn't be steaming mad for two weeks but playing Saracens in a final.

Tigers started the game with real ambition and married it to perfect execution.  Benjamin cut through on a terrific line before Catchpole kept it alive.  Mele found Michele Rizzo running a perfect line back towards the ruck and the Italian dove over for the opening score after only 4 minutes.

But after that beginning Tigers decided to retreat to their shell.  With penalties galore Tigers decided to kick for goal, to enter into a tight niggly match when they could have pushed on and blown a shaky Chiefs out of the water.

Exeter leveled the score through hooker Tainoe, unlike Tigers they kicked for the corner.   Tigers, having seemingly forgot how to defend lineouts, stood off and let Exeter form the maul.  Once the maul is set a referee like Wigglesworth is not going to let them leave without a penalty at least and a try at worst.  And they did, driving the hooker over off the side of the maul.

With one of Tigers penalties giving us a 10-7 lead Exeter kicked off.  With ball bouncing loose Mele swept the ball to Whetton, with an over lap begging he passed on to Pearce.  We've already discussed what happened next.  14-10 to Exeter and we never saw the lead again.

Tigers were seemingly happy with tit for tat penalty goals for much of the match.  Showing no ambition to play and executing their kick and chase very poorly, it was not a combination for a happy crowd with the boos starting from the Crumbie.

Tigers slowly began expanding their game though, with Thorn breaking through the middle.  Exeter offended, offside and never onside they killed the momentum and lost a man for ten minutes.  In the ten minutes Tigers added the 3 points from that penalty and should have killed the game.

Miles Benjamin eschewed the rigid kicking game to gloriously counter, finding Neil Briggs in support.  The Sale bound man had neither the pace nor the support to finish the move but it was quickly swept left towards the Crumbie.  But Thorn did not find Catchpole, who followed him up into the ruck.  Illegally according to Wigglesworth.  The only in at the side by the attack all game.  Apparently.

With that the momentum seemed lost.  Tigers tried to play the tight game but were stymied by a referee who simply refused to ping the Chiefs.  For their final try he may as well have put on a white shirt and joined the maul.  Sam Harrison spots the ball carrier at the front of the maul and latches onto him.  This, according to the man who has refereed hundreds of games and has presumably read the rule book at some stage, is in at the side.  Where can you come from then?  What can you actually do once you don't disrupt the set up?

From the second lineout it was inevitable.  Tigers can only blame themselves for this one.  They didn't compete for the ball, they didn't hit the man the moment his feet touched the floor and drive them backwards.  These days with any referee, a good one or one like today, you will concede if you passively let them set up then try to hold the drive.  I know that, you my millions of readers know that, why don't the players on the field?

A very frustrating day for Tigers.  We were good enough to win, with a competent and fair referee we would have won, if we hadn't quite literally thrown the game away we would have won.  I think this will be the last we see this season from a number of today's players.

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.

Tigers munch Sharks

Tigers moved to within one point of second place with a comprehensive 28-8 victory at home to Sale, stretching their winning run against the Sharks to 12 games and almost 6 years.  After two tryless games Tigers fell just short of the bonus point despite a frantic final minute searching for the point that would have put us joint second.

Tigers opened the scoring after just 5 minutes with a Freddie Burns penalty; Seremaia Bai had made a telling break up the right touchline that set the tone for the performance.  Tigers will be disappointed that 10 minutes in the Sale half ended with the opponents leveling the score.  After a contentiously awarded Sale lineout the Sharks surged forward 10 meters in a driving maul before Neil Briggs collapsed it as it passed halfway.  Nick Macleod nailed the 50m kick for 3-3.

Tigers roared back through Laurence Pearce; breaking the long tryless spell.  First Parling made ground before Pearce squirmed and squeezed his way over.  Pearce twisted and turned his body, keeping the legs driving, so that despite Sale full back Mike Haley's tackle he slammed the ball down over the line as he landed on his back.

Sale were fortunate to avoid a yellow card just 3 minutes later; Tigers were rampant again inside Sale's 22, Jordan Crane burst through a gap and had options either side taken out early by the Sale defence.  Pearce was to his left and Ayerza to the right.  With only the full back to beat the early tackles surely warranted a penalty try and yellow card but Welford Road was left baffled as referee Greg Garner, from Coventry, refused to give more than a penalty.

To make matters more bizarre 2 minutes later Sale wing Tom Arscott was sin binned for a marginal deliberate knock on a full 50 metres out as Tigers were again breaking through.  Arscott was hard done by to concede a penalty let alone spend ten minutes thinking about his troubles.

During the sin bin period Tigers were held up over the line twice; first Neil Briggs seemed to have capitalised on mounting Tigers pressure to drive over under the posts, only for the TMO to deny him.  With no bodies under the ball and him clearly over the line it was a very harsh call, Northampton will be thankful the same logic was not applied last May at Twickenham.  Tigers tried again from the scrum and Pearce again forced his way over, this time cute to his ways Sale made sure to clamp over the ball and deny a grounding.

The move was not yet over though as Sale's Mancunian Viking Magnus Lund, replete with long hair and handle bar moustache, was caught off side at a prior ruck and sin binned.  Tigers went for the scrum and after initial inertia worked their magic and powered forward.  Crane was prevented from grounding the ball by an illegally unbound Sale flanker and this time Garner was in no doubt about awarding the amply deserved penalty try.

Tigers had one last bash at the Sale before half time, Bai and Goneva combining to see the latter clear to the full back, unfortunately he and Adam Thompstone did not quite read each other correctly and Goneva's pass went to ground.  Sale had the last chance of the half, forcing Tigers into their own 22 for the first time and a series of concerted efforts came to naught as Judas Gibson forced the penalty for holding on.

The second half was a different kettle of fish entirely.  Sale were much better, keeping the ball and playing patiently, Tigers much worse, fluffing lineouts and handling errors creeping back in and Garner was Garner, bizarrely sin binning Seremaia Bai for a very marginally early tackle a full 50 metres from the line, where earlier he had refused to sanction a Sale player just 5 yards out, and seemingly determined to make up for some perceived pro Tigers calls in the first half by making even more just to the other side this time.

After the Bai penalty Sale went to their trusty driving maul, once again the Northerners set about marching forward but some slackness at the back enabled Sam Harrison to insert himself and steal the ball.  With Harrison then being tackled by an offside man a Tigers penalty was surely coming but instead a scrum 5 to Sale, apparently there was no maul, no offside, simply good pressure.  From the scrum the ball was spun wide, Sale were seemingly in touch with the touch judge flagging Arscott before he put the ball down.

Garner though was not to be denied and awarded the try after consulting the TMO, to me his foot was clearly in touch before the grounding but it was a nip and tuck decision; how Mark Cueto must wish this TMO was in Paris in 2007!  Now I sincerely hope that in the rest of this season we have no players punished for playing on after the whistle, as clearly in the TMO age the referee can ignore his own officiating team's decisions if he fancies and see what happens.

With Sale now back within two converted tries, and having had a decent shot at a second try rebuffed by manful Tigers defence, Tigers took their next chance to extend the lead with both hands.  Burns converting a scrum penalty from 40m rather than kicking the corner as had been the early tactics.

Tigers had a third try ruled out as Burns interception and clear run the try line was pulled back for an earlier penalty, despite Sale having at least three phases and 30 yards of progress.  Sale retained possession well to take the time away from Tigers and dim hopes of a try bonus point.

With just three minutes left Tigers kicked a penalty to the corner, our chance was here, slim though it may be, to take the try.  They lost the line out.  But forced a knock on from Maxim Cobilas, brother of starting tighthead Vadim, from the scrum Bai was unleashed and breaking a tackle he crashed over.  With just 90 seconds left Burns quickly taken drop goal conversion was wide.

Tigers attacked from the deep kick off, Burns looked for a cross field kick but it was blocked, deflected.  Straight into the arms of Thacker!  He fed Rizzo, the prop generating roars from the Crumbie as he dummied outside and stepped inside.  Running free he was looking for the pass, Whetton was on his outside and Goneva coming up the middle, but the Sale defence was blocking the passing lanes and he rightly took the tackle.

A penalty advantage gave Tigers room for an error, which they took, but promptly found another as Thacker knocked on trying to take a pass at full pace just inches from the defence.  He had already broken the line when he dropped it, such was the flatness of the ball.

Still 4 points was a good reward and the style it came in will have lifted the hearts of many Tigers fans.  It might seem as bizarre as a Greg Garner decision after some of the games this season but Tigers really are still in with a shot at an 11th English Championship!

Tigers seal Derby Day win

Tigers put one foot into the LV Cup knockout rounds with a 17-8 win at home to bitter rivals Northampton Saints.  Without the likes of Dylan Hartley and Courtney Lawes this was a quieter affair than normal with no major incidents of foul play.  More's the pitty as it would have livened up the game.

Tigers opening half hour secured the win with two muscular tries from the beefy pair Sebastian de Chaves and Laurence Pearce.  De Chaves' effort came after only 5 minutes; Tigers had turned down a shot at goal in blustery conditions to go for the corner and set an attacking maul.  Northampton resisted just enough and Tigers broke left towards the post.  A noticable burst from Jack Roberts set the ruck and de Chaves burst through a weak tackle to crash over for his first try in Tigers colours.

Northampton dragged 3 points back after a scrum infringement but Tigers extended their lead after half an hour.  Jack Roberts received the ball in space roughly on his own 10m line and ran with it.  He scorched past two men, beating on for pace on the outside and gliding past another on the inside.  Faced with the full back he kicked on again and tried to round him for the try.  He didn't make it but did manage to stay infield, just, and set the ruck.  Tigers pounded with the forwards and it was Laurence Pearce who ducked and spun and dived and reached out for the try line, slamming the ball on the whitewash for the 5 points.

Williams converted both scores for a 14-3 lead.

After that try Tigers did not find the cutting edge of their attacking play again.  Northampton grew into the game and it took some heroic defence from Sam Harrison to force a knock on from Teimana Harrison as he tried to finish a good break with a try.  From that position Northampton huffed and puffed at the Tigers line but never quite managed to get over it.  As the clock ticked over 40 minutes Northampton had scrum after scrum, heft after heft at the Tigers line but Balmain, Thacker and Rizzo stayed strong.  Eventually forcing the knock on and the relief of half time.

In the second half Tigers never really got going.  Unable to pick apart Northampton's rush defence or use the forwards as a wrecking ball to crash through it Tigers relied on Williams and Catchpole's little nudges to maintain a dominance on the game's territory.  

A Jack Roberts break early on was trucked up twice more by the forwards but with the line begging Harrison fumbled at the base of a ruck.

One attacking penalty was kicked to the corner and move attempted; thrown to the back Tigers quickly shifted the ball to a dummy maul at the front before releasing Barbieri on the peel.  Unfortunately the referee ruled an obstruction, with no replay's available I am none the wiser to the accuracy of the call or the culprit.

Northampton replaced their half backs Hodgson & Hooley, who had been struggling to clear the ball past Tigers large forwards, with Alex Day and Sam Olver, son of hooker John.  The replacement pair were effective, creating a try with Saints first real incursion into the Tigers 22 of the second half.  Olver poked a ball through the Tigers' blindside defence and Howard Packman, son of legendary Saints winger Frank, won the foot race for the score.

That spelled a nerve racking ending for Tigers as they continued to dominate the territory but could not control the ball or drive back the Saints' defence.  With just 5 minutes remaining Tigers cooled their fans nerves; a dynamic break from Laurence Pearce was followed up by a barnstorming run from Mulipola causing a  Northampton forward to be trapped at the bottom of the ruck.  With the penalty Owen Williams made no mistake and a 9 points lead established.

To their credit Northampton fought back but with a two score lead Tigers defence was under no real threat, as at the end of the first half the Tigers withstood an Northampton onslaught and sealed a 17-9 victory.

Depending on the result of the Wasps-Cardiff game at the Ricoh this afternoon Tigers may well have already secured a LV semi final spot.  If Wasps fail to win both their remaining games, next week they face Northampton at the Gardens, Tigers will win the group.  If we beat Cardiff next week we secure a home semi final, potentially against Northampton again!

Man of the Match: Laurence Pearce.