About Last Night: Lights go out on Extras

A young Extras side succumbed to a more experienced Newcastle side eventually losing 34-8.  The Tigers side needed all of Neil Briggs’ 29 years to nudge the average age of the starting XV just above 20, whilst Newcastle fielded US international Eric Fry, England tourists Scott Wilson & Andy Saull, former Tigers Rob Hawkins & Andy Tuilagi, Super League Grand Final Man of the Match Lee Smith and a smattering of experienced Premiership players such as Rory Clegg, Jamie Helleur and Tom Catterick.

Tigers’ only fundamental weakness was with dealing with the restarts.  This reared its head right from the off and meant Tigers struggled to clear their half right through the game.  Newcastle dominated the opening 10 minutes spending the entire time camped in Tigers 22.  Brave defence ensued to keep the Falcons out, with the pack particularly to the fore.

On 15 minutes and after only 2 penalties referee Gareth Holsgrove from Peterborough produced a yellow card for Will Owen.  The offence on first look appeared to be for tackling Andy Tuilagi in full flight and forcing a fumble.  But the referee saw skulduggery and gave the Falcons a 3-0 lead.

Tigers struck straight back with a long range penalty from Williams after 21 minutes.  This was only Tigers second incursion into the Newcastle half after a foray a minute earlier was knocked on by Bryant. 

Just before the end of Owen’s sin bin period Newcastle finally profited from the man advantage.  A very suspicious steal at the base of the scrum, that appeared to me to be clearly in the scrum when it was pilfered, was taken by Newcastle 9 Andy Davies.   

After a battering on the line Newcastle were awarded a penalty and went quickly to Andy Tuilagi who used his considerable bulk to muscle over the line.

Tigers took the play to Newcastle for the rest of the half, creating opportunities but lacking the precision to finish them.  Despite his earlier no nonsense style the referee allowed Newcastle to deliberately slap down the ball with a man clear to the line with no yellow card.  Owen Williams was wide with the conversion.

Soon after a quick lineout was thrown at least 3 yards forwards Newcastle once again benefited from the Peterborough officials interesting interpretation of our sport’s rule book.  Rory Clegg was nerveless with the boot to take the score out to 13-3 at half time.

Tigers replaced Neil Briggs and Tiziano Pasquali at half time with Harry Thacker and Dan Hogan taking the average age of the side to below 19 years 6 months.  Thacker was his usual ball of energy and his brother Charlie, starting at 13 but switching to full back early in the second half, appears to share his ability to play bigger than his size. 

The second half really sprung into life in the 53^rd minute; Newcastle were attacking inside the Tigers 22 when Rob Hawkins fumbled the ball, as Tresidder cleaned up and attempted to break Hawkins swung a panicked arm at the Derbyshire teen catching him clean under the jaw.  The Crumbie cried foul and the players piled in to support their young friend.

How did the referee deal with this 30 year old forward’s high tackle garrotting the teen half back?  Obviously he revered the penalty for a bit of pushing and shoving and refused to even card Hawkins when a yellow was certain and a red hardly obscene.

Tigers on tilt, and with the crowd booing and sharing their witticisms on the referee’s eye sight, parentage and size of the bribe he must of took from Deano, were rolled over the line with a contested grounding given with undue haste generating more cat calls from the disgruntled Crumbie.

Owen Williams made way after 57 mins as Tresidder moved to fly half, not the Welshman’s best performance but he was leading an incredibly young side in tough circumstances.

Just to round out the fun we then had a 10 minute delay after an intrepid night watchman turned off the GNC stand’s flood lights.  Given this was a reserve fixture and the Crumbie flood lights provided a perfectly illuminated surface the 10 minute delay was completely unnecessary and a classic example of the referee’s pedantry and poor handling of the fixture.

As he didn’t appear to be watching the match anyway I fail to understand how a bit of shade on the far side would have made a difference.

Injury to sub Oliver Povoas forced Welsh wing Rhys Williams into the pack as Tigers opened up to chase the game.  Tigers looked good with the pace raised and hopefully this youthful team can raise the pace in the pitiful 4 remaining fixtures of the season.

Newcastle’s Dan Temm was sin binned for a innocuous midfield offence, just to prove the referee was not biased simply bizarre, and Tigers took advantage as George Prince dummied to a circling Charlie Beckett before sneaking over in the corner.

The comeback was short lived though as Newcastle’s power come through with a pick and drive try.  The final nail in the coffin, and the Falcons bonus point effort, was a break away by sub winger Penny after some excellent interplay by the Tigers deep in the Falcons 22.

This was a tough lesson in the vagaries of refereeing and the power needed at the top level but Tigers youthful cubs stood up very well.  Beckett and Milne in the back row are sizeable customers with good game awareness.  Brugnara and Pasquali impressed again and both seem likely to push on this season for the LV Cup at least.

In the backs Tresidder interested the fringe defence and created problems, whilst Charlie Thacker reminded me of a young Dan Hipkiss, with a cutting side step and good strength on a slim frame.

Extras: Bryant (Sakoh 45mins);R.Williams, C.Thacker, Pohe, Odogwu; O.Williams (Prince 57mins), Tresidder; Brugnara (Sio 51 mins), Briggs (H.Thacker H/T), Pasquali (Hogan H/T); Maksymiw, Hubbart (Joseph 60 mins); Beckett, Milne (Povoas 53 mins (Norville 73 mins)), Owen.

Yellow Card: Owen 15 mins.  Try: Prince 83 mins Pen: O.Williams 21 mins.

It's rugby Jim, but not as we know it

It looked a bit rugby, at times it seemed to share some of the rules and was certainly played with an oval ball by mostly 15 players but it definitely was not rugby.

With no recognised fly half fit for action Tigers first had teenage scum half George Tressider fill the gap, then after half time decided to play no fly half at all.  George Catchpole seemed the nominal fly half but all the backs took turns looking clueless at 10.

If any spectator was in any doubt about the importance of the maestro at 10 they surely aren't now.  Without any threat of a the kick or chip Sale could play 15 men flat in a line and out flank anything Tigers threw at them.

Tigers played almost the entire game in the Sale 22.  They had the ball for at least three quarters of the match.  They were kept scoreless for 72 minutes.

Tigers knew that to get a semi final place they needed 4 tries, they seemed to forget that they also needed the win.

Sale had two chances and took them.  The first try was from a smart break by Nathan Fowles the England Under 20s half back.  Fowles made the snip around the fringes of the ruck before passing to hooker Cameron Neild to finish off for a 7-0 lead after only 3 minutes.

Tigers then proceed to chart the course of the rest of the match by gaining territory, earning a penalty, kicking it to the corner and messing it up.

It was another 20 minutes until Sale's second chance came but they took it smartly.  Sam Harrison was charged down giving the Tigers a lineout around the 22.  The lineout was overthrown and the wily Aston Croall pounced on the ball surging through the attempted tackle before turning and passing inside to lock Tom Sanders for the try.  12-0.

Tigers again took the play to Sale but with no one fixing the defence it merely went side to side with no cutting edge.

The scrum was simply a mess with uncountable resets.  Tigers had the forward shove but Sale number 8 Juan Crous dealt with it superbly simply by picking and going.  Our Flankers were caught flat footed near enough every time.  Despite the power clearly being on our side the first two penalties were awarded to the Cheshire side. 

The second, for standing up in the scrum, was kicked to within 5 meters of the line.  Quick ball off the top was swept to former Huddersfield and Fylde fly half Chris Johnson for the snap drop goal.  15-0.

Just 4 minutes later and Sale had a penalty.  This time the scrum had gone down but referee Craig Maxwell-Keys gave the penalty in favour of Tom Bristow.  If only that was the end.  The Sale pack flatly refused to give the ball to the Harrison, then attempted to drag him into a fight.  Bristow being the nearest player to this cynicism reacted.

So the result of this Sale penalty then Sale deny the ball to the team offended against?  Yes obviously it was a reversal and a yellow card for Bristow.  Given it took neigh on 20 penalties inside the Sale 22 for the visitors to see yellow it must have been some punch.

As an aside I googled Maxwell-Keys to see just how old he is and the first page of results contained 3 match reports all complaining of his handling of matches.  Now I know "good ref" isn't a headline but that tells its own tale.

Deserved or not it made the score 18-0.  The half was cut short by a nasty looking injury to the impressive Fowles.  The injury cased play to stop.  Now the way I understand the rules is that the ball has to go dead to end the half, an injury break is not a dead ball so the game should continue.  40 minutes were up but the way the half was only halted once the injury looks serious suggests to me the full time had not been played on the referee's watch.

The second half was largely one large blur of mediocrity.  No one really stepped forward and took control.  Tigers just re-cycled the ball over and over again with no real shape or direction.  The penalty count rocketed as Sale pushed their luck. 

Tigers were so concerned about the try count they took their eye off winning the game.  With no penalties kicked at goal Sale's only concern at the breakdown was a yellow card.  Even after a warning it took another 4 penalties for one to be produced for try scorer Neild.

Laughably from the very next lineout Aston Croall entered the maul from completely the wrong side, literally walking around the back and stopping our scrum half taking the ball.  The referee saw it.  He gave the penalty.  But no card?  You've just binned a man for cheating in the maul, it clearly hasn't deterred them so bin another one.

It took the full 10 minutes of playing against 14 for Tigers to batter the Sale defence down and score the try.  Irish number 8 and captain for the day Michael Noone squeezed over after every man and his dog had a crack at the line.

The simple art of drawing your man and passing seems beyond all our players at every level at the moment.

To be fair Harry Thacker did it a few times.  Maybe play him at 12 on Saturday?

Tigers up turn in fortune was basically a result of trying harder.  Harry Wells broke a tackle, Pasquali smashed a ruck and suddenly the team had energy where before it was lacking.  The crowd got stuck into the ref a bit more and suddenly we were in the ascendency.  

But still the Sale defence stood firm and the penalties kept coming.  Miles Benjamin eventually sneaked through the middle of the ruck to score again but it was too little too late.  The referee indicated 6 minutes left and Tigers tried to the end but a Thacker knock on after a fantastic break was the last chance.

With every first team shirt up for grabbs this was a poor show from the team.  No leaders really stood out and none of the backs took control in the way a Matt Smith or Matt Cornwell would.  On that show I can see why Cockerill is reluctant to pick these guys, they are hardly making an unanswerable case.

Lamb ruled out until Christmas

Ryan Lamb's broken hand is worse than first feared and will keep him out of action until mid-December; to rub further salt in the wound the RFU have announced that he won't serve his 1 week ban until the injury is healed.

Lamb got sent off for punching Gloucester number 10 Jonny Bentley in an A League match back in September.

According to the RFU's written judgement, released on-line, Lamb will be out injured until the 17th December, meaning his injury will have ruled him out of 11 games.  His suspension will be served in the game away to Saracens on 21st December, or whenever he is fit.

Owen Williams is set to be the main beneficiary of Lamb's actions as he now has a clear run at the fly half jersey whilst Toby Flood is away with England.

Full Written Judgement Here

It's Gamage Limitation as Steele puts Gloucester to the Sword

Tigers Extra Firsts triumphed 38-16 tonight in a ill tempered A League match with Gloucester at Welford Road.  Tries from the returning Miles Benjamin, Henry Purdy, George Catchpole, Scott Steele, Michael Noone and a penalty try secured victory with both sides seeing red after referee Darren Gamage sent Ryan Lamb and Koree Briton for the proverbial early bath.

The match was scarred by Gloucester's negative tactics of holding players on the floor, when Tigers took exception to this the Gloucester response was to pile in with fists as well.  First team forwards Huia Edmonds, Lua Lokotoi and Matt Cox were all extremely fired up and needed no excuse to start scuffles.

Referee Darren Gamage, the managing director of a Cambridge security firm, lost control from early on.  He failed to spot the numerous Gloucester offences around the ruck which just emboldened them to push for more.  

Tigers had already showed a different class to their opponents with the first two tries coming in the first 10 minutes.  The first came from a simply beautiful break and off load by Terrence Hepetema finding the surging Miles Benjamin on the inside tracking line.  Benjamin was playing his first game for over a year and was lively in the first half before tiring and being replaced around the hour mark.

Henry Purdy, last year's top try scorer and going the right way to retain that title, was next on the score sheet.  Sebastian De Chaves charged down the Gloucester clearance and showed terrific work rate to secure the loose ball.  Tigers whipped the turnover through the hands from the Crumbie touchline to towards Purdy on the old Members side.  A simple finish for a man of his caliber, Purdy couldn't quite get it central enough for Ryan Lamb to land conversion, making it 12-0 to the Tigers.

Gloucester then started edging into the game more with a good spell of possession.  Gamage now badly flailing under the pressure of the two sides tried to assert his authority with a penalty against Joe Cain for dissent.  Johnny Bentley slotted it to secure Gloucester's first points.

Bentley doubled the Elver Eater's tally just 4 minutes later when play was stopped for a "high" tackle by Terrence Hepetema.  This happened right in front of me and was a perfect text book tackle.  He hit him in the ribs and drove him up and back.  

Tigers were not to be held back for long however.  Purdy was given good counter attacking ball and spotting lumbering lock forward Lua Lokotoi in the back line he turned him this way and that moving from the halfway to the 5m line.  A cheeky chip through for Lamb was blocked but Gloucester infringed at the breakdown anyway.  Purdy, now full of beans, fancied himself down the blindside with the quick tap and Perry Humphreys in support but the pair were bundled in to touch.  Chance wasted.

But no!

The Cherry 'n' Whites lineout, from Australian Test hooker Huia Edmonds no less, was miles overthrown.  First to react was quicksilver Irishman Michael Noone who scrapped it back on the Tigers side.  The ball was bobbling and Ryan Lamb showed a touch of class as his quick "Fijian Flip" pass drew in the onrushing Ryan Mills and let George Catchpole wander under the posts completely unmolested.

This cheeky trickery from the exiled Gloucester native clearly ruffled a few feathers.  Thankfully in my roughly 17 years watching the Tigers I can't recall another time when a fight has broken out in the queue to get through the Crumbie terrace at half time but Gloucester managed it.  Gamage had let tensions simmer so high it was inevitable that it was going to boil over at some point but practically in the crowd is not a good sight, as much as I love a good punch up.

Much like Nick Mullins in the Premiership 7s I couldn't tell whether it was Steph Reynolds or Drew Cheshire that took exception to Lamb's exceptional skill but it was an ugly reaction that foreshadowed what was to come.

With no obvious talking to from the referee at halftime both sides returned from their break refreshed and fired up.  Harry Thacker replaced George Chuter and Will Owen made his A league debut in place of Thomas Waldrom.

It did not take long for the match to spark, for the pot to boil over, for the Gloucester players to avoid all pretense and nakedly ambush Ryan Lamb.  5 minutes into the half, certainly no more, and Lamb put up a steepling Garryowen for the backs to chase.  As all eyes followed the ball the Gloucester forwards set upon Lamb, with baby faced assassin Lewis Ludlow flying in for such a late hit the first I noticed of it was when the Crumbie reacted to all the flying fists.  Ludlow and Koree Britton were both on top of Lamb with both sides certainly giving as good as they got.

The referee's 14 year old touch judge came in to report the misdemeanors.  Red cards for both.  I have no problem with straight reds for violence so no qualms there.  But the decision to restart the game was odd.

The sequence of events seemed to be this: Lamb kicks ball, is taken late, reacts by punching Ludlow in the head, Britton piles in and as one twitterer put it "went Duncan McRae on Lamb".  Now surely that should be a Tigers penalty to restart?  First offence is Gloucester, without which we would have had no fight at all, then after Lamb reacts so does Britton.  If we are reversing pens then surely it goes Tigers reversed to Gloucester reversed to Tigers?

But no, Gamage with the help of the not quite shaving school boy not only gave Gloucester the pen but a further 10 meters too.

Bizarre.

Tigers reacted better to the reduction though as Scott Steele's muscular display came to the fore.  This hardy carrying game makes him a very different proposition to our other scrum halfs and an interesting option ahead of the likes of Mele and Harrison.

Tigers earned a penalty from the scrum in the Gloucester 22 which Steele tapped quickly.  He raced around the pack before cutting back outside, holding off the Gloucester challenge to squeeze over in the far corner.  With Lamb off Steele missed the conversion.

Gloucester's night was about to get worse though as a the red cards had done nothing to remove the niggle from the game.  Lua Lokotoi was chief culprit again, particularly boisterous after Balmain had smashed through him on the counter ruck.   The Tigers' tales were now up and they scented blood. 

With George Catchpole playing fly half we kicked to the corner.  A mighty surge came on from the young pack and forwards they marched.  Tongan international Lokotoi collapsed the maul inches from the line and was carded for his troubles.  With Tom Bristow, Tiziano Pasquali and Tom Price now in the engine room the scrum surged forwards and as the Gloucester players were spit out the side Gamage put them out of their misery and raced under the posts for the penalty try.

Gloucester responded well with Billy Burns, younger brother of Freddie, now introduced to the fray they went quick from one of the only "holding on" penalties given all match.  This length of the field breakaway whilst down to 13 men will be some consolation for the Gloucester boys.

With the benches now emptied and the villain Lokotoi returned the Gloucester scrum was not improved.  A promising Tigers move was pulled back for the final pass being forward but it mattered not.  A huge 8 man shove drove the Cherry 'n' White pack back at a rate of knots.  With the scum now our put in a try was inevitable.  This time Gloucester let Michael Noone ground it for an old fashioned push over rather than cheat and gift us the conversion.  Steele nailed it anyway.  38-16.

And that was the game really.

Steele would be my Man of the Match (Man of Steele?) for his calm performance once robbed of his half back partner but as ever the likes of Purdy and Noone were impressive.  Benjamin showed well in his first run but will require time to build up the fitness required for 80 minutes of Premiership rugby. 

Tigers pack pummeled by Wanderers

Tigers opened their A league campaign with a disappointing loss to local rivals Northampton in front of a big crowd at Welford Road.  A 79th  minute penalty try dubiously awarded by Leicestershire referee Martin Fox gave Northampton a 23-15 win and denied the Tigers even a losing bonus point.

An heavy mid afternoon shower left the pitch in a greasy condition which combined with some poor basic skills made for a scrappy match.  There was a lack of quality moments in the game; for Tigers Sam Harrison showed that he has an eye for a gap from 10 and Henry Purdy put in a physical performance despite heavy strapping on his right arm; Northampton's star backs of Paul Diggin and Vassily Artemiev failed to shine as it was their forwards that dominanted proceedings.

Australian test prop Salesi Ma'afu and Ethan Waller dominated at the scrum, with James Craig and Rob Verbakel in the engine room Northampton had a very strong tight five and it proved the difference.  Tigers were simply unable to even retain their own ball at times as the Northampton 8 drove them backwards at a rate of knots.

With the likes of George Chuter, Jerome Schuster, Tom Price and Sebastian De Chaves in the pack there was no excuse.  This is the second time I have watched Schuster and the second time he has struggled badly in the scrums.  He came here with over hundred games at loosehead for Perpignan and only 3 at tighthead, time will tell but a shift back to number 1 would seem the best course of action for the Frenchman.

The evening started relatively brightly even though Northampton got on the board first on 11 minutes when Tigers were ruled offside.  Straight from the kick off and with a mighty whiff of a knock on from Jamie Gibson the Tigers scored.  Sam Harrison raised a steepling kick off that was contested by Gibson, the ball ran loose towards the Crumbie touchline and Henry Purdy chipped the loose ball through.  Purdy's pace saw him soar past the motionless Northampton defence, winning the foot race to touch down for the try.  Sam Harrison knocked over the touchline conversion with amplob.

But Tigers lead was to be short lived.  Another fumbled kick off gave the Wanderers great position but they thought they had blown it knocking on inches from the line.  But that mighty pack got them out of trouble as a huge shunt caused 18 year old George Tresidder to loose the ball under pressure and Ben Nutely was on hand to sweep up, making it 10-7 to Northampton.

Tigers had chances to close the gap but Sam Harrison couldn't replicate his early form missing two kicks from in front of the posts and another outwide, meanwhile Northampton fly half Sam Olver kicked his attempt in the 33rd minute to make it 13-7 at half time.

In the second half the game was breaking up a bit more.  Tigers gained a penalty in the midfield from the Northampton defence and kicked it to the corner.  The line out was taken by Tom Price and as the Crumbie stand roared them on the Tigers set to work driving.  HEAVE.  The cry went up.  HEAVE.  The pack responded.  A superbly constructed maul gave Northampton no chance of disrupting and Michael Noone was awarded the try, though it could have been anyone.

Another Harrison miss left Tigers trailing by a point.

Northampton attacked well and had the option of going for the pushover try but strangely decided to go for the posts instead making it 16-12.

With Tigers finally realising that both set pieces were falling apart and that their best two players were clearly Harrison and Purdy they started to work the ball to them more often.  Sam Harrison was like a matador as the Northampton defence charged and he skipped away to find a gaping hole through the middle.  Henry Purdy came storming through on his right and stepped the Full Back on the inside going for the posts.  The cover defence was excellent though and he couldn't quite wriggle free to ground the ball.

With Tigers set to try and score from 5 meters referee Fox suddenly decided to call feeding against Tresidder despite allowing it all game previously.  These are the decisions that infuriate spectators and players alike, are we playing this law or not?  Why only give it when 5m out from the line?

Shortly after Harrison was pulled off for Peter Osbourne, seemingly Tigers weren't interested in winning match after all as Harrison had been toying with the Northampton mid-field all match.  His goal kicking was well askew but there were 6 other backs on the field to sacrifice if we wanted a kicker that desperately.

Osbourne succeeded with his only attempt at goal 8 minutes later but seemed to panic and kick too much and too poorly.  Our set pieces were shot but our outside backs were causing problems.  

But then Northampton turned the screw with a series of line out drives and scrums.  Eventually the referee got bored and, despite Tigers certainly driving them back in the mauls and pretty much keeping the scrums even, he sided with the earlier dominant pack.

Tigers Man of the Match was Purdy but Salesi Ma'afu was the difference between the two sides as he stopped Tigers having any kind of platform to play from, just emphasising why Tigers played Julian White in this competition for all those years. 

Tigers:
Humphreys; Catchpole, Hepetema, Dunn, Purdy; Harrison, Tresidder; Bristow, Chuter, Schuster; Price, De Chaves; Wells, Noone, Gibson.

Subs: Cain (h/t-60 mins De Chaves, 71 mins Chuter), Williams (50 mins Hepetema), Guillaume (53 mins Gibson), Farnworth (60 mins Cain), Pasquale (63 mins Schuster), Osbourne (63 mins Harrison); Subs Not Used: Brugnara, Prince.

Extras! Extras! Read all about it!

The latest rumours are that two of Tigers younger fringe players in Jonny Harris and Alex Lewington are to leave the club in the summer and join London Irish.  Whilst it is disappointing to lose young players especially ones who haven’t really had a chance this post isn’t really about that. 

It’s about the chance to earn those opportunities through good form in the Extras.

The A league has been emasculated and is now a joke.  There are only 5 games and they were finished by October 15^th.  What sort of competition is only 5 games and over barely 7 weeks into a 40 week season?  Last year the competition was shifted to its current format because of the World Cup’s impact on squad depth, the original idea was for it to shift back to the 10 game season it had previously enjoyed but this was blocked by clubs like London Wasps and London Irish who don’t run large enough squads to fulfil these fixtures properly. 

The first question is do we even need an A league?  The answer is surely yes as second team rugby is still the best way to bring through younger players and keep your more senior reserves match fit.  Loan spells in the second division are also crucial for player’s development as they are full on serious rugby with winning the only aim, but second team rugby where players can almost embarrass the coach into giving them a chance with their form is the best way to make that final step from junior player into first team player.

So what form of second team competition should we have?  We can’t just disregard the Wasps and Irish worries of small squads as we can’t force anyone to give us a game.  Also the sort of 80-5 thrashings when Leeds sent their U-19s doesn’t really help anyone.  Instead we can recognise that England is actually a small country, the furthest game would be Newcastle to Exeter which is only 6 hours travel, and get rid of these geographic conferences that means Tigers have to travel to Sale and Newcastle every year but never face Bath or Harlequins.  If we had two divisions based on talent rather than geography the quality would rise as the best sides would face each other more often than once a year in the play offs.  Or even better than that the clubs that don’t wish to participate don’t and the rest of us (perhaps Harlequins, Saracens, Northampton, Gloucester, Bath, Exeter, Newcastle and Leicester) play a single-pool double round-robin i.e. a straight league of 14 games.

Those 14 games would give the fringe players like Harris or Lewington the chance to push their claims for the first team in front of their won fans and with their own team mates all year round.  It would aid club togetherness as young players aren’t being harried from pillar to post to fulfil dual registration commitments.  It would also give clubs more fixtures to play at their grounds and attract fans to.  When the A league was worth its salt we were pulling in crowds of 5 thousand with 12 thousand coming to the final. 

But getting PRL to agree to anything that might cost any money is an ambitious proposition so the chances of any change coming about are slim to none.  However we can still help ourselves by arranging more Extras fixtures outside the A league.  I’m sure that Saints and Gloucester would like return fixtures, and surely we could get friendlies at this level against Exeter, Quins and Sarries?  Those sides all have biggish squads and academies that have similar needs to ours.  This is before we get to the Welsh regions.  Llanelli is furthest away and only 4 hours on the road, Newport just over 2 hours, these sides all have academies and large squads with their Welsh Premiership feeder clubs; we could arrange games with these sides just as we did in the amateur era.

Players like Michael Noone need to play and if the A league isn’t going to provide the games we have to go out and sort them ourselves rather than rely on PRL to solve our problems for us.

A League seasons ends with victory

The official Aviva A League season is already over, just 7 weeks into the season, as Tigers Extras have failed to progress to the semi finals stage.  Gloucester beat Northampton to ensure both sides progressed at Kingsholm on Monday night.

In the last round of fixtures Tigers traveled to Sale with a strong side featuring both Deacon brothers and Matt Tait.  They romped to a 10 try 61-20 victory with a hat trick from burgeoning winger Alex Lewington and a brace from the impressive Irishman Michael Noone.  Other scores came from Andy Forsyth, Henry Purdy, Micky Young, Matt Tait and Pat Phibbs.  Matt Cornwell added 11 points with the boot.

Over the course of the 5 game season Tigers used 43 players, with 31 different starter, 9 have been involved in all 5 games but only 3 players (Matt Cornwell, Fraser Balmain and Alex Lewington) have started every game.  11 players have featured a single time, from Louis Deacon and George Chuter at one end of the spectrum to Tom Bellak and George Oliver at the other.

Top try scorer has been summer signing from Wasps Henry Purdy who has touched down 6 times in only 4 starts.  Alex Lewington scored 4 and Michael Noone scored 3.  Matt Cornwell notched 20 conversions from 31 attempts and was also succesful with 2 penalties for a grand total of 46 points.  Overall 17 players a scored a try and a penalty try was also scored when Alex Lewington was taken out with the line begging.

Tigers outscored their opponents 201 to 142 points over the 5 games, including winning the try battle 31 to 17.

This has been a mixed season for Tigers Extras.  They lost against the only 2 decent sides they faced but romped to massive victories against the weaklings in the group.  They looked pretty handy in the two home games I saw but the standard of the competition has collapsed from a high point of the mid noughties.  It used to be a better standard than the Championship but now resides somewhere around National League 1's mid table.  So it is very difficult where to place even the standout players like Henry Purdy, Alex Lewington or the two young props Fraser Balmain or Kieran Brookes.  Are they ready for the first team or not?  Who knows and with Cockerill's less than progressive use of the academy we may never find out.  It's definitely a grim life for the ones that struggle at this level.

Really the A league has evolved into a joke tournament.  England is a small country and a regional competition is unnecessary and makes the competition weaker.  It is frankly a shame that Tigers can't play the likes of Harlequins, Saracens or Exeter on a regular basis and instead have to schlep to Sale to put 61 points on a side that isn't fit for competition.  Last year we put 80 points on Leeds.  We could get games as uncompetitive as that by playing Nottingham, Moseley and Bedford and save a lot of money on diesel for the team bus.  Instead the A league should move to two national divisions of 6 with promotion and relegation between the divisions, and playing a full 10 game double round robin fixture list.  This could be supplemented with friendlies and local derbies as desired by the individual clubs.  What ever happens it can't, surely, stagger on with this ridicules micro schedule for much longer.

Tait Returns!

Matthew Tait will play his first game of rugby for 11 months tonight as he starts at full back for the Development XV when they take on Worcester.  Andy Forsyth also returns at centre as Andy Symons switches to 12 and Javiah Pohe moves to the bench.  A very young tight five will have its hands full as monster prop Rob O'Donnell (6'6" and 20 stone) is joined by Ed Shervington, the former Ospreys hooker who clashed with Alesana Tuilagi last season, and former Plymouth Albion prop George Porter who also captains the side.  Veteran lock Craig Gilles made his Bath debut just 2 months after Tigers winger Rhys Williams was born.

Leicester Tigers Development XV
15 Mathew Tait
14 Henry Purdy
13 Andrew Forsyth
12 Andy Symons
11 Alex Lewington
10 Matt Cornwell (c)
9 Scott Steele
1 Fraser Balmain
2 Harry Thacker
3 Kieran Brookes
4 Harry Wells
5 Joe Cain
6 Lucas Guillame
7 Joe Atkinson
8 Michael Noone
Replacements:
16 Jamal Ford-Robinson
17 Riccardo Brugnara
18 Jonny Harris
19 Llyr Griffiths
20 George Oliver
21 Patrick Phibbs
22 Javiah Pohe
23 Rhys Williams

Llyr Griffiths is a police officer currently playing with Loughborough Students and formerly of Nuneaton.

Worcester Cavaliers
15 Ben Howard
14 Joe Nellany
13 Max Stelling
12 Jack Wardle
11 Jon O'Donnell
10 Joe Carlisle
9 Ollie Frost
1 George Porter (c)
2 Ed Shervington
3 Rob O'Donnell
4 Craig Gillies
5 Nile Dacres
6 Blair Cowan
7 Neil Best
8 Semisi Taulava
Replacements:
16 Ollie Hayes
17 James Currie
18 Ceri Jones
19 Tom Pool
20 Dan Young
21 Matt Farrington
22 Josh Watkins

Development XV fall short against Gloucester

Tigers second string XV fell to their second away loss on the trot as they were downed 38-34, though they did win the try battle 5-4.  Tigers tries came from a Richard Thorpe brace, Javiah Pohe, Henry Purdy and Rob Andrew, Andrew scoring on the last play to seal the losing bonus point.  18 points from the boot of Tim Taylor and a first half penalty try were the difference.

Development XV set to take on Gloucester

Tigers name a young squad containing 10 teenagers as they travel to Gloucester looking for their second win in this seasons A League.  Javiah Pohe makes his first start of the season after recovering from injury which kept him out of England Under 18's summer tour to South Africa.  Fraser Balmain moves across the front row from loosehead to tighthead making room for Jonny Harris as Tigers two loaned out props start from the bench.


Tigers Development XV
15 Alex Lewington
14 Henry Purdy
13 Andrew Symons
12 Javiah Pohe
11 Rhys Williams
10 Matt Cornwell (c)
9 Scott Steele
1 Jonny Harris
2 Jimmy Stevens
3 Fraser Balmain
4 Rob Andrew
5 Joe Cain
6 Brett Deacon
7 Richard Thorpe
8 Michael Noone
Replacements
16 Harry Thacker
17 Keiran Brookes
18 Ryan Bower
19 Harry Wells
20 Lucas Guillame
21 Wessel Joost
22 Harrison Lee-Everton
23 Tom Bellak

Gloucester, who for reasons unknown christen their reserves as "United", name former Tigers Academy player Tim Taylor at fly half, with former Nottingham center Tim Molenaar lining up outside him.  Freddie Burns's brother Billy is picked at full back.

Gloucester United: Billy Burns, Steph Reynolds, Drew Locke, Tim Molenaar, Ian Clark, Tim Taylor, Brad Field; Yann Thomas, Tommaso d'Apice, Dario Chistolini; Will Graulich, Elliott Stooke; Peter Buxton (c), Matt Cox, Gareth Evans Replacements: Nico Woodward, James Gibbons, Henry Sandys, Ross Moriarty, Rob Langley, Grant Hancox, Kai Done, Liam Gallaher

High Noone as Tigers tame flustered Falcons.

Michael Noone made a dream start to his Tigers career as he scored a scorching breakaway try on debut. After smart work from Scott Steele turned ball over from a Newcastle scrum Noone showed the Geordie pack a clean pair of heels as he outpaced the cover defence to touch down in the left hand corner.  As the saying goes No-one is perfect!

Tigers raced away to a 7 try win securing the bonus point after only 22 minutes, as a scintillating first half hour put the Tigers way beyond the grasp of the Newcastle side.

After the first try established the lead it was never lost, on 13 minutes after heavy pressure from the forwards the otherwise unimpressive Bowden danced through the Newcastle defence to touch down under the posts.   Cornwell added the extras to make it 12-3.

Newcastle did claw a try back and it was the least they deserved for a concerted if blunt forward effort eventually relented to allow the backs the ball. It was shifted right to left and Michael Tait scored in the corner.

The next try was scored by Adam Thompstone after very strong running from the impressive Alex Lewington.  His strength through contact is reminiscant of great wingers of the past like Dave Lougheed or Horacio Agulla. 

Lewington was creator again as opposite winger Henry Purdy barged over for the bonus point try.  On the wrap around Lewington barged past 5 defenders before releasing Purdy, who still had work to do himself beating the Newcastle hooker to the line.

Purdy bagged his brace just 5 minutes later as a solid scrum fronted up by former Newcastle Royal Grammar School-Boy Fraser Balmain and former Falcon Kieran Brookes allowed Tigers an attacking platform to work from.  Morris took the ball to the line before releasing Purdy, a summer signing from Wasps academy, who beat his man on the outside possibly benefitting from no TMO as he was rapidly approaching the touchline.

Milky Bar Kid look alike Joel Hodgson slotted a penalty to round off the half.

The start of the second half has been a good time for Leicester this season with the first team bagging tries in both games so far.  The A team didn’t want to be outdone and duly had their own fast start in front of most of the first team squad, plus Tigers legends John Wells, sitting next to Geordan Murphy, and Freddie Tuilagi in deep conversation with Dean Richards.  If a stack of Samoans turn up to Newcastle in the coming weeks we will know why!  Scott Steele took the ball from a quick ruck, shifting on the Dan Bowden.  Bowden threw a trademark wide miss pass, whether he is capable of passing under 15 metres is yet to be established, to Morris who drew in more defenders before Thompstone, playing 13, had a strong finish from 20 yards.  He was brought down on the line and it wasn’t immediately clear whether he or debutant Noone had got the score.  Thompstone was awarded it and thus sealed his brace for the night.

Newcastle then laid siege to the Tigers line thanks to some refereeing that wouldn’t have been out of place in an under 14s match, fittingly as the touch judge Rob Debney was my old school teacher!  Eventually the Geordies tired of trying to force a try over and settled for another Milky Bar Kid penalty.

Tigers 7^th and final try came after a lovely weighted chip from Syston’s Matt Cornwell, fresh from his spell in Mogliano, set up a Falcons line out 5 metres out.  The Geordie line out misfired all game, less so after the introduction of kiwi first team hooker Mike Mayhew but he suffered just the same this time as Tigers poached the line out.  Relentless drives resulted in Fraser Balmain being awarded a try.  Surely a good repost to the club that didn’t think him good enough at 18.

Ironically Falcons hooker George McGuigan was to profit from an over thrown lineout as he got a consolation try right at the death.  A good run from Falcon’s England group prospect Zack Kilbridge was snuffed out by a strong Matt Cornwell cover tackle, however Jimmy Stevens couldn’t find his man and the ball dropped into McGuigan’s thankful hands. 

Impressive performances:

Alex Lewington: strong carries made the difference early doors must be in line for a Premiership start soon.

 Fraser Balmain & Kieran Brookes: solid all day in the set piece and a real nuisance in the breakdown.  Responded well to a poor return last week and Balmian took his try well.

Needs to improve:

Dan Bowden: Needs to cut out the silly miss passes and focus on getting the ball through the hands.  If Allen went down today I’d rather have Matt Cornwell play 12 at Wembley.  Looked much more effective when he was more direct and using the short passes.

Man of the Match:

Has to go to Michael Noone, fantastic try to start the night off and was a real terrier the whole night.  Hopefully will sign on full time and could start pushing Waldrom and Crane for starts if this performance was anything to go by.

Teams named for A league home opener.

Tigers make 4 changes to the A team for tongihts home fixture against Newcastle.  Henry Purdy comes in on the wing whilst George Chuter, Brett Deacon and Michael Noone come into the back row.  Richard Thorpe switches to 7 from 8.

15 Niall Morris
14 Henry Purdy
13 Adam Thompstone
12 Dan Bowden
11 Alex Lewington
10 Matt Cornwell (c)
9 Scott Steele
1 Fraser Balmain
2 George Chuter
3 Kieran Brookes
4 Harry Wells
5 Joe Cain
6 Brett Deacon
7 Richard Thorpe
8 Michael Noone
Replacements
16 Jimmy Stevens
17 Jonny Harris
18 Ryan Bower
19 Jake Albon
20 Lucas Guillame
21 Harrison Lee-Everton
22 Pasqualle Dunn
23 Rhys Williams
Michael Noone is a Rotherham number 8, who signed this summer from Doncaster Knights.  Here is his highlights package from Google.

 


Newcastle Falcons
15 Chris Harris
14 Marakilevu Roko
13 Michael Tait
12 Johnny Neville
11 Tom Catterick
10 Joel Hodgson
9 Jonny Burn
1 James Hallam
2 George McGuigan
3 Scott Wilson
4 Josh Hedley
5 Joe Robinson
6 James Hamilton
7 Anthony Harrison
8 Guy Van Den Dries
Replacements
16 Michael Mayhew
17 Matthew Lowes
18 Andrew Foster
19 Tom Schofield
20 David Watchorn
21 Andrew Davies
22 Sam Hanks
23 Zach Kibirige

Tigers 'A' lose in Development Derby to Northampton

Tigers opened their Aviva 'A' League campaign with a 47-14 loss away to Northampton.

More to follow.

Tigers name 'A' side for Development Derby with Northampton

Tigers:
15 Niall Morris
14 Miles Benjamin
13 Adam Thompstone
12 Dan Bowden
11 Alex Lewington
10 Matt Cornwell (c)
9 Scott Steele
1 Fraser Balmain
2 Rob Hawkins
3 Kieran Brookes
4 Harry Wells
5 Joe Cain
6 Luca Guillame
7 Thomas Sourice
8 Richard Thorpe

Replacements:
16 Jimmy Stevens
17 Jonny Harris
18 Ryan Bower
19 Joe Atkinson
20 Jake Albon
21 Harrison Lee-Everton
22 Pasqualle Dunn
23 Henry Purdy

Thomas Sourice is a 28 year old French flanker formerly of Toulon.  Luca Guillaume is a former trainee from Montpellier.  Joe Atkinson is originally from the same Hampshire club as Tim Rodber, so a fitting opponent for his any level Tigers debut, and currently is studying at Loughborough University.  He played in the World Champion GB sevens team alongside former Tigers Dante Mama and Sam Edgerly.  Henry Purdy is a former Wasps academy member, who actually scored a try for England Under-18s against the Tigers Academy at Welford Road last year.  He has played A league rugby for Wasps so is no stranger to this level.

Northampton's side is:
15 James Wilson
14 Noah Cato
13 Tom May
12 Luther Burrell
11 Scott Armstrong
10 Stephen Myler
9 Martin Roberts
1 Alex Waller
2 Mike Haywood
3 Tom Mercey
4 Tom Hicks
5 Mark Sorenson
6 Rhys Oakley
7 Teimana Harrison
8 Mark Hopley (c)
Replacements
16 Ross McMillan
17 Ethan Waller
18 Paul Doran Jones
19 Alex Woolford
20 Ben Nutley
21 Ryan Glynn
22 Will Hooley
23 Tom Stephenson

Cohen: European Reserve League in the offing?

Simon Cohen has raised the possibility of a European U-21 league, with perhaps a few over aged players, and says informal talks have been held with clubs like Leinster, Munster and Clermont.

For me the economics of that are never going to work, the cost of the away games would be prohibitive and the home games would never cover the cost, especially if we kept them free entry.

It is a good idea and might work as part of a European Super League where the sponsorship might cover it, but not any time soon.