Thompstone on Time as Tigers tackle Treviso

A last play try from Adam Thompstone kept Tigers' European hopes alive as it secured the 4 try bonus point; Flood's conversion made the final score 34-3.

The result needs to be put in the context that Treviso finished the last season 7th in the RaboDirect Pro12; this is where Bath finished in the Aviva Premiership.  We would not be moaning if we got a 5 point win against Bath what ever the circumstances.

The performance though was mixed to say the least.

Tigers are never comfortable under lights, this game was moved due to a clash with Leicester City v Huddersfield (won 2-1 if you're interested), and this nasty habit reared its head again.  Treviso were excellent for large parts at spoiling the possession.  The laissez faire approach to the ruck by Pascal Gauzere was taken up with relish by Barbieri, Zanni and Vosawi who were a constant nuisance in and around the break down.

Ed Slater was magnificent, his line and pass for the final try were inch perfect, but he really is a lock in his break down work.  That is not an insult or an attempt to disparage him, he is a smasher not a grabber.

Outside of Slater, often marooned on the wing like our blindside often is, and the effervescent Tom Youngs Tigers carrying game was stilted and ineffective.  Waldrom made several telling interventions but tired, whether it was a lack of match practice or an injury I cannot say.

The back play drew most of the ire from the messageboards, and it was not good, but the ball was slow and stodgy whilst the Trevisian defence was fast and aggressive.  Going wide and deep plays into their hands.

Leicester opened the scores after 16 minutes.  Ben Youngs ran a smart wrap around with Bowden as the pivot to open up the Italian's blindside defence from a midfield scrum.  Youngs kept the move alive but without an offside line the Treviso defence recovered.  Hepetema, an early sub for Goneva, showed some lovely foot work to beat his man before Michele Rizzo sped out of the line to smash Toby Flood late and incur the penalty.

From the restart Berquist kicked straight out so Tigers had another midfield scrum.  A penalty was awarded when Rizzo, again, stood up.  Youngs scented the chance and went quickly, he drew his man and put Niall Morris into space.  McLean was beaten all ends up as he turned his back on the play.  But no!

Pascal Gauzere ruled that Youngs had taken it in front of the mark.  With the aid of my TV recording I can clearly see that he was wrong and that Youngs was indisputably not in front of the mark.  It was not even particularly close.  Perhaps J.P. Lux had had a word?

An harsh call for a forward pass by Toby Flood lost the move from the penalty.

But Tigers were finding their grove if not quit finishing it off.  Ben Youngs kicked intelligently for the corner and Californian winger Blaine Scully showed real desire chasing the kick, putting McLean under pressure.  His clearance kick was long but flat giving Morris excellent counter attacking ball.  His trademark break and off load saw the Tigers forwards stampeding through the center ground.  

Now that is more like it!  Tom Youngs takes it on. Kitchener turns it inside with a basketball pass to Mulipola on the charge.  Quick ball and Flood puts it inside the rush to Ed Slater; he goes inside right again to Waldrom who makes 10 yards.  No ruckers from Treviso means Kitchener can pick and go through the heart.  Botes just about stops the rampaging Salopian on the 5m but refuses to roll away.  Advantage.  Flood wastes it with a nothing chip.

Fair play to Gauzere he had no messing around and produced the yellow card straight away.  Tigers now completely in the ascendency and playing beautifully.  They take the points 6-0.  Not aggressive enough or showing the opposition correct respect?

Treviso weathered the storm well though as they played possession for the bulk of the 10 minutes.  The rain was now getting more persistent and Tigers hands started to falter.  Hepetema juggled but gathered then Geoff Parling fumbled an easy catch.  From the scrum Salvi then Waldrom slipped off tackles on Bob Barbieri.  He fed Manoa Vosawi for an eye catching break but wasted it with an atrocious pass to no one in particular

A succession of penalties from Treviso marched them back to their own goal line.  They dealt with the first maul well enough but again did not roll away and Tigers did not need asking a third time.  A well constructed maul saw Thomas "the Tank" barrel his way over for a 13-0 half time lead.

Tigers were back on form at the start of the second half, a trademark Ben Youngs break opened up the play and Ed Slater took advantage of an extremely loose definition of tackler not held to snatch a huge gain.  Traditional Tigers multi phase rugby saw the ball travel to within 5 yards of the try line where Thompstone was tackled into touch.

It wasn't over though.  Kitchener pilfered the Italian lineout.  Waldrom Went through the heart of the ruck and wriggled and squirmed and crawled and finally made it over the line.  Ruled as a double movement I have to question at what point was he held?  To my eye the first crawl is clearly unheld then he scores the try with his permitted single movement.  Little did we know at the same time they were also discussing this at Wembley.  Waldrom's was a darker shade but both decisions were gray rather than black or white.

The frustrations began to set in.  A poor pass from Ben Youngs.  A penalty against Cole.  A penalty against Tom Youngs.  13-3; a penalty for Botes the South African-Italian scrum half.

Flood passes to no one then cross kicks to no one in particular.  The clock is ticking away and the crowd is becoming agitated.  Another Flood pass goes to floor then bounces over Scully's head.  The rain is pouring down.

Flood is drifting away from Youngs, the passes have to be longer and loopier.  The Treviso defence is driving, pushing, harrying the Tigers into mistakes.  Flood and Hepetema mistime a simple switch.

The tide turns as Gauzere first bins the captain Antonio Pavanello for not rolling away then 40 seconds later Tongan-Japanese winger Christian Loamanu for a swinging arm high tackle on Blaine Scully.  Down to 13 men the Italian barricades finally are breached.

Another driving maul, this time with Tom Youngs in the driving seat.  Louis Deacon and David Mele are now on.  Deacon's muscularity is immediately to the fore as the maul surges over the line for a Tom Youngs try.

It was not all our own way though as Mele tried to use Thompstone on the blidside rather than let the maul do its work.  Now it was Bowden's turn to have a few moments.  A poor pass in the vicinity of everyone but to the hands of no one was followed up with a fairly sloppy dropped catch when quick hands could have seen a try.  Hepetema then throws a pass behind Thompstone's feet and into touch.

The need for 4 tries was seeing the players choke. The crowd were getting on to them and they were trying to force it too wide too early.  Forwards through the middle, draw them in would have been far far more effective.  Ed Slater slashes through a few week tackles but Salvi knocks it on at the ruck.  AHHHHHHH.

Dan Cole snaffles a turnover in midfield and Tigers break through.  Swift inter passing from Crane, Morris, Bowden and Thompstone gets us to within 5 of the line on the Crumbie touchline.  Deacon straightens a Flood pass into the shadow of the posts and we have advantage for an Italian offside.  It goes back left to Bowden who is gang tackled.

Mele takes the tap penalty.  Simple hands, take pass, draw man, pass from Flood and Crane puts Scully into the corner.  A delightful delay from Crane makes sure of the try.

Back to 15 men and Treviso are back to frustrating us.  It's panic stations and it isn't working.  Treviso are building possession in the 22, it's not the score we are bothered about it's the time.  5 minutes left.  Then 4.  Then 3.  We are still in our own 22.  

79 minutes up and we win a penalty from a scrum in our own 22.  It's now or never boys.  No mistakes.

Parling wins the lineout and Bowden takes it up.  Briggs and Mulipola prominent with their carries.  Dan Cole picks and goes.  It attracted the defenders, Slater and Thompstone slip wide and Bowden fires the pass wide to find Slater with the 2 on 1.  Slater does the simple thing that many make look so hard by holding his line, holding his nerve and passing as late as possible.

It is no easy finish for Thompstone as he steps off his left foot towards the posts beating one, beating two, beating three.  Relief.  He's got it.  Try number 4, worth 5 points.  Leaves us with 6 points in the group.

So it wasn't vintage Leicester but we'd be pretty chuffed stopping Bath at source and putting 4 past them so let's not get ahead of ourselves.  Work to do but job done.

Toby's Tigers Ton Up

Tigers make three changes to the starting line up that last Friday conceded defeat to Ulster.  In the forwards Graham Kitchener and Thomas Waldrom replace Louis Deacon and Jordan Crane who take their places on the bench; the other change sees Californian winger Blaine Scully recover from injury to oust Miles Benjamin from the wing.  Benjamin was rusty in Belfast after so long out but needs must and he gave a Tigers effort in trying circumstances.  He will be back, he will be better.

The changes see Tigers lose some direct power in the tight exchanges but Kitchener and Waldrom are far more dynamic carriers, with Kitchener's pace also a terrific asset in defence.

Tigers M.I.A. list contains internationals Marcos Ayerza, Tom Croft, Steve Mafi, Pablo Matera, Anthony Allen, Manu Tuilagi, Scott Hamilton and Mat Tait.  8 internationals and 7 of those would be key men in the 23.  The injuries are a staggering as they are varied.  Anthony Allen ruled out with what was essentially a rotting thigh muscle.  Lovely.

Captain Toby Flood will be making his 100 appearance for the clubs since his debut away to Gloucester in 2008.  Logovi'i Mulpola at Loosehead makes his 50 appearance for the First XV whilst Thomas Waldrom makes his 75th start in the back row.

Treviso come to Welford Road for the 4th time in 6 seasons.  This ties the Ospreys for the most common group stage opponent in the history of Heineken Cup.  An ample demonstration of both the stagnation of European Rugby thanks to "Regions" and the skewed system used to draw the pool stages which makes similar draws more likely.

Last season we beat Treviso in both games, as we have every Italian opponent in the Heineken Cup, but only by 8 points at home and by the slimmest margin, a lone point, away.  Treviso have beaten both Bath and Wasps in the past; so whilst we might remember them from their late noughties slump historically they have always been a competitive side.  At some point we will lose to them and the gloating from the London press will be deafening.  Lets make sure it is not now!

Treviso have recalled summer signing Mat Berquist at Fly Half.  Berquist hit the heights in Dan Carter's absence for the Canterbury Crusaders in 2011 but has failed to hit those standards since his transfer to Europe.  First he spent a year, mostly injured, in Dublin with Leinster then he tried the delights of the Top 14 with Biarritz.

Italy seems to be agreeing with him more as he has two tries in two starts and steered the Leoni to victory over Munster in September. 

On the wing dope smoking Japanese-Tongan winger-cum-flanker Christian Loamanu has been a power packed addition to the side since his 2012 switch from Toulon.  

The real strength of this Treviso side though is in the back five of the scrum.  Pavenello is a fantastic captain, though he can be accused of having a touch of the Borthwicks, whilst number 7 Alessandro Zanni is one of Europe's finest flankers.  At the forefront of Italy's win against France last year Zanni is not a Neil Back type at 7 but more the continental style ball carrier work horse.  Think Juan Fernandez Lobbe.  Think new Tiger Pablo Matera.

The back row is completed with two imported Italian test players; Manoa Voaswi from Fiji initially burst onto the scene with Overmarch Parma but has settled with Treviso as a yet another physical carrier.  Bob Barbieri is a Canadian Number 8 who was picked up after the incredibly scientific method of an FIR official seeing his name on a Canadian U-19s team sheet and presuming he had some qualification!  A contract in the Super 10, as it was before "regionalisation" of Italian rugby, quickly came and the allure of the 6 Nations secured him for the Azzurri. 

French referee Pascal Gauzere will referee his 4th Tigers game; all 3 previous occasions have also been against Italian sides. 

Leicester Tigers
15 Niall Morris
14 Blaine Scully
13 Vereniki Goneva
12 Dan Bowden
11 Adam Thompstone
10 Toby Flood (c)
9 Ben Youngs
1 Logovi'i Mulipola
2 Tom Youngs
3 Dan Cole
4 Graham Kitchener
5 Geoff Parling
6 Ed Slater
7 Julian Salvi
8 Thomas Waldrom
Replacements
16 Neil Briggs
17 Boris Stankovich
18 Fraser Balmain
19 Louis Deacon
20 Jordan Crane
21 David Mele
22 Owen Williams
23 Terrence Hepetema

Benetton Treviso
15 Luke McLean
14 Andrea Pratichetti
13 Luca Morisi
12 Alberto Sgarbi
11 Christian Loamanu
10 Mat Berquist
9 Tobias Botes
1 Michele Rizzo
2 Enrico Ceccato
3 Lorenzo Cittadini
4 Antonio Pavanello (c)
5Valerio Bernabo
6 Manoa Vosawai
7 Alessandro Zanni
8 Robert Barbieri
Replacements
16 Franco Sbaraglini
17 Ignacio Fernandez Rouyet
18 Pedro di Santo
19 Marco Fuser
20 Dean Budd
21 Marco Filippucci
22 Fabio Semenzato
23 James Ambrosini

Referee: Pascal Gauzere
TV: Sky Sports 1 Red Button

Know Your Enenmy: Heineken Cup Opponents

Ulster

Founded: 1879
Ground: Ravenhill (cap: 18,000)
Star Man: Ruan Pienaar

Much like their fellow Irish provinces Ulster Rugby was formed in 1879 when the two competing governing bodies in Ireland merged and formed the Ulster, Leinster and Munster branches, Connacht ever the poor relation was formed in 1900.  

Ravenhill was purchased in 1923 by the IRFU with the aim of cementing the concept of a united Ireland side, and was left unchanged for the majority of the next century.  Major redevelopment was undertaken in 2008/9 which saw the construction of a new covered terrace with a paddock of premium seating and corporate boxes to the rear.  Since our last visit Ravenhill has undergone further changes as both ends have now been built on, the ends are not quite identical as the Memorial End's capacity will be a few hundred people more than the Aquinas End.

Famously Ravenhill has a church within its grounds, between the new Terrace stand and the Memorial End.  

As befits a team which won 5 out 6 Pool games last year, as well as topping the RaboDirect Pro 12, Ulster are packed to the gunnels with star names.  South African Ruan Pienaar has an Austin Healey-like ability to play both half back positions and as the banners say many a team has been "Ruan-ed" by Pienaar's dead-eye goal kicking.  Also in their side are British Lions Tommy Bowe and Rory Best, as well as 2009 tourist Stephen Ferris who has been laid low with injury this past season.  Kiwi test prop John Afoa will never take a backward step and is one of the best tightheads currently operating in Europe. Not to mention players like Paddy Wallace, Andrew Trimble, Craig Gilroy and Johan Muller.


Montpellier Herault RC

Founded: 1986
Ground: Stade Yves-du-Manoir (cap 14700)
Star Man: Makmuka Gorgodze

Formed only in 1986 Montpellier Herault Rugby Club is younger than several of its players.  However its not as if Rugby only started in the Mediterranean city 27 years ago as the club was formed from the merger of Stade Montepellier, founded 1963, and Montpellier Paillade, founded 1974.  The city also has some history of rugby league.

The Stade Yves-du-Manoir, not to be confused with the stadium of the same name in Paris which has hosted the Olmpics, the FIFA World Cup and numerous French internationals and cup finals, was built in 2007 to capitalise on the surge of interest in rugby after the city hosted that year's Rugby World Cup.  Its stunningly unique architecture marks it out as one of Europe's premier grounds and certainly is one every fan should try and visit.  

The four stands are named after world famous Rugby stadiums: Eden Park, Ellis Park, Murrayfield and Twickenham.  As with most French grounds they allow some standing around the pitch on the pessage, some people translate this as terrace but that would be a gross insult to a proper terrace as they usually have no steps and no banking at all.  


Montpellier are now funded by scaffolding and cement magnate Mourad Altrad, a Bedouin born in Syria, and have been splashing his considerable cash this summer.  Star arrivals are Perpignan and France prop Nicolas Mas, former Tiger Big Jim Hamilton and Tongan-Australian lock Sitaleki Timani.  Also arriving are Perpignan's colossal Cameroonian lock Robins Tchale-Watchou, Springbok centre Wynard Oliver and Anthony Floch from Clermont.

They join a squad already sprinkled with stardust.  Francois Trinh-Duc, Fulgence Ouedraogo and Julien Tomas are all French internationals raised in the city and products of the clubs youth system.  Fijian winger Timoci Nagusa not unlike our own Vereniki Goneva is fleet footed and strong in contact, possessing perhaps a touch more magic.  Of course we all know the skills of Lucas Amorosino.  Up front their talisman is surely gigantic Georgian Mamuka Gorgodze; his sheer physical presence is epitomised by his nickname "Gorgodzilla".  Capable of playing anywhere in the back five of the scrum Gorgodze has helped put Georgian rugby on the map.


Benetton Treviso 

Founded:1932
Ground:Stadio Comunale di Monigo (6,700)
Star Man: Alessandro Zanni 

Founded in 1932 as Associazione Sportiva Rugby Treviso it took them 20 years to finally reach Serie A, the Italian top flight, in 1952 but success was quickly to follow as they won their first championship in 1956 now knwon as Rugby Treviso.  Relegated for the only time ten years later they bounced back at the second attempt and have been a fixture of Italian rugby ever since.  Their second championship came in 1978, losing only 2 of 26 league games, and this prompted the Benetton group to become involved in the club and a second name change to Benetton Treviso as they have been known ever since.  Their original colours of White and Blue were changed to the now familiar green and white of the Benetton group. 

Benetton's financial muscle helped Treviso in what were surely the glory days of Italian rugby as they signed worldwide stars such as All Blacks John Kirwin and Craig Green and Australian Michael Lynagh whilst other Italian teams signed players like Naas Botha, Danial Gerber and David Campese.  Treviso won the title in 1983, 1989 and Lynagh inspired them to the 1992 title.  They also fell short in the final on 6 occasions ('88, '90, '91, '93, '95, '96) before winning 10 titles in the next 14 years.

The Stadio Cumunale di Monigo is a two sided stadium built in 1970.  One side is covered with a central section of reserved seats and an inside bar whilst the other is uncovered and entirely unreserved.  Given the rain in northern Italy it is no surprise most fans are willing to pay the extra few euros for the cover.  

This summer has seen Treviso lose talented centre Tammaso Benvenuti to Perpignan and experienced fly half Kris Burton to Newport.  However the squad is still large and talented with the backrow a particualr strength.  Toronto born Italian international Bob Barberi, Alessandro Zanni, Manoa Vosawi, Paul Derbyshire (Italian born and raised despite the name), Simone Favaro, Francesco Minto and Dean Budd are an enviable lot to have as your flanking corps.  

Scrum half is also a notable strength with all three current Italian national team options of Botes, Gori and Semanzato in the squad.  Gori is the youngest and potentially the best, he plays in the breaking style of Ben Youngs and seems to be the preference of the national side whilst Botes is often chosen for Treviso.  Botes is fairly versatile and has played fly half and wing.

Heineken Cup Draw Revealed

The 2013/14 Heineken Cup draw has seen Tigers drawn into Pool 5 alongside Belfast based Ulster, Montpellier from France's Mediterranean coast and familiar foes Benetton Treviso from Italy.  

Tigers, Ulster and Montpellier all qualified from their pools last year with all falling at the quarter final stage.  

Full Pool Draw

Tigers have drawn Ulster twice before in 2003/4 and two years ago in 2011/12, wining both home games but crashing to monster defeats in both visits the Ravenhill, losing 41-7 in 2012 and 33-0 in 2004.  Ulster finished top of the RaboDirect Pro 12 but lost in the final to Leinster, with the final controversially played at the RDS in Dublin rather than Belfast.  They won their group last year containing Northampton, Castres and Glasgow; winning at Franklin's Gardens but losing the return fixture the next week.  They lost their Quarter Final to Saracens at Twickenham.

This will be the second season in a row that Tigers have been paired with Treviso, and the third time in the last 6 seasons.  Tigers have played Italian opposition 18 times and won on each occasion, however last December saw them require a 77th minute penalty try to spare their blushes and escape with a 1 point win.  The Trevisians will be after revenge and that will not be a trip for the faint hearted.  Treviso finished 7th in the RaboDirect Pro 12, their highest ever finish.

One new face in the pool will be Montpellier.  Only formed in 1986 Montpellier are definitely the new boys on the Top 14 scene despite earning promotion to the division as far back as 2003.  Domestic finalists in 2011, losing by only 5 points to Toulouse, Montpellier finished 5th in this seasons Top 14 losing to eventual champions Castres in the "Barrage" round, effectively the quarter finals.  This year they tasted Heineken Cup knock out rugby for the first time losing away to Clermont Auverigne after battling through a pool containing eventual champions Toulon as well as Cardiff and Sale. 

Elsewhere French Champions Castres are drawn with RaboDirect Champions Leinster and English runners-up Northampton, with Welsh side Ospreys rounding out pool 1.

In pool 4 Clermont Auverigne are drawn with Harlequins, the only pool other than out own to feature multiple quarter finalists from this year's competition.  

Its a game of two halfs

A fantastic first half secured Tigers their 75^th Heineken Cup win and the bonus point as they beat Treviso 33-25.  A penalty try plus efforts from Manu Tuilagi and a brace from Julian Salvi gave Tigers a half time lead of 26-7; but Treviso had the better of the second half and punished several Tigers errors to win the second period 18-7, they will be very disappointed not to have gained at least a losing bonus point.

Treviso had looked frisky on the counter attack but Tigers got the first score after 16 minutes.  Manu Tuilagi’s powerful burst made room for Thomas Waldrom who took play to the 22, his wide pass to Goneva got Tigers a ruck within 10 meters of the line.  Treviso failed to roll away and Tigers had the penalty.  It was 0-0 so surely Tigers would take the 3 points?  All the talk in the week had been about respecting the opposition, but when push came to shove Tigers actually treated with the distain we’d treat any low ranking Premiership opponent.

And it worked a treat too, after one collapse Tigers went for the scrum again and an almighty shove saw the Treviso pack crumble and Tigers march them back over the line.  George Clancy saved Waldrom the trouble of having to touch down by awarding them a penalty try.

Tigers’ next score was capitalising on a Treviso mistake; from a turned over lineout Tammaso Benvenuti flapped at George Ford’s short pass and ended up propelling it towards his own line.  Tuilagi needed no second invitation and pounced on the ball, brushing off the attentions of Vosawi to secure the second try.

5 minutes later Salvi burrowed over for his first try.  The move started in Tigers own 22 as Ben Youngs dummied and took Sbaraglini on the outside.  Good hands low down from Ford kept the move alive as the ball came wide to Hamilton, the ball then came left before Ed Slater straightened the line and put Thomas Waldrom through on the inside shoulder.  We were camped on their line; with Ben Youngs looking to release the Tigers backs to the right Salvi went unnoticed as he picked up and went left.  The TMO confirmed the score.

Straight from the kick off Treviso got a penalty for some very dull play by Geoff Parling.  How he thought anyone, least of all the referee, would miss his blatant obstruction is beyond me.  Treviso opted for the corner and went for a wrap around with Dean Budd attacking the short side; at first glance it seemed Tigers had defended stoutly and forced him into touch.  But the touch judge wasn’t sure so went to the TMO who ruled in the Italians favour; despite heavy suspicions of a foot in touch.

On 37 minutes Tigers had a 4^th try ruled out for a forward pass, Ford fed Goneva on a trademark inside line, he passed back outside to Thomas Waldrom who strolled under the posts.  The referee was right in line and this was a tight call.  Passes more forward than that went unblown today, but you can’t argue the toss too much.

Especially as Tigers again took the scrum and again profited from it.  Once again they had gained an advantage from a good shove, this time Waldrom decided to play it but came up 5 yards short.  Salvi, ever the scavenger, was on hand to show terrific strength to hold off Antony Pavanello, the Italian test lock forward, and hunt out the try line to secure Tigers try bonus point.  The TMO was required yet again and once more ruled in favour of the try, this time despite not having the clearest of views though Pavanello would have needed an extra arm to prevent the grounding.

After half time the fizz went out of Tigers game.  Tom Youngs and Vereniki Goneva were half time substitutes and took all the vim and vigour with them.  Early on Gori broke from a lineout, and only a poor chip saved Tigers blushes.  They had been warned. 

Treviso’s second score was a cracker; McLean broke from full back taking play up to the 22, where Favaro the flanker continued the assult.  Play switched wide left then back towards the posts where Lorenzo Cittadini ploughed over.  For my money the man to take over from Castro at international level Cittadini had mysteriously been left out of the starting 15, this was his riposte.

Tigers killed any thoughts of a shock come back though with their 5^th try.  A lineout on half way was mauled infield until Treviso gave away a penalty, Ford pushing the kick to within 7 meters of the opposition line.  The maul got the nudge and when it was dragged down Favaro paid the price for repeated infringements with a yellow card.  Tigers took the scrum but couldn’t shift the Italian pack; it mattered not as play went wide, Manu Tuilagi throwing a superb pass (are you watching all the haters?)  for Matt Smith to exploit the extra man and slide in in the corner.

A Matt Smith penalty for in at the side gave Alberto Di Bernado a chance to write his name in the history books as his penalty was the 2000^th point conceded by the Tigers in the Heineken Cup.

This was when the wheels really came off for Tigers as Ayerza, Salvi and Parling all departed the stage.  The lack of leadership was obvious as Tigers struggled to contain the surging Italians.  They almost scored a try from a Tigers scrum on the Treviso 22.  Loose control at the base from Jordan Crane let Gori pick his pocket, his hopeful pass found favour and found Vosawi  who rampaged to within 3 yards of the line.  Thankfully his pass was poor and forward so Gori was denied his try.

Restored to 15 men now they drove for the line from a ten meter line out, only coming inches short.  Two pick and goes, one to their left then one to their right let Japanese winger Christian Loamanu squeeze in under Castro.  Di Bernado missed the conversion, remarkably the first time Treviso has done that in the Heineken Cup this season.

3 minutes later and Treviso were back on the board again.  Paul Derbyshire, Italian born and raised despite the name, made a rampaging 30 run to set them back up on Tigers 22, Logovi’i Mulipola was incredibly lucky not to see a yellow card for his off the ball hit on Di Bernado, but the referee did decide Graham Kitchener had competed for lineout ball unfairly so it all evened out.  Quite lucky for this ref that his two big calls were made moot very quickly otherwise he may have been more of a talking point.

In the last ten minutes Tigers didn’t really know what they were doing, Treviso were searching for a 4^th try and the double bonus point and setting about it reasonably well enough but we didn’t seem to know if we were to try to keep scoring or if we were to tighten up and secure the victory.  More by default than anything else we managed to see out the ten minutes and the keep the Italians to 0 match points.

Treviso are a side that don’t need patronising so I won’t come out with any of the trite rubbish about “deserving” a point, they know you get what you deserve.  The tables don’t lie and Treviso are about as good as Newport, Edinburgh or at a push Cardiff, we’d be happy enough with this scoreline against those sides so we can’t beat ourselves up all week about getting it against Treviso.

8 Changes for Italian Job

Tigers make 8 changes from the side that squeaked past Bath.  All change in the back line sees only Matt Tait and George Ford retain their places.  Dan Bowden comes in for the injured Anthony Allen, Scott Hamilton returns from injury whilst Manu Tuilagi, Ben Youngs and Vereniki Goneva come back in after international duty.

In the pack Tom Youngs and Geoff Parling return from England, with Louis Deacon and George Chuter missing out in the squad altogether, whilst Ed Slater replaces the banned Brett Deacon with Steve Mafi suffering a training ground injury.

On the bench Dan Cole rests after playing almost every minute of England's campaign and Logovi'i Mulipola returns after injury rules him out of Samoa's historic November series.

Geordan Murphy again misses out despite turning the game in our favour last week, as does the impressive pair of Niall Morris and Adam Thompstone, who has scored 5 tries in 6 games, who miss out entirely in favour of Scott Hamilton.  Cockerill certainly has his favourites and woe betide anyone who isn't one of them!  

Tigers:
15 Mathew Tait
14 Scott Hamilton
13 Manu Tuilagi
12 Dan Bowden
11 Vereniki Goneva
10 George Ford
9 Ben Youngs
1 Marcos Ayerza
2 Tom Youngs
3 Martin Castrogiovanni
4 Graham Kitchener
5 Geoff Parling (c)
6 Ed Slater
7 Julian Salvi
8 Thomas Waldrom
Replacements
16 Rob Hawkins
17 Logovi'i Mulipola
18 Dan Cole
19 Jordan Crane
20 Richard Thorpe
21 Micky Young
22 Geordan Murphy
23 Matt Smith

Treviso give a first start to Australian born James Ambrosini, if the name is familiar his uncle Massimo Ambrosini played football for Italy.  They also use a 6-2 forwards backs split on the bench, possibly admitting where the challenge for them lies.   

Benetton Treviso
15 Luke McLean
14 Christian Loamanu
13 Tommaso Benvenuti
12 Luca Morisi
11 Andrea Pratichetti
10 James Ambrosini
9 Edoardo Gori
1 Alberto De Marchi
2 Franco Sbaraglini
3 Ignacio Fernandez Rouyet
4 Antonio Pavanello
5 Valerio Bernabò
6 Simone Favaro
7 Dean Budd
8 Manoa Vosawai
Replacements
16 Leonardo Ghiraldini
17 Michele Rizzo
18 Lorenzo Cittadini
19 Cornelius Van Zyl
20 Francesco Minto
21 Paul Derbyshire
22 Fabio Semenzato
23 Alberto Di Bernardo