8 members of Leicester Tigers Development Squad were in action this weekend as they seek to gain experience and push for a first team opportunity.
On Saturday National League 1 leaders Doncaster traveled to the imaginatively named "Rugby Ground" and beat newly promoted Worthing 21-17 courtesy of a penalty try engineered by 20 year old loosehead Riccardo Brugnara. Brugnara played almost the whole match, not being replaced until the 77th minute, as the Knights remained in pole position for a promotion to the Championship. Flanker Lucas Guillaume played the whole match on the blindside whilst 19 year old tighthead Tiziano Pasquali played the final half hour after replacing Darren Morris.
Loughborough Students did not have such a good weekend falling at home to Wharfedale 27-7. 20 year old Scottish scrum half Scott Steele made his first start for the Students before being replaced in the 50th minute whilst Harry Wells played the whole match from the second row. The Students started brightly with an early try giving them a 7-0 lead; but that was as good as it got for the Students as the experienced Yorkshire side pulled away from them with two tries in 5 minutes during the second half.
On Sunday struggling Nottingham entertained Ealing at Meadow Lane. The Londoners had only won one game in their inaugural season at the second level whilst Nottingham finished last season 2nd in the regular season. As you can probably guess from that build up it was the visitors from London who shocked the Midlanders with a 28-27 win.
Outside backs Henry Purdy and George Catchpole played the whole match whilst Ryan Bower emerged from the replacements bench in the 55th minute for Fijian loosehead Campese Ma'afu. Nottingham scored 4 tries with scores for Bath wing Ollie Woodburn and a hat trick for former Tigers flanker Brent Wilson.
Showing posts with label Henry Purdy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Henry Purdy. Show all posts
Tuesday, 7 January 2014
Friday, 3 January 2014
6 Tigers out in Loan Action
6 members of Tigers development squad have been named in loan action this weekend.
In the Championship 3 Tigers are in the Nottingham side to face Ealing Trailfinders.
Winger Henry Purdy and centre George Catchpole start for the Green 'n' Whites whilst prop Ryan Bower is on the bench behind Fijian international Campese Ma'afu and former Tiger Michael Holford.
In National League 1 Doncaster face Worthing Raiders. They start with 20 year old Italian Riccardo Brugnara at loosehead and Frenchman Lucas Guillame at flanker. 19 year old tighthead Tiziano Pasquali is amongst the replacements.
Both young props face further stiff competition as the Knights have signed experienced Argentinean prop Santiago Sodini from Duendes Rugby Club in Rosario for the rest of the season.
Nottingham:
15) Andrew Savage 14) Henry Purdy
13) George Catchpole
12) Joe Munro
11) Olly Woodburn
10) Rory Lynn
9) Sean Romans
1) Campese Ma'afu
2) Alun Walker
3) Michael Holford
4) Neilus Keogh
5) Dan Montagu
6) Will Skuse
7) Brent Wilson (c)
8) Tom Calladine
Replacements:
16) Ryan Bower
17) Jon Vickers
18) Morgan Eames
19) Joe Burton
20) Finlay Barnham
21) Matthew Jarvis
22) Ryan Hough
Doncaster
15) Glenn Bryce
14) Dougie Flockhart
13) Mat Clark
12) Bevon Armitage
11) Tyson Lewis
10) Paul Roberts
9) Bruno Bravo 1) Riccardo Brugnara
2) Roberto Santamaria
3) Darren Morris
4) Matt Challinor ©
5) Michael Walker-Fitton 6) Lucas Guillame
7) Michael Hills
8) Adam Kettle
Replacements
16) Tiziano Pasquali
17) Jack Bergmanas
18) Chris Planchant
19) Jamie Lennard
20) Jacob Woodhouse
In the Championship 3 Tigers are in the Nottingham side to face Ealing Trailfinders.
Winger Henry Purdy and centre George Catchpole start for the Green 'n' Whites whilst prop Ryan Bower is on the bench behind Fijian international Campese Ma'afu and former Tiger Michael Holford.
In National League 1 Doncaster face Worthing Raiders. They start with 20 year old Italian Riccardo Brugnara at loosehead and Frenchman Lucas Guillame at flanker. 19 year old tighthead Tiziano Pasquali is amongst the replacements.
Both young props face further stiff competition as the Knights have signed experienced Argentinean prop Santiago Sodini from Duendes Rugby Club in Rosario for the rest of the season.
Nottingham:
15) Andrew Savage 14) Henry Purdy
13) George Catchpole
12) Joe Munro
11) Olly Woodburn
10) Rory Lynn
9) Sean Romans
1) Campese Ma'afu
2) Alun Walker
3) Michael Holford
4) Neilus Keogh
5) Dan Montagu
6) Will Skuse
7) Brent Wilson (c)
8) Tom Calladine
Replacements:
16) Ryan Bower
17) Jon Vickers
18) Morgan Eames
19) Joe Burton
20) Finlay Barnham
21) Matthew Jarvis
22) Ryan Hough
Doncaster
15) Glenn Bryce
14) Dougie Flockhart
13) Mat Clark
12) Bevon Armitage
11) Tyson Lewis
10) Paul Roberts
9) Bruno Bravo 1) Riccardo Brugnara
2) Roberto Santamaria
3) Darren Morris
4) Matt Challinor ©
5) Michael Walker-Fitton 6) Lucas Guillame
7) Michael Hills
8) Adam Kettle
Replacements
16) Tiziano Pasquali
17) Jack Bergmanas
18) Chris Planchant
19) Jamie Lennard
20) Jacob Woodhouse
Sunday, 24 November 2013
Magnificent 7 gain experience on loan
7 members of the Leicester Tigers development squad featured in loan action this weekend across 3 sides.
Javiah Pohe was a try scorer for Nottingham in a losing effort away to Rotherham; the game also saw Henry Purdy leave the field injured after 25 minutes. Ryan Bower started at loosehead.
In National League Division One Italian tighthead Tiziano Pasquali played the whole game for Doncaster as the defeated Old Albanians 33-17 in St Albans. French flanker Lucas Guillaume played the final 23 minutes for the Yorkshiremen.
Harry Rudkin played at loosehead for Loughborough Students as they travelled to Hull Ionians and won 26-24. Harry Wells was a half time replacement in the second row and he was shown yellow in the closing stages as the Students hung on for victory.
Javiah Pohe was a try scorer for Nottingham in a losing effort away to Rotherham; the game also saw Henry Purdy leave the field injured after 25 minutes. Ryan Bower started at loosehead.
In National League Division One Italian tighthead Tiziano Pasquali played the whole game for Doncaster as the defeated Old Albanians 33-17 in St Albans. French flanker Lucas Guillaume played the final 23 minutes for the Yorkshiremen.
Harry Rudkin played at loosehead for Loughborough Students as they travelled to Hull Ionians and won 26-24. Harry Wells was a half time replacement in the second row and he was shown yellow in the closing stages as the Students hung on for victory.
Friday, 27 September 2013
Academy Trio Play for Nottingham on loan
Nottingham Rugby have selected 3 Tigers in their starting XV to London Scottish in Richmond this Saturday.
Winger Henry Purdy is named for his Championship debut whilst he is joined in the Notts backline by fellow England Under 20s back George Catchpole who plays 13. Catchpole, originally from Norfolk, has played 13 in the previous two Notts games this season.
In the pack Tom Price is preferred to Neilus Keogh who moves to the bench. Price impressed off the bench against London Welsh last season.
The bench sees another dual registered player as Ryan Bower covers loosehead prop.
Former Tigers Harrison Lee-Everton, Brent Wilson and Alex Shaw start whilst Michael Holford and Rory Lynn are ex-Tigers on the bench.
Nottingham Rugby
15) Ed Styles
14) Henry Purdy
13) George Catchpole
12) Joe Munro
11) Ryan Hough
10) Matthew Jarvis
9) Harrison Lee-Everton
1) Campese Ma'afu
2) Jon Vickers
3) Harry Williams
4) Tom Price
5) Dan Montagu
6) Tom Calladine
7) Brent Wilson (c)
8) Alex Shaw
Replacements
16) Ryan Bower
17) Scott Wright
18) Michael Holford
19) Neilus Keogh
20) Joe Burton
21) Sean Romans
22) Rory Lynn
Winger Henry Purdy is named for his Championship debut whilst he is joined in the Notts backline by fellow England Under 20s back George Catchpole who plays 13. Catchpole, originally from Norfolk, has played 13 in the previous two Notts games this season.
In the pack Tom Price is preferred to Neilus Keogh who moves to the bench. Price impressed off the bench against London Welsh last season.
The bench sees another dual registered player as Ryan Bower covers loosehead prop.
Former Tigers Harrison Lee-Everton, Brent Wilson and Alex Shaw start whilst Michael Holford and Rory Lynn are ex-Tigers on the bench.
Nottingham Rugby
15) Ed Styles
14) Henry Purdy
13) George Catchpole
12) Joe Munro
11) Ryan Hough
10) Matthew Jarvis
9) Harrison Lee-Everton
1) Campese Ma'afu
2) Jon Vickers
3) Harry Williams
4) Tom Price
5) Dan Montagu
6) Tom Calladine
7) Brent Wilson (c)
8) Alex Shaw
Replacements
16) Ryan Bower
17) Scott Wright
18) Michael Holford
19) Neilus Keogh
20) Joe Burton
21) Sean Romans
22) Rory Lynn
Monday, 9 September 2013
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.
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.
Saturday, 3 August 2013
7s Heaven Tiger Cubs Win Through to Final Stages
In the week that the RFU dismissed their efforts as meaningless the Tiger cubs showed just what wearing the famous jersey meant to them as they roared to not only their first ever victory in this event but also into next weekend's final series in Bath.
Michael Noone and Oli Bryant had pulled out from the initial selection injured and were replaced by David Williams and Tahir El Mahdi.
First up were the Sale Sharks, the aggregate score over the last three years between the sides was 130-15 to the Cheshire side. With Canadian international Phil Mackenzie and regular first team player Nathan Fowles leading Sale no one gave the young Leicester lads much chance.
To begin with the doubters were being proved right as Sale dominated territory, pinning the Tigers back in their 22m cage, and possession, starving the Tigers of the ball. From a quick tap Nathan Fowles had the Tigers back pedaling and USA 7s specialist Blaine Scully could do nothing as Fowles stepped about 5m laterally to round him for the try.
But the fighting spirit so often associated with the club was once again to the fore as the Tigers fought back valiantly to keep a toe hold in the competition.
Scully made a long striding break to get up to halfway, the ball was spread to Pasqualle Dunn the school boy Kiwi Rugby League International who stood still, inviting, daring, challenging the Northern hordes on to him to tackle him, to down him. They came at him but beat one man, beat two, beat three to set the Tigers up on the 22. The 7 minutes was now up, one mistake and its was Nil Points at half time, and Tigers lost it. All Sale needed to do was win the ruck and kick it out. But they couldn't. Harry Wells was on top of them jackaling the ball away and putting Jake Farnworth into the corner for the score.
Tigers started the second half brightly, with Scully almost freeing Perry Humphrys but failing to free his hands from the tackle. Lucas Guillaume went close but was turned over inches from the line. Will Cliff, Sale's experienced Premiership operator, took out George Tresidder late and earned himself a 7s-style 60 second sin binning. With the Sharks down to 6 men the Tigers had an attacking scrum on the left hand flank. The ball was centered to late call up Tahir El Mahdi, with a continental football style nickname of "Cookie" on his back. He did an underrated tactic in 7s. He ran at the defence with commitment and pace. "Tackle me, if you can" he said. One little brush off against Tom Brady, another Premiership campaigner, and he was through for the winning try!
Victory! For the first time in the J.P. Morgan 7s Tigers had returned with a win.
Leicester had no time to rest on their laurels though as they had to back up with a match against 2011 Champions Newcastle. Harrison Collins stepped inside Harry Wells for Newcastle's first try and dove straight through a ruck a meter out for the second. Tom Catterick made it 19-0 at half time after bludgeoning over from a quick tap penalty.
Normal service resumed? Not a bit of it. The Cubs came out fighting and won the second half 10-0 as they showed they were no pushovers. Good pressure defence from the Tigers forced the Newcastle error and George Catchpole was on hand to turn it inside to Pasqualle Dunn who trotted to the line for the score after only 30 seconds of the second half. Newcastle are a quality 7s side and attacked again, Blaine Scully the Californian on trial at the club pulled off a miraculous classic cover tackle to force the Falcons into touch, before a NFL-style throw released Henry Purdy on the far side of the posts to break out and turn defence into attack. Leicester's competitiveness at the breakdown went too far once too often and Jake Farnworth was shown the yellow card. Newcastle couldn't take advantage of the 6 man Tigers though as it was Leicester who had the final word.
Henry Purdy pilfered the pill at a midfield ruck, allowing Tresidder to race away down the right hand flank. He passed inside for Jake Farnworth to scuttle his way over from the 22. Tigers had a conversion to earn the bonus point but with no kicker in the team it was not to be.
That meant the final game against Northampton was winner takes all. The victor would move on to the Finals Series played at the Wreck, Bath, whilst the loser would go home to think again.
The St.James crowd was in fine voice as the match began but it was Tigers who started better with Jake Farnworth wrestling the ball free in the first tackle. Watching on from the stands were first teamers Julian Salvi, Graham Kitchener and Niall Morris and they looked on approvingly as Tigers benefited from a classic piece of 7s rugby. It was Northampton on the attack and they looked all set to score after rounding El Mahdi, but scorching across the August turf was the American Scully to put in another trademark cover tackle. Scully and Steele turned it over and Tresidder played it outside to the rapid El Mahdi. He turned the defence inside out as he raced away for the try.
El Mahdi was the man again for Tigers second try, Purdy picked and went through the middle of the ruck drawing defenders like flies to honey, Tresidder drew the last man and it looked like an easy run to the line. But "Cookie" had other ideas as he turned back towards and the posts and monstered past three defenders before reaching out and grazing the line with ball on the limits of his finger tips. He'd have been shot if he'd messed it up but when you score there are no questions to answer just praise for the finish.
Northampton pulled it back to make it a one score game as Alex Day pounced on Ryan Glyn's chip through to make it 10-5. The Saints had their tails up now and were sniffing a finals place.
Tigers defence hassled, harried and hustled the Saints into a litany of errors. Disruptive breakdown work from Purdy allowed captain Scott Steele to steam through the middle of the ruck and kick the ball loose. George Catchpole was on hand to clear up the mess and he found David Williams, a 17 year old from the city's Lancaster Boys School, who sealed Tigers place at the Rec with the try.
Afterwards Tahir El Mahdi impressed us all with his singing voice in an interview with Craig Doyle:
Michael Noone and Oli Bryant had pulled out from the initial selection injured and were replaced by David Williams and Tahir El Mahdi.
First up were the Sale Sharks, the aggregate score over the last three years between the sides was 130-15 to the Cheshire side. With Canadian international Phil Mackenzie and regular first team player Nathan Fowles leading Sale no one gave the young Leicester lads much chance.
To begin with the doubters were being proved right as Sale dominated territory, pinning the Tigers back in their 22m cage, and possession, starving the Tigers of the ball. From a quick tap Nathan Fowles had the Tigers back pedaling and USA 7s specialist Blaine Scully could do nothing as Fowles stepped about 5m laterally to round him for the try.
But the fighting spirit so often associated with the club was once again to the fore as the Tigers fought back valiantly to keep a toe hold in the competition.
Scully made a long striding break to get up to halfway, the ball was spread to Pasqualle Dunn the school boy Kiwi Rugby League International who stood still, inviting, daring, challenging the Northern hordes on to him to tackle him, to down him. They came at him but beat one man, beat two, beat three to set the Tigers up on the 22. The 7 minutes was now up, one mistake and its was Nil Points at half time, and Tigers lost it. All Sale needed to do was win the ruck and kick it out. But they couldn't. Harry Wells was on top of them jackaling the ball away and putting Jake Farnworth into the corner for the score.
Tigers started the second half brightly, with Scully almost freeing Perry Humphrys but failing to free his hands from the tackle. Lucas Guillaume went close but was turned over inches from the line. Will Cliff, Sale's experienced Premiership operator, took out George Tresidder late and earned himself a 7s-style 60 second sin binning. With the Sharks down to 6 men the Tigers had an attacking scrum on the left hand flank. The ball was centered to late call up Tahir El Mahdi, with a continental football style nickname of "Cookie" on his back. He did an underrated tactic in 7s. He ran at the defence with commitment and pace. "Tackle me, if you can" he said. One little brush off against Tom Brady, another Premiership campaigner, and he was through for the winning try!
Victory! For the first time in the J.P. Morgan 7s Tigers had returned with a win.
Leicester had no time to rest on their laurels though as they had to back up with a match against 2011 Champions Newcastle. Harrison Collins stepped inside Harry Wells for Newcastle's first try and dove straight through a ruck a meter out for the second. Tom Catterick made it 19-0 at half time after bludgeoning over from a quick tap penalty.
Normal service resumed? Not a bit of it. The Cubs came out fighting and won the second half 10-0 as they showed they were no pushovers. Good pressure defence from the Tigers forced the Newcastle error and George Catchpole was on hand to turn it inside to Pasqualle Dunn who trotted to the line for the score after only 30 seconds of the second half. Newcastle are a quality 7s side and attacked again, Blaine Scully the Californian on trial at the club pulled off a miraculous classic cover tackle to force the Falcons into touch, before a NFL-style throw released Henry Purdy on the far side of the posts to break out and turn defence into attack. Leicester's competitiveness at the breakdown went too far once too often and Jake Farnworth was shown the yellow card. Newcastle couldn't take advantage of the 6 man Tigers though as it was Leicester who had the final word.
Henry Purdy pilfered the pill at a midfield ruck, allowing Tresidder to race away down the right hand flank. He passed inside for Jake Farnworth to scuttle his way over from the 22. Tigers had a conversion to earn the bonus point but with no kicker in the team it was not to be.
That meant the final game against Northampton was winner takes all. The victor would move on to the Finals Series played at the Wreck, Bath, whilst the loser would go home to think again.
The St.James crowd was in fine voice as the match began but it was Tigers who started better with Jake Farnworth wrestling the ball free in the first tackle. Watching on from the stands were first teamers Julian Salvi, Graham Kitchener and Niall Morris and they looked on approvingly as Tigers benefited from a classic piece of 7s rugby. It was Northampton on the attack and they looked all set to score after rounding El Mahdi, but scorching across the August turf was the American Scully to put in another trademark cover tackle. Scully and Steele turned it over and Tresidder played it outside to the rapid El Mahdi. He turned the defence inside out as he raced away for the try.
El Mahdi was the man again for Tigers second try, Purdy picked and went through the middle of the ruck drawing defenders like flies to honey, Tresidder drew the last man and it looked like an easy run to the line. But "Cookie" had other ideas as he turned back towards and the posts and monstered past three defenders before reaching out and grazing the line with ball on the limits of his finger tips. He'd have been shot if he'd messed it up but when you score there are no questions to answer just praise for the finish.
Northampton pulled it back to make it a one score game as Alex Day pounced on Ryan Glyn's chip through to make it 10-5. The Saints had their tails up now and were sniffing a finals place.
Tigers defence hassled, harried and hustled the Saints into a litany of errors. Disruptive breakdown work from Purdy allowed captain Scott Steele to steam through the middle of the ruck and kick the ball loose. George Catchpole was on hand to clear up the mess and he found David Williams, a 17 year old from the city's Lancaster Boys School, who sealed Tigers place at the Rec with the try.
Afterwards Tahir El Mahdi impressed us all with his singing voice in an interview with Craig Doyle:
Saturday, 1 June 2013
The UltraSubMarine Awards
So the inaugural season of the UltraSubMarines blog is over and we have celebrated some notable achievements. The Tigers became English Champions for a record extending 10th time, Champ10ns as the branding has it, we also beat the Maori on a raucous night at Welford Road in November, their first loss for 5 years, and made our Wembley debut in September with a "thrilling" 9-all draw against Saracens.
The players have been positively overburdened by garlands this season as Tom Youngs won Aviva Premiership Player of the season, Dan Bowden won try, and a whopping 8 players made the TalksSport Dream XV. But I know what you are all really wondering. Who does Leicester Tigers' premium reporter think is Player of the Season? And if Martin Crowson isn't available what about you?
So here it goes my take on the Awards Season:
Signing of the Season:
We have a veritable smorgasbord to choose from after signing at least 11 players over the summer and during the season. It might be Dan Bowden or Adam Thompstone, what about Flying Fijian winger Vereniki Goneva or Miles Benjamin? Alright probably not Miles Benjamin.
In reality there seem to be two candidates: Goneva and Thompstone. Goneva signed from Pyrenees side Tarbes and has 29 caps for his native Fiji. Thompstone came from London Irish after missing the best part of 2 seasons with a broken ankle. Goneva bookended the season with tries on the opening day at London Welsh and in the final against Northampton, making 15 starts, whilst Thompstone played the middle part of the season with 20 starts scoring 9 tries. Between them they locked down the left wing spot playing 33 of 36 games, Niall Morris preferred for one league game and Alex Lewington playing 2 LV Cup games.
So who is my signing of the season? I can’t deny it I’m in love with Vereniki Goneva. Typically Fijian in attack with his hard running, free passing style he marries this with a vociferous work rate in defence and moments of game breaking skill such as against the Ospreys at home for the first try and a similar inside break for Morris’s try in the Final.
Try of the Season:
Tigers are a team of both great try scorers and scorers of great tries. 91 tries in 36 games this season means there are plenty to choose from and it is impossible for even the most ardent of Tigers fan to recall them all. But some stand out in the memory and will stand the test of time. Who will ever forget Ed Slater dummying and charging his way over from the half way line, out pacing an England age group winger in the process? Kitchener ghosting his way past the Saints defence and into the corner during the final. Ben Youngs’s 80m tap and go at the Rec. The Premiership panel considered Dan Bowden’s touch down of George Ford’s chip after Ford’s break the best but we have the freedom of Europe to pick from and it is there where I find my favourite.
Treviso in December. It was bitterly cold and wet. A boggy pitch was making it tough going against a sturdy and determined opposition. We were perhaps not agreeing with every call from the referee, though worse from him was to come, but he gave us a penalty practically on our own goal line. Seeing the play bunched in front of him Youngs went quickly sprinting out of the 22 in a wide arc. Anthony Allen straightened and put the charging Mat Tait into space and into the Italians half before getting it back from Tait’s out the back of the hand off load. Allen then linked play to the left wing Adam Thompstone who raced home into the corner.
In the end that try won us the game, saving our face from an embarrassing defeat in Italy and helped us to win the group and make the European quarter finals.
Game of the Season:
It’s so tempting to pick the final. A 20 point thrashing against your local rivals in the final, how couldn’t that be the game of the season? But there have been so many others it would surely betray a lack of imagination to just pick the last one?
Some of the other performances have been magnificent. Ospreys at home in October with its crazy frantic last ten minutes that sealed the bonus point and ultimately the group; the Maori in November when denuded of our internationals we took on the famous New Zealand tourists and sent them home with their first loss in 5 years; the Saints in Northampton during March and Quins in the semi final too, the form we exhibited after the 6 Nations when we finally had our full squad back was sublime and the I’ve rarely seen a team so dominant as those two games.
But bringing the A game when it matters hasn’t always been a strength of the Tigers. And it mattered last Saturday more than it ever has done before.
Academy Player of the Season:
To be eligible for this award you must have played some part in the Under 18s Academy League.
The Academy had a fantastic season winning the inaugural Academy League Northern Conference with a 100% record of 6 Bonus Point wins out of 6. They also had 12 players represent their nation at various levels from U-17s to U-20s spread across 4 countries with England, Wales, Italy and Canada all requiring a Tiger at one stage or another.
The academy seems packed with potential at the moment with guys like Harry Thacker, Ed Milne, Javiah Pohe and Rhys Williams impressing. However the winner of this award has also been able to make his mark at a higher level. Since his summer signing from Wasps Henry Purdy has had a dream season, top try scorer in the autumn’s A League, making his full Tigers debut in November’s LV Cup encounter with Saracens, helping England to win the U-20s Six Nations and currently in France representing the Under 20s in the Junior World Cup.
With Goneva, Thompstone, Morris, Benjamin and Camacho ahead of him it’s going to be hard work to break into the Tigers line up but this young man should back himself to achieve that goal.
Young Player of the Season (U 23):
The definition of a Young Player is one born after 1st September 1989 and is defined as Under 23.
It’s fair to say Tigers have some outstanding options in the category. But we’ll come to those later. Even amongst the players we still consider youngsters we have the departing George Ford, Sam Harrison now a veteran of 49 first team appearances and the emerging talent of Fraser Balmain.
But let’s not get like the rest of the British rugby press and celebrate new rather than great. The others who qualify for this category are Graham Kitchener, England tourist and final try scorer, Steve Mafi, Tongan international almost the equal of Tom Croft, Manu Tuilagi, Lion, Beast, brilliant and Ben Youngs his fellow Lions tourist.
A handy quartet and one that it is a hell of a job to separate. Steve Mafi had a year scarred with injury after tearing his hamstring against Toulouse in January so misses out; Kitchener had 21 starts as he blossomed into a first team regular but is not a dominant player internationally like Youngs and Manu.
The two Lions are impossible to split; Manu raises his game v Ospreys, Youngs calls with his try v. Bath. Colleagues with England and now the Lions in the poker game of life they are a competing pair of Royal Flushes.
Are joint winners a cop out? You separate them!
Player of the Season:
For the Tigers collectively this has been a fantastic year but on an individual level it for many it has been simply amazing. Jordan Crane, Tom Croft and Mat Tait have all returned to regular rugby from career threatening injuries and were like three new world class signings such was there impact.
Croft has also made the Lions tour alongside 5 of his colleagues as Ben Youngs, Tom Youngs, Dan Cole, Geoff Parling and Manu Tuilagi all gain the highest representative honour available. Steve Mafi was part of the Tongan squad that won away in Scotland, whilst Martin Castrogiovanni’s Italy defeated both France and Ireland in the Six Nations. Scores of players made their Tigers debut, who knows which of the youngsters we will be talking about in years to come?
But the story has to be Tom Youngs.
This time last year he hadn't even started a Premiership game in the front row, now he is in Hong Kong with the British Lions preparing for the quadrennial assault on the southern hemisphere super powers. The legend has it that Heyneke Meyer suggested the switch after a sin binning for fighting with a prop in the second team. Whatever the truth of it the unusual conversion has worked a treat.
He’s had to deal with learning a new and sometimes baffling position and had to deal with taking a massive step backwards to ultimately emerge in a rarefied company he probably would never have reached at centre.
This season Youngs started in all but two games for which he was available, playing 22 games. He also made 9 appearances for England including the famous 38-21 win over the All Blacks in which he was at his bullocking best.
Tom Youngs the Leicester Tigers Ultra SubMarines Player of the Season.
Read my view on Youngs just before his international debut in November
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