ABC More thought on Bath encounter

A. Murphy’s Tiger Spirit is Indispensible

Geordan Murphy’s late introduction changed the game.  He showed that real Tiger spirit and drive.  He increased the physicality almost immediately and Bath just couldn’t deal with it.  He provides a wealth of experience in an otherwise novice backline, which with Tony Allen’s concussion on Saturday is only getting worse in the short term.  He simply must start against Treviso this Sunday as failure to get 4 tries could be disastrous if we are still a club that aims for a home quarter final in the Heineken Cup.  Matt Tait has been going well enough at full back but it’s that Tigers X factor he lacks compared to Murphy.  Luckily a spot’s just opened up in centres.

B. Young Gun Starts Firing

Micky Young had a cracking game to back up his LV Cup performance against London Irish.  He brings much more physicality to his game than our other scrum halfs, which is both a strength and a weakness as at times he can be over keen to commit to rucks.  But his snipping game round the fringes is most like Ben Youngs, the way he used Marcos Ayerza and Jordan Crane to unlock Bath’s defence was a terrific piece of interplay; if it had finished as a try it would have been highlighted much much more.  Will struggle to overtake Ben Youngs but what a back up to have; hopefully he will stay beyond this season but he will have rival Premiership coaches on red alert if they are looking for a 9.

C. England Boys are World Class

Hardly a revelation to most of us but Dan Cole, Geoff Parling, Manu Tuilagi and the Youngs brothers are quietly blossoming into World Class players.  And the hard definition of World Class too, legitimately the best players in their shirts in the world.  No centre has Manu Tuilagi's range of skills allayed to his powerful super human physique.  Dan Cole has quickly over taken Castro at club level and laid waste to the challengers at international level, nobody even comes close anymore.  Tom Youngs rise has been meteoric; he is still yet to start 10 Premiership games for Tigers but has outplayed every opponent he has faced.  Ben Youngs is confirming all his early promise with ever more influential displays.  You need World Class players to win the Heineken Cup, we certainly did in 2001, so maybe the glory days are finally on the horizon again?

ABC LV London Irish Talking points

A.  Red card could be costly for Stankovich

Stankovich’s red card was too harsh a penalty for what was at worst clumsy and exasperated by a slip.  But you can’t argue, as I have in the past, that there are too few red cards in games then complain when a referee actually produces the red card.  The referee must be commended for having the bottle to send off a Tigers player at Welford Road, even if we must also complain bitterly at the actually decision.  I wonder what the referee thought he saw, Tuesday’s disciplinary hearing will make interesting reading as it wasn’t a dirty game or a malicious challenge.

A ban could be very costly for Tigers, missing a key player for potentially 2 league games, but also for Stankovich as it will give our legions of young props the chance to show their worth and potentially play him out of a contract for next season.  League points are important but so are mortgages.

B.  Young gun finally set to fire

Micky Young has endured a tough start to his Tigers career.  Injury, unjust suspension then injury again have robbed him of the chance to get any form or momentum going.  Last Sunday was the first time he has been subbed tactically rather than through an injury and he has started to show glimpses of the form that gained him England Saxons honours at Newcastle.  His service was sharp and so were his instincts for the break.  Unlike in previous games he wasn’t getting stuck into the rucks too much so was available much more often.  There are still flaws in his game, a botched attempt at a exploiting a scrum blindside most notably, and we’ve not seen too much of a kicking game yet; but at least he has some positives to build from.  Most importantly he is actually fit so should get the chance to gain two or three games in a row to show further such improvements.

C.  Ford Transit?

Once again the rumours about George Ford have started up again.  They are most unhelpful for the lads emerging career.  He’s 19 years old and has already played almost 30 games for the first team, including both major domestic finals last year don’t forget.  That is 10 games (and 2 finals) more than Tom Heathcote has had at Bath, one of his apparent destinations.  For a recommendation of his other potential home, Northampton, he doesn’t have to go very far at all.  Joe Ford was establishing himself in the Leeds team when he went to Saints and promptly played 1 minute of Heineken Cup or Premiership action in the whole season; and that was only when they were 37-0 up, at home, to a Scottish side. 

The grass isn’t greener anywhere else and Leicester under Cockerill has a track record of bringing players through to the highest level. 

Ford seems to have his head screwed on though so won’t need telling whilst the press won’t listen to sense anyway.

Luckless Young out again

Micky Young's leg injury which forced him off the field last Sunday in Oxford is worse than first feared.  He has a suspected broken ankle and is now expected to miss up to 8 weeks.  A further piece of bad luck is that he is now scheduled to return soon after Ben Youngs' own return from injury, further pushing him down the roster.

Young has endured a torrid time in Leicester since his move from Newcastle in 2011, first he was injured then against Aironi in January, on his first start in The Stripes, he was controversially suspend for "accidental" gouging.  There was no physical evidence and no supporting witness statements could be found.

All this has contributed to Young falling behind Sam Harrison in the battle for Tigers 9 berth, when his original intention was to challenge Ben Youngs for his England place.  He has only started 2 games, and featured from the bench in another 6.