UltraSubMarines Awards 2015

Later than usual this year we once again dive it my mind and discover its many, varied and often conflicting opinions about Tigers and our year.

Off the bat it’s fair to say this has been our annus horribilis on just about all fronts.  Playing wise it was the worst for a decade, Paul Burke became the first coach sacked by the club since 2007, bookended by the most dispiriting and devastating defeats I can honestly remember.  Off the field we’ve had a star player convicted of assaulting women police officers and a coach found to have made a profit betting on us to lose and banned.

We also said goodbye to Louis Deacon a truly iconic player of the club, after Martin Johnson Deacon is Leicester’s finest home grown lock, and Anthony Allen a stalwart of the club’s success between 2010 and 2014.

But let’s not wallow in it.  Let’s crack on with the awards! Same order as last two years:

Signing of the season

2013: Vereniki Goneva

2014: Owen Williams

Tigers were as busy as ever in the transfer market last summer securing Freddie Burns, Seremaia Bai, Brad Thorn, Christian Loamanu and Italian international trio Michele Rizzo, Leonardo Ghiraldini and Robert Barbieri.

Much was expected of Burns but he struggled for form in the early half of the season.  Once Owen Williams was ruled out with injury and his place secure he did grow into the role and was exceptional against Wasps at the Ricoh.

Brad Thorn arrived gave his all and had a real presence about the field but age had slowed him down to a glacial pace at times.

Loamanu showed glimpses of his potential against Wasps and in the late season but a niggling injury meant we never saw the best of him consistently.  Seremaia Bai was a steadying hand for much of the season and a canny addition.

My signing of the season though has to be the aggressive and rambunctious Italian hooker Leonardo Ghiraldini.  I’ve long admired his performances in the Six Nations and he did not disappoint upon closer inspection.  Accurate in the lineout and daring around the field Ghiraldini is the perfect foil for Tom Youngs.

Try of the season

2013: Adam Thompstone v Treviso (A)

2014: Vereniki Goneva v Newcastle (A)

Slim pickings for this award this season.  Normally I peruse the list of matches and the scorers, come up a quick shortlist and google the tries to refresh my memory and make a decision.  Some years it’s easy, this year not so much.  Not a single winner of the Premiership’s Try of the Week and it seems just one nomination.

In the end though we did score some crackers and my favourite was Vereniki Goneva’s second score away to Northampton in December.

Inside his own half and only recently introduced Miles Benjamin receives the ball after Mat Tait had regathered his own up and under.  Going inside then out Benjamin scorched past 4 men and into the 22, a superb cover tackle stops him short but Ben Youngs is on had to quickly clear the ball.

Tait again is involved shipping the ball onto Ghiraldini who draws the last man and finds Goneva lurking on the wing to apply the finish.

Game of the season

2013: Premiership Final v Northampton

2014: Montpellier away

Despite the season several games still standout as really memorable performances.  Wasps at the Ricoh and Sale at home were glimpses to what we can achieve when we pass the ball whilst the game in December again Toulon was a classic backs against the wall true grit performance.  The performance against Ulster at home in October also hinted that this team could do it on the biggest stage.

But one game stood out for me.

Comebacks are surprisingly rare in Tigers history, certainly not from 15 points down and with only 30 minutes to go.

Sale away, December 27th.  Tigers were in the lead for a grand total of 3 minutes.  The locals were not best pleased as we left the ground.

Sale had torn us apart in the first half, genuinely exciting attacking rugby cut us to ribbons and we did well to keep the score respectable, stopping two tries over the line.  When they crossed for the bonus point try in the 45^th minute it looked grim.

But Ayerza, Tom Youngs, Balmain, Thompstone came off the bench and changed the game.  Miles Bejamin scored in the corner to make the game one score then Julian Salvi was driven over by Seremaia Bai with just those 3 precious minutes remaining.

Crazy.

Academy Player of the Season

2013: Henry Purdy

2014: Owen Hills

A quick re-cap here, to qualify for this award you must have played in the Premiership U-18s league.

Tigers U-18s finished second to Northampton in the northern section and beat Bath to claim third place overall.  Last year’s winner Owen Hills had another strong year with 6 tries in 6 starts including a hat trick against Leeds and a first start for the A side.

Four players featured for the U-18s and made first team appearances.  Charlie Beckett started the first game of the U-18s season against Gloucester and made his First XV debut away to London Irish in the LV Cup making a further start at home to Sale and a bench appearance against the Barbarians.  Charlie Thacker featured from the bench in the games against London Irish and Sale whilst Stone Priestley-Nangle featured in the Sale game too.  George Nairn played 3 games for the U-18s and came off the bench against the Barbarians and Cardiff.

Hills and Beckett also appeared for England Under 20s.

My academy player of the year is Charlie Beckett, strongly built with a terrific work ethic this Liverpudlian has already featured for the First XV and impressed.  With a long line of players in front of him he will have to learn from each of them to overtake them but he certainly has the potential to push ahead.

U23 Player of the Season

2013: Manu Tuilagi & Ben Youngs

2014: Manu Tuilagi

With Manu Tuilagi “graduating” from this age bracket there is no defending champion here; qualifying players include Fraser Balmain, Owen Williams, George Catchpole and Harry Thacker. 

Catchpole over took Matt Smith to become a feature of the match day squad post-Christmas, whilst Harry Thacker was trusted with two starts in November where he excelled.

Really though the award is a toss up between Fraser Balmain and Owen Williams.  Balmain become a fixture in the side last season almost by default but this season he was rightly rewarded with being preferred in the match day squad to Italian test prop Michele Rizzo who was in good form himself.

Williams was shunted to 12 early in the season to cover the injuries to Anthony Allen and Seremaia Bai but once the injuries slightly abated he re-claimed his starting 10 jersey from England fly half Freddie Burns.  According to goalkickers.co.za Williams was the best kicker in the Premiership last season and without his cool head many of the tight games before Christmas would have gone the other way.

Therefore my Under 23 player of the Season has to be the Welsh wizard Owen Williams.

Player of the Season

2013: Tom Youngs

2014: Vereniki Goneva

2013’s winner makes a strong case for the award again as his industry and attitude were priceless in many of this season’s lower moments.  Also worthy of a mention in dispatches is Graham Kitchener.  The lock forward came of age as a leader this season, his no nonsense side coming to the fore in the trench warfare of winter whilst his pace and fitness is invaluable in the later season.  How Stuart Lancaster can ignore him is beyond me.

But this season’s stand out player has been the stand in captain Ben Youngs.  Quickly promoted to an unnatural leadership role due injury Youngs thrived on the responsibility and Tigers never looked better than when he took more of the play making responsibilities onto his on shoulders.

A quick and accurate pass is a pre-requisite for a scrum half so it is the game management where Youngs excels, his box kick is world class whilst this season we saw the return of his trade mark breaks around the base.

On a personal note he secured the starting jersey for England ahead of Richard Wigglesworth and long-time adversary Danny Care and seems certain, injuries permitting, to play for England in this autumn’s World Cup.

The UltraSubMarines Awards 2014

It’s that time of year again when the rugby is over, earlier than usual for us, and we must make do with that pale substitute: arguing about our opinions on rugby instead.  This year hasn’t been a classic for Tigers; scarred by injuries that seemed to come in debilitating bunches; always fighting an uphill battle in the league following bright starts from Saracens and Saints; Our captain deserting ship mid campaign.

But no season is complete doom and gloom.  The high points were still there.  The win in Montpellier, out singing the home fans in the process, will live forever in the memory.  The record tying win against the Saints.

So let us crack on, the same categories as last year in the same order.

Singing of the season

Last Year: Vereniki Goneva

Won last year by our Flying Fijian we have some strong contenders this year.

Pablo Matera is a quality operator but young and often naive to the whims of English referees, whilst David Mele could not shift Ben Youngs from his perch.  So they miss out.  Jamie Gibson benefitted from injuries to Mafi and Croft to cement his claim on the 6 shirt making 24 starts.  An honest worker to the end he seems to lack that bit of magic we require from our flankers. 

If work rate is what you require Blaine Scully will provide it in spades.  The Californian has made chasing lost causes a speciality.

The winner though has to be Owen Williams.  Arriving unheralded from Llanelli his calm demeanour and pin point kicking quickly saw him over take Lamb in the pecking order.  Following the fallout from Flood’s move to Toulouse he steered the ship to 7 league wins and a draw in 2014.  Scoring 187 points, including Tigers first drop goal for almost 2 years, he was the real find of the season.

An RFU injustice has robbed him of the chance to wear a Wales test jersey but on this season’s form another chance will surely come before the Rugby World Cup.

Try of the season

Last Season: Adam Thompstone v Treviso (A)

Tigers score a lot of tries.  Despite what the critics say we’ve scored 86 tries this season, a fantastic return.  You’d need a better memory than me to remember them all, but some stick out as classics.

Logo Mulipola’s 25 yard rampage against Exeter; Goneva’s weaving run versus Worcester on the opening day of the season; his “fumble and go” against London Irish will be replayed on rugby’s equivalent of “Own Goals and Gaffes” forever.  In the biggest games we scored some attractive tries too, Jordan Crane finishing Owen Williams cross field kick in Clermont lives long in the memory. 

But this year’s winner has to be Vereniki Goneva’s try away to Newcastle.  It starts with an Ed Slater break, spotting the referee in the defensive line he uses him and break the line swotting the Falcons away like flies.  After the ruck Ben Youngs speeds the ball away and Dan Bowden’s floated pass finds Goneva well marked.

Or is he?  He beats one man in a phone box, his footwork bamboozling, hands off another and is free.  Only the full back to beat, he goes for the chip.  And chases.  He out strips the defence to win the race and put us back in the lead after a difficult half when it looked like our play off dreams were fading.

Game of the season

Last Season: Northampton (Premiership Final)

One candidate stands head and shoulders above the others for me.  Montpellier away became a sort of bench mark for the side.  We hadn’t won in France for 7 long years and the monkey on the back was in danger of turning into a Gorilla. 

The only match I can ever remember that ended nil all at half time it was thoroughly absorbing none the less.  Both teams had chances in that half but Tigers broke the deadlock early in the second period.  Tom Youngs devastating side step taking him past the close defence.  Montpellier struck back with a strike against the head and a breakaway try from half way by fly half Selponi.

The advantage was extended by Lucas Delpoint after Gorgodze’s break.

We were 9 points down with 9 minutes to go.  Away in France and winless in 7 years across La Manche.  Ryan Lamb’s spell in Leicester was brief but he’ll be forever remembered for what came next.  A scrum won a penalty 45m out, Lamb nailed it to reduce the arrears to 6.  Then a frenzied final attack, a master break from Miles Benjamin set us up in the 22 before the ball went wide.  Well executed simple hands from Morris, Slater and Ayerza put Goneva in at the corner.

The Fijian maestro kept the ball off the floor in goal to make the conversion more central and Lamb stepped forward once more to nail the kick and send the travelling supporters into raptures.  This one lives long in the memory. 

Academy player of the season

Last Season: Henry Purdy

To be eligible this player must have featured in the Premiership Under 18s Academy League this season.

It was another strong year for the Academy in the league, a single loss away to Gloucester cost Tigers the chance to claim the inaugural national title but the rest of the Northern Conference was dispatched with try bonus points secured in all games.  Overall 38 tries were scored in 7 matches and 41 players were used.

Strong players this year were number 8 Charlie Beckett, centre Charlie Thacker, brother of Harry, and David Williams, who scored a great try in the Premiership 7s series. 

The one player to break through from this level into the first team was Wrexham winger Rhys Williams, who featured from the bench in the LV Cup against Bath.

My player of the year is loosehead prop Owen Hills.  The Market Bosworth native has had a terrific season with 7 tries in 7 starts in the league, squat and powerfully built he has the stature to go further in the game.

U23 Player of the season

Last Season: Ben Youngs & Manu Tuilagi

Last year I said in the rush to claim new blood every year we didn’t want to forget who was actually the best player.  This award would go to the best players, not the newest passing fancy.

So really it’s obviously Manu Tuilagi.  He is clearly the best qualifying player.  But let’s at least pretend to look at the other options.  In terms of serious minutes the other eligible players are Fraser Balmain, Owen Williams and Pablo Matera.

Balmain has grown this year, being involved in all but one match day squad, and is now a solid set piece option that carries industriously.  Williams has been discussed above and really came into his own once given the reigns.  Matera came with big expectations and hasn’t hit them, still so young and plenty of time to overtake Salvi.

So having looked at the options its still Manu.  His return from injuries ignited our back play almost instantaneously.  It’s not been his best year but it’s the mark of the man that it is still the best.

Player of the season

Last Season: Tom Youngs

There have been many individual highlights for our players this season, Blaine Scully qualified for the 2015 Rugby World Cup with his US Eagles, whilst Vereniki Goneva was honoured by his fellow players to become Players’ Player of the Season.  Ed Slater celebrated his first call up to the England squad and was also chosen to lead the club as captain. 

Ed Slater had a remarkable year coming from a bench place last year to leading the club as captain in 2014.  His industrious carrying has been coupled with some beautifully soft hands that really make him the modern lock.

Others to have had strong seasons were Logo Mulipola.  Covering Marcos Ayerza as a loosehead early season he switched sides to tighthead once Dan Cole injured his neck.  The 20 stone Samoan has proved almost impossible to tackle and often damages those who try.  Jack Nowell’s still yet to come back from that shoulder injury. 

Ben Youngs was also back to his best.  Cruelly ignored by Stuart Lancaster in favour of his Leeds prodigy Danny Care the British Lion was immovable from the number 9 shirt for Leicester.  The consistency of not being faffed about by England paid dividend for Tigers as he was constantly challenging and asking questions of forwards around the ruck. 

But really there can only be one winner.  Vereniki Goneva.  The Flying Fijian joined us last season from Tarbes in ProD2 and finished last season as a try scorer at Twickenham.  This season he was has carried our attack scoring 14 tries in 25 games.  When an injury crisis crippled our centre reserves he stepped into the breach and proved his genius on many occasions, genuinely carrying the attacking threat of our team singlehandedly on many occasions.

Long rumoured to be leaving the club to join Castres he squashed those rumours to sign on for at least 2 more years.  He has power, pace and sublime footwork.  If he hasn’t beaten you with his trickery then he can just run over you instead.  Voted by his fellow professionals as the best player this season who am I to argue?

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 1^st 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