Teams named for Wembley Millionaire Match!

At Wembley on Saturday afternoon one fan will get the chance the win a million pounds, all they have to do is catch three high balls in row.  While still holding the first two!

Whether Saracens are going to pepper Geordan Murphy with enough balls for him to be eligible is yet to be seen.

Tigers make 2 changes, again swapping the props, from the bonus point victory at home to Worcester with Logovi'i Mulipola replacing Boris Stankovitch and Dan Cole replacing Martin Castrogiovanni.  On the bench George Chuter replaces Rob Hawkins.

Tigers:
15 Geordan Murphy (c)
14 Scott Hamilton
13 Manusamoa Tuilagi
12 Anthony Allen
11 Vereniki Goneva
10 Toby Flood
9 Sam Harrison
1 Logovi'i Mulipola
2 Tom Youngs
3 Dan Cole
4 Graham Kitchener
5 Geoff Parling
6 Steve Mafi
7 Julian Salvi
8 Thomas Waldrom

Replacements
16 George Chuter
17 Boris Stankovich
18 Martin Castrogiovanni
19 Rob Andrew
20 Jordan Crane
21 Patrick Phibbs
22 George Ford
23 Matt Smith

Saracens on the other hand are more trusting in their squad and make 5 changes with Neil "the Cock" De Kock replacing Richard Wigglesworth, Owen Farrell replacing Charge-Down Charlie Hodgson, bear like Carlos Nieto replacing, ahem, "Lancastrian"  Petrus Du Plessis, Jackson Wray replaces fellow young gun Will Fraser and 2011 final try scorer James Short replaces American winger Chris Wyles.  

Saracens:

15 Alex Goode
14 Chris Ashton
13 Joel Tomkins
12 Brad Barritt
11 James Short
10 Owen Farrell
9 Neil de Kock
1 Mako Vunipola
2 Schalk Brits
3 Carlos Nieto
4 Steve Borthwick ©
5 Mouritz Botha
6 Kelly Brown
7 Jackson Wray
8 Ernst Joubert

16 John Smit
17 Rhys Gill
18 Petrus du Plessis
19 Alistair Hargreaves
20 Will Fraser
21 Richard Wigglesworth
22 Charlie Hodgson
23 Chris Wyles

TV Cash to Force Celt Changes?

On Wednesday PRL announced a stonking new TV deal worth “up to” £152m with new players in the Rugby market BT.  You’d have thought this whopping TV deal would have been welcomed with open arms, especially in a double-dip recession, but no!  ERC immediately pooh-poohed the deal claiming that PRL had broken IRB rules, they don’t say what, and an ERC mandate, they don’t say how.  This is because as well as selling domestic league games PRL sold the rights to their clubs home games in some, as yet unknown, European competition(s).  4 hours later ERC & Sky announced a renewed deal for the Heineken Cup and Amlin Cup for 4 years beyond the current contract which ends in 2014.

PRL gave their notice to quit ERC on June 1^st, as did LNR (League National de Rugby) their equivalent in France, effective from June 2014.  You may have spotted a rather obvious problem with ERC’s plan at this point.  That is that ERC won’t exist past 2014, at least in current form and certainly not with English and French clubs, and even if it were to be saved at this moment in time it has no right to sell English club games beyond 2014.

Now ERC claim that PRL had no right to sell the package they did either; that is simply not true.  PRL have sold the rights to their own games in any future tournament, something they are completely within their rights to do.  After all the SANZAR nations sell their rights individually to domestic TV so the IRB clearly have no problem with this arraignment.

If reports are to be believed PRL’s deal is split into two parts: an £100m domestic deal and an £50m European deal.  ERC haven’t released the amount of their new Sky contract but last year PRL received £8m from ERC as their share of the collective spoils.  English clubs receive 24.5% of the ERC pot (alongside the French, the Irish, Welsh and Scots get 14% each whilst the Italians get 9%) which by my maths makes the overall total £32.65m.  That total includes the sponsorships paid by Heineken, Amlin, FedEx, Addidas, Land Rover and the TV rights to France, Italy, Ireland plus the TV rights to the Ulster, the Welsh regions and the Scottish regions in the UK.  This deal is, reportedly, worth £17m more for significantly less.  The French rights would be worth a similar amount to the English rights, with the sundry other deals also to be added on top it is hardly optimistic to state the total value would top £100m.   That is a 200% increase in revenues.

So why are ERC so exercised over PRL’s deal?  Obviously PRL have to some extent gone behind the backs of their European partners, but more than that ERC, or rather the constituent unions, are worried that the clubs are becoming too powerful and their own influence might be on the wane.

Will ERC really be able to turn their collective noses up to over £100m?  I doubt it, the Welsh game is in disarray domestically and is desperate for the cash, similarly the Scots, Irish and Italians heavily subsidise their domestic games with revenues from internationals.  The cash will surely be enough to buy the structural changes that PRL and LNR have been so desperate to achieve.

Another one bites the dust, Newby the latest the retire injured

Craig Newby is the latest Tigers start to admit defeat and have to retire due to injury.  Newby never recovered from the knee injury that rules him out of most of last season, making his man of the match performances in last year's LV final and Premiership semi final all the more impressive.

Newby enjoyed a note worthy start to his Tigers career as he converted Brett Deacon's late try with a drop goal.  That was not the only kicking fame for the flanker though; later the same season in the Heineken Cup semi final penalty shoot out Newby coolly slotted over his kick, later revealing he was taught to kick by former housemate, and Gloucester fly half, Willie Walker.

Internationally Newby gained 3 caps for the All Blacks debuting against England at Eden Park in 2004, to become All Black number 1041, and finishing against Ireland in 2006 at the same venue.  His other appearance was in Johannesburg against the Springboks in 2004.  His route to the All Blacks was an unconventional one as he was one of the first players to progress from the 7s set up.  He was very successful at 7s winning a gold medal at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games.

A keen cricketer Newby has regularly featured for the Kibworth Cricket Club and hit a century for a Leicester Tigers XI in a charity 20/20 match.

Newby captained his home province of Otago, the Super Rugby franchise the Highlanders and was also captain in the losing Premiership final against Saracens in 2011 for Leicester.  Hopefully these leadership skills and knowledge of the game can be retained, if not by Tigers then hopefully for another club.  Newby has said he wishes to remain in the area, this kind of commitment to the locality is sure to cement his reputation as a real club man in years to come and is a real example of the kind of top bloke he is.

High Noone as Tigers tame flustered Falcons.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Impressive performances:

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

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

Needs to improve:

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

Man of the Match:

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

Teams named for A league home opener.

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

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

 


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

Ex-Files

In ProD2 Ayoola Erinle started on the wing and scored a hat trick as Carcassone recorded a bonus point win against newly promoted Massey, where as in Japan Alesana Tuilagi appeared in the centres scoring a try and being awarded Man of the Match as he opposed Sonny Bill Williams on his Japanese debut.   Elsewhere in France Julian Dupuy kicked 5 penalties for Christophe Laussucq’s Stade Francias as they drew at home with Castres.

Shane Jennings enjoyed a try scoring afternoon as he and Leo Cullen were part of a Leinster side which won 45-25 at home to Ian Nimmo and Andy Tuilagi’s Newport-Gwent Dragons.  Edinburgh’s 

Greig Tonks didn’t have such a good afternoon getting a 50^th minute yellow card, luckily for him the try conceded in his absence didn’t prove fatal as the Scots went on to win the game 21-19.  Glasgow featured Tom Ryder as they went down at home 18-13 to Llanelli Scarlets. Frank Murphy was a half time sub as Connacht overcame newly formed Zebre away from home.

Domestically Dean Richards’ Newcastle Falcons continued their strong start to the season as they gained a bonus point win away to London Scottish.  7 Ex-Tigers played for Nottingham on Saturday with a further one on the bench as well as two loanees in Ryan Bower and Jimmy Stevens.  Two tries from Joe Cobden and one from Brent Wilson secured Notts the win against Ben Pienaar in Moseley colours.  Doncaster featured three Ex-Tigers as openside Jethro Rawling combined with Dante Mama and regular second teamer Will Simpson as they fell at home to Bristol.  Ross Broadfoot bagged 8 points as Jersey, featuring one time second teamer Fred Silcock and former academy man Dave Markham, lost in their first Championship away trip to Diccon Edward’s Leeds, Dan Hemmingway was named a starter and Callum Green was amongst the subs.

In the top tier second rows George Skivington and Jim Hamilton faced off as Gloucester defeated London Irish, Billy Twelvetrees also featured.  Tom Varndell was a try scorer as he gathered Marco Wentzel’s chip ahead but came up short against Danny Hipkiss and his Bath cohorts.  Dorian West’s Northampton Saints overcame a strong Exeter side who had Chris Whitehead at hooker and have Robin Cowling as scrum coach.

In National One Michael Gillick scored two tries as Cambridge defeated Loughborough Students, with Will Lawson, Rob Conquest and Jon Hale also wearing the blood and gold.  Ollie Smith will have been pleased as his Esher side won 33-28 at home to Blackheath.

Internationally Horacio Agulla started whilst Lucas Amorosino came off the bench as Argentina held New Zealand close for 70 minutes before falling 21 to 5.

Manu Double Downs Worcester!

Tigers made it a maximum 10 points out of 2 fixtures as they romped to a 5 try win against the woeful Worcester Warriors, winning 34-26.  Two first half tries from Manu Tuilagi were added to by Vereniki Goneva, Graham Kitchener and, a rather fortunate, penalty try in the second half to secure all 5 points.

Vereniki Goneva tackled and turned over a Worcester player within his own 22, quick ball to Flood was released outside to Hamilton; he passed back into Kitchener who drew in the defence before off loading for Manu Tuilagi who romped in at the corner.

If the first try was was the try of the season so far the second one quickly claimed that mantel.  Goneva broke from his own 22, beating half the Worcester side on his way, the ball was quickly rucked and Manu brushed off the challenges of 3 Warriors to secure his brace.

On the stroke of half time former Worcester captain Chris Pennell was binned for a cynical piece of cheating, his cheating worked as Tigers tried in vain for a push over try before debutant Pat Phibbs threw the ball at Floods feet, causing a knock on and drawing the half to a close.

Dudley born half back Shaun Perry caused a ruckus on the half time whistle as he viciously assaulted Toby Flood, quite what the referee was looking at as this thuggery occurred is anyone's guess.  He ignored it and the sides went off for half time.

Much like in the seasons opener away to London Welsh, Tigers started the second half with a bang,  The period was barley 3 minutes old when Flying Fijian Vereniki Goneva forced himself over in the right hand corner after quick play by Sam Harrison and a flowing move from the CAT side back towards the Crumbie stand.

Thuggish Perry then got his just deserts as he finally got a yellow card.  Twatish Chris Jones managed to avoid the referee's scrutiny, as the saying goes you can take the twat out of Sale but you can't stop him being a massive twat.

In the 66th minute Tigers had a series of scrums on the Worcester line culminating in referee Andrew Small awarding Leicester a penalty try.  Quite what the actual offence that probably stopped a try was up for debate but the bonus point and win was secured.

6 minutes from the end Worcester old boy Graham Kitchener finished off the scoring crashing over in the left hand corner after build up play from Geordan Murphy amongst others.