By Mike Hill
August 24 2002

Tries from new boy Daniel Hipkiss and Steve Booth were enough to secure Tigers a rare pre season victory at the Jean Dauger Stadium in Bayonne. Biarritz 13 - Tigers 14

Tigers narrowly won the second annual Orange Cup which pits the English against the French champions. Leicester outscored Biarritz two tries to one and a single point victory was a fair reflection of how evenly matched the teams were.

Considering the injury crisis affecting Tigers back line at present it is a wonder Leicester were not blown away out wide. The young guys who stepped in all made impressive contributions and never looked out of their depth. It is testament to the quality of the coaching at Leicester that players can slot into unfamiliar positions and still maintain the awesome defensive line.

Kafer and Smith have recently joined the long term injured Murphy and Lloyd necessitating a new look back line for this tie. In came Daniel Hipkiss at inside centre and John Holtby started on one wing with Harry Ellis playing out of position on the other.

New signings Franck Tournaire and Tom Tierney both came on as replacements and look to be shrewd signings. Tournaire replaced a struggling Ricky Nebett and instantly shored up a creaking scrum whilst Tierney looked a class act at nine.

After a scoreless first quarter Biarritz scored a penalty goal before 20 year old Daniel Hipkiss opened Tigers scoring in some style. Seeing a prop in the backline he sprinted through a disorganised defence and side stepped the full back to score under the posts to his obvious delight. The ageless Phillipe Bernard-Salles scored for Biarritz after Tigers were caught napping from a quickly taken penalty and the home side led 10-7 at the interval.

The substitutes continued to stream onto the pitch in the second half with Sam Vesty replacing Austin, Boothy for Stimmo and Ellis and Tierney swapping positions. A punch thrown by Martin "Rocky" Corry was punished with a further penalty goal to give Biarritz a six point lead.

Sam Vesty had an impressive game and it was his break that began the sequence that led to Tigers second try. Leicester stretched the home defence left and right during five or six phases of possession before Neil Back put Will Johnson into space who then found Steve Booth in support for the touch down under the posts. Tigers were now a point ahead at 14-13 and looked set to close the game out.

Just after Booth's try Tigers defence took the offensive and pushed the French side back 30 metres over 5 phases of possession. A penalty kick at goal was spurned in favour of a lineout deep in Biarritz's 22 but the ball was lost and Bernard Salles nearly made them pay. His kick and chase forced Freddie to give away a penalty for holding on and deep into injury time Stuart Legg had a chance to snatch the win with the last kick of the game. Unfortunately for the home side he sliced it well wide and handed the Orange Cup to Leicester to add to our bulging trophy cabinet.

Martin Corry had a fine game dominating the lineout and powerful in the loose and he is my choice for Man of the Match this week. Pushing him close was the man who has just announced he is to retire from international rugby after the World Cup. Our Captain Fantastic Martin Johnson had a fine game and looked very sharp. England's loss will be Tigers gain next season. Also worth an honourable mention is Daniel Hipkiss who had a very strong game took his try well and looks to have a bright future.