By Chris Chaplin
September 11 2002

Another week in the hotseat of previewer and this time looking at the Tigers’ chances against the newly repackaged Sharks. Sale have potentially the most dangerous back line in the premiership this year and this was seen in the initial exchanges at Kingsholm last Saturday when they cut the sluggish Cherry and Whites to pieces for an opening try.

I believe that in Redpath and Hodgeson Sale have the consistently best half back pairing around, although like all scrum halves even Redpath’s prodigious talents can only make a partial silk purse out of service from a pack that was certainly in the sow’s ear category last weekend.

Hodgeson certainly seemed to let the Shed get on top of him (almost literally at Castle Grim) last Saturday and he produced a far less accomplished performance than we’ve come to expect from the young(er) pretender to King Jonny’s throne at Woody Towers.

Such ball as he got was well handled in the main but after the open exchanges the first half became very attritional with the excellent, Mel Deane and evergreen Baxendale getting little change out of the Gloucester centres, as a consequence the classy Cueto and Hanley got little decent ball and in the second half spent their energies shoring up the Sale defence against the rampaging West Country hordes. It is true to say that in the first half it seemed that both sides had forgotten how to pass and catch - sounds familiar?

The Achilles’ heel of the Sale side remains their pack with a front five that was under pressure throughout in spite of the presence of the talented Chris Jones and the sometimes dynamic back row or Sanderson, Pinkerton and Anglesea struggled against the Gloucester back row, which admittedly is one of the best around these days.

Finally what of the mercurial Billy the Whizz? A strange day for Jason, a few Robinsonesque flashes but generally Mercier kept him pegged back well inside the Sale 22 and against all current received wisdom kicked the ball to him at every opportunity, with it usually being dutifully kicked back into touch for a Glaws’ lineout.

In the final quarter Sale looked thoroughly knac.......tired out and it was then one way traffic - against them.

Sadly I didn’t see the Quins match so my view is based on conversations, messages and reports. However it seems that the pack did much better and recovered some, if perhaps not all, of it’s old aggression and that the revised backrow combination achieved more possession than in the previous week’s debacle. Josh is clearly not a natural Blindside but with his talent he should make a good fist of it (no pun intended) Will Johnson is, to my mind, one of the unsung heroes at Tigers and he had a good outing until retiring hurt.

From what I’ve heard and seen the Tigers pack should be capable of overcoming Sale but they are a mobile outfit with Chris Jones presenting a real threat in the loose, so it will be essential that Tigers keep it tight in the first half and don’t give Hodgeson the opportunity to recover his kicking form, which he surely will in front of the Heywood Road faithful.

If the pack is not dominant and Redpath and Hodgeson get quality ball, particularly in the first half, I fear that with the continued absence of the experience of either Kafer or Gelderbloom, Mel Deane and Baxendale will make life very difficult. in the centre.

Against a true class act like Redpath I hope that Tierney finally gets an airing as Redpath’s guile could be too much for Harry Ellis and I suspect he’ll be all over Jamie Hamilton like a persistent rash. Oz would probably cope best with Redpath but as we know there’s no cover at 10 to release him for duty.

The task, to my mind, is a simple one, the pack must be dominant - and they should be, being Internationals all and provided they don’t underestimate the Sale lads. We saw the consequences of complacency in this department at Headingly. Redpath and Hodgeson must be denied quality ball with strict discipline being paramount and especially anywhere outside of the Sale 22, from where Hodgeson has a very real chance of kicking anything that comes his way.

I am sure that much home work has been done on the threat of Jason Robinson and Glaws’ tactics of last week could be a pointer here, kicking to him from deep with chasers, with the emphasis on the plural, forcing him to kick.

If possible I think Tigers should be unchanged from last week other than at #9 where I’d like to see Tierney take on Redpath. If Josh gets the nod at 6 then he’ll need to have one of his “specials” a la Salarries at Vicarage Road last season.

OK., OK I hear you say “enough of this guff, what’s the result going to be”. Well curiously enough here we are at the third game of the season and already we’re at our first MUST WIN game. I think there’s little doubt that Glaws will give Falcons a real pasting and I suspect Wycome Wanderers and the Piglets will record wins as well, so if we’re to keep in touch, in what’s going to be a tight season, this is an away win we must get. But can we?

Yes, without a doubt. The Piglets ran them very close through forward domination and with better finishing they’d have won. Glaws; same story but they did finish their chances, in the second half at least. So YES we could win and win well but only if the pack really are at their awesome best, don’t underestimate Sale and keep it tight for at least the first 40 minutes, then and only then: Tigers 36 Sale 24.