By Mike Hill
October 20 2002

Tigers demolished Calvisano 63-0 scoring some top class tries and recording 10 in total. Geordan Murphy was the main creator and his link play with Steve Booth was very promising. They both have competition however from Perry Freshwater who popped up on the wing several times to devastating effect. The return of Geordan Murphy lifted the side and his fabulous natural talent seems to be growing still. There were no signs of rustiness as he mercilessly cut through the Italian defence time and time again. With most people fit now there's a lot of competition to play in the three quarters.

The game started slowly and wasn't until the second quarter that Tigers began to run the Italians ragged. A sharp break by Geordan split the defence and when he was brought down close to the line Back was on hand to feed Boothy for the first try of his three tries. Three more first half tries gave Tigers a 25 - 0 lead at the break with Calvisano never coming close to a try of their own.

The handling errors which have so blighted the season so far, were vastly reduced and Calvisano were unable to get any possession. Sam Vesty has a good running game and aided by excellent service from TT controlled the game well. Leon had a very 'mixed' game his tackling and taking the ball over the gain line was much improved however his passing left something to be desired.

Tigers ran away with the game in the second half with Geordan pulling the strings from fullback it was men against boys. Booth was allowed acres of space and did a good job of making most of their back line look foolish as his trademark step and cut inside left them floundering.

Murphy and Booth combined to score on of the best tries I've ever seen at Welford Road. They exchanged passes to put Booth in space who beat one man then chipped over the defence and sprinted down the left touchline with Murphy running parallel. The bounce was kind and Booth fed inside to Geordan who clicked into overdrive to cruise past the covering full back. Simple, yet difficult to pull off and devastating when it goes well.

As for the forwards most had a good if unexceptional game but Perry had a stormer. Perry's game is improving with each passing season and he must be pushing Graham Rowntree very hard at the moment. His scrummaging has improved recently and his loose play is exceptional.

Louis Deacon had a good game stealing a few Italian throws and supporting well in the loose and Josh Kronfeld played well on the blind side. Neil Back had his usual five star performance but it's getting boring saying that so take it as read that he was everywhere and didn't miss a tackle.

With the majority of Saturday's starting line-up available during the Autumn Internationals I don't think we will be as disadvantaged as some people believe. The major problem I can see will be the place kicking if Tim is picked for England. Four players had 'a go' on Saturday with Austin providing some marvellous comedy moments.

His tip toe run up to his first kick was worth the admission price alone and the fact it crawled over from a difficult angle was even more amazing. I think they should have let Vesty have a few more attempts, however, before handing the ball to someone else. Sam needs the chance to settle in without Oz trying to show him up. He is a good kicker as anyone who has seen him play for the Extras will verify and Tigers must have faith.

So it's back to domestic competition and next week's ZP opponents Saracens also dealt out a thrashing (to a Romanian team) but more than doubled our total. What bearing will that have on next Sunday's game? Absolutely none. Tigers will be hoping that they can continue to improve their ball retention, finish more clinically this week and that Johnno doesn't get banned again.

As for Man Of the Match who else but the magical Geordan Murphy although Perry was fairly close. See you at Vicarage Road for Johnno vs Saracens III.