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So, this 'luck of the Irish' then...

Grrrrr
By Griff March 15 2005
After such a poor performance in Leeds, Irish support was wary of the annual trip to Welford Road. If the team played as poorly as they had in Leeds it simply wouldn't be worth the price of the fuel to get them there.
On the plus-side the Six Nations matches had removed around 21 names from the Tigers' squad, 8 of which were current first-choices for the Leicester team, perhaps Irish could repeat their 2003 end-of-season victory...

With Scott Staniforth still missing after his concussion in Leeds, 19 year old Dominic Shabbo made his Premiership debut on the wing. Mark Mapletoft was finally rested with Barry Everitt taking his place and Paul Hodgson preferred to Darren Edwards. With Robbie Russel warming the Murrayfield bench Adrian Flavin came in as hooker.

Irish laid any fears of repeating their Headingley dross to rest staight away. The whole team semed up for it and met Tigers with relish. Both teams sparred in the early stages, probing each other's defences for weaknesses with none being found. Irish were mixing up the running, grubber-kick and corner-kicking game well, keeping the Tigers defence honest. The home team were not letting Irish have their way though, Alesana Tuilagi particularly throwing his all in, at one point leaping well clear of the ground to pat a touch-kick back into play to launch a counter-attack.

It was a mark of the respect the Tigers had for Irish's impressive line-out stats that during this phase, and indeed for most of the match, they failed to jump on our throw, preferring to simply gather the catcher and attempt to (with varying degrees of success) drive us back. Irish were indeed laying the ghosts of Headingley to rest with some ferocious rucking and plenty of options in support at the shoulder of the ball-carrier.

Both teams were giving their all to gain the upper hand, with 5 minutes gone Mike Catt put in, what seemed like an ordinary hit on the Leicester scrum-half Bemand which left the Irish centre prone on the ground. He seemed to be out-cold but after a prolonged spell of treatment stayed on the pitch. Catty is made of stern stuff, despite looking initially like he'd be coming straight off, he stayed on for the rest of the match.

With most of the initial successes in terms of territory going to the visitors Leicester fought hard to repel the numerous attacks. Irish eventually chancing their arm with a drop goal which Barry pushed just left of the uprights. The backline was trying its best too and Shabbo was welcomed warmly into the ZP by A. Tuilagi with a huge hit, to his credit Dominic held the ball firm and recycled posession where other debutantes might have spilled.

The first score went to the home side, completely against the run of play. While Irish hammered away in the Tigers' half, including a lot of time in their 22, the home team simply kicked the ball cleverly, Austin Healey regaining much of his recently unused fly-half prowess. On 13 minutes a rare Leicester attack was met a little over-zealously by the Irish defence, straying off-side. Vesty converted the penalty to give the home side the lead.

More of a similar pattern of play contnued, Irish just about having the best of posession but Tigers cannily keeping them at bay. The home team were beginning to even it out though. Another penalty for Vesty on 21 minutes fell agonisingly short.

Eight minutes later it was the vistors' turn to pile on the pressure. A good break in midfield led to a charge down the right with a 3 on 2 overlap. Sadly, as ever, the final pass, from Mike Horak on this occasion, went forward when a level or slightly backward pass would have found a charging Ryan Strudwick clear for the try. At least Chris White had the decendy to run the previous advantage far too long and Barry kicked the consolation penalty to level the scores.

The half seemed to be about to end with honours-even but, of course, thats not the way of our games this season. Five minutes before it was time for an orange segment Leicester decided to show their class. A well-controlled lineout allowed the Tigers to spin the ball quickly left across the field. A couple of miss-passes later and the ball, just, made it to the man of the half Alesana Tuilagi who kept all his limbs inside the playing field to touch down in the corner. It was no more than half a chance with Irish defence holding relatively solid but it was a chance taken. At least Vesty had the decency to miss the conversion and the teams went in with Leicester 8 - 3 ahead.

When they returned Irish had obviousl had been fired up. From the restart they were in amongst the Tigers, Kieran Dawson stealing the restart and starting a move which saw Rod Penney cross the whitewash. Sadly the double-tackle on him yards before had stripped him of the ball. Paul Hodgson pleaded with Mr White to at least look at the video, which he duly did but Rod's shake of the head when he stood up told the story. Still, there was still life in the match and Irish had, yet again, proved that they could break the very solid Tigers defence.

The match burbled along like this, both sides having their breaks. Irish continued to be able to cross the gain-line and Tigers continued to hold firm. When on the counter the home side looked ominously dangerous. Both sides continued to hammer away at each other, Rob Hardwick took a big knock in one breakdown which left him, like Catt in the first-half, prone and recieving treatment. Although Rob got up he was never right afterwards and was soon replaced by Doug Wheatley.

With the battle even it was a relief for Irish to get a kickable, if difficult penalty. Ever-reliable Barry stepped up and... hit the post. The ball fell awkwardly for the home team and firm Irish pressure forced a knock-on about 10 yards from the Leicester try-line. From the scrum Irish got a second, eminently more kickable penalty which Barry, predictably slotted.

Fifty minutes had been played and a victor was not obvious. The home side were looking very dangerous on the counter but the Irish defence was holding solid and the attack, while not blistering, was proving effective. The sides became locked in a battle of wills, neither side really asserting itself but as the contest wore on it could be seen that Irish were being pushed further back towards their line and the home pressure was starting to build.

For a full 15 minutes the pressure built, Irish proving up to the challenge until finally a period of relentless attack forced a mistake. A clearance kick was charged down by that man Tuilagi with the ball bouncing behind Horak and then back over his head and into the happy arms of Luke Abrahams for a simple try. It was heartbreaking. While the home side had been pushing slowly further forward they had not really looked like breaching the lines and it was only the luck of the bounce that allowed the try. Vesty converted to give the home side a good buffer with only 13 minutes left to play.

The luck of the bounce was highlighted 2 minutes later when a similar situation happened at the other end. A Tigers clearance was charged down only to see the ball squirt sideways to Leon Lloyd who spun the ball out to Healey who ran it deep into Irish territory. A scattered defence did its best but the try was only averted when the final pass to Gibson was deemed forward (and it was a close call).

Never let it be said that Leicester don't know how to control a game, they now chose to play rugby in the Irish half. No real attacks broke the line but the home side didn't particularly care as they knew how much of a mountain Irish had to climb. The visitors didn't give up though, as the final seconds of the game ticked away Shabbo managed a half-break from the Irish 22, getting the ball to Barry who streamed through behind the Tigers line. When he'd drawn the defender he popped the ball inside to Declan Danaher who carried it further forward, offloading the Dawson. Awesome drew the defence and just managed to get the ball out towards Bish but it was just too far in front of the hapless winger who tripped, failed to catch it and, ultimately knocked-on.

Game over Tigers 15 - 6 Irish.

This last move pretty much summed the game up. Great effort, no luck and let down by our final move. There was great deal to be pleased with. What amounted to a 2nd team for Leicester was easily better than us on paper yet we kept parity. It would be a churlish Tigers supporter who failed to admit that they were worried during the long period where we were only 8 - 6 down. It really could have gone either way. The luck gave the game to the home side who also played some fantastic rugby. For my one-eye I thought we were at least worth the BP but it wasn't to be.

A final word of welcome should go to Dominic Shabbo who had just about the hardest debut he could have had. First ZP game at Welford Road can't be easy, yet Dominic did himself, and us, proud. He certainly didn't look out of place or uncomfortable and I look forward to roaring him to his first (of many) ZP scores for us very soon.

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