By Prof
September 27 2006

Leicester turned up at The Twickenham Stoop Stadium with a pack full of internationals with a smattering of them in the backs too. After last week's dismal performance against Wasps many were expecting a trouncing, but, even with a terrible start, that was very far from the truth.

The game started in the worst possible way for Quins – Easter received the kick off from Paul Burke and drove back a good ten yards and So’oialo put up a high box kick, Duffy (one of the best players under the high ball) charged up the left wing, Harry Ellis jumped into him about 3 yards from where the ball came down but instead of Mr White blowing his whistle for obstriuction, Leicester span the ball left and Ugo Monye on the right wing was faced with four attacking Leicester players. A looped pass over Monye allowed Varndell to have an easy run in into the corner. Burke missed with the tricky conversion from out on the right (much to the delight of the home fans). 

Some good handling by the forwards after a lineout and quick hands saw Hal Luscombe making a half break and the ball was then fed inside for Spanghero to thunder into the Leicester defence, the ball was recycled again and AJ put a good crosskick over for Ugo to chase but it was a bit too deep and it bounced on the line.

Burke missed with a penalty after Ceri Jones was adjudged to have taken a man out at a lineout. When Quins threw the ball back for the 22 restart one Leicester player tried to block the throw about 5m from the Quins line and a second Leicester player caught the ball to stop a quick drop out being taken – excellent gamesmanship but something that the referee should have pulled them up on. 

Hands in a ruck by Chuter gave Quins a penalty while a clash of heads with White saw Spanghero off with a blood injury. Jarvis slotted the 35m penalty 3-5, 17mins. 

An excellent catch and drive saw Quins maul the ball a good 20 yards before Kohn broke off alone and Mr White thought he was holding on to the ball even though it looked like he had pushed the ball back through his legs. 

A good scrum by Quins saw Ellis come offside but advantage was played and AJ chipped the ball across to Monye who caught it and charged forward, the crowd were wondering whether Monye would cut inside Murphy for support or whether he’d try to take him on the outside – Ugo went for the third way of running into and over Murphy. Ugo was finally caught and Leicester infringed at the breakdown giving AJ another chance to put more points on the board – he made no mistake and Quins took the lead – 6-5 25 mins. 

Another penalty after a Quins lineout saw AJ pump the ball deep into Leicester territory and Quins forwards slowly edged the ball forward , Jarvis sent a perfectly timed pass to Luscombe who didn’t hold on to it at first attempt, and although he regathered it it had touched Burke – it’s a shame because Luscombe ran a lovely line and gave what could have been a scoring pass to So’oialo who was on his shoulder. 

Quins started to edge the game a little – Monye lept high to stop a Burke penalty from going into touch and the forwards overturned a ball on the ground after an Ellis quick 22. A Jarvis chip through for Keogh to chase saw Quins getting the ball back and while Monye and Duffy were screaming for the ball on the right wing AJ decided to go for a drop goal which drifted just wide.

A Leicester throw on the stroke of half time saw Quins getting a penalty after a thumping tackle on Kay spilled the ball. Jarvis opted for the penalty from the half way line – he struck the ball beautifully and Quins went in 9-5 ahead. 

Hipkiss broke through weak midfield defence and although Duffy tackled him Leicester recycled well but some thumping tackles starting with one from So’oialo saw Leicester pushed back. So’oialo received treatment for what turned out to be a broken bone in his hand. 

A Corry break from a Leicester scrum saw the ball stolen from him by Skinner and then a break from Hala’Ufia saw play taken into the Leicester half. So’oialo went off with his hand injury and Danny Care came on. 

A penalty was awarded to Leicester after Jones was harshly judged to have collapsed a scrum. Burke couldn’t miss the simple penalty and Leicester cut the deficit – 9-8, 48 minutes. 

Another penalty and another miss from Burke, ex-Quin Scott Bemand replaced Ellis. Skinner then put in a stupid late tackle on Paul Burke and was rightfully sent to the sin bin. Burke recovered to kick the penalty to the corner and Leicester had a good attacking lineout. Castrogiovani made an excellent break from the maul and and made yards before popping the ball off to Bemand to go over the line. Burke got the conversion this time – 9-15 54 mins. 

Another offside by White gave Javis the chance to cut Leicester’s lead but he hit the upright and bounced back. Nebbett, Evans and Richards, came on for Ross, Kohn and Hayter. Penalties for stamping in a ruck by Chuter and then multiple offsides at a powerful Quins rolling maul saw no cards but Jarvis had another chance to add to the score – again he hit the upright but this time it bounced over. 12-15 62 mins. Skinner came back on. 

Leicester made good yards through Moody but Quins turned the ball over in midfield but Chris White decided to give Leicester the ball back at a scrum. He then gave Leicester a penalty for offside by the back row. Burke put Leicester six points ahead. 12-18, 67 mins. 

Hipkiss and Kay made good yards but strong Quins defending forced a knock on from Castrogiovani who then needed treatment. Before the next scrum Deacon needed some treatment for what could have been a wrinkled sock.

An offside at a scrum saw another penalty from 45m out right in front of the posts. He made no mistake at all and the lead was cut to 3 points. 15-18, 74 mins. 

A box kick from Care and a returned high kick from Burke saw Hala’Ufia make a rare handling error, knocking the ball forward on the 22m line.

After a few reset scrums when Bemand delayed put in to try to get a free kick. Castrogiovani went down with some sort of lace related injury. From the scrum Ollie Smith made a good break before Care, Hala’Ufia and Monye stopped him just short of the line. 

White game Leicester a penalty against Jones that Corry decided to rescrum. It was reset and then another penalty was given after Jim Evans slipped in the scrum. Time was up so Burke kicked for the posts and added the points leaving Quins with a bonus point and four points for Leicester. 15-21 FT. 

All in all it was an infinitely better performance than the previous one against Wasps – with senior players missing in key positions all over the park Quins pulled together, showed a lot of dog and pushed Leicester close. But in the end Leicester’s experience showed and the deservedly won. 

Quins do have something to build on and with some experienced players coming back over the next few weeks we can hopefully notch up a first win of the season.

Leicester’s defence was extremely good, although you do wonder what might have happened had the hard running Luscombe managed to hold on to one of the chances he had.

Jarvis’s kicking for goal was very good indeed, he seems to have more length on his kicks than before. So’oialo’s defence and workrate were phenomenal, often getting up from one tackle to make another and another straight away, he will be missed while his hand mends. Hala’Ufia apart from one very visible knock on had a good game making yards and putting in a lot of tackles. 

The pack showed good signs of improving, they were up against one of the best and most experienced packs in Europe but they pretty much held their own. Mike Ross looks to be an excellent scrummager although he looked absolutely shattered as he came off for half time – if he can get fit enough to play a full 80 he will be a great acquisition, although he still has a bit to go before he looks as good as Castrogiovani did today. 

As well as the aggression at the breakdown the forwards showed a few nice pieces of quick, close handling.  

Monye also looked very hungry, he looked for work, got stuck into tuckled and even helped clear out a couple of rucks. His athleticism in keeping a Burke touch kick in and his power in running over Murphy showed him to still be at his best. 

Spanghero and Kohn certainly added the bulk and power in the second row that we have been looking for since Garrick Morgan left a few years back. 

The aim next time out should be to keep 15 men on the pitch all game, cut down the penalty count and shore up some of the midfield tackling. 

After the game Richards commented "I wouldn't exactly say I was disappointed with Leicester but on paper they have a very good side, don't they? I looked at their side tonight, they had 12 internationals in it. I don't know whether they are not firing, or what, or maybe we just played better than people anticipated. It is very difficult to come down to the Stoop, and they have always said their away form is not great."

He added "The turning point was the yellow card, it really was silly. They scored the try when Skins was off and it meant we were chasing the game and it cost us dear. That is life. Skins will learn from it and a lot of the guys will learn from playing in this arena and against this opposition. There are a lot of positives. It doesn't give us the points we want but if we take the same intensity and passion and work on the small things the win will come.” 

"I am happy with the squad we have," he said, "and we are not worried about losing four games on the trot. It will not be a fight for survival for us. But it's a huge step up from the first division. We anticipated it was going to be a tough start. We knew this game was going to be a shit fight. I thought Leicester deserved to win." – You can’t say fairer than that Dean!

 

Scores

NEC Harlequins 15
Penalties: Adrian Jarvis (5) 

Leicester Tigers 21
Tries: Tom Varndell, Scott Bemand; Conversion: Paul Burke; Penalties: Paul Burke (3) 

NEC Harlequins
Ceri Jones, James Hayter (Jimmy Richards, 59 mins), Mike Ross (Ricky Nebbett, 59 mins), Ollie Kohn (Jim Evans, 59 mins), Nicolas Spanghero, Nick Easter, Will Skinner , Chris Hala'Ufia, Steve So'oialo (Danny Care, 46 mins), Adrian Jarvis, Simon Keogh, Mel Deane, Hal Luscombe, Ugo Monye, Gavin Duffy.
Replacements: Jimmy Richards (James Hayter, 59 mins), Ricky Nebbett (Mike Ross, 59 mins), Jim Evans (Ollie Kohn, 59 mins), Tom Guest, Danny Care (Steve So'oialo, 46 mins), Mike Brown, Craig McMullen 

Leicester Tigers
Martin Castrogiovani, George Chuter, Julian White, Leo Cullen, Ben Kay, Louis Deacon, Lewis Moody, Martin Corry, Harry Ellis, Paul Burke, Tom Varndell, Sam Vesty, Danny Hipkiss, John Murphy, Geordan Murphy
Replacements: James Buckland, Michael Holford, Jordan Crane, Shane Jennings, Scott Bemand, Ollie Smith, Alesana Tuilagi