By Whaley Shark
November 21 2011

 Hmmm. Having been distracted over the weekend by my packed social life, I don’t see the point in a belated, blow-by-blow account of Friday’s match. So here are just a few impressions to keep us ticking over, and I expect to resume normal service for the Exeter game. 

In the end, you really can’t complain about a nine try win, and it’s quite difficult to judge the details of performance in an uneven game. In a group which, in its early stages, looks to be shaping up to be a straight fight between us and Brive, when you’re playing the Spanish side, you have to pick up five points and build the points difference in case that’s needed later, and we did that, so well done. A comfortable win is probably also useful to get us back on track after some tough fixtures over the last month or so. Hopefully, we’ll carry some of that morale boost into Friday’s game against Exeter because, while Tigers at home and Sarries away were always going to be difficult, games against Exeter and the like will be a more realistic test of the Diamond revolution.

As for La Vila, I really was impressed. They hadn’t turned up with a very limited, defensive, let’s try and keep the score down game plan. Rather they tried to play rugby, and did so pretty effectively for the first 15 minutes, though unrewarded for their ambition. Once their ten went into the bin (disturbingly, this was a referee who applied the laws, even the funny one about not feeding at the scrum) and we exploited our physical superiority with a penalty try and a battering ram Andy Powell peel from the back of a scrum, it was starting to look like una larga noche for them. As the game went on, the Spanish side started to pay a price for the huge amount of defensive work they had to do. We picked up three tries, by Andrew Higgins, Johnny Leota and Luther Burrell, thanks to slick back play. New arrival Cillian Willis, who looked sharp and precise for the hour he played, nabbed a try from a quickly taken penalty, Andrew Higgins made good ground on the left, the forwards took it on, and Richie Vernon crossed. Finally, as the clock ran down, it became the Johnny Leota show, first exploiting a 2-on-1 to sell a neat dummy to the last defender, then getting his third try of the evening as he ran on to a delicately weighted Will Addison grubber kick. This isn’t in any way to belittle the La Vila performance. Player for player, they were at a substantial physical disadvantage but they never gave up and tackled their hearts out. We outgunned them in the set piece and exploited the gaps created by our power and pace but, when they had the opportunity, they kept the ball alive and, on occasion, showed real intent. So well played to them, and I was glad to see a courageous performance generously applauded at the end, both by our players and by the crowd.

My Man of the Match- it doesn’t matter who you’re playing, three tries is a good performance, so it’s Johnny Leota for me.