By Simon
October 30 2002

Tigers recorded their first away win in the league this season at Vicarage Road on Saturday. Saracens were denied even a bonus point by a Geordan Murphy drop goal. It was a good performance by a team who are apparently past it and it was difficult to single out individuals for praise and criticism. Heroes

There can only be one player that could be the hero this week. Martin Johnson put in yet another towering performance for the Tigers, something we almost take for granted, but to do it after such a recent bereavement says a lot about the commitment and professionalism of the man. Unusually for a Saracens game he got through without getting sin-binned or cited, and we even got to see the Johnno head-shake after the referee disallowed the try.

Apart from Martin Johnson I must give a special mention to Sam Vesty. Although he had a pass intercepted to gift Saracens a try, I doubt after the game there was one Tigers supporter who would swap him to get Andy Goode back. Mind you, if Goode has to listen to that annoying music every time he takes a kick, he might be paying to return to Tigers!

Zeroes

I was a bit unsure about who should be my zero. The referee is one candidate, with both sets of supporters seeming to dislike him equally. It would also be easy to choose Andy Goode with his poor kicking display. He was always going to be in the spotlight for this game, especially after his comments in the newspapers, and I'm sure he was not pleased with the way he played. Another easy choice would be Leon, who still seems to believe that the object of the game is to throw the ball away. One of the main incidents of the game that will stick in my mind is Leon attempting a drop goal that was charged down, then managing to get the ball back, only to immediately knock on as he was tackled. I don't want to choose either player as my zero, though, as they both have contributed a lot to Tigers in the past and whatever his faults, Leon is the kind of player who can change a game with his pace.

So, who is my zero? My not-very-original choice is going to be the announcer, who insisted on playing annoying music whenever anything happened. The first time the remote controlled car came on with the kicking tee accompanied by some funky music it was funny. The second time was mildy annoying. The third time I was starting to groan, and what I was saying after the fourth is unsuitable for this website. Thankfully, even the person playing the music seemed to tire of it by the end of the first half, but other gems were playing the Rocky music when a bit of a fight broke out, and (correct me if I'm wrong) I seem to recall the Chariots of Fire music being played for some reason just before Goode took a kick. He obviously preferred this to the kicking tee music, though, as this was one of the few he got. The announcer then capped it off by going on the field after the game and awarding prizes to the Saracens players when they clearly weren't in the mood for celebrating after losing.

OK, that's my rant over, and on to:

My magic moment

Again this is tricky, but I think I will have to go to Geordan's drop goal right at the end. It has been a worrying time for Tigers supporters over the last month or so, with Gloucester getting ahead in the league and with the injury problems. That was why it was so nice to see Geordan, one of the players we had really been missing, get the drop goal that sealed the first away win of the season. We had an excellent view from where we were sitting and everyone lept up and cheered as we saw it was on target. The 3 points meant that the game was almost certainly safe as we were two scores clear. It was perhaps harsh on Saracens, who probably thought they were worth a bonus point, but it was great to see Tigers finally secure victory away from home and seeing Geordan in such good form really makes me a lot more confident that we will be able to pick up wins while the autumn internationals are being played. Irelands loss is Tigers gain!