Leicester Tigers
Bath v Tigers Preview
By ChrisC
March 22 2011
Ready, Steady – Cook. This week finds me in contemplative mood about how the success or failure of a rugby team relies on the Ainsley Harriott factor produced by the Director of Rugby taking the available, often ad hoc, ingredients due to injuries and absences on international duty and producing a consistently palatable outcome
I thought back to my own playing days and how it was always a mystery to me, and others for that matter, why, provided that I wasn’t injured, I was usually selected.
Others were more skilful, others kicked better, others were quicker, others were more dynamic and obviously most were better looking and more charismatic yet week after week there I was on the team sheet.
It finally dawned on me that the reason I was so often injured was that I was less skilful, I was a bit slower and so I decided to retire.
When I told the coach, an ex serviceman, he was touchingly disappointed and I felt emboldened to ask him why, grateful as I was, he so often selected me.
His answer was a valuable life lesson that I’ve kept with me. He said that it was true that I wasn’t the most skilful, the quickest, or most dynamic but what I did have was team spirit, I was good enough at most things, I was 100% reliable and my mates could always depend on my doing my best and that was why I was always there. He said “you see it’s the team, that’s the thing”.
Martin Johnson and his coaching team have been criticised by the chatteratti as being too conservative and well, too Leicester Tigers. Richard Cockerill, to a lesser extent, suffers from the same chatteratti but both have learned on their feet after being thrust into their respective roles and both have been utterly true to themselves and how they believe they should acquit their respective tasks and the devil take the hindmost.
The England team, built on the collegiate rather than the individual last weekend won the Six Nations for the first time since 2003 when, instead of a team of battle hardened internationals, as was the 2003 England team that went on to win the World Cup, this championship was largely secured using an inexperienced mix of players and without it’s inspirational Captain and the achievement is all the more creditable for that. It is, you see, the team that’s the thing.
At Tigers, due to the the constraints of the limiting artificially low salary cap has Tony Allen filling one of the “Mr Reliable” roles at #12 with the only alternative the talented, but untested in the position, Billy Twelvetrees. The question is how do players get tested? These days results are all whereas when I played the result merely decided who bought the first round in the bar afterwards not whether or not the mortgage got paid that month.
The Salary Cap has imposed a straightjacket of conservatism on the English game that courses through from the senior clubs to the national side to a lesser or greater degree. Management has become risk averse so home grown talent taps its feet, where the young players came to their game through the reserves and then with good exposure to first XV rugby from the bench, now too often and too early they become inert bench sitters for the senior team and wait for injuries to give them their opportunity without, in truth, being adequately tested as they are themselves often the last line of experience within the squad, however limited that may be, and a resource that cannot be squandered but has to be husbanded against the vagaries of injury and international calls.
Tigers are blessed in having a team with redoubts all around, Hamilton, Newby, Waldrom and Allen amongst them, rarely do they have a bad game and always give 100%. It’s their presence that permits the stars to sparkle. It is, you see, the team that’s the thing.
With three weeks having elapsed since the Premiership was last underway and matters international and LV= Cup occupying some minds I thought I’d look back to the last weekend of Premiership action back on 5th March.
I watched both of this week’s protagonists at The Recreation Ground in the last round, firstly seeing Bath on their visit to Kingsholm, where they experienced the usual bad mannered antics of The Shed, how I hate that donkey call they make when a poor kick is executed by the opposition.
I disliked it when I attended Kingsholm regularly and now I’m happily no longer resident in Gloucester I despise it.
What a contrast though between the winning teams that day.
Gloucester’s young backs fizzed and sparkled with senior citizen Tom Voyce getting a brace of tries against his old club, while at Welford Road Saracens abandoned any pretext of providing a semblance of entertaining rugby, barely crossing the Tigers’ advantage line yet thanks to the usual esoteric officiating that is such an unhappy feature of our sport, ran out winners by a solitary point thanks to the boot of Alex Goode.
Bath once again suffered at the set piece although their troubles were exacerbated by referee Greg Garner who permitted Paul Doran-Jones latitude to bind illegally and drop his bind altogether while poor old David Flatman looked on incredulously in that way that front rows do.
The previous week at Adams Park Mr Garner, who is vying for my worst refereeing performance of the year award against a strong field, couldn’t stop himself from distributing Yellow Cards like confetti at a Royal Wedding yet at Kingsholm, where there were more skirmishes than in the overthrowing of a Middle Eastern despot, he minced around telling all and sundry to be good boys and stop fighting or he’d get really, really cross. Where do they get them from?
It will be interesting to see how Dave Pearson acquits himself on Saturday and whether he gets into contention for my award.
In the end and without a set piece to rely on Bath could not stop the tide of Gloucester runners coming in from all points of the compass and the home side got the five points whereas all Bath took home with them was a badly injured Olly Barkley who’s dislocated and broken leg has put him out of the game for a long time I’d bet. Always a shame to see a player injured but all the more so when the player is performing so well.
But at least here we had two teams who actually wanted to play rugby while at Welford Road only Tigers had that lofty ambition. Once again Saracens just dug in and made full use of the Leagunion that we are obliged to watch and so we saw endless phases of possession as Saracens re-enacted the battle of Ypres with over twenty phases of possession seeing them advance barely a yard. In fact they could still be playing now and not have threatened the Tigers’ try line.
In the end though Tigers’ ambition was their undoing as Saracens just waited them out aided and abetted by referee Sean Davey and his touch judges.
Staunton was injured early in the second half and his being left in play for far too long by the Tigers’ management turned out to be a pivotal decision as when poor Billy Twelvetrees eventually came on his first job was to kick another penalty to touch, which he did with considerable aplomb and his second was to kick a simple penalty to win the match which he missed and the game was lost with the youngster surely having a sense of de ja vu having missed another potentially match winning kick in the dying minutes of the drawn European Cup fixture against USAP, which determined a visit to Dublin for the quarter final rather than a home fixture. Just too hard for a youngster to come on for a few minutes and be asked to perform as he’d wish and can.
This week’s visit to the Recreation Ground has a pivotal role in the season’s outcome for both clubs.
Tigers are clinging on to the top of the Premiership by just two points with that arch proponent of stultifying play, Saracens, close behind and likely to score at least four points when they entertain Newcastle Falcons at Vicarage Road on Sunday if their abject performance in the LV=Cup Final is anything to go by. Bath are in fifth and victory for them could seem them overhaul Saints and enter the top four. So a key fixture for both clubs.
What will be a real conundrum for Richard Cockerill is whether to play his returning England contingent from the jump. On the one hand it would be good to bring them back gradually on the other he will want them integrated back into the match day starting XV as it is just two weeks until the match against Leinster and in any event Tigers need to compensate for the reverse against Saracens by winning away.
I am assuming then that the strongest possible side will be picked for the trip to the Spa town so that the returning England internationals can both blow away the miasma of being in the cloistered confines of Pennyhill Park and so that Tigers’ first choice XV gets maximum game time together before travelling to Dublin in a fortnight’s time.
Steve Meehan or whoever makes the selection these days at Bath, will presumably do likewise, as if they aspire for a top four finish they can’t lose a home match at this stage.
The Bath front row continues to look vulnerable, topping the stat for scrums lost on their own ball at 21 compared to Tigers’ 10 and if my guess of David Flatman, Lee Mears and the under used David Wilson start against Cole, Chuter and Ayerza, is correct, I’m not sure the excellent Wilson replacing the front row doyen Duncan Bell will make a big enough difference, I’d reckon an advantage here to the visitors, especially if Louis Deacon starts with George Skivington to give real grunt at the set piece.
Flatman continues to do his weird delayed bind which, to me, seems to gain no advantage but generates penalties.
At the line out Bath also have flaws losing 24 of their own line outs compared to Tigers’ 14 and again I’d see an edge here for the visitors, especially if Tom Croft starts and joins with Deacon, Skivington and Newby in a powerful combination.
Around the park that old warhorse Danny Grewcock still presents a commanding figure for an hour or so, albeit along with Craig Newby he’s well up in the stat for conceding offensive penalties, but time has marched on and it’s Hooper that catches the eye while both Deacon and Skivington are sharp as a Gillette.
In the breakaway forwards I’m expecting Lewis Moody to reappear after his unexpectedly long absence with the superb 66 time capped Scot Simon Taylor moving back to the blindside and the soon to depart but ever excellent footballer, Luke Watson, at #8.
I would once again go with the indefatigable Craig Newby at openside for Tigers with the World class Tom Croft at blindside and Tigers’ own Duracell man, Thomas Waldrom, at #8.
This promises to be a wonderful contest and one that I can’t call but it’ll be worth the ticket money alone.
Tigers absolutely must commit more resources to the breakdown on attacking ball as in their last two matches they have repeatedly been outgunned in this aspect of play and for the life of me I can’t understand why they continue with what is demonstrably a failed tactic. If they persist then Bath will just annihilate them at the breakdown where Tigers have a poor record, being the third worst performers in the Premiership.
All in all then I see Tigers with an advantage at the set piece, honours even in open play but Bath having the edge at the breakdown unless Tigers have used their three week rest to sort the problem.
I cannot imagine that Ben Youngs will not start at scrum half in place of third choice James Grindal who’s done his best to keep his finger in the dyke but in truth he is just not good enough so the England man must start in my view and put the events at the Aviva Stadium behind him together with the spectre of Bryce Lawrence who we will hopefully not have foisted upon us again until the World Cup.
Opposing Youngs will doubtless be Michael Claassens, eight times a Springbok, he is one of the most experienced in the Premiership and when he plays and plays well Bath look a different team as he opens his box of tricks. The South African prefers to keep the ball in hand as his position as third in the passes made stat demonstrates and it is this preference that gives his team their dynamism and ability to retain the ball and mount consistent attacks.
However I think that Youngs will get under his skin and that the older man will find his youthful opponent a real handful behind a pressurised pack.
At fly half I hope to see Toby Flood getting back into the Tigers’ groove as he will be able to give the opposing fly half, Butch James, a good workout. James still has wonderful vision but against Gloucester a lack of pace was shown up on occasion and his tackling was therefore often mistimed so with Flood standing flat there may be opportunities in the 9/10 channel.
At centre, with the serious injury to Olly Barkley, Bath will presumably have to choose between the uber reliable Sam Vesty who can kick a bit and Shontayne Hape who can’t. This is a tricky one for Bath as losing Barkley’s 80% plus kicking expertise means that their front line kicker is James who can blow very hot or very cold from the kicking tee and also bases his game, like Claassens, on keeping the ball in hand rather than kicking in open play, a function usually performed with great dexterity by Barkley.
It’s hard to see Tony Allen getting much change in the 10/12 channel if Hape plays, even though he was almost invisible in the England vs Ireland match and one dimensional in attack before that but he can sure tackle so maybe this is time to give Twelvetrees his moment at some point as his size may prove more of a challenge although Allen will not let anybody down, especially with the superior service that he’ll get from Flood, it’s just that against such a strong defence, as could be provided by James and Hape, the question is whether he’ll manage to achieve any penetration. If Vesty starts then Allen may well find some holes but I’d still like to see Twelvetrees given some relevant game time if things don’t work out and that his introduction isn’t left until the supporters are gathering their possessions for the trip home.
The Premiership’s top try scorer; Manu Tuilagi will be in the outside centre slot for Tigers and here again it’ll be interesting to see who Bath select. Banahan or Aussie Matt Carraro look the most likely candidates although Williams has impressed and must have a strong claim. The giant Channel Islander has been having a high old time of late busting through Premiership defences and the big man is playing well for his club so looks to be the likely starter and will be a big challenge for Manu Tuilagi’s defensive education.
Banahan hasn’t replicated his club form in the England shirt but England don’t use him in the same way as do Bath where he often runs a Chris Ashton type line off James who runs a loop putting Banahan through the gap he creates as the defenders are drawn to the South African.
Out wide for Bath the Banahan/Carraro option also exists and I’d reckon on this being used one way or the other with Tom Biggs on the other flank after his superb solo score up at Kingsholm and if fit see Nick Abendanon return to replace the somewhat statuesque giant, Jack Cuthbert, at full back.
The Bath faithful would certainly be relieved to see the dynamic Abendanon restored while Tigers would relish the prospect of probing in behind Cuthbert who doesn’t much like turning and stooping for the ball although the blond haired Abendanon does turnover a lot of ball from getting himself isolated as his confidence tempts him to out run his support.
With Matt Smith back to fitness I expect to see him resume with Alex Tuilagi and Scott Hamilton to make up Tigers’ back three and I’d expect to see Tuilagi A and M target Biggs in attack but be wary of his elusiveness and pace when defending.
In general Bath are accomplished at keeping possession but in spite of this the stats confirm that, like Tigers, they make fewer offloads than most teams and this term have carried the ball two hundred times fewer than have Tigers.
Tigers are atop the stats for metres gained and defenders beaten whereas Bath are down in ninth and eleventh places respectively. They also manage relatively few clean breaks managing just 38 against Tigers’ 84, the two teams being tenth and second in the stats for this year’s Premiership.
So there’s plenty of dynamism available from the visitors as their position as the premiership’s top try scorers amply shows but the opportunity for them to demonstrate this will, as ever, depend on the victor in the battle of the packs.
If Bath can get decent possession then they’ll take all the stopping however if, as I think, Tigers dominate the set piece and they’ve sorted out their problems at the breakdown then I can see a close fought victory for Tigers but if the breakdown issue hasn’t been resolved by Tigers then a comfortable victory for the home side.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011:03:30:19:34:53 by Stephen Bath.
I too believe Tigers will just shade it if they start to protect their breakdown ball better.
I hope that the Tigers will be able to get back to winning ways down at the Wreck, 4 points would do very nicely as 5 look very unlikely.
So I hope for good luck, improved success at the breakdown for Tigers and a win.
Thank you.
Oh but one thing - Bath is a city!
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011:03:23:12:08:32 by Rich W.
It takes a lot of time and effort to do what he does - I know I've tried it and it's tough - so if you're going to criticise at least try to back up what you say rather than simply snipe.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011:03:23:11:44:58 by Rich W.
Exceptional work again, Chris.
Thanks
Go * Hoggers! [* Fill in as appropriate, but remember, his/her opinion is as valid as any other on here]
Weather looks fine so far, but you know how easily the Wreck can mire
'Profit Motive' .. the Vaseline of genocides.
'Reality' .. the new cynicism
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I worry about Butch James opposite Flood with the Leinster match 2 weeks away! Also you will have a frustrated Moody flying at him, so I would consider giving him a week off and bringing him back for match practice against Quins.
Quote:can be characterised except as an abuse of the writer. You're effectively saying that he's one eyed and a whinger and you're offering no counter argument at all.A bit of a one eyed preview and fairly typical of Tigers attitude to referees; ie if you don't get decisions at Welford Road you whinge about it!
...
In answer to Rich's question:
Quote:ChrisC
yet thanks to the usual esoteric officiating that is such an unhappy feature of our sport, ran out winners by a solitary point thanks to the boot of Alex Goode.
Quote:ChrisC
Tigers’ ambition was their undoing as Saracens just waited them out aided and abetted by referee Sean Davey and his touch judges
An alarming distance off what actually happened - and I know it's a preview about a different game, and hence the need to generalise everything (a bit like "Saracens abandoned any pretext of providing a semblance of entertaining rugby, barely crossing the Tigers’ advantage line"). But to my mind, if all you're going to do is misrepresent what happened, then don't bother mentioning it at all.
Rant over. Aside from that, a typically insightful and readable preview.
'Profit Motive' .. the Vaseline of genocides.
'Reality' .. the new cynicism
As I write them you may assume that they reflect my opinion of events both past, present and in the future.
Obviously if others have conflicting opinions they are welcome to bring them on here and debate them (and mine for that matter) I would however appreciate not being called names such as One Eyed and a Whinger.
Thank you.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011:03:23:18:02:15 by ChrisC.
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Quote:Saracens4Life
But to my mind, if all you're going to do is misrepresent what happened, then don't bother mentioning it at all.
I'll need some help from our pal S4L on this I'm afraid so I can learn for the future, as strangely I seem to know even less now than when I was 17.
From my perspective I haven't misrepresented anything just given my opinion of what I saw. The implication from S4L is that my opinion must chime with that of (in this case) Saracens's supporters to make in worth making.
Or am I confused - again?
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Quote:in reference to his quotes from your article as an opinion on the game to which he is entitled.An alarming distance off what actually happened
My point is that this is different from just saying that you are one eyed and whingeing.
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Odd how prickly some Saracens' supporters are. I can't recall a supporter(s) from another club commenting on the little round up of the action bit I do. I'd always assumed that the only people who read my previews are those from the clubs involved in the previewed match.
It is a much bigger praise than the odd derogatory comment.
My opinion, for however much or little it is worth, is that you misrepresent the role of the referee in our match, and underestimate the role of our team. I'm happy to leave it there, though...no use crying over spilt blood, etc. etc.
In terms of Sarries' supporters being "prickly", maybe it is true, but it seems to me that there are plenty of reasons for supporters of other teams to make snide comments about Saracens, rightly or wrongly - not saying you are here! - Venter, for example, or the 'South African takeover', or our boring style. Maybe this is my own problem of being too sensitive, but I tend to feel inclined to state the case of my own club when I feel it is being criticised unfairly by others.
Underestimate, exaggerate are OK but lie - hmmm - no thanks.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011:03:24:14:27:24 by ChrisC.
And S4L - does it not occur to you that the fact that tere are so many supporters of other clubs asserting these things that maybe there is a reason behind them?
I'd be the first to question the validity of assuming something true when it is evidenced by little more than consensus such as this the question needs to be asked.
I know some clubs like to court the 'no-one likes us we don't care' bunker mentality - hell it's an approach levelled our way before now but maybe you're turning it into a self-fulfilling prophecy now.
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But people are very kind to say (generally) such generous things which is much appreciated.
Very well done chris and I hope you are right about it being a tight game! Without barclay to keep the scoreboard ticking over, we at Bath have not created many try scoring opportunities and certainly I believe we are one of the lowest try scorers in the league! If the Tiger's forwards get their aggressive game going we are going to struggle up front in the front 5 which then ties in our back row which means you can run around the field and kick for position at will. I (regetfully) cannot see how Bath can win unless something crazy happens like Tigers see a man sent off, Dave Pearson has a mare,(he is no lover of Bath), Crofty gets hurt as he pinched a lot of our ball earlier this season, or Butch James suddenly finds 2 yards extra pace.
Tigers by at least 10! Boo hoo.
I will ignore the negative comments that have been made suffice to say that you just need to look at the top of the page to understand the context in which the preview is written...
I'll be at the match with my boy. I expect we'll see within five minutes whether Tigers have addressed our weakness at the ruck or not.
COME ON YOU TIGERS !
*********************************************************
Chew this!
Beneath the rule of mens' oppressive state
The pen is likelier than the sward. Behold
The arch-enchanter's wand! - itself a nothing!
But taking saucery from the masters-hand,
To paralyse the Caesars, strike the fence,
Stride the loud earth breathless! Take away the fog.
Sheep, aspire to be unique.
Everyone else saw that coming
'Profit Motive' .. the Vaseline of genocides.
'Reality' .. the new cynicism
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011:03:30:19:35:50 by Stephen Bath.
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