By Denise
May 21 2003

The third in the series of my most memorable Tigers games is the match that hinted that Lady Luck was wearing Tiger stripes in the season of the double 2001-2002. However, to be honest it wasn't just the fact that Tigers grabbed a win from the jaws of defeat that makes this match memorable to me. Respect to the Homo USAPians

The third in the series of my most memorable Tigers games is the match that hinted that Lady Luck was wearing Tiger stripes in the season of the double 2001-2002. However, to be honest it wasn't just the fact that Tigers grabbed a win from the jaws of defeat that makes this match memorable to me.

The morning before the match saw the band of travelling supporters plastering unsuspecting Perpignan red, green and white, they were everywhere you looked enjoying the local food and drink in the autumn sunshine.

The Tigers supporters' journey to the game in the evening saw us being 'greeted' by the locals, who looked quite shocked to see us. A couple of busloads of us pulled up near the ground and we made our way up a narrow road to the Stade Aime Giral with shirts and flags proudly on display.
On getting to the arched entrance the wooden flag poles were confiscated and thrown on to pile (which were later adopted by people on the way out of the stadium). We marched into the stadium and the locals must have felt like they were being invaded as we made our presence known by singing loudly anything we could think of, such as Swing Low, Frere Jacques (?). Some of the locals appreciated our efforts but you got the feeling they don't see supporters like that very often.

Before the match there was time for a few more drinks and the opportunity to watch the boys train on the neighbouring training pitch. It was getting dark by now and there was a real buzz about the place.

So we made our way to our seats. Fortunately most of the Tigers supporters were all positioned together. There was a fair old number of us and we were very vocal (compared to normal). However it became obvious fairly soon that there was no way our band of a couple of hundred supporters would be able to out-sing the Perpignan fans as we had the Pau supporters the year before.
I had never and have still not experienced an atmosphere like it, for me it beat both Heineken Cup finals. There were flares being let off, and a band played almost continuously throughout. It felt like a bull fight as a chant of Ole! went round the ground.

Anyway I suppose I should talk about the game a bit although most of it was pretty forgettable. I'm sure quite a few players would like to forget the game happened especially the first half. The kickers traded penalties with Thierry Lacroix in imperious form compared to Stimpson who seemed to be having an off day along with the rest of the team which was fairly weak with no Johnno, Backy or Cozza in the starting line-up.

I seem to remember most of us begging the team to pass the ball to Boothy as he looked in form and in place to score, but in the first half at least it never happened. At the break it looked pretty bleak, we couldn't score tries and Tim's kicking boots looked like they had been left in England.
However, in the second half as has been the case on a couple of occasions (in previous years obviously ;o) ) things started to click a bit more. A major shift happened when Neil Back came on the pitch and added the fighting spirit and desire to win. After being 13 points down and with the outlook grim suddenly Tim managed to nail his penalties and low and behold someone passed to Boothy and we scored a try!!! Amazingly we were right back in it.

With only minute left on the clock we were awarded a penalty within kickable distance and Stimmo stepped up to take it knowing it would put us in the lead. He made his usual approach to the ball but slipped just after hitting the ball, the Perpignan fans all laughed as he ended up on his backside…they didn't laugh for long though, the ball went sailing through posts in front of where the majority of the USAP fans were sat. The Tigers supporters were ecstatic, so much jumping around and hugging that peoples glasses went flying. Surely that was it, surely we had win the game!

Oh no, don't be silly it wasn't going to be that easy. Tigers went on to give away a penalty in USAP's half and that was it we thought…it's all over, he hadn't missed one all night. However, the confidence was fading from the immaculate kicker and the penalty was by no means an easy one. He kicked it and from where I was sitting it looked like it missed by miles. Obviously the Tiger supporters were ecstatic once again…surely that was it now.

Nope, the game continues and Tigers give away another penalty in the USAP half…he can't miss twice surely? He approached the ball and in what seemed like a rerun of Stimmo's earlier attempt he slipped over and fell on his behind, however unlike Stimpson he hadn't managed to kick the ball through the uprights. Again ecstasy and when the final whistle blew most of us were in a state of disbelief and were pretty exhausted after an emotional rollercoaster ride. The USAP fans gave the Tigers supporters a round of applause that was reciprocated, not by a local intent on showing all the travelling supporters his assets but we won't go into that. An amazing atmosphere and a thrilling game, European Rugby at it's best.


Perpignan 30 - 31 Leicester 27-Oct-2001

Teams
1. Stephane De Besombes
2. Michel Koniekiewicz
3. Renaud Peillard
4. John Daniell
5. Jerome Thion
6. Sylvain Deroeux (c)
7. Raphael Jechoux
8. Phil Murphy
9. Jacques Basset
10. Thierry Lacroix
11. Robbie McDonald
12. Pascal Giordani
13. Didier Plana
14. Farid Sid
15. Frederic Cermeno

Reserves:
Marc Dal Maso
Jean-Marc Souverbie
Rimas Alvarez Kairelis
Jose Orengo
Bernard Goutta

1. Darren Garforth
2. Dorian West (c)
3. Graham Rowntree
4. Ben Kay
5. Louis Deacon
6. Lewis Moody
7. Josh Kronfeld
8. Peter Short
9. Austin Healey
10. Andy Goode
11. Steve Booth
12. Rod Kafer
13. Glenn Gelderbloom
14. Geordan Murphy
15. Tim Stimpson

Reserves:
Neil Back
George Chuter
Jamie Hamilton

Attendance: 12000