By Chris Chaplin
December 30 2003

The New Year starts with one of the most atmospheric of fixtures between two really traditional sides; Gloucester RFC and Leicester Football Club and already the red diesel in tractors all over Gloucestershire is being replaced with the legal stuff in readiness for the trek north.

Following their respective home victories last weekend when Tigers’ pack comprehensively dismantled Leeds Tykes and Gloucester squeezed home by a single point against Quins the two teams find themselves at opposite ends of the mid table with the Kingsholm outfit in fifth place and within just three points of Saints.

Tigers victory enabled them to draw level with their opponents on Saturday with both teams now on 24 points and at least able to knock on the door marked “mid-table – this way to the Wildcard”

A win or a loss would see Tigers remain in eighth place behind Falcons and Quins who are seven points away in joint seventh and fortuitously play each other at Kingston Park next weekend however it would dramatically improve Tigers chances of getting into the Wildcard again with a five point win seeing them within two points of the final spot and at least another chance of European competition at the highest level.

From Glaws perspective a win would see them with a chance to escape the mid table into the top four with the fourth place occupant facing a tricky visit to third placed London Irish who are just a point ahead of them on 36.

The closeness of the table is illustrated by the fact just a single five point win separates the third and seventh placed teams.

So as ever it’s a key weekend with only Bath and Rotherham placed in such a way as to feel that the die is not pretty much cast.

Gloucester have had a difficult season with the loss of key players to the World Cup and of others to pastures anew as well as more than their fair share of injuries.

Although Woodman and the increasingly injury prone Vickery were missed the biggest loss to my mind was that of Andy Gomersall who has seen his career resurrected by Nigel Melville. To compound his loss and surprisingly there being no quality replacement available, Ludovic Mercier departed, so the half-backs have not really functioned.

In the pack Argentinean medico Roncero has had a good run since returning from his country’s truncated Australian adventure but I rather expect to see the now World Class Trevor Woodman start against the Tigers and bring the powerful open field running that has seen him score vital match winning tries since he returned to the fold, to the Cherry and Whites cause

Vickery has yet to make an appearance even on the bench since his latest injury, to his ribs I believe, so veteran Andy Deacon will probably start in support of hooker Chris Fortey although here too there is some doubt over his participation after his being given a Red Card last weekend when deciding to go fifteen rounds with Quins Jim Evans and referee Tony Spreadbury taking the view that “boys should not be boys” after all and giving them both their marching orders.

Traditionally the Kingsholm management impose an immediate club ban in such circumstances. If they stick to that policy then with close season signing Scotland international Steve Brotherstone absent with a long term injury it would fall to young ex Cambridge University hooker Chris Collins to fill the breach.

In the second row Nigel Melville’s inspired signing of ex Bristol player Alex Brown has seen the Achilles Heel of last season, the lineout, aided by Fortey’s less esoteric throwing than that of Azam, vastly improve with Brown a real nuisance on opposition ball where he is one of the best purloiners of attacking ball in the premiership. Brown is also dynamic in the loose and a robust defender.

Speaking of robust makes me think of Adam Eustace who appears to be cementing his place as first choice ahead of the rather less combative Mark Cornwall who’s play in loose never seems to quite match up to his set piece work.

Injuries have badly affected the Gloucester back row with both Andy Hazell and the excellent James Forrester absent. I understand that while Forrester is unlikely to be back soon Hazell is making good progress. Certainly the dynamism and speed of the back row would be assisted were either to be available as while the combination of Buxton and Junior Paramore is without doubt a powerful one in close quarters open play and of course exemplary in the maul it is really left to the wonderful South African, Jake Boer, to bring some pace and variety to the proceedings, which are otherwise a bit stolid.

I have already mentioned “renaissance man” Andy Gomersall who, with Bryan Redpath, is the outstanding scrum-half at present. Technically excellent with a superb flat, fast, long pass, from a stable foot position, he gives his fly-half or inside centre every chance to shine. Much is made of Matt Dawson’s sniping runs but for my money Gomersall is his equal these days and he must still be in shock that he didn’t get more of chance to showcase his talents at the World Cup where quite extraordinarily Bracken was preferred.

All fly-halves want the kind of service that Gomersall gives and controversial signing Duncan McRae is now in that happy position. I have to immediately declare myself as not being a fan of the truculent Australian. He was OK when he played at Saracens and was of course fortunate to be possessed of great recuperative powers.

I’ve seen him play since his return and while to be fair (and you have no idea how hard it is for me to be so) he suffered from often terrible service but those days have passed and most of my Glaws supporter friends are still unsure as whether McRae has been a worthwhile signing. I expect that there will be plenty of grubber kicks through the Tigers defence for Simpson-Daniel or Marcel Garvey to run on to and some hospital passes for Henry Paul who is left to do the creative stuff. McRae does not seem to have great pace and has limited ambition and ability. Having said all that what are the odds that he’ll have a blinder on Saturday?!

Henry Paul, now at last settled at inside centre, is also the front line kicker for the Cherry and Whites these days although his success rate is in the mid 60 percents this term which is not really in the top class with Leeds Gordon Ross, until last weekend’s miss at Welford Road, enjoying a 100% strike rate and our own Ramiro Pez at over 70%.

Henry Paul undoubtedly has talent and when he’s in the mood he can be irresistible but he so often looks rather detached and disinterested it’s hard to know which Henry Paul is going to turn up. If it’s the one that turns his back on the opposition defenders before making his pass and seemingly doesn’t want to get involved up close and personal then reading the Glaws game-plan is a much less complicated process. If the mercurial, fleet footed, tactical aware version puts in an appearance then things can get difficult for the opposition as Glaws have a match potential winner.

Still one of the most difficult selection decisions for Melville has to be between Robert Todd or Terry Fanolua. I like both players tremendously but the Samoan centre does not have Robert Todd’s ability to straighten the attack and so often the wing gets very cramped as he crabs cross field. Both are strong running, strong tackling, arch pass interceptors. Whoever starts the Tigers’ backs will need to be on their mettle.

Many Glaws supporters long for Simpson- Daniel to be given a run at outside centre and I have to say I have a lot of sympathy with that viewpoint. Like Ollie Smith, Sinbad is a prodigiously talented young man and in the Gloucester man’s case seems to be getting back to his best after a spate of injuries and illness, our Ollie is of course at his best when played in position. If ball gets into the midfield expect to see Sinbad come looking for it and targeting the 12/13 channel with his trademark shimmy and go.

Marcel Garvey on the other hand rarely seems to go looking for work and I have to say that I’ve been a bit disappointed with the way this lad has failed to better develop the raw talent that we saw when he burst on the scene last year. Sure he’s scored tries and is a great finisher but he doesn’t seem to add to the overall team performance and these days wingers who remain steadfastly on their wings awaiting silver service are a bit of an outdated concept. Certainly his defensive abilities cause raised eyebrows and clutching of heads in the Shed. Having said all that if he does get the ball he can produce results but will often get driven across field looking for the gap that more and more premiership defences are unwilling to provide.

Thinius Delport was carried off with a knee injury during the second half of the match against Quins last weekend so there’s presently some doubt as to whether he’ll start on Saturday. Supremely talented and misused by South Africa during the World Cup where he played on the wing, a position for which he lacks the pace required. Delport was my choice as premiership full-back of the 2002/3 season and I was looking forward to seeing him against our own Jaco who ousted him from the national #15 shirt. If Delport has a sick note probably the talented youngster John Goodridge, who gave such a good account of himself during the World Cup period will start.

Still not at their best will last year’s Premiership winners stifle the green shoots of recovery that we saw against Leeds last weekend?

Without doubt the performance of a below strength Tigers pack last weekend was of the highest order.

Some supporters have remained critical of Darren Morris’ fitness and conviction and if they persist in such a view after watching him destroy his opposite number last Saturday then perhaps they need to reassess their understanding of the sport. Morris was around the park, tackling, linking and generally showing why he was a British Lion. With Rowntree putting in a virtuoso try scoring performance and Jim Richards looking the real deal and hopefully set to become a good young long term signing. If Woodman and Vickery are back then of course the Tigers front three will have their work cut out but I rather think they could do it and I’d forgive Morris an ironic salute to his detractors! Oh but of course the players are not allowed to acknowledge the supporters so there’s no danger of that!

I trust that coach Richards will deem the Cherry and Whites to be of sufficient importance to start Johnno and Kay from the outset for while Louis Deacon had a fine ball stealing game the team still looks somehow different when the England captain is on the field.

It was noticeable last Saturday that when a prolonged wobble took place after another motivational and tactical half-time talk for some peculiar reason again visiting a change from a winning strategy, it was not until Johnno ambled on that things steadied and the shape that had been so successful in the latter part of the first half was restored.

The back row of Backy, Henry Tuilagi and Will Johnson also played well with Johnno junior’s height being an advantage in providing another potential lineout target. Of course if Corry is again fit, which I hear he may be, then he should be at #8 with Henry left at #6 to terrify the opposition with his tremendous power play.

Although Oz looked a bit rattled for the first ten minutes when there was a veritable onslaught from the Tykes once he settled into the game he had a first rate second half an hour and showed what a good player he can be. After the half-time break he was clearly unhappy with the change in game plan and some of his spark went until Johnno steadied the ship. What an impossible situation Neil Back has been placed in with the presence of Johnno demanding and commanding respect and once he’s on the field there’s no doubt who everybody, including Backy, thinks is in charge.

It was nice to see Andy Goode back where he belongs and to see undone the wrongs visited upon him by weak management in permitting Oz to become first choice #10. Pity it happened in the first place of course and one could be forgiven for pinpointing the Oz/Goode/Kafer affair as the catalyst that brought about our current back play problems.

Goode played well scoring the same number of points as did Pez against Gwent Dragons when again the pack was dominant. I heard a very strange man being interviewed on Radio Leicester on my way home from Welford Road last Saturday who waxed lyrical over Goode as compared to Pez, seemingly being unaware that on the rare occasions that the Italy fly-half has been able to adopt the attacking rather than defensive role he has performed with equal aplomb to that shown by Andy Goode on Saturday. Mind you this same individual blamed Ben Kay’s poor line-out calls for the problems at the set piece this season presumably again unaware that Ben had been absent for most of the season! Sadly I didn’t have my hands-free connected or I could have been Mr Angry!

It sounds unlikely that Gibson will be back for this weekend and if that is the case please let Ollie play in position at #13 from where he made the wonderful break that put Fred over in the corner and start Gelderbloom at 12. Leon looked as unsuited to the #13 shirt as ever, going to ground and killing the moves, passing behind, beneath and over his team-mates, missing tackles and generally looking like a good winger, as we saw when he popped up to score against Dragons, being played out of position, if he’s there on Saturday the Glaws centres will be licking their lips.

Baxter looked much more assured in the better conditions and has been a really good signing with his line in taking Goode’s try making pass being just wonderful and Fred, sans knee strapping, looked in better fettle but again there was an enormous amount of spilled and otherwise wasted ball which the pack had secured in such prodigious quantities.

Jaco continued to show his class although there was a surreal moment when Vesty came on at #15 and an incredulous Jaco went to the wing – it was near where I sit and Jaco’s face was a picture as neither he nor we in the Members’ could believe it. The side then lost any shape that it had behind the pack following the half-time instructions to break what isn’t broke and Jaco and we were mighty relieved when Johnno set matters aright shortly after and Tigers again pressed on the loud pedal.

So will the teasing green shoots that we saw against first Gwent and now Leeds be nurtured or trodden under the Cherry and White boot?

In last week’s summary I said that there needed to be a change from the tactics employed in the second half against Saints and so it was, with Tigers essentially playing excellent ten man rugby and if they go on in similar vein against a still out of sorts, but gutsy and improving Gloucester and pick all the available backs in their best positions and leave them there for the duration it’ll be a win.

However if they again try to play the kind of game that the backs simply cannot yet deliver the resultant loose ball will be a Godsend to the Glaws backs as will any pursuit by Tigers of the endless kicking away of possession.

Oh and perhaps do away with the half time talk – they could stay on the pitch and have half an orange each instead.