By Ro
April 5 2006

A Tigers Development team blending youth and experience ran out against Bristol United in front of a subdued crowd at Welford Road on Monday evening. In this era of the professional Rugby supporter it is unbelievable that the crowd could not even string together more than a few half-hearted “clap-clap clappy-clap clappy-clap-clap clap clap TIGERS” together. Some spectators were obviously still carrying niggling injuries from last Saturday’s excellent performance. Thankfully SRS on the microphone did not make any requests for extra effort. He might have been lynched!

All in all it was a lack-lustre performance by the Welford Road faithful with notable exceptions. Mitchell Culpin, just turned 17 and making his Development team debut, got a big cheer from his fan club, but the biggest welcome was for Tigers’ replacement, Daryl Gibson. Having been relegated to the position of water-boy after injuring first his head and then his shoulder in the autumn, many supporters must have wondered whether they would ever see Daryl get his kit on again!

Tigers’ game plan was clear from the start. With Scotty Bemand and Ian Humphreys at half back it was always going to be their intention to throw the ball around amongst the backs. Bristol kicked off the first half towards the clubhouse and almost immediately knocked on inside the Tigers’ 22. Tigers decided to take the advantage and ran out of defence. It did not take long until Alesana Tuilagi got the first score under the posts. Humphreys had an easy conversion.

Two minutes later, Tigers found themselves penalised at the scrum and Bris fly half, Danny Gray, put three points on the board. Alex soon caught the eye of the referee for a high tackle and Gray slotted another penalty.

Humphreys took another kick at goal when Bris were caught offside in their 22. From the Crumbie (!) it looked a straightforward enough kick but the ball bounced off the upright and the scores remained unchanged. It was not until the 24th minute that Matt Cornwell was penalised for holding on and Gray took an easy three points.

In the 42nd minute it was the turn of the forwards to show what they could do and with a concerted effort from the lineout drove Michael Holford over for a try. Humphreys had no trouble in converting and the half ended Tigers 14 Bristol 9.

Poor Bris may have been lulled into a false sense of security. Both teams seemed to be evenly matched in the first half, then Tigers stepped it up a gear. Tries came thick and fast at the beginning of the second half, with Culpin scoring on his debut in the right hand corner – much to the delight of his fans.

It can be no coincidence that Jim Hamilton hails from Barkers’ Butts RFC, the junior club of Danny Grewcock. Seconds after being ‘spoken to’ for an infringement he was pinged again for handling in the ruck and given a 10 minute break. The extra man finally told and after a great deal of effort Bristol pushed over the line for a try, converted by Gray.

Tigers’ tactics changed slightly when Luke Abraham was substituted by Henry Tuilagi. He ran head down at anyone who got in his way. Bemand tapped and went as Bristol infringed and finally went over in front of the Next stand, again too wide out for Humphreys to convert.

Daryl replaced Matt Cornwell shortly afterwards. It was good to see him playing again. No doubt it will take time for him to get back to his best but the signs were encouraging.

Tigers managed to score twice again, the final one through Alex Dodge.

Final score: Tigers 43 Bristol 16

Man of the Match: Leo Cullen

Teams:
Tigers – 15 Matt Smith, 14 Mitchell Culpin, 13 Alesana Tuilagi, 12 Matt Cornwell (Daryl Gibson), 11 Alex Dodge, 10 Ian Humphreys, 9 Scott Bemand (c) (Rob Springall), 1 Michael Holford, 2 George Chuter (Chris Whitehead), 3 David Young (John Rawson), 4 James Hamilton (Tom Croft), 5 Leo Cullen, 6 Luke Abraham (Henry Tuilagi), 7 Will Skinner, 8 Brent Wilson (Ben Pienaar).

Bristol Utd – 15 Tommy Hayes, 14 Sam Smee, 13 Andy Reay, 12 Mark Denney, 11 David Lemi, 10 Danny Gray, 9 Greg Nicholls, 1 Alex Clark, 2 Neil Clark, 3 Mark Irish, 4 Mariano Sambucetti, 5 Roy Winters, 6 Ulia Ulia, 7 Craig Short (c), 8 Richard Martin-Redman

Replacements – 16 Tom Fidler, 17 Saul Nelson, 18 Dave Bufton, 19 Chris Morgan, 20 James Phillips, 21 Jake Rauluni, 22 Jon Pritchard