By apb on 2/5/2003
May 2 2003

Around about this time last week, we were looking at the Tigers game and considered it to be a must-win game for the Tykes to get into the Heineken cup. Walking away from Welford Road, we hung our heads, thinking that we'd blown it.

Such a narrow margin of defeat is always the worst way to do it - you can never enjoy the spectacle one way or another, and to have the game taken away from you by such a small margin rubs salt into the wound.

But in the cold light of day there was plenty of positive stuff to come out of it. The pack pushed the Tigers around, the backs did look pretty fluid (apart from the last five minutes or so), and the guys really did keep at it right until the final whistle. And, although sixth in the league at the moment, we are easily in with a chance of that fourth spot yet, as long as we get good wins from our last two games - although this is increasingly harder after tonights victory for Saints over Quins that included a bonus point for them.

So what hope for a win against Gloucester?

Well, the first little bit of hope is perhaps the fact that Gloucester have already won the league. Due to the erroneous "Zurich Championship" playoff games, we cannot yet call them the English champions, and while it is recognised by all concerned that this is a pretty silly situation, it does mean that Gloucester have still to win the title at Twickenham. That, coupled with several injuries (Mercier, Woodman, Azam, Forrester, Simpson-Daniel, Hazel and Garvey will not make the trip north) means that Gloucester might not be quite at their very best. Better news for the Cherry and Whites is that Vickery will be in the team, and Andy Gomarsall, despite sustaining a hand injury last week, is likely to start.

Last week, Dean Richards commented that the Tykes pack were the toughest Leicester have played against in English rugby all season. Assuming that wasn't just out-and-out flattery, Gloucester will have been very close in there, so expect a pretty tight tussle in the front line. The exclusion of Simpson-Daniel and Garvey from the Gloucester back line suggests they might be shorter of attacking pace than a full strength team could provide, but beware! They will be skippered this week by England sevens captain Simon Amor, and anyone who's ever tried sevens will know that you have to be able to run a bit to be any good at that form of the sport!

The second bit of cheery news for Tykes fans is that Cap'n Mike returns to the starting line-up, demoting Justin Wring back to the bench. After Wring's excellent performance at Welford Road, however, its difficult to see him staying off the pitch for the whole game. Gavin Kerr also returns to the starting lineup, leaving Leeds with the first choice front row back in harness. Alan Dickens' lively game in the second half last week is also rewarded with a start on Sunday, although don't be surprised if Deggsy comes on in the second half - PD really seems to rate these two scrum-halves extremely equally. Stewart Campbell returns to the Tykes bench, which means there is no room for Matt Holt with Rawlinson, Hegarty, Zac, Emmo and Hall making up the list of replacements. Something of a blow is that Scarbrough is still unfit, but with a "back three" of Harder, Albanese and Stanley, Leeds have plenty of threats in the running game, and a quartet of tries for the big man Diego against his old club would really go down a treat!

Prediction

Gloucester have the strength in depth to give Leeds a real test. The Heineken Cup is another step up from Premiership intensity, and for Leeds to step up to that particular mark, they will have to prove that they are worthy of the place they desire by winning this kind of crunch match. I think they can do it, but it will be close, tough, and almost certainly will involve injuries. With the wind (and the crowd) behind them, I would put it to be Leeds to win by the odd penalty....

Lets hope I'm right for once!

Tykes Squad:
15. Diego Albanese
14. George Harder
13. Tristan Davies
12. Braam van Straaten
11. Winston Stanley
10. Gordon Ross
9. Alan Dickens
1. Mike Shelley (c)
2. Mark Regan
3. Gavin Kerr
4. Chris Murphy
5. Tom Palmer
6. Cameron Mather
7. Dan Hyde
8. Alix Popham

Replacements
16. Justin Wring
17. Rob Rawlinson
18. Stewart Campbell
19. Isaac Feaunati
20. Derek Hegarty
21. Craig Emmerson
22. Chris Hall

Gloucester Squad from:
Simon Amor
Tom Beim
Chris Catling
Thinus Delport
Terry Fanolua
Andy Gomarsall
Daren O’Leary
Henry Paul
Clive Stuart-Smith
Robert Todd

Forwards
Pete Buxton
Adam Caves
Chris Collins
Andy Deacon
Adam Eustace
Rob Fidler
Darren Molloy
Luke Narraway
Junior Paramore
Ed Pearce
Rondrigo Roncero
Phil Vickery

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