By GoFasterStripes
September 17 2006

Venue: Welford Road, Leicester Attendance: 16815 Referee: Mr. Spreadbury A warm but overcast afternoon held an air of uncertainty for the Tigers faithful... Even at this early stage of the season, we had already seen the sharp contrast in the emotional highs and lows well known to any dedicated follower of a sporting team. The euphoria of the thrilling victory over Sale had been quickly dampened by the comprehensive defeat at Bath; a result which may have assumed greater significance with Bath’s heavy loss this afternoon at Franklin’s Gardens.

At present, life for the average Tigers fan is akin to Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates, in that “you never know what yer gonna get.”

So it was with a record so far of won one, lost one that we welcomed the famous Cherry and Whites from Kingsholm, who, going into this game, had recorded victories in both their opening matches.

Gloucester kicked off the first half towards the Welford Road end of the ground. Tigers, unable to clear their lines sufficiently, conceded a second minute drop goal to the Gloucester fly-half, Wallie Walker. Although Andy Goode was able to level the scores with a penalty three minutes later, Luke Abraham was adjudged to tackle his man in the air after 7 minutes, the resultant penalty allowing Gloucester to regain the lead, 3-6. Abraham was immediately sent for treatment for a head wound, to be replaced temporarily by Lewis Moody, in what was the first move in a revolving door policy between the two flankers.

An Andy Goode penalty on the 9 minute mark levelled the scores once more, the same man kicking Tigers into a 9-6 lead four minutes later after a high tackle on Seru Rabeni was spotted by the referee. Though there appeared to be three or four incidents such as this throughout the game, this was the only one that was punished. Abraham returned to the field following this score.

The absences from the team of Darryl Gibson and Ollie Smith had meant the Tigers’ midfield being the subject of much debate before the match. However, if Gloucester were hoping to help themselves to a couple of Mr Gump’s soft centres, they were to be disappointed. Matt Cornwell acquitted himself ably enough and Dan Hipkiss was his usual industrious self, not shirking the contact areas. It was the latter who crossed for the first try of the game on 18 minutes. After Leicester had made good field position, the stocky number 13 broke the defending tackle to go over to the right of the posts. A Goode conversion made the difference a healthy 16-6 from a Leicester perspective.

After hard work had brought Gloucester’ pack to a good position inside Leicester’s 22, an infringement in the scrum led to a free kick being awarded to the home side. Monsieur Califano provided a moment of mirth for the Crumbie regulars, who without needing to be expert lip-readers, learned that the French prop had certainly mastered swearing in English! A sniping run from Scott Bemand came to an end when the scrum-half knocked on in the tackle. Following a passing move among the backs, a forward pass from Julian White cost Leicester dear when Seru Rabeni would have had a clear run to the line. Maybe the prop was disorientated at finding himself so far out wide.

Gloucester have a long, proud tradition, dating back to 1873 and a match against a team of their pedigree was never going to be easy. The impressive Peter Richards was at the heart of most moves for Gloucester, looking lively around the scrum all afternoon, continually inviting his back line to run at the Tigers and threatening to find a gap at any opportunity. On 31 minutes, after several phases of Gloucester possession, Walker reduced the visitor’s deficit with his second drop goal of the game, taking the score to 16-9.

Both teams continued to seek a way through each other’s defences, with neither appearing to gain the upper hand for any length of time. A 37th minute Leicester attack was halted inside the Gloucester 22 when a penalty was awarded against the home side, only to be reversed due to a Gloucester indiscretion. Unfortunately, Andy Goode was unable to capitalise, pushing his effort wide of the posts. The score remained the same until the half time whistle.

During the break, the crowd gave a good and well deserved reception to the County’s cricketers, this season’s Twenty20 champions, who had come to parade the impressive looking trophy. Four years can seem a long time. How nice it was to be reminded of what a trophy looks like! Here’s hoping it isn’t the only piece of silverware to be seen at Welford Road this season.

As the teams emerged for the second half, Lewis Moody had replaced Abraham. The first score of the half was a Goode penalty, which stretched the lead to ten points at 19-9, after which Moody was replaced by Abraham (you see the revolving door theme now).

A clearing kick landed in the Crumbie terrace a minute later. Although we like to welcome new players to our club, both home-grown and overseas, Martin Castrogiovanni might have been forgiven for thinking otherwise. As the Tigers subs warmed up along the touch line, the Italian prop received an earful of rugby ball, as it was thrown back towards the pitch by a spectator. As a prop, he will have had worse and at least he saw the funny side of it; maybe hard not to with several hundred people laughing.

Walker failed with a penalty attempt for Gloucester on 43 minutes after Tigers were penalised for holding on. This was soon forgotten when the visitors scored their first try through James Forrester. A promising position for Tigers had come to nothing when Andy Goode chose to attempt a kick behind Gloucester’s defence. The ball was collected by Gloucester who ran back at the Tigers with purpose. After several phases, with Richards still at the heart of things, the ball was shipped out to Forrester, lurking on the left hand side, who managed to run the ball in at the corner. Walker missed the conversion but Gloucester were well back in the match at 19-14.

The 53rd minute signalled the end of the game for Leicester’s Argentine debutant, Marcos Ayerza. The prop, who had a solid start to his Tigers career, was warmly applauded from the field as he was replaced by Martin Castrogiovanni. A scrum in the Gloucester 22 saw Julian White exerting pressure on his opposite number. Leicester remained deep in the visitors’ territory. As the ball was taken by Bemand, Seru Rabeni burst onto a pass, broke the defence and used his power to score a well deserved try. For those familiar with the big Fijian’s injury troubles, this was a great moment. The winger had looked for work all afternoon and had used his presence to break the first line of defence throughout the match, usually taking out two defenders in the process.

The conversion was missed but at 24-14, Tigers now had a ten point cushion once more. On 55 minutes, Moody replaced Abraham (copy and paste).

Teams from Kingsholm do not habitually roll over in meek submission and there was to be no exception on this occasion. Their well drilled back line fashioned a 56th minute try for centre Anthony Allen. Walker made a break, supported by Keil. A lateral run from Richards saw the scrum half link with Keil, who supplied his fellow centre with the scoring pass. The successful conversion reduced Gloucester’s arrears to only 3 points.

Shortly after the restart, Tigers were able to stretch the lead to 27-21 with Goode’s last penalty of the match. Seru Rabeni made way for Tom Varndell soon afterwards.

On the hour, receiving a kick inside his 22, Andy Goode made a poor decision to stretch the play across the field rather than clearing his lines. The ball reached Jordan Crane, who found himself isolated and was penalised for holding on. The penalty made the score 27-24 and Gloucester were ominously chipping away at the Leicester lead.

The next few minutes were somewhat frenetic. A promising Leicester move came to an end deep in Gloucester territory when Dan Hipkiss received man and ball, losing possession in the tackle. Brad Davies replaced Wallie Walker, who limped from the field after having had a tidy game and Peter Richards had been substituted by Lawson. A fine break form Sam Vesty down the left wing was disappointingly curtailed when an obstruction was awarded against Tigers in Gloucester’s 22. Then, in one of the best moves of the game, Geordan Murphy caught a high cross-field kick, only to be bundled into touch short of the try line.

After 70 minutes, Andy Goode was replaced by Paul Burke. The Irishman’s first meaningful contribution was to have a clearance kick charged down. Only desperate defence from Geordan Murphy, who was forced to concede the 5 metre scrum, saved the day. Leicester withstood the Gloucester pressure and a clearance kick by Scott Bemand was brilliantly caught by Murphy, only for the otherwise impressive George Chuter to knock the ball on as he tried to keep the move going.

On 75 minutes, Gloucester were given the opportunity to level the score at 27 all, when Tigers conceded an eminently kickable penalty, an invitation that Brad Davies duly accepted.

The last throw of the dice for Tigers was a long range drop goal attempt by Burke, which was poorly struck.

So, the score remained the same at the final whistle, with Gloucester perhaps being the happier of the two sides with the draw. Tigers were not at full strength but neither were the visitors, who were worth their share of the points. If Gloucester can keep what looks to be a promising young side together, there are signs that there may be good times ahead at Kingsholm.

For Tigers, the match was something of a curate’s egg. There were flashes of individual flair from Geordan Murphy and Sam Vesty, whilst George Chuter, busy throughout, received the man of the match award. Jordan Crane had a solid enough game and there were some promising forward drives. On the negative side, there seemed to be a lack of a general game plan. Tigers let good leads slip away and had plenty of opportunities to win the game. The team will need to take such opportunities more ruthlessly if the season is to be successful.

Thus far, it really has been a selection box of won one, drawn one, lost one.