The Silence of the Tigers


Courtesy of Tiggs

By IanB
February 24 2009

A few teams have visited Welford Road this year and managed to silence the crowd at some stage during the match, but this is the first time that I can recall anyone reducing the Tiger’s Faithful to abject silence for the first 30 minutes of a game.

There was the odd “Oooh” as the ball was knocked on; the occasional ”Ahh!” when the pass did not quite go to hand; a rare “Awww!” as Murphy missed his touch; a gentle ripple of applause when Dupuy converted a penalty after what seemed like an eternity of 22 error-strewn minutes.

 

And there were many errors from both squads, but it was the home team made the most at the breakdowns, managing to turn over Worcester possession almost at will.

 

The first of Leicester’s five tries of the day came from Ayerza who finished of a mid-field move started by Crane and involving Tigers captain, Mauger and Scott Hamilton. The relief that was felt in the cheer from the home supporters was almost tangible. Dupuy got the extras to extend Leicester’s lead to 10 – 0.

 

In a flurry of activity (well, 3 minutes worth), Tigers found themselves 17 -0 in the lead when Tuilagi finished a move in the left corner at the club-house end which was started by an excellent mid-field break by Vesty. An impressive conversion from Dupuy from way out near the touchline started to make the game look terribly one sided.

 

The first 20 minutes of the second half saw the attention centred, yet again, on Worcester. Two substitutions saw Mullan and Rawlinson come on for Morris and Gillies before the restart.

 

Five minutes later, and Worcester got their only points of the day with a try from Bowley. No.8, Horstmann, set up the move in the middle of the park to give the lock a virtually unopposed run in to cross the white wash. Carlisle could not convert the afters and the score remained on 17 – 5.

 

A further flurry of activity saw the third, fourth and fifth tries of the afternoon from Leicester on 64, 70 and 73 minutes.

 

Ben Youngs dived over the line from close range after a period of pressure in the Worcester 22, Vesty converted and then went on to score and convert his own try after sterling work by Croft. The afternoon was rounded off  with a try from Smith who finished another Mauger / Hamilton move – Vesty added the two and the score board read 38 -5 at the whistle.

 

Worcester, it must be said, did not help themselves. The visitors surrendered possession all too easily at the ruck and the fact that they had two players binned (Sanderson after 57 minutes and then Lutui on 67) did not help their cause. By the time Julian White collected his yellow card, the scrums were already uncontested, and Worcester had just under 3 minutes to turn the game around!

 

All in all, this was a very welcome 5-point win for Leicester Tigers. Both of these teams have problems of their own, this season. Worcester face the prospect of finishing in the bottom three this season, but in all honesty, even on this performance, we will be seeing them back at Welford Road next year. Leicester are slightly adrift of a play-off place, now level on points with Quins after their 14 – 9 win at The Stoop (39), and three points away from Bath on 42, who have also have a game in hand having played 13 games so far.

 

Above Bath are London Irish (43 – played 15), Sale Sharks (45 – played 14) and top of the pile Gloucester (46) after 15 games.

 

It’s all to play for………

 

Teams:

Leicester: G Murphy (J Murphy, 52); S Hamilton, M Smith, A Mauger (capt), A Tuilagi (A Erinle, 66); S Vesty, J Dupuy (B Youngs, 57); M Ayerza, B Kayser (G Chuter, 64), M Castrogiovanni (J White, 48), L Deacon (T Croft, 64), B Kay, C Newby, B Woods, J Crane (B Deacon, 56).

Worcester: W Walker; R Gear, D Rasmussen, L Crichton (A Grove, 39), M Garvey; J Carlisle (M Benjamin, 71), M Powell (R Powell, 74); D Morris (M Mullan, Half time), C Fortey, T Taumoepeau (A Lutui, 60), W Bowley, C Gillies (G Rawlinson, Half time), T Wood (N Talei, 74), P Sanderson (capt), K Horstmann.

Referee: R. Poite (France).

Attendance: 17,081

Match time line:

 

First half

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time

Type

Leicester

Type

Worcester

Score

22

Pen

J Dupuy

 

 

3

0

28

Try

M Ayerza

 

 

8

0

28

Conv

J Dupuy

 

 

10

0

31

Try

A Tuilagi

 

 

15

0

31

Conv

J Dupuy

 

 

17

0

39

 

 

Sub

A Grove for

 L Crichton

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Second half

 

 

 

 

Time

Type

Leicester

Type

Worcester

Score

40

 

 

Sub

M Mullan for

D Morris

17

0

40

 

 

Sub

G Rawlinson  for C Gillies

17

0

47

 

 

Try

W Bowley

17

5

48

Sub

J White for

M Castrogiovanni

 

 

17

5

52

Sub

J Murphy  for

G Murphy

 

 

17

5

56

Sub

B Deacon for

J Crane

 

 

17

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