By GoFasterStripes2
November 7 2010

On a wet and miserable evening, which must have put a dampener on many a Bonfire Night party, Leicester Tigers entertained Harlequins in the LV Cup; a competition that it may be fair to say has not wholly caught the rugby public’s imagination.  Whilst the increased capacity of Welford Road may at times make crowds look smaller than they are, the official attendance of 16197 did appear to be a little generous.

For those hardy souls that had chosen to forego any celebrations marking Mr. Fawkes’s demise, there were very few bright sparks in the 80 minutes of rugby to light up the evening.

Harlequins came to Leicester with two Tigers old boys in their ranks, former Quins skipper Will Skinner and Ollie Smith, making his first return to the club since departing for French fields a few seasons back.  In addition to the former Tigers, further experience ran through the visitors’ side in the shape of Chris Robshaw, Nick Evans and a host of first team regulars.

With the likes of Julian White, Marcos Ayerza, Dan Hipkiss and Jordan Crane in the Tigers team, Richard Cockerill had by no means selected a weak side, so there was some justifiable optimism despite the weather conditions that the crowd would be rewarded for their attendance with a half decent encounter.
Just 3 minutes after Mr. Pearson had blown to start the game, Tigers conceded a penalty on half way, from which Nick Evans opened Quins’ account.  Although Billy Twelvetrees levelled shortly afterwards, another Evans penalty after good work from Camacho and Lindsay-Hague had pushed the visitors deep into Leicester’s 22, restored the 3 point advantage.  This penalty was the first of a pattern, in which Tigers were repeatedly “pinged” for offside, each time being punished by Evans’s boot to extend the lead to 12-3.  To give credit to the Harlequins back row, the home side were largely second best at the breakdown for most of the game.

Billy Twelvetrees, who kicked impeccably from the tee all evening, slowly reduced arrears with a couple of penalties of his own before the Leicester forwards began to assert some pressure and forced the visitors into repeat offending.  Twelvetrees drew the scores level on the half hour but this seemed to galvanise the Quins, who managed to work a converted try for lock Tomas Vallejos, who did well to make the touchdown despite the attentions of two Tigers defenders.  Evans added the extras.
Tigers’ chances of hitting back received a setback when Rob Hawkins was shown a yellow card.  In Hawkins’s absence, Evans extended the lead to 22-12 with another penalty and the score remained unchanged at the half time whistle.

In the second half, a Twelvetrees penalty reduced the gap but despite the return to the field of Hawkins, Quins were once again stung into action and scored another try after a defending high kick was gathered by their scrum half, Karl Dickson, who set up a counter attack from which Tom Guest crossed the whitewash.  At 29-15, the prospect of a positive result for Tigers was not looking good.
Billy Twelvetrees was replaced by Manu Tuilagi, shortly after maintaining his 100% record with a penalty to make the score 29-18.

Just after the hour, Camacho effectively sealed the win for Quins, running in their third 5-pointer after Nick Evans had skillfully provided the try with a clever kick across the field for his winger to gather.
The penalty count now swung back against Harlequins, with Joe Marler seeing yellow subsequent to repeated infringements at the set piece.  Tigers opted for further scrummages, which culminated in the award of a penalty try as Mr. Pearson’s patience was expended with the visitors.  Young fly-half George Ford converted but it was a case of too little too late for Tigers, who despite a late surge were unable to encroach within bonus point territory before the final whistle, at which Harlequins ran out deserved winners at 34-25.  Quins are the first side to triumph at Leicester in this competition and will surely be delighted with their victory, a win at Welford Road being a cherished prize for any visiting team. 
Despite the disappointing scoreline, there were some encouraging displays from the Tigers side.  Billy Twelvetrees looked very assured in his place kicking and young George Ford stood up well and will hopefully develop into a first class 10.

On a night when a warm fire and traditional 5th of November treats like faggots, peas and baked spuds seemed an eminently more attractive proposition than the LV Cup, the home crowd slipped away, thoughts and hopes no doubt of better days to come in the Aviva and Heineken competitions.
Before that however, is the small matter of the Australian national side………..

Leicester Tigers vs. Harlequins LV Cup – Friday 5th November

Discussion started by TheLeicesterTigers.co.uk , 07/11/2010 19:35

TheLeicesterTigers.co.uk
07/11/2010 19:35

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010:11:14:08:16:33 by Stephen Bath.

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Rich W
07/11/2010 21:01

Thanks GFS!

...

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Stopsy
08/11/2010 09:12

Many thanks GFS

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Angostura
08/11/2010 12:40

A very fair write-up, thanks. Massive thank you to all you Tiggers who made the few travelling Quins fans welcome. Always great to go to a real rugby ground with knoweldgable fans who understand the term "friendly banter". We had a great time as always, made even better by the win.

RESPECT THE REF - NO REF, NO GAME!

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Tiggs
08/11/2010 17:45

Cheers GSF, good read. And glad, as always, that away suporters had a good time too.

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RodneyRegis
09/11/2010 16:18

Quote:

Quins were once again stung into action and scored another try after a defending high kick was gathered by their scrum half, Karl Dickson, who set up a counter attack from which Tom Guest crossed the whitewash.

The take/break was actually Camacho, not Dickson.

Nice report.

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