Leicester Tigers
Jackass - London Irish v Tigers Preview
By ChrisC
November 30 2010
Will Tigers be the Jackasses? As Tigers make their annual pilgrimage to Reading they will hope that their hosts will not have to reprise their appearance in the US prankster show Jackass, when they taught the show’s stars; Johnny Knoxville and Chris Pontius, how to play rugby, albeit without success.
There are rumours that the Madejski Stadium is to be renamed the City of Apia Stadium to make the Samoan international contingent, who make up the main community of Exiles down in Reading these days feel at home, the South Sea Islanders’ presence being second only to the English at the club.
There’s just one capped Irishman these days, that old warhorse Bob Casey, who has only uncapped compatriot Brian Blaney to keep him company. How things change! Back in the early 1990s the London Irish side boasted coracle loads of Irish international players with Simon Geoghegan, Jim Staples, David Curtis, Mark McCall, Brian Robinson, Niall Woods, Gary Halpin, Rob Saunders and of course Conor O’Shea all playing for the Exiles but that was way back before London Irish merged with London Scottish and Richmond in a financial survival pact in 1999 and moved to Reading with a subsequent gradual dilution of the Irish connection and the birth of their soubriquet of the Not –Nots – not in London and not Irish!
They have been contenders for honours since then although as yet they have just the Powergen Cup in 2002 and the Middlesex Sevens cup secured in 2009 in the trophy cabinet.
This season they are once again contending for the Premiership and as they meet the Champions this Saturday they are clinging on to second place in the league following their beating by a depleted Northampton and who, already eight points clear at the top, increasingly look nailed on to win the league this year – provided Tong’uhia and Mujati stay fit.
The final score line of 35 – 23 frankly flattered London Irish who were thoroughly dismantled, the Saints scrum enjoying domination until, with the match won, the home side’s front row was changed following which the visitors gained some semblance of equilibrium.
It must be of concern to Toby Booth that, as was the case against Sale, Wasps and Scarlets, their scrum was in such difficulty and that in spite of just having the Samoans Mapusua and Stowers absent on international duty and their countryman Tagicakibau injured missing from their starting line up, they got so little out of the international period.
Meanwhile at Welford Road, where even Tigers couldn’t provide an Irishman with Geordan Murphy, the latest to be kidnapped by his national side, they nevertheless conducted a six try 44 – 19 rout of Newcastle Falcons.
If Tigers can secure their first Premiership victory this term down at Reading and other results are helpful they can go second by the end of the weekend.
For me this is a seminal match against London Irish as if Tigers can get themselves into second spot I’d expect them to stay there, as the back end of the season should be kinder than the first, and see them well positioned to take advantage of any slip ups by the putative champions.
The question is can Tigers stop their dismal away form?
Tigers will get their internationals back albeit without Tom Croft, who is a big loss, as any World Class player would be, but the injury list otherwise show signs of improving.
In the pack against Saints Irish started with a front row of skipper, All Black Clarke Dermody, ex Tiger, James (Cabbage) Buckland and 39 time capped Romanian Ion Paulica.
They had a hard time against the Saints triumvirate who dominated in spite of Paulica repeatedly binding around Tong’uhia’s bicep and doing so in full view of referee Tim Wigglesworth but then why would the referee want to be boring and implement the scrum laws these days?
Things improved, unsurprisingly, when Tonga’uhia and Mujati were replaced and 14 time Springbok Faan Rautenbach replaced the Romanian for the visitors.
I’d expect Toby Booth to start Rautenbach, David Paice and Dermody against what is surely to be the Tigers’ strongest starting set up of Castrogiovanni, Chuter and Ayerza with Cole on the bench after his exertions against South Africa whereas Castrogiovanni, like Cole, has just started in three internationals the Italian Behemoth’s have arguably been of a less arduous nature, Italy having avoided the All Blacks and South Africa.
This should be an area of advantage to Tigers if the scrummaging of the hosts over the past few weeks is anything to go by and we do have Dave Pearson blowing the whistle this week.
In the second row Irish last started with local legend Bob Casey and England’s mystery reject Nick Kennedy but this established prime lineout stealing team looked strangely out of sorts, heaven knows what would have happened had Courtenay Laws not been otherwise engaged.
At about the hour mark Kennedy was replaced by Essex born Matt Garvey who at 23 looks a real prospect. I liked his mobility and he was solid in the lineout, one to watch I reckon.
Happily Louis Deacon has returned from injury for Tigers and came through the Newcastle game unscathed, he will give some much needed relief to the excellent Ed Slater who I hope Tigers management will see fit to make a permanent member of the squad to replace Richard Blaze.
Opposition supporters are often dismissive of Deacon but I doubt that their players are similarly inclined.
Obviously the loss of Tom Croft with the unusual injury of a broken shoulder blade is a grievous blow at line out time where he’s one of the best in the World however Newby and Crane are making a good contribution here and I can see the line out being a pretty even contest as Irish don’t lose many on their own throw and Tigers seem to have recovered their composure in this department with Skivington showing consistent improvement and presence.
In the back row Waldrom is making a very good job of his move to blindside and with Jordan Crane has formed something of a marauding crew, while Craig Newby has grown into the reprise of his All Black role at openside.
On the basis that it’s good to have your best players on the park I’d expect to see Tongan international Chris Hala'ufia at blindside, who was one of the bright spots for Irish at Franklins Gardens with his strong ball carrying and that Steffon Armitage will continue at open side.
If Armitage clashes with Thomas Waldrom though it will be like the war of the Weebles.
In form Jordan Crane should continue at #8 and come head to head with the returning Samoan powerhouse, George Stowers, who’s temper can be as short as Kylie Minogue’s hot pants but he’s a phenomenal ball carrier.
The match up between the two sets of breakaway forwards will be a real eye-catcher and if the hosts persist in the lax defending around the fringes as they did against Saints then I see some real gains here for Tigers as I also expect the Irish trio to be operating behind a front five that’s under pressure.
Hopefully we’ll see Ben Youngs restored and none the worse for his exploits with the national team linking with his international half back partner Toby Flood. Should Flood be unfit the vastly improved Billy Twelvetrees at #10 can only benefit from Youngs presence especially if he is behind a pack giving plenty of go forward ball.
For the hosts Hodgson will continue at scrum half where he has looked very sharp and his sweeping role in defence most impressive. He passes the ball most often of all the Premiership scrum halves and it’s a good pass at that.
Ryan Lamb will be in the #10 shirt and for me this lad holds much of the contest’s outcome in his hands.
He has always interested me as I was in Gloucester when he first came to prominence with his precocious talent. After his annihilation by Alex Tuilagi in the 2006/7 end of season knock out cup final he was never quite the same in defence and even now he shares the top of the Premiership stats for missed tackles so I have watched him for two consecutive weeks against Wasps and Saints.
It seems that Mike Catt, having identified the weakness, uses the strategy in defence of Lamb swopping position with the outside centre but even when he’s there he doesn’t seem to align himself to tackle and against Wasps he was often in front of the defensive line so that any relieving kick would find him offside let alone leaving a dog leg in the defensive line.
Other than for this the stratagem works unless there’s a turnover when the choice has to be made whether to realign the defence or leave Lamb to defend his channel. If the first choice is made seconds pass and a gap briefly appears at 9/12 and if the second is selected Lamb often still shows a marked reluctance to tackle. It is a conundrum and calls for fine judgement as if Lamb gets to the outside centre’s position and the attackers have moved the ball wide quickly then he is exposed there instead.
When he’s on the front foot he makes relatively few clean breaks or offloads and his sometimes hurried pass is amongst the poorer in the Premiership but he is a very intelligent and accomplished kicker from hand and while he tops the stats for missed conversions, which is not altogether surprising given the number of conversions he has to take, his penalties are usually well taken and he greatly favours the chip when in attack although I feel that sometimes he is taking this option with a wish to avoid contact subsidiary to furthering the advance.
Tony Allen will this week enjoy a full week’s training at Oval Park and will be readying himself to build on last Saturday’s excellent display and face Irish’s new boy, Kiwi Dan Bowden. I’ve been impressed with I’ve seen of this ex Canterbury Crusader, he’s strong in the tackle and has great line speed invariably seeing him break the gain line.
I expect to see the superb Mapusua restored at outside centre fresh from his standout performances for Samoa in the Autumn internationals, although that said his stand in, countryman Elvis Seveali'i, has been impressive, it’s just that Mapusua is a force of nature and with Bowden represents a massive defensive challenge for the visitors as Boden can easily pop the samoan through the defence so there must be temptation to set Manu Tuilagi against him and although there’s nothing wrong with Matt Smith’s defensive record if Tuilagi junior is there it will have the added frisson of his facing Lamb who will surely wonder how many Tuilagis can there be!
If the fantastic Sailosi Tagicakibau, yet another Samoan international, is still on sick leave it will be a relief for Tigers not to see this arch finisher on parade who can work his magic from anywhere on the park however they will not need to breathe too deep a sigh of relief as his understudy, the very impressive young Jonathan Joseph, has already scored five tries from just eight appearances in the Premiership this year and looks a real good prospect – where do Irish keep getting these wingers from – do they have secret production line hidden away in deepest Sunbury?
It’s good to see Topsy Ojo restored and while I felt against Saints he didn’t look quite as lightening fast as usual his all round game is now excellent and he forms a great partnership with Delon Armitage who’s England mantle has been assumed by Ben Foden, although I remain surprised that given his broader range of skills Armitage has not had a run at centre instead of the more limited Banahan.
Armitage going forward is a wonder to behold with a style as smooth as a silk scarf on Beyonce’s thigh but when he’s made to turn or face a determined attacker with a lower centre of gravity he can look a bit like Bambi on ice.
With both Tuilagi the elder and Geordan Murphy having safely negotiated the internationals for their respective countries, I assume Hamilton will revert to the wing with Alex Tuilagi on the other flank and Geordan Murphy reinstated at Full Back where I think he’s happier with the game management aspect of his captaincy now that he has his henchman Jordan Crane back at the coal face organising things.
The moral here for Tigers is not to aimlessly kick the ball to the Irish back three as they’ll run it back with interest, better to work through the phases and given the weather forecast for rain and snow to initially keep the ball in hand amongst the forwards.
So will it be a Jackass or jubilation moment at The Madejski for Tigers?
Well you know I have the strangest feeling they may just sneak a win.
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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2010:12:08:18:01:41 by Stephen Bath.
MWM
LONDON IRISH - and loving it......
LET'S GO IRISH....LET'S GO IRISH
...........
I noticed on Friday night that Lamb moved to #8 on defensive scrums I guess to stay out of the way. I suppose with a pack that was already in retreat mode it didn't really matter but did keep him out of the way.
Add to that The Tank and Jordan running from deep and we should be able to target him at almost any phase!
Cruel? Moi?
...
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