Leicester Tigers
The Season so far....
By Stopsy
January 24 2013
The Season Part 1 Yet to play well for a whole half let alone a game with one exception, that wonderful Tuesday night in November against the Maoris.
We started off against London Welsh away as expected a bonus point win but many were shocked at the way we lost concentration and let in a try from a missed touch finder and then another through the “after you” school of tackling. Both of these features have been repeated too often for my liking so far. The Welsh results in games since have certainly put that result into perspective.
Next up Worcester and another bonus point win and our first penalty try, Lemi scoring a scorching try against us with Grove adding another two through questionable defence.
And so to Wembley to face the Saracens where all the razzamatazz couldn’t not compensate for a drab 9-9 draw with us taking a 0-9 lead. I suppose we were the happier of the 2 sides with the result against a side expected to be there or there about at the end of the season.
Harlequins came to town and returned home with 4 points in the bag, Flood repeating his 3 penalties of the previous week while we let in 22 at the other end to another of the fancied sides.
A solid win against the admirable Exeter saw Thompstone announce his arrival with 3 tries but concentration went to allow them in on the final whistle.
I passed up the chance to sit on the motorway on a Friday night to visit the Salford City Stadium, my nearest ground, nothing appealed to me about the idea. We were losing 8-3 and then scored 17 unanswered points to take the game with Ben Youngs scoring our sole try of the evening.
And so to the H(eineken) Cup and an away trip to the mighty Toulouse, gulp! We played a controlled game and were containing them. At 6 - 9 ahead it was looking good, surely it will only be a matter of time until the crowd starts to get on their backs. Then we tried to run it out and a pass too far was fumbled. Gael Fickou seizing the loose ball, chipping and winning the race through to score. After that McAlister took the game away from us, penalty by penalty as we tried that bit too hard to get back into the game. One slip, that’s all it takes at this level. I will however remember Matt Smith’s try saving intervention at the death, sheer determination to reach through Huget to touch the ball down.
We then welcomed the Ospreys and got the kick off time wrong, either that or we thought we’d make the challenge a little trickier by letting them score a try in minute 1, indeed our generosity enabled them to go 0 – 10 ahead before we came too. That’s not quite fair on the Welsh side who played very well for their points, there again its Ospreys so why worry about being fair? Gradually we clawed our way back in to the game with a try for Manu to get back to 10 – 10 but we couldn’t shake them off until a most unlikely finish with us scoring 3 tries in the last 10 minutes. From the stygian gloom of being out of the cup with 4 games to go, all of a sudden, last week’s loss wasn’t looking so bad.
Gloucester away, sloppy in defence and seemingly brainless in attack. With Gloucester reduced to 5 backs we chose to spend 10 minutes in a dick measuring contest with their forwards.
And so to our first sell out as Saints rolled in to town. For my first live game of the season I was accompanied by two colleagues who had never been to a rugby game before. Pretty it wasn’t, tense it was, it seemed rather a tame affair after the recent matches between our two clubs. They loved it, from the samosas in the Swan & Rushes to the curry afterwards, where on pointing out an ex player, one of them said “what, the one with the cauliflower face”, he was right!
We were savaged away at Saracens in the LV= cup but won the last 30 minutes 7 – 21, that said the Saracens had puffed themselves out by all that running around in amassing 31 unanswered points prior to that. Messrs Cain, Noone and Thacker will remember scoring tries on their debuts.
And so to the most enjoyable game and probably best performance I have seen for a while. The New Zealand Maoris were starting their tour. There had been doubts expressed from the antipodes as to whether there would be any decent opposition on this tour, I am still smirking as I type! What an evening, another two rugby virgin colleagues joined me and we arrived just 5 minutes before the Haka due to dreadful traffic coming in to town. The Haka was great and in the main well respected until the false finish which brought a ripple of applause and laughter which was quickly quietened as the final and menacing advance up the pitch began. OK I found it menacing, I think Deacs and his merry men found it inspiring by what followed. The line ups for the anthems showed some monstrous size in the visitors and in particular their props, this young Balmain will have his work cut out tonight! The game set off and we thundered in to them 3 - 0 from a Ford penalty, time to photograph the scoreboard! They then attacked and the splendidly whiskered Eaton charged on from a quickly taken penalty stepped inside and passed to the supporting player without a hand being laid on him, it was going to be a long evening. It was a brilliant evening shared with over 17,000 other souls, what accuracy from Ford and Morris for the latter’s try and what pace from Thompstone for his. A friendly it was not and our visitors did not enjoy being behind, I was rather hoping that Mr Latimer might decide to stay with the winners for a few seasons. And what, you ask of the young lad Balmain? Well, he saw off two of them and left the field a man.
To put on a show like that when missing so many, speaks volumes of our club and please let’s have many more nights such as this.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013:02:04:19:57:22 by Tiggs.
When Jon Callard talks of the bizarre 'draft system' as the making of players, he should look at where his current quality has developed, Manu and Ben became men against South Africa. The Balmain Train learned more against the Maori and no doubt in training with our prop school than a season loaned out to another team.
IMO.
But such trite comment aside .. lovely Mike, thanks
'Lions led by donkeys' .. Lest we forget
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