Leicester Tigers
Saints v Tigers AP Match Preview
By ChrisC
March 24 2014
Dog Days. I like dogs. I couldn't have one when I was a child being brought up in a north London flat and my mother was not an animal person - unless it was on plate. I never really took to cats until a pure white feline adopted us after our last dog went to that big kennel in the sky.
I think she liked me well enough in that aloof, disdainful way that cats do as they go about their business, the demands of which, if by happy coincidence aligning with yours, makes for a harmonious relationship. But if your paths are tangential, then a bit of adjustment, by the human involved, is required. Cats have an inbuilt sense of give and take – the owner gives and the cat takes!
However that changed when I was stricken with serious illness and the little cat rather took me under her paw and, aside from taking her leave to conduct ablutions and take on sustenance, she never left my side for those long months which stretched into a year and more. We bonded during those dark days but when I had made what she judged to be suitable progress toward recovery she resumed her previous life while keeping a watching brief on my welfare, resuming her vigil as she somehow instinctively knew if I had regressed.
It was then an awful blow when she suddenly died. On the Sunday she was well, on Monday she wasn’t herself and by Tuesday she was dead. “No more pets” we vowed, deciding that we just didn’t again want the trauma of eventually euthanizing another beloved animal, a duty that befalls a pet owner as a final repayment for the pleasure bestowed by their furry friend.
Finally after thirty-four years of pet ownership: dogs, cats, horses, birds and fish, we were free of all ties and we enjoyed our liberty. We held out until we returned from our last trip to Spain and on a sunny early Spring Sunday we, after agonising over the decision, visited an open day at our local animal rescue “just to look” and there he was!
We’ve always had big dogs; Dobermanns and the like but there, in a pen, was this little scrap of dog-kind. While his neighbouring cellmates were barking fit to bust he silently came over and looked at us appraisingly through the bars then, seemingly satisfied, turned and regained his bed in the far corner of the pen from where his mournful eyes, fixed in entreaty, never left us.
He was thought to be barely a year old when he was dumped into a cold and frosty pre-Christmas December night and after collection by a dog warden was consigned to the rescue centre where happily fit dogs aren’t routinely destroyed after a cursory pause on death row while their erstwhile owner’s rights of ownership are extinguished.
So a week later, after we had first conducted a pre-emptive strike on Pets at Home, he came home with us. I had forgotten how enthusiastic young dogs are; every day is a great day, every walk is a new excitement, food is marvellous, riding is the car is a fantastic adventure, let’s just “DO IT” and it matters not what “IT” is just as long as it’s done with us.
He’s small; having a lineage that seemingly contains Chihuahua, Jack Russell and Italian Greyhound but is blessed with a huge personality and, like me, likes nothing better than settling down (in his case on my lap) to watch rugby but bright as he is I’ve not yet been able to get him to emulate Prince from the 1970’s Esther Ranzten’s “That’s Life” programme and “speak”, which is maybe just as well as I dread to think what vocabulary he’d learn from watching rugby with me!
So as I write this he’s in my study with me, dozing in his bed replete from his dinner and dreaming of adventures to come, while I wonder who’ll be rugby’s East Midlands’ top dog come Saturday evening.
Northampton will be pleased to be back in the warm embrace of the Franklins Gardens’ faithful after two uncomfortable weeks on the road where they first succumbed to the unrelenting intensity of Exeter Chiefs and then their talented line up looked disconnected as they failed to break through Sale’s resolute defence for even a consolation try. Sale meanwhile breached the Saints’ try line through Cueto, Brady and Jones.
For the purposes of my deliberations I shall make only passing comment on these two displays which have lacked the intensity that has otherwise been the hallmark of Saints’ Premiership season and which I’d expect to return when the old enemy from up the M1 rolls into town next Saturday.
Tigers were back on home turf when they played host to the newly crowned kings of the LV= Cup who they demolished with a six try, 45 point haul, their largest tally of the season, in a match where it all came together for the home side as they played with perfervid aggression and accuracy.
Tigers’ front row putting another trio of pretenders to the sword as they limbered up for next weekend.
Tom Youngs, his solipsistic detractors will note, was accurate with his line out work. How instructive that it only seems to go awry when playing for England. He bustled around, tackled and carried the ball with great intent and, unlike his opposite number this weekend, managed to maintain his discipline.
The Welford Road favourite will doubtless once more be in a troika with the rock solid Ayerza and the hard working Mulipola.
Northampton’s front row combination has been largely settled. Those who feared that, with the high profile departures at the end of last season, this would be an area of difficulty, must be mightily relieved as Alex Waller, who’s had the patience of a saint as he awaited his time in the limelight, has been splendidly fierce and precise in proving his right to the #1 shirt in the continuing absence of Corbisiero who played in the reverse fixture at Welford Road and gave the already weary Cole a run for his money.
Dylan Hartley has been, well Dylan Hartley. When he’s otherwise engaged, be it on international duty, taking up residence in the sin bin, dismissed from the match or serving a suspension, Saints don’t function as well as when their talisman is on parade, so I expect to see him alongside Alex Waller and Salesi Ma’afu who, in spite of a name oozing with South Seas’ royal heritage, was born in Australia whom he represented on fourteen occasions. Ex of ACT Brumbies and Western Force, from where he has travelled to the delights of Northamptonshire for this season, he brings a solid cornerstone to the Saints’ front row.
For all that though Ma’afu will have to contend with the world class Ayerza, while Waller senior takes on Mulipola. I can see that, refereeing permitting, Tigers could win the front row battle.
I think that to bring power to the Tigers’ scrum we could see Louis Deacon retained alongside new skipper Ed Slater who goes from strength to strength and has surely only to go on as he is for the appointment to become permanent. The Tigers’ lineout was pretty bomb proof against Exeter but the probable locking combination of Lawes and Christian Day will be a challenge of a whole different magnitude. Lawes has collected two yellow cards thus far this season so has some leeway to have a better disciplinary record than last term when he collected three.
With the steadying influence of the analytical Christian Day providing a guiding hand the East Ender will be a real threat at the line out and in the loose where his ball carrying and tackling promises a seismic confrontation with Slater.
Jamie Gibson has become a bastion in the Tigers’ line out adding to its efficacy in the same way as does Tom Wood to that of the hosts and I don’t see much between the sides in this aspect of the game, especially as there’s seemingly no requirement for hookers to trouble themselves by throwing the ball between the two lines of receivers. Just a case of whether sanctioning the offence is deemed necessary at some point as the Randometer whirrs before making its selection.
As is the case with Tigers’ Scully, Saints’ Manoa is off with the American Eagles in pursuit of qualification for next year’s World Cup. The American is a big loss to the hosts and with Dickinson missing last weekend I wonder if he’s injured. If he’s fit then his ball carrying will be welcomed by the home support but if not then it will probably be the excellent Worcester bound South African G J van Velze, ex of the Blue Bulls. He got plenty of action in his first season at Franklins Gardens but his opportunities have been limited this term. I really rate him and he’d be another ball carrying threat with Clark and Wood left to do the dirty work at the breakdown while Lawes bursts through around the fringes.
Jordan Crane has found some good form at just the right time and is back to his gain line busting, offloading best. With Gibson and turnover king Salvi rested and in good shape Northampton will need a quantum leap back to their usual standard at the breakdown above that they managed in Manchester if Tigers are not to prevail in the contact area as they did against Exeter.
The breakdown is an area where the randomisation of decisions by the match officials again raises its head, so much so that I routinely rewind to look at the incident that has drawn the ire of the officials and even looking twice or thrice I’m damned if I can see what they’ve penalised, too often they are just plain, downright wrong in the explanation of their decisions to clearly bemused players and spectators alike.
With Saints possessed of a highly effective rolling maul and Tigers’ chastened at conceding a try from such a ploy last Sunday there’ll be plenty of practice at Oval Park aimed repelling the gathering onslaught.
Ben Youngs is approaching something like his best form with Mele’s vignette producing a more than passable impression of the British Lion. Saints are similarly blessed with two talented scrum halves in the sometimes histrionic Lee Dickson and the streetwise Samoan international Kahn Fotuali’i.
Dickson is busy as a bee while Fotuali’i is an elegant cove and whereas elsewhere rotation has seemingly been anathema here Mallinder has alternated between the two players. If the policy continues then the Samoan should be on duty come Saturday but in either case Youngs will need his pack to give him decent go forward as they did against the Chiefs if the Saints’ incumbent isn’t to get an edge.
What a difference a coach can make and none more so than evidenced by the effect that Alex King has had on Stephen Myler. I rather like Myler but hitherto he wasn’t sufficiently controlling other than with his boot but now he looks a very complete fly-half. Without him Saints can look rudderless, so it will be important for him and his team that his troublesome hamstring injury is resolved in time for Saturday’s encounter.
Meanwhile Owen Williams continues his upward trajectory for Tigers and whomsoever is signed to bolster this theatre of operations following Flood’s departure is going to have the devil’s own job unseating the young Boyo who’s developing an excellent understanding with his colleagues, all the more so now that “Wing Commander” Allen is back.
I can almost imagine Allen at Oval Park peering over a huge table top rugby pitch with one of those long pushers as seen used in RAF control rooms in World War 2 films. The Tigers’ organiser in chief moving tiny model players around – “OK Manu; you’re Blue Leader. Owen you’re Red Leader” “Bandits at five o’clock”.
I know, I know but remember I’m in my dotage!!
I’ve little doubt that the Six Nations’ breakthrough player; Luther Burrell will be at inside centre for the hosts. Hard to believe this is the same player that was at the hapless, relegated Leeds and couldn’t get more than a couple of Premiership starts during his unhappy season at Sale. Quite why it was thought a good idea for Manu Tuilagi to replace him against Italy beggars belief.
What was the point? Tuilagi wasn’t to be involved with England again for months and Burrell must have been offended and assailed by the feeling that he only had the shirt on loan regardless of how well he performed. It was crass man management from Lancaster, an individual who, we’re led to believe by a complaisant media, has developed this talent to that of a virtuoso.
Burrell will be a lowering threat, especially if Myler is conducting operations and Allen will be impressing on Tuilagi and Goneva the importance of not rushing out of the defensive system like a pair of express locomotives, for if they do Burrell will be through and if it’s not him it’ll likely be the quicksilver George Pisi linking with George North who’ll pick Tigers’ defensive lock.
George Pisi , the Samoan international now in his third season with the Saints, has managed to score nine tries in all competitions this term and is another tremendous threat, so often lubricious in evading opposition defences and spotting any lacuna that appears before him.
Tuilagi is as invaluable in the midfield combination to Tigers as Burrell is to Saints. We hear much from the less cerebral observers of the sport that Tuilagi doesn’t pass the ball, which is of course tosh but he, like all good players, needs to play with colleagues where there’s a congruent level of skill and be appropriately briefed by his management whether he’s to be a cudgel or a sabre.
In both back divisions this happy state of congruency exists and we can, next Saturday, anticipate a high degree of concatenation from the respective attacks.
In the back three Tigers will again deploy the minatory Goneva to oppose George North who’s scored three tries from his nine Premiership appearances whereas he scored nine from his last fourteen appearances in the PRO 12 for Scarlets. A measure perhaps of the tighter defences in the English league however to judge his worth in such limited terms is as to thus adjudicate those of Tuilagi. For it is players such as these that create opportunities for others and with both Goneva and Tuilagi Tigers may gain an advantage from their diptych of strike runners.
It is though unwise to dismiss the presence of the likes of Jamie Elliott, still just twenty-one and another who’s bided in his time. The Saints’ stalwart has an air of surprise about him that he has soared so high, fast elusive and incredibly hard working he’s the kind of player that epitomises what club rugby is about – constancy.
Adam Thompstone was back in try scoring form last Sunday and like Elliott beavers away, chasing kicks, tackling, supporting his colleagues and then popping up in the right place at the right time to score.
Matt Tait was injured and a late withdrawal from last Sunday’s encounter so it’s to be hoped he’s fit for this weekend as like Foden, who’ll surely be in the #15 shirt for the hosts, he’s solid under the high ball and can cause panic in broken play. Foden’s finding his way back to form but for me looks as if he’s trying too hard, too quickly to make up for lost time after his long absence. He needs to relax a bit and it’ll come.
With two well matched full strength attacks and equally well organised defences it will, as so often is the case, come down to which pack gains the ascendency.
My goodness it’s going to be a humdinger.
If I’d been writing this a month ago then there’d be no question in my mind that Northampton would coast to a victory on home turf but after the events in Manchester and Leicester last weekend it’s all to play for and neither side can afford to lose, wiggle room has gone, this is IT.
Too tight to call but if Myler plays; Northampton by a single score, if not then a like score to separate the teams in favour of the visitors.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014:04:01:07:37:32 by Tiggs.
Can't wait for this one, 2nd plays 4th and it is probably the team that understands that context rather than is over excited by the local nature of the contest that will prevail, bloke with the whistle permitting.
Dogs have owners; cats have staff
they say. I heard of empathetic dogs, but never cats; it wasn't just being luxuriant?
Stops: ''... we are currently withstanding the urge to replace our Lab who had to be put down last November but it isn't easy!.''
Tell me about, just substitute 'Collie' and 'February' .. fortunately I've been threatened with two hyper, mixed-breed named prospects, such as '5h1t-p00s' or somesuch, to be called Pickle and Popsy - I prefer Slash and Burn - so my obstinacy is, perhaps, deeper rooted given that threat, but when push comes to shove .. well, yeah, I know
As ever, Chris, an outstanding epitome for which I am not alone in being grateful.
I am concerned at the closing down of YBY and the Samoan turning circle, but expect the fireworks of Sunday will not turn out to be left-overs from Exiter's LV+ party, and hopefully not duly dampened and squibbled across a Barne's door. I am by no means confident but I do wonder if it actually means more to us than it does to them, though that can, I suppose, work for or against us.
Titanic, without the iceberg
'Lions led by donkeys' .. Lest we forget
"Your days are numbered. Use them to throw open the windows of your soul to the sun. If you do not, the sun will soon set, and you with it."
-- Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor 161-180 A.D.
Always one of the two games of the season (the other being them at ours of course) but as noted - why Barnes? Why? Just why?
...
Equally I ask why the Irish/French Rolland gets the Clermont match.
That and it's a last chance for the
...
Always nervous about a Saints game but if we play like the weekend then we can nick it. If we play like the rest of the season it could be more than a 7 point lead for Saints.
'Lions led by donkeys' .. Lest we forget
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