By TigersTart
March 23 2004

Tigers Development XV Vs Northampton Wanderers XV. Despite battling hard, and having a high percentage of territory and possession, Leicester were defeated 15-37 by a strong and combative Northampton side, at the highest attended Zurich “A” League game.

The Zurich “A” League is a combination of the U21s and Extras, renamed “Development”, where the north and south are split into two groups and the winners of both Leagues play in a final to be crowned National Champions. Tigers have Sale, Leeds, Newcastle, Northampton and Rotherham in their group.

In the League, Leicester have recently lost heavily to Newcastle (away) and that defeat has put their campaign challenge back somewhat. However, if a late surge can be mastered, then it can aid their push towards the semi-final stage. Tigers entertain Newcastle, at home, on Monday 5th April, with a chance to make up for the away result.

The first half saw Tigers kick off and there was an initial settling in period, as both teams established themselves. The referee took time to lay down his authority, as there were some minor scuffles. In the 5th minute,the Wanderers prop Tevita Taumoepeau was sinbinned for punching and Tigers has an early replacement, as Alex Wright came on for the injured Tom Tierney.

Leicester had the majority of possession and were encamped for a considerable length of time in the Saints half, but could not turn it into points. Tigers had an early lineout and drove towards Northampton’s line, but the Saints managed to turn over ball. The breakthrough came in the 19th minute, after strong build up work and as No.10 Tim Taylor was tackled on the line, he twisted around to ground the ball. However, the referee dually awarded a penalty try under the posts for the high tackle, which fly-half Taylor converted, making the score 7-0.

After Tigers’ domination, Saints took a front seat and spent a large amount of time up in Leicester’s half. Their key playmaker was No.9 Johnny Howard who was a sneaking and attacking scrum-half who dictated play. Taylor cleared from under his own posts, with the kick landing directly into the hands of the Saints backs, who passed out and wide and drove to the left corner, then spread the ball wide, where they had an overlap and winger Oriol Ripol sneaked inside. No.10 Ben Russell added the conversion to equal the score at 7-7.

Tigers hit back with a long kick struck by Taylor in the 32nd minute, which Northampton equalled in the 41st minute, kicked by Russell to make the score 10-10 at the interval. The Wanderers missed a scoring opportunity, as they didn’t pass out wide in time, as Leicester’s defence caught the attack. Equally, so Tigers were pushing hard, and in injury time were attacking the Wanderers line and were held up, after Wright had spun the ball wide with a huge miss pass to Holtby who had come in form his own wing on the loop.

Northampton took the upper hand in the second half as they accelerated away as leaders, scoring 3 tries and 2 penalties. In a good move in the 46th minute, Russell passed down the line to centre Any Vilk who ran down the blind side, who had replacement Mark Tucker on his side to score. Russell added the conversion. Russell added penalties in the 55th and 72nd minute. Tigers line was stretched by a combative pack driven by Howard, as in the 58th minute hooker Matt Miles stormed over the line, which Russell converted. Despite a valiant defence put up by Leicester, they conceded a late injury time try from Tucker that Russell dually converted.

Tigers battled hard in the last 40 minutes but for all of their effort, their only score was a try by James Buckland. Remarkably, Cabbage moved from his usual position to No.6, where he had played previously against Sale – the distinct playing style and character were still present!

The first half was a fair reflection of play as Northampton took their opportunities that they were presented with and converted that into points, exploiting little gaps in Tigers defence. However, it was not a fair reflection of the amount of the large amount of play, in terms of territory and possession, that Tigers had but did not convert their dominance more convincingly into points.

Leicester need to learn more tonight’s game, as well as the loss away at Newcastle for the last part of their Zurich “A” League campaign. Less verbal, less penalties and a few sharpening lessons in passing are some areas, but there is the need to convert pressure into points. Despite the score line, positives can be taken from the match.

The attacking nature of the game that Tigers played was impressive and it provided a platform for key personnel to use their skills i.e. for match practice. The backs, in particular, looked hungry. Be simple in game plan, as that is far more effective and choose to build up the score line, which Gelderbloom and Taylor used.

Steve Booth seems to have come through a whole game. Booth played a role as an attacking full-back who sought to come in from the No.15 position into the back line and used his traditional mazy style of running, all topped off with a pair of training boots with rubber studs.

Scoring sequence:
19 mins Tigers Penalty try 5-0
Tigers con Taylor 7-0
26 mins Saints try Ripol 7-5
Saints con Russell 7-7
33 mins Tigers pen Taylor 10-7
41 mins Saints pen Russell 10-10

46 mins Saints try Tucker 10-15
Saints con Russell 10-17
51 mins Tigers try Buckland 15-17
55 mins Saints pen 15-20
58 mins Saints try Miles 15-25
Saints con Russell 15-27
72 mins Saints pen Russell 15-30
8 mins Saints try Tucker 15-35
Saints con Russell 15-37

Tries: Penalty, Buckland
Ripol, Tucker (2), Miles
Cons: Taylor (1/2)
Russell (4/4)
Pens: Taylor (1/1)
Russell (4/4)


Date: Monday 22nd March 2004

Time: 7pm k/o

Weather: nippy with clear skies

Crowd: 4,711 (largest Zurich A League crowd – don’t we always set records and better than what some first teams can manage?)

Ref: Rob Debney

Man-of-the-match: Steve Booth – despite some wayward passes in presenting the opposition with the ball, he revealed in an attacking game and engaged in play from the No.15 position
Sin-bin: 5mins Tevita Taumoepeau (Northampton)

Tigers team:
15 Steve Booth
14 Steve Glitherow
13 Glenn Glederbloom (CAPT)
12 Alex Dodge
11 John Holtby
10 Tim Taylor
9 Tom Tierney
1 Michael Holford
2 Jim Richards
3 Ricky Nebbett
4 James Hamilton
5 Rob Cooke
6 James Buckland
7 Wayne Johnson
8 Will Johnson
Reps: George Chuter (69 mins on for 2 Richards), Peter Clarke (56 mins on for 7 Wayne Johnson), Ian Brewer (HT on for 8 Will Johnson), Matt Hampson, Alex Wright (10 mins on for 9 Tierney), Matt Cornwell, Yomi Akinyemi (75 mins on for 14 Glitherow)

Northampton team:
15 Ben Patston
14 Nick Beal
13 Ed Binham
12 Andy Vilk
11 Oriol Ripol
10 Ben Russell
9 Johnny Howard
1 Jon Golding
2 Matt Miles
3 Tevita Taymoepeau
4 Ed O’Donoghue
5 Steve Williams
6 Kort Schubert
7 Mark Soden
8 Brett McNamee
Reps: Brett Sturgess (36 mins on for 1Golding), Chris Rowland (80 mins on for 2 Miles), Grant Seely (HT mins on for 8 McNamee), Will Snape (46 mins on for 5 Williams), Chris Hyndman (61 mins on for 14 Beal), Mark Tucker (HT on for 11 Ripol), Ben Jones (73 mins on for 9 Howard)