By Inkworm
December 12 2005

The day started with a bright glow at Welford Road, initially this was put down to the impending Christmas festivities, but it would appear that this is the aura that surrounds Mr Henson. The cynics may say this is down to his healthy skin tones but others may argue it is a bad dose of Wilko-itis where the press develop tunnel vision, fail to notice any other player and the victim in this case has to some extent fallen for it.

The other major incident during the pre match warm up was the stir Pat caused, due to the cold he had swapped his customary flip flops for trainers and a rather fetching black sock on one foot whilst a white one adorned the other, was there a subliminal message he was trying to tell us or had Mrs Howard (Sheila) messed up with the laundry again?

As for the game, it finally started after one of the touch judges was finally wired up and had his batteries charged. Eventually the fans were reminded why we were there and the game was off. In the first few moments Gavin Henson showed why he is such a highly rated player with a great run to the line and an almost certain try, that is until he inexplicably tried to turn inside Ollie to be tackled to the ground yards from the line. A penalty followed close to the line but failed to go over, catching the upright instead.

After a couple more attempts to get the score rolling by the Ospreys with another penalty and a drop goal, both of which failed to find their target Tigers finally opened the scoring with three points to take the lead and it appeared to be an encouraging start for the boys. But not before Darren Morris had made a great break towards the try line, which ultimately was thwarted.

There was a distinct lack of cohesion from the Tigers and it became apparent that this may well be a repeat of the first half of the game last week with some woeful gaps in defence leading to a couple of tries from the Ospreys and one conversions, kicking not being their forte this weekend.

The first half finished with Henson adjusting his hair and a jubilant Ospreys leading 12-6.

What ever was said at half time clearly did the job but once more we should ask if Pat and Cockers should have said something stronger before kick off, as we all know it did the job.

The second half started slowly with a continued lack of pace but it soon started to pick up with quicker ball, improved line outs and a much tighter defence from Leicester. However once again it was down to Connor to start the score board moving again, but true to form he manage miss once more, offering the Tigers the opportunity to come back into the game.

As we’ve come to expect a typical opening try came from Brett Deacon as the forwards muscled their way over the line for him to ground the ball, to the delight and jubilant cheers of the Leicester faithful. Though the conversion was not one of Andy’s best efforts, sadly missing it did mean that Tigers were back in the game at 11-12 and the hunt was on for more points.

Though his game and passing has been woefully below par from an international level scrum half Harry did prove his worth by taking the team into back into the lead, this time Andy finding his mark to make the score 18-12 and force the Ospreys to face the uphill battle of trailing. What ever happened can only be speculated in the minds of the Ospreys but the defensive position was to hold until the end of the game.

With two tries in the bag and the Ospreys on the back foot it looked like the Tigers were starting to enjoy themselves a little and the change in playing style was evident, a greater confidence in each other and the play making lead to a third try from Chuter, winning was now a formality but there was still the tantalising prize of a bonus point now within the grasp and who but Austin should reach for it, a man who denies and loathes being called versatile has realised his days as a back are numbered and did a passable impression of a forward by getting stuck into the maul and sealing the match infront of an ecstatic home crowd.

To the mild annoyance of many but not this writer the final conversion also failed, leaving the final score at 30-12 and much closer to my prediction.

My man of the match would have to be Darren Morris who whilst not shining in the same way as some of his team mates played a very solid reliable game and helped the pack walk all over the opposition.