By SimW
March 6 2006

As I approached the ground I could barely comprehend the enormity of the structure… and when Dawson moved his ego out of the way I was equally astounded by the Millennium Stadium. Match Report –pre-match:

As I approached the ground I could barely comprehend the enormity of the structure… and when Dawson moved his ego out of the way I was equally astounded by the Millennium Stadium.

Wasps, like all other English teams, have not played at the Millennium stadium before but they have enough international talent for that to not be a problem.

Wasps led by the current England captain and Bobby Charlton look-a-like, Lawrence Dallaglio, are without Paul Sackey and Alex King but otherwise pretty much at full strength.

Leicester by contrast are without long-term absentees in the form of the hard-running duo Seru Rabeni and Daryl Gibson and the under-performing Ollie Smith. Leicester have struggled this season through the lack of Gibson’s powerful runs from Inside Centre and without Ollie or Seru at Outside Centre the backs appear to lack the punch that may be needed against the solid Wasps pairing of Waters and Abbott (I knew we should have kept him).

Leicester are also without Darren Morris, a former British Lion, and Alex Moreno, another international prop; both of whom have proven to be solid players and true Tigers!

Despite the absentees this match offers many interesting match-ups, notably at 2nd row, back row and scrum half.

2nd Row – Simon Shaw has been one of the most consistent performers in recent years and but for a certain Martin Johnson would surely have added more to his tally of International caps. In this game, Shaw will face his main competition for the 3rd English lock position behind the Bath pairing, Louis Deacon. Even before Martin Johnson’s retirement Deacon was showing flashes of the same hard-nosed edge and reliability displayed by his predecessor

Back Row – The Wasps back row consists of an established England no 6, the current England captain at 8 and an up and coming Irish no 7. The Leicester back row, by contrast, consists of an established England no 6, the current England captain at 8 and an up and coming Irish no 7.

[Ah… Errm…, there’s obviously a mistake here. There can’t be two England captains can there?]

Scrum Half – England’s current 1st and 2nd choice Scrum Halves have had plenty of battles over recent years. Unfortunately both Ellis and Dawson are on the bench and so Healey will face Reddan. Look out for both the England 9s coming on with 15 to go.

In order to balance things out, Wasps have had to cope with an additional problem. Some of their players have played two games in one weekend twice over recent weeks. Leicester were not able to do this because their games were on the Friday before the internationals and not the Sunday so Goode in particular has had 2 weeks with no game time. This further highlights the unfairness of playing league games on internationals weekends. Robinfool should not have allowed the Wasps players to turn out for their club.
Match Report, post match - 1st Half:

A perfectly straight throw was taken by Corry at the back of the line. From the resulting ruck the Wasps defender, although offside was allowed to grab Healey. Tigers managed to recycle the ball but the pass to Goode bounced before reaching the number 10. Goode however made things worse by dropping the ball. It was eventually recycled and Murphy punted the ball forward only to have Erinle, one of the most dangerous attacking counter runners, matched only by the 2 other players in the Wasps back three, run it back at us.

Ibanez made a half-break down the touch line, after eventually being tackled, the ball was re-cycled, Healey who had been coming through the middle of the ruck was then impeded by Erinle as he tried to tackle Reddan. No penalty.

Then followed the first mistake by the Tigers. A ruck was formed on the half way line. The ball was made available and WAS out of the ruck. With no scrum half at home Graham Rowntree and Lewis Moody came round the side of the ruck to retrieve the ball. Unfortunately for the two players, the referee deemed that they came from an offside position. The replay shows that Rowntree was on side but Moody was not, having only partially retreated from his previous tackle. Pat Howard needs to take Moody to one-side to make sure that he understands the laws.

The kick must have been out of the range of Staunton because he chose to kick for the corner, gaining good distance as he did so. With a lineout on the Tigers 5m line Wasps went for the push over but were well repelled by the Tigers 8. The ball was re-cycled and Staunton went for the drop goal. As he went for the kick a stray Wasps runner had impeded the chasing Tigers players but the ref must have been watching the ball, rightly so, as no penalty was given. The kick missed narrowly giving Tigers a 22 drop out.

Following the dropout, Wasps had a chance to get close to the Tigers try-line but a looping pass from Staunton was dropped by Erinle, perhaps his only weakness!

The next attack also came from Wasps when Lewsey realising that he couldn’t out pace Varndell put in a speculative grubber kick, it proved to be very effective because Andy Goode’s attempted clearance bobbled along the floor and was almost picked up by the on-rushing Erinle before the touchline saved the England bench-warmers blushes.

Although Tigers managed to pinch the ball following the lineout, a mix-up in midfield resulted in a scrum put-in to Wasps. Unfortunately, it was Tuilagi in the wrong place that caused Ben Kay to run straight into him. Playing Henry was a surprise decision by Pat Howard. Although a try scorer at Newcastle I would have thought a bench position would have been a better approach with the hard-running Samoan coming on in the last 15 when the oppo would have been most tired.

A few phases following the scrum the Wasps had another chance to score but Erinle at full speed was floored by a textbook tackle by Leon Lloyd – surely he is our best defender. In the ensuing ruck Moody came in from the side and tried to pull the ball back with his hands – right in front of the referee! The ref had no option and blew for the penalty 10m in from the touchline and 5m out.

Staunton got the penalty – Wasps 3, Tigers 0.

From the lineout, Deacon put in a superb tackle on his opposite number Shaw throwing the older, heavier and more-experienced player to the floor as if he has a back, not a 20 stone monster.

The ball was recycled and, I’m afraid to say Tigers were guilty of not rolling away and guess which two players were involved. Yes, you’ve got it, Moody and Rowntree. Moody had actually made a decent effort to get out of the way, but his senior colleague clung to the man he had tackled so well like he was a leech. Whitehouse quite rightly blew up – no complaints. What followed was amateurism at best. Wasps quite rightly wanted the ball quickly but White decided to have a tussle with Reddan and Whitehouse marched Wasps 10m forward to make the penalty kickable. So, Moody, White and Rowntree have between them cost us 6 points. These guys are supposed to be the elite.

Staunton slotted the long-range kick – Wasps 6, Tigers 0.

A good period of Tigers pressure was then undone by an aimless kick from Healey that went too far for the chasing Vesty and was dealt with, just, by Voyce. The ball eventually being cleared to just outside the 22. From the previous ruck, Chuter was fortunate to get away with a tread on Ibanez. Although the Wasps man was lying on the wrong side, he was no-where near the ball and didn’t deserve the stud marks.

Hard yard from Vesty resulted in a penalty to Tigers as Wasps were illegally trying to pull the ball back in the ruck. Goode went for goal, in what would normally be a sitter for the man with a 3 iron in his leg, but missed the ball just going wide of the left side post.

From the 22 dropout a poor pass from Murphy fell to the ground and was eventually picked up by Vesty who not being able to go for touch launched a kick into the Wasps half.

Voyce ran the ball back skipping a few half-hearted Tigers tackles along the way; the ball was recycled and eventually taken back into contact by Abbott. In the ensuing tackle situation Deacon was found guilty of using hands. As one of the tackling players he would be allowed to do this had Staunton and Worsley not joined the tackle area to form a ruck. It would be tough to complain about Deacon’s tactics, as he couldn’t have known what was going on, but since we were about to win the ball illegally the penalty had to be given. What followed was again childish at best. Ben Kay, who was at the back of the ruck, picked the ball up and threw it away, thereby inhibiting the Wasps team from taking a quick tap. Having seen Whitehouse march Wasps forward 10m only 5 minutes earlier, you would have thought, would make him think twice. But no, a penalty that again was not kick-able was made kick-able by a senior player behaving like a toddler. The ref pointed out that he hadn’t yet used his card and was about to!

Staunton missed the penalty from almost the same place as his previous success.

A few minutes later a superb punt by Goode resulted in a Wasps throw in to the lineout 5m from their try line. Wasps cleared the ball but only to the middle of the pitch. Vesty seeing that there were limited options ahead of him went for the 40m drop-goal and, although it missed, it was closer than some of Andy Goode’s short range efforts of late.

From the 22 dropout, Murphy launched a superb attack gliding through 3 tackles like a gazelle being chased by a Lion. The ball then recycled for Hipkiss to make an equally impressive run through some feint-hearted Wasps tackles. Sadly when the ball reached Varndell he tried to pass the ball to Chuter while on his back, the ball bobbled around before being slapped to the ground by O’Connor. The referee deemed a Tigers knock-on and the momentum was lost.

Varndell showed that he has been working on his kicking game with an effortless clearance from his 22 to midway between the Wasps 22 and 10m lines. More aimless passing from Murphy eventually resulted in Varndell picking up the bouncing ball but immediately being faced with the on-rushing Wasps defence. After being half-tackled he tried an out of the back pass that could have gone anywhere, eventually picked up by Lloyd who kicked to the Wasps half – danger over.

Pressure in the scrum resulted in McKenzie popping out after Tigers had pushed the Wasps 8 back 4 metres. Whitehouse awarded the penalty.

The replay clearly shows that Dallaglio had Healey round the neck. In medical terms it’s known as decapitation. In wrestling terms it’s known as a headlock. In Whitehouse’s terms it’ known as fair play. In my opinion it should have been a yellow card. And crucially the penalty should have been 10m further forward. Given the last Goode effort they decided to go for the corner.

In the following attack Varndell knocked the ball on after the Wasps tacklers had enveloped Healey. Pressure over.

Wasps then went across the width of the pitch twice in attack without making much ground. A maul was formed and when it collapsed Lloyd was found guilty of not rolling away. Penalty to Wasps.

Staunton landed the 43m penalty – Wasps 9, Tigers 0.

On 31 minutes Jennings replaced Tuilagi. Henry had made two typical barnstorming runs but only one resulted in Tigers pressure as during the other he knocked the ball on. He’s on the road to recovery but IMO shouldn’t have started today and probably shouldn’t have been on the bench.

Tigers then managed to string some phases together, with a penalty advantage for Wasps being offside, Healey put in a speculative chip kick chased by Lloyd and Varndell. Lloyd out-jumped Lewsey and palmed the ball back to Varndell. Tom then absolutely skinned Voyce to go over the Wasps try line. Now Voyce is no slouch and has a mean side step and swerve of his own. But Varndell just embarrassed him, a slight hand-off preventing the attempted tackle. I hope AR was watching! That is what you should do with an advantage – not knock it on deliberately like Reddan did later in the game.

Unfortunately Goode made a hash of the kick.

Varndell try – Wasps 9, Tigers 5.

Following good work from the restart Goode put in a huge kick from his own 22 but failed to make touch. Wasps returned the ball to our own 22 and Goode again failed to find touch from his own 22. Reddan ran the ball back and chipped forward. Murphy gathered the ball and was then forced off the pitch. Wasps lineout on our 10m line. If Goode hadn’t gone for the speculative long clearance and just got the ball out on halfway we would have been better off. He must improve his accuracy.

A sustained period of pressure from Wasps should have resulted in something better but a man and ball tackle resulted in the Wasps man knocking on. Tigers gathered the ball and instead of clearing to touch to allow the team to settle the kick was put straight down the pitch inviting a Wasps counter attack.

Shaw showed great skill to run down the touchline chip over the Tigers defence and then re-gather the ball. If that had been Lewsey he could have been in. As it was Chuter tackled Shaw and although Staunton wasted the quick ball, Tigers were adjudged to have ‘cut the options down’. Penalty Wasps.

Staunton landed the easy a penalty – Wasps 12, Tigers 5.

The restart was fumbled by Wasps but unfortunately in trying to grab the ball Varndell knocked on with the line begging. He should have done better.

Following the scrum the ball was played out to the backs but with tacklers waiting Varndell knocked the ball on – pressure over. Although Mike Catt said that Varndell should be in the England team, unless he can improve his tackling and handling he won’t get in. The good news is that these are things that can be taught and he is only young.

Tigers made a mess of the Wasps scrum but in the ensuing tackle Moody played the ball on the ground and gave away another penalty. He vented his anger at the ref and was lucky not to be shown a yellow. Despite his protestations at having changed I’m afraid he’s still too hotheaded at times. If he could calm himself down, even at the expense of his performances, then he could be a great player. I can recommend Kalms tablets!

Half Time Score: Wasps 12, Tigers 5.


2nd Half:

Poor kicking from both sides is the best description of the first minute of the 2nd half until Vesty decided enough was enough. Taking the ball mid-way between his 22 and 10m lines he picked a beautiful diagonal line passed Shaw, through Worsley and Dallaglio passed to Jennings in support but the Wasps defender intercepted his pass. In my mind it was a deliberate knock-on. There was no attempt to catch the ball and it went straight to ground at speed. Whitehouse said just a knock-on. He was wrong. All the commentators agreed and Moore even went as far as to say it should have been a yellow card. Andy Nicol said penalty try!

A series of slow ponderous pick and drives eventually led to a forward pass. Because they were slow pick and drives, Wasps were never off side. The ball was kicked by Lewsey but straight into touch.

More ponderous play followed the lineout on Wasps 22. When the forwards had made no ground Healey passed it out. The Wasps defence was spread wide, but good dummy running from Hipkiss and Lloyd drew in the defence, the pass behind from Goode to Varndell was good but the pass from Varndell to Murphy was clearly forward. If the wingers had been swapped then Varndell would have been in. So that’s tackling, passing and catching practice for Varndell.

The Tigers 8 did a number on the Wasps 8 and absolutely mullered the scrum causing it to wheel round. Tigers put in on the Wasps 22.

Healey breaks from the back of the scrum and goes through Staunton and Waters as if he was 10 years younger. He then passes to Murphy who ships the ball to Lloyd for an easy run in – well after doing his Bambi on ice impression! The best bit? After he scored he gave the ball to Dallaglio – priceless. The conversion came back off the post.

Wasps 12, Tigers 10.

The next 5 minutes were all Leicester. However, a promising build up was wasted when a kick to nothing was picked up by Voyce and the ball was eventually cleared.

Another missed touch put Wasps back on the attack. Tigers went off side in the resulting ruck. Penalty.

Staunton landed the kick from out wide. Wasps 15, Tigers 10.

The referee further incenses the Tigers support by adjudging a Chuter throw-in to be not straight. He was right, but it was no more crooked than any of the preceding Ibanez efforts that had not been picked up. It was at this point that the author felt the game slipping away…

More wayward kicking, this time from Vesty, gave Wasps the opportunity to build some momentum with some dynamic driving play, notably from the industrious Ibanez. Wasps had their own bout of aimless kicking with a cross-field kick from Staunton with no Wasps players out wide. Varndell at first seemed to be waiting for the ball to go out. Realising that Lewsey was on his way he picked up the ball and gave another reason why we should forgive his handling mistakes by putting dumping Lewsey on his butt with an aggressive hand-off. O’Connor made the tackle but Lewsey refusing to release Varndell or roll away received some justice from Rowntree’s boot; much to the anger of the Wasps fans.

Ellis on for Healey.

More slow ponderous drives followed and more reasons why we need a hard-runner at 12. Hipkiss enveloped by the Wasps midfield, ball not coming out, Scrum to Wasps.

Dawson of for Reddan.
Abbott off for Brooks.

More wayward kicking from Tigers, Wasps counter attack; Varndell makes a mess of kick, Wasps throw-in. I’m spotting a pattern here; we must start making touch.

2 more poor kicks followed from Goode. Fortunately Lewsey kicked beyond the dead ball line so scrum to Tigers on the Wasps 22.

2 minutes of Tigers pressure followed before another dodgy grubber kick from Goode, the ball eventually going out for a Wasps throw-in. We keep building up the pressure and making ground only to throw it all away when we run out of ideas. Another not straight from Ibanez, Dawson clears to touch on the Wasps 10m line.

Further attacks from Tigers with Moody making a good break followed. Tigers form a maul on the Wasps 22 and start moving towards the try line. Dallaglio clearing pulling down the maul not penalised.

Further pressure from Tigers, ruck formed, Worsley not moving away from the tackle area, Tigers give him some shoe and he eventually moves but the ref gives us nothing, not even an advantage.

Another ruck formed. Lewsey clumsily moving away from the previous ruck collides with the Ellis. Nothing given by the ref.

Confusion in the backs, Vesty knocks-on. No problem, we’ll go back to any one of the three previous infringements and have a penalty please ref.

Wasps break away. Quick hands by Wasps, ball passed to Erinle, one-on-one with Goode - no chance. Try under the posts.

Staunton conversion – Wasps 22, Tigers 10.

5 minutes left

Varndell again makes a fool of Lewsey by shoving him onto his butt again. For some one who was meant to be a marine or a para or something he doesn’t half go to ground easily.

Sustained Tigers pressure results in Shaw not releasing the tackler, Tigers penalty – kicked to touch.

A superb catch and drive resulted in the Tigers going over the line. The commentators said it was a try. The ref said he’s happy with the grounding but was it lost. How can it be a good grounding yet be lost. Derek Bevan said, “Three pairs of hands on the ball suggest scrum 5 Tigers put in”. How did a Wasps player get his hand on the ball? If he can’t tell whose hand it is surely the benefit of the doubt should be with the attacking side. The ref asked: “Did they lose it?” Answer – “No they didn’t”. It should have been a try. It should also have been a penalty or penalty try to Tigers for O’Connor going in at the side.

I’m as confused as the impartial commentators were…

In the ensuing scrum Wasps span it, Ellis didn’t get it out quick enough, Cullen went mountain climbing – penalty Wasps.

Dawson made a hash of his clearance was put to the floor and then as Tigers players tried to play the ball legally with their feet he stretched out his arms and while lying on the floor re-gathered the ball. Penalty to Tigers.

Again, the lack of a hard-running 12 is exposed, as Hipkiss is knocked back 10m. Interception by Wasps but they weren’t back 10 so penalty Tigers.

Two close range rucks result in Hipkiss scoring the shortest try of his career I made it 2 centimetres.

Following the conversion the ref blew up.

Full Time Score: Wasps 22 – Tigers 17


My thoughts:

Tigers were their own worst enemies. Poor kicking, handling errors and slow forward play were their downfall. We have cause for complaint over the disallowed try, Dallaglio’s GBH, the deliberate knock-on and yellow card but Wasps deserved the win. Tigers must learn from this and they need to build for next season. Even if Gibson is fit and stays at tigers we still need another hard-running 12.


The Stats:

Team Line-ups:
Leicester:
1. Rowntree, 2. Chuter, 3. White, 4. Deacon, 5. Kay, 6. Corry, 7. Moody, 6. Tuilagi.H, 9. Healey, 10. Goode, 11. Varndell, 12. Hipkiss, 13. Lloyd, 14. Murphy
15. Vesty
Wasps:
22 Ayoola Erinle, 14 Josh Lewsey, 13 Fraser Waters, 12 Stuart Abbott, 11 Tom Voyce, 10 Jeremy Staunton, 9 Eoin Reddan, 1 Alistair McKenzie, 2 Raphael Ibanez, 3 Tim Payne, 4 Simon Shaw, 5 Richard Birkett, 6 Joe Worsley, 7 Jonny O' Connor, 8 Lawrence Dallaglio (c)

Referee: Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)
Touch Judges: Tim Hayes, Howard Hopkins
4th Official: Derek Bevan

Scorers:
Wasps - Staunton pen 5, Staunton conv, Erinle try
Tigers – Varndell try, Lloyd try, Hipkiss try, Goode conv

Scoring Sequence:
09:03 Wasps penalty, W3, T0.
11:01 Wasps penalty, W6, T0.
29:25 Wasps penalty, W9, T0.
32:16 Tigers try, W9, T5.
38:23 Wasps penalty, W12, T5.
46:34 Tigers try, W12, T10.
58:44 Wasps penalty, W15, T10.
73:52 Wasps try & conversion, W22, T10.
80:00 Tigers try & conversion, W22, T17.

Yellow Cards: None – surprisingly.
Red Cards: None.

Man of the match: Officially Joe Worsley (but Healey for Tigers)
Try of the match: Lloyd in at the corner following an excellent scrum to win the ball and a great break by Healey.
Move of the match: Same as the try of the match which perhaps is the story of the game – Wasps provided very little attacking rugby that the Tigers defence couldn’t handle.
Tackle of the match: Deacon on Shaw in the 1st half.
Clown of the match: Moody – too many penalties, again!

Congratulations to anyone who made it this far!