Forwards Forwards, Tigers Backwards

By Leipziger
February 25 2006

Newcastle put the memory of Sunday’s defeat against Gloucester behind them with a commanding performance against Leicester at Kingston Park.

Showing 8 changes to the team beaten by Gloucester, including the enforced loss of Colin Charvis and Jamie Noon, our Falcons kicked their way to a 24-16 win with seven Matthew Burke penalties and a drop goal by Tom May.

 

We went 6-0 up within ten minutes, Burke punishing Leicester first for an obvious offside and then curling a fantastic kick from 35m.  The Tigers then made a decent break, the attacker getting past Mathew Tait but our England centre caught the ankle to bring him down.  We however went offside and Ian Humphreys halved Leicester’s deficit, before Burke knocked over his third penalty.

 

Tait then set Anthony Elliott away on the left but referee Ashley Rowden pulled up an offside and Humphreys kicked the three points, before missing and scoring more kicks soon after to level the scores.

 

On the half hour, Leicester counter-attacked with Sam Vesty kicking a loose ball forward and crossing for a try, however it was disallowed for a penalty to us on the right.  From the resulting lineout the visitors were penalised for pulling down and Burke restored our lead.  A further lineout-related infringement allowed Burke, captain for the night, to kick and give us a 15-9 half time advantage, thoroughly deserves as we had had most of the territory and whilst not looking extremely likely to score a try, we had kept controlling possession.

 

Although Leicester had a little spell forward early in the second half, and missed a penalty across goal.  Nine minutes into the second period, we were awarded a penalty for offside near the away goal and went 18-9 ahead, with the whiff of success definitely in the air.  Then came a spell which summed up everything good about physical rugby, with Tait taking a long lineout and making a good run forward, and we were awarded a penalty on the Leicester line.  We opted for a scrum three times, and each time Leicester’s front row stood upright as they were pushed backwards but the referee refused to give a penalty try.  With the home crowd roaring on the Falcons, Leicester stole the ball from the 4^th scrum and able to move upfield.

 

We then bundled Leicester into touch on our left, and from a good maul we switched over to the right and were awarded a scrum nearer the middle, but nothing came of it, however more points were forthcoming when Tait chases a kick and forced Leicester to carry over their line.  We ran from the resulting scrum, and Tom May was on hand to drop a goal from close range behind a ruck.  At 21-9, the scoreline was looking very healthy.

 

Just a couple of minutes later though, on 72, Leicester replacement Henry Tuilagi forced himself over for a try which Vesty converted, and the game looked on again.  However, Vesty’s fortunes turned sour as he took a huff and kicked off with the touch judges over a close range penalty which Burke kicked for the final points of the match.  The last few minutes saw the Tigers holding possession, but unable to break through for even a losing bonus point.

 

And then we all got drunk and played ping-pong!  Well, maybe not the ping pong.

 

One of the most pleasing aspects of the game tonight was how our forwards, including three young players in Andy Buist, Geoff Parling and Ben Woods, took on Leicester’s pack with huge confidence, and were able to lay the platform for us to keep the opposition penned in their own half for most of the game, especially after the debacle against Gloucester.  Woods is becoming a very good player, and could be something special in a few years.  Official man of the match was Owen Finegan, who for me gave his best performance in a black shirt so far with commitment and strength in abundance, however Mathew Tait, Toby Flood, Woods and Andy Perry also could have argued for it.

 

And behind it all, pulling the strings was Matthew Burke, who received a huge cheer before kick-off for signing a new contract this week.

 

We are now up to sixth in the league, and will stay there for the next two weeks unless Northampton beat London Irish on Sunday.  Unless Bath win the Powergen Cup, sixth will for me probably get a Heineken Cup place next season, so it’s a nice position, though we still need to be looking higher.