The Tiger Blues

By BirstallTiger
November 2 2006

Cardiff kicked off in front of a crowd of 26,645 fans. Tigers claimed the kick off and through Lewis Moody, Harry Ellis and Tom Varndell made good ground down the right touchline.

The ball came back into the centre where Geordan Murphy put a good kick into touch inside the Cardiff 22. Cardiff won the lineout and cleared the ball. Most of the opening minutes were played in the Cardiff half, but good Cardiff defence held sway. Lewis Moody took a man and ball pass from Sam Vesty and hit his head on Martyn Williams knee and had to leave the field for stitches.

Cardiff then attacked but Ben Kay won the loose ball and Andy Goode from in front of his own posts failed to find touch, Chris Czekaj ran the ball down the left touchline, the ball came back across to the right where Nicky Robinson strolled round George Chuter, chipped over Martin Corry and beat his own winger to touchdown an excellent try. Ben Blair added the conversion for a 7-0 lead.
Daryl Gibson then took the ball into contact and laid the ball back but Williams beat Ellis to the ball and referee Alan Lewis awarded a scrum to Cardiff. From the scrum the ball was passed back to Czekaj who dropped it, Ellis hacked through and battled with Mike Phillips for the ball, Shane Jennings(on as a blood replacement for Moody) won the loose ball but was stopped just short of the line. Ellis found Ollie Smith who produced a good step past Phillips to score. Goode converted to level the score at 7-7.

Tigers won a penalty just inside the Cardiff half but Goodes kick fell short.
There was then a mix up in the Cardiff defence with Tom Shanklin spilling the ball and Jenning kicked through, Robinson attempting to sweep up fly hacked at the ball, completely missing it, he then tried again but could only find Corry. The ball went to Goode who put in a beautiful cross kick for Varndell to score Tigers second try. Goode failed with the conversion to leave the score 7-12.

On 26 minutes a good scrummage from Tigers saw Cardiff concede a penalty which Goode converted to give Tigers a 15-7 lead.

However from the restart the ball was passed to Goode who failed to find touch, picking out Cardiff right winger Mosese Luveitasau who ran cross field, the ball went to Shanklin who put in Czekaj(with a slightly forward pass) to score. Blair again converted to bring the score to 14-15.

Tigers continued to attack and a great offload by Gibson put Moody away with Smith on his shoulder, however Smith was well tackled by Shanklin and was injured in the process and had to leave the field to be replaced by Seru Rabeni.

There were no more scores and at half time Tigers led 15-14.

Tigers made a good start to the second half with Vesty, Gibson and Murphy all making good yardage before Varndell knocked on.
A wayward Vesty grubber kick was run back by the lively Czekaj but his attempted kick down the line went out.
A series of scrums led to a penalty which Goode converted to give Tigers an 18-14 lead.

At the next scrum Cardiff prop Gary Powell headbutted Chuter and the referee had no option but to send him off.
Two minutes later James Hamilton conceded a penalty for holding on, Mike Phillips took a quick tap but was tackled by Harry Ellis and Tom Varndell within the 10 metres, the referee showed Varndell the yellow card and gave him 10 minutes in the bin. Possibly it should have been Ellis?

On 64 minutes a Cardiff attack ended in a knock on, Chuter came away with the ball, he was high tackled by Phillips but the referee penalised Chuter for holding on and Blair converted the penalty to bring the score to 17-18.

A run from Rabeni set up a drop goal attempt for Goode who missed to the left of the posts. Another loose kick from Goode went straight to Blair just outside the Cardiff 22, he found touch on the Leicester 5 metre line. From the lineout another loose Goode kick was run back but the attack ended with a Williams knock on.
With three minutes of normal time remaining Ben Kay strayed offside and Robinson put the penalty out on the 5 metre line. Cardiff won the lineout and kept the pressure on but Williams knocked on(with the help of Louis Deacons foot). From the lineout Corry was driven into touch giving Cardiff the lineout. Luckily, Hamilton stole the ball and Goode cleared to outside the 22.

A good jinking run by Murphy set up Vesty for a drop goal to increase Tigers lead to 17-21.

Cardiff pressed to the end but a knock on allowed Goode to find touch and the referees final whistle.

Cardiff 17 Leicester Tigers 21.

Man of the Match Lewis Moody.

BirstallTiger