The Season thus far
By Tiger Bud
December 2 2008
In light of forgetting I was down to cover the Quins game at home, some fast thinking has lead us to this point. Coming now into December I thought it would be a good to look back at the first few months of the season and weigh up how the season is shaping up thus far under Heyneke Meyer.
EDF:
An excellent start from the campaign saw Tigers pick up an impressive win away to Bath with a lot of youngsters and fringe players making a case against a Bath side who were playing some excellent rugby in the Premiership. It was debutant Derrick Hougaard that fought through a difficult first 20 minutes to get most of the pundits, some excellent goal kicking and a drop goal at the death sealing the match. After such a good start Leicester went away to Cardiff to secure a place in the semi finals and were never in the game. A first start to the season for Seru Rabeni gave Tigers some spark but it wasn’t enough to break the hard Cardiff defence down. An aspect of Leicester play, which has continued to come under criticism this season, was the lack of ability to finish off possession. Good possession in strong areas of the pitch was resulting in knock-ons or poor decision-making.
For Tigers to progress now it meant Bath had to beat Cardiff and Tigers had to win with a bonus point against a Sale side full of Academy players. Once again the team started well but lost impetus and failed to gain the vital bonus point. Although with Cardiff beating Bath it was a meaningless match but it was still a disappointment not to have seen the team push it to the limit. Especially when kicking for goal in the 74th minute and still needing two tries for the bonus. For the first time in the competition’s short history Leicester would not be making the trip to the semi finals. For a club determined to win every competition it enters to be knocked out before the finals was a big disappointment. However, with the mounting injury list and other competitions held in higher regard, it was felt a blow worth taking for the good of the season.
Guinness Premiership:
Leicester started their Premiership season near where the last one left off. An impressive win over a Gloucester side looking to avenge the previous season’s Premiership semi final defeat was an excellent start. After leading through two penalties from new boy Toby Flood Leicester were pegged back through an Ollie Morgan score. Some poor kicking from Ryan Lamb was letting Leicester off the hook after their indiscipline threatened to lose them the game. A scintillating break from Geordan Murphy and interception from Flood later and the Tigers in the Shed went home happy indeed.
The following game saw a breath-taking encounter with London Irish. Tries from Murphy, Croft and the hugely impressive Herring saw Leicester hold out against a strong Irish side, who scored excellent tries through the Armitage brothers and Mapusa. It was evident however that Leicester had defensive frailties that could be exposed and teams were able to gain an upper hand. After summer signing Julien Dupuy secured a last minute win against a Worcester side that again exposed Tigers frailties in defence the old enemy Wasps headed to Welford Road.
At that point in the season Leicester had played well in fits and starts, but not good enough across 80 minutes. Wasps were struggling even more however and were yet to win a game in their previous three games. After taking a 13-6 half time lead with an excellent Johne Murphy try just before half time Leicester proceeded to give away penalty after penalty. Through Jeremy Staunton’s good goal kicking and awareness to take points when in the right situations Leicester found themselves behind. Pressure from Wasps on the line also told with Varley scrambling over for a try. After the game there was much discussion of uncontested scrums. Leicester felt they had the upper hand in the scrums that Wasps neutralised with substituting two props through injury. However, if Tigers had learnt to close out the game and not infringe then it would not have been as big an issue as it became. A disappointing first league loss followed.
There was no better way to bounce back from a disappointing defeat against one of your biggest rivals than welcoming old friends Northampton back to Welford Road from the wilderness of Division One. After Flood traded penalties with Myler, Murray scored the first try for the Saints. Good work from Leicester saw Johne Murphy score two tries in two games and Hipkiss added his first of the season. Another interception try from Toby Flood saw the game secured in the dying minutes. It was still concerning however the lack of clinical finishing from the backs. Varndell was sitting out of the squad completely and is still yet to score his first try of the season. In his place Matt Smith was excelling, but not scoring and both of Toby Flood’s tries had come from interceptions instead of solid phase build up play.
Another trip to Bath followed and after trailing 20 points to 3 at half time Leicester came back within two minutes of winning the game 20-21 through a Mefin Davis try and Geordan Murphy conversion. Sometimes however the bounce of the ball is not with you and Bath scored an injury time winner through Butch James. Afterwards Meyer claimed it was the best Leicester performance he’d seen since his start. Still worrying was the ability to let scores in and not close out a game after working so hard to pull ourselves out of a seemingly impossible task. Harlequins were the next visitors and an excellent performance from new boy Scott Hamilton and tries through Johne, Derick and Matt Smith brought the Tigers a hard fought 27-14 win. There was still a worrying lack of finishing which again saw Leicester miss out of a bonus point, not troubling the score board after the 44th minute.
The Tigers entered the end of November losing another away game at Sale. A strong side saw another misfiring start and having to come from behind. There was not enough to turn the game around after finding themselves down again significantly at half time. Aaron Mauger, who is growing more and more in a Leicester shirt, scored an excellent try but it wasn’t enough. Crashing to the third loss of the Premiership season saw the team slide to sixth in the table, six points behind the leaders London Irish.
Heineken Cup:
Many fans believe that the Heineken Cup is the holy grail of club rugby left after the believed devaluation of Premiership and group phases of the EDF Cup. A big ask of Leicester in the first game saw them pitted against the side that beat them comprehensively in the previous EDF final. Ospreys had a wealth of Welsh talent on show but it was Leicester who put together some of their best rugby of this season to date. Quicker ball, more decisive backs and more urgency saw them go 12-3 up at half time. If it wasn’t for some sloppy passes and excellent last ditch tackling from the Ospreys the score could have been double that. Again though Leicester went off the ball in the second half and never troubled the score again. A good, not excellent, start to the campaign but disappointing to allow the Ospreys to leave with a bonus point.
It was to Italy next for Meyer’s men as Leicester got their first try bonus point of the season over a dogged Italian team looking to impress. After scoring tries through Flood twice (neither interceptions!) and a rare non ELV pushover from now first team regular Jordan Crane Leicester led deservedly at the break. However, after taking the foot off the pressure an excellent try from de Jager threatened to spoil Tigers fan sunny weekend. It wasn’t to be however and some excellent work from Aaron Mauger and Geordan Murphy saw Johne Murphy score a hat trick in a half. Crane added again and the senior Murphy crossed to make the score look more impressive. Next for Leicester is Perpignan without Carter at Welford Road. A game they must win without letting the French come away with the valued bonus point.
Overall:
It has been a mixed start to the season for Meyer, who is struggling against the mounting list of injuries. Only a few months in and we’re yet to see Castrogiovanni or Louis Deacon, who are likely to be sidelined until next year. A return from Lewis Moody was a lift but the club have also been without Herring, Woods, Blaze, Tuilagi, White, Corry and Hougaard for parts of the season. Not to mention the international call-ups and suspension of Seru.
With that in mind I still firmly believe that the team is going to click and we’ll see something special. Aaron Mauger is finding gaps in defence, Toby Flood has been excellent and Matt Smith has been the find of the season so far. In the forwards Marcos Ayerza was becoming world class and Jordan Crane and Tom Croft had cemented their places as first team players. Add to these the form of Johne Murphy and the emergence of Dan Cole and there is so much promise at the club. Meyer claimed at a recent supporters evening that we would see the best of the team next year, but he firmly believed this team was good enough to finish the season with silverware and I would definitely agree.
The transition from rugby diner-soars of the sort I saw, if no-one else did, playing against Monty Ferrand's Flying Circus in the Marcel Michelin stadium this p.m. [good though Munster are], to European champions once more is a tortuous one - but there are so many positive signs, so much good amongst the not-quite-yet, with excitement to boot, that I am confident Heyneke and friends are doing it right
'Lions led by donkeys' .. Lest we forget
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008:12:16:14:40:37 by IDLETIMES.
'Lions led by donkeys' .. Lest we forget