Tigers Triumph in Twickenham Thriller
By TigerR
May 31 2010
Leicester Tigers won the Guiness Premiership (again) on Saturday. Again because they retained the title and again because that had already topped the league. However full credit must go to Saracens (finished 3rd in the league) for playing a full part in an excellent advert for the game of Rugby Union Football.
There were five tries and the ball was in play for long periods of time. There were very few unforced mistakes and plenty of invention. Even the dreaded kicking tennis was used sparingly.
Twickenham was nearly full and for the first time I can remember most fans were wearing the colours of one of the two teams participating. This added to the fact that the organisers had put all the Tigers fans at the north end and all the Sarries fans at the South end , made for a much better atmosphere than in previous ‘grand finals’.
I will not describe the whole game because who won or lost came down to the last four minutes. Tigers scored two tries to one in the first half to lead by six points at half time. Saracens scored a second try and with time running out squeezed a penalty out of the Tigers by consistent pressure. Glen Jackson stroked the ball through the posts to give the men in black a one point lead, which was not undeserved. There was a huge roar of triumph from the South end of the ground. There were four minutes left on the clock.
Tigers split their forces at the kick off. Flood kicked quickly to the left. The kick was neither deep nor high. Scott Hamilton raced in from is wing and as the ball drifted over the top of the three Saracens forwards in place to catch it. Hamilton was there as the ball came down a metre or two beyond the forwards who were faced the wrong way to tackle. The winger continued diagonally infield and then found Hipkiss with a pass as the replacement centre cut back the other way thus wrong footing the Saracens defence. Glen Jackson was still in the way but off balance he only stopped Hipkiss with a head high tackle which caused referee Dave Pearson to indicate a penalty was going to be awarded to Leicester in a most kickable position on the 22. Hipkiss as ever stayed on his feet and as two Tiger forwards joined Hikiss, Jackson was distracted and Hipkiss free to bust free and accelerate into space wide of the Sarries final cover for a try. Flood converted, but that did not matter, as Saracens were left needing a try to win with three minutes remaining.
From the kick off Tigers snaffled the ball and played up the jumper rugby in the forwards for two and half minutes. However Mr Pearson saw fit to award Saracens a penalty with 30 seconds on the clock. Jackson found the corner for a line out to Sarracens 8 metres from the Tigers line. The clock expired; this was the last play. As the ball was thrown in long Geoff Parling rose unchallenged to catch the ball. Ten seconds later Ben Youngs booted the ball into the stands and the northern end of Twickenham went potty.
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However I must just correct one point!
Quote:his added to the fact that the organisers had put all the Tigers fans at the north end and all the Sarries fans at the South end , made for a much better atmosphere than in previous ‘grand finals’.
There were in fact a number of very keen (two especially so!) Tigers fans in the South Stand!
It was very pleasing to be near a few of the Saffa fans who had come along to support their proxies!
What a great match!
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