Tigers vs Treviso Match Report
By SimW
January 23 2011
A Saints supporting friend of mine is of the opinion that any English team lucky enough to get an Italian club in their HC pool are a nailed on certainty for qualification. Bath apart it's difficult to disagree but based on the away game the tide looked to be turning. A repeat of the 52 nil scoreline the last time we played Treviso at WR was the target but a 34-29 bonus point win would be enough for our needs. As it was we improved on our score by 10 points but defensively dropped our standards by 15 points - as a metaphor for our season todays game was quite apt.
The improvement compared to the away game was significant in terms of the score and the performance. As it should have been given the relative strength of the two teams. Our injury list is reducing at the right time, just like last year, but like last year the cost of the continued bad luck could be measured in the hundred thousands now that we've missed out on a home quarter final. With Murphy yet again nursing another broken bone months ahead of a World Cup and Croft resting up the for 6 Nations Tigers continued with Hamilton at 15 and Waldrom, the player of the season so far, at 6. Allen and Manu are a much stronger midfield pairing than Smith and Agulla; mostly because they're not playing out of position. And of course Flood is clearly a more accomplished 10 than Billy albeit without the hair and hollywood name. In the forwards Slater is definitely a player that Tigers fans would like to see in the squad again next year but the addition of Deacon on the occasion of his 200th start restores the backbone of the team - ironically so given that his own spine resembles that of a porcupine most of the time now.
Anyway, hopes were high that we would bag the 5 points necessary to give us a shot at a home quarter. And that's a sentence I didn't think I'd be writing after the first two pool games! For perfectionists, as all professional sportsmen and women tend to be, it's never a comfortable place to be when you don't control your own destiny but as Cockerill said in the post-match interview; the seedings for our pool were decided when we drew with Perpignan.
Still, at least we had something to play for unlike Wasps whose fans must be wondering which team is going to turn up. An away loss to Glasgow then a home victory over Toulouse in consecutive weeks must make Dallaglio, Mr. Consistency himself, spin like an MP's spokesman in his proverbial grave*. *I know he's not dead but the analogy sounded good.
Rob Andrew admitted following his side's 83-10 reversal at Welford Road in 2005 that it was men against boys. The same was true of this Heineken match up and it certainly doesn't help when you have to play nearly half of the game with 14 men. Unsurprisingly the scrums were comprehensively won by the Tigers 8 (or 7 when Slater was harshly carded for a trip). The lineout was more competitive - but only when the Hookers managed to throw it in straight. The real battle however was in the maul, some may not like the slow march of a Welford Road maul but a bit of up the jumper stuff is fine by me. (Speaking of which, what are the odds of Deano coming back as a scout for us? Maybe I'm getting too soft having not played for a few years now but he would be a great addition to our backroom staff. Watch this space, you heard it here first!) On a day when the intensity was nowhere near that of recent games against Scarlets and Saints to have such a potent weapon to call on is the stuff of dreams for the Tigers Coaches. Poor Joe Maddock seemed like he wanted to be anywhere but out on the wing watching his pack get pushed around.
The same couldn't be said for Brendan Williams, the Treviso full back. Resembling an Australian Billy Whizz he zoomed around the pitch picking off the slower defenders and breaking through tackles seemingly at ease. Behind a stronger pack he would be a real asset to any team. It's a good job that he doesn't play for Tigers though because like our own live wire, Amorosino, he'd spend most of his time watching from the stands; Cockerill seems to prefer his backs big, beefy and ugly.
There are not many who are beefier or uglier - but I wouldn't say it to his face - than the junior Tuilagi. Manu again demonstrated his Lennox Lewis of a hand-off and Linford Christie pace off the line (minus the drugs) to score a typically explosive try which he celebrated with the customary sticking out of tongue. He'd better hope Ben Youngs' Mum wasn't watching or he'll get a telling off just like Ben did following the Shhhh celebration of his well taken try against the Scarlets. Sadly, from my perspective, the more Manu plays the better he gets and the better he gets the more likely it is he'll get called up by England. Where he'll promptly be taught to do anything but play to his strengths and will probably come back broken or doing things the wrong way. As evidence I cite the number of times YBY got caught at the base today. Ben still does enough good things to be a shoe in for the England number 9 shirt but only because Joe Simpson seems to be afflicted by the Jamie Hamilton step and pass as well (where's Kardooni when you need him). No matter, I'd still rather have him on the pitch than not but next year when the Young One's are competing for the starting number 9 shirt he'll have to up his game another level.
Crane is another example of a player who took backward steps after being touched by the England claw. Back to his best now though and scoring a 41 minute hat-trick Crane is clearly benefitting from the backrow battle with Waldrom. The gruesome twosome along with Newby, who again today showed his abilities in the lineout and durability in defence, are making it a tough ask for Croft to get back in the starting XV. Whoever is dropped to the bench for the big games will have a right to feel hard-done by. Such strength in depth almost makes a mockery of the budget disparity between us and the French; the effect of which is proven by there being 4 French teams in the quarters.
The only negatives from a playing perspective were the defensive frailties that led to numerous missed tackles and seemingly endless silly penalties that gave the visiting fans in the CAT stand something to cheer. The worst of which being committed by Captain Crane, deputising for Deacon after the Lock's shoulder injury prevented him from returning after half time - or was he being rested so he can add to his 18 caps. Crane looked to have pulled off an Ellis when he emerged from the middle of a ruck and scampered into the Treviso half only to be pulled back by the ref for hands in the ruck. Silly, very silly, but it was that kind of game where avoiding injuries was the only thing to aim for. And in any case he pulled off the same trick with the reward of a well taken try, only this time crucially from the middle of a maul where doing so is legal.
The resting of Deacon aside it seemed that Cockerill wanted his moneys worth out of his England players choosing to rest instead those who'll be left to steer the ship in their absence. Hamilton got a deserved rest as did Ayerza and Crane. Another sign that off-field tactics are beginning to be as professional as the on-field ones.
So all's well that ends well and Tigers live to fight another day in the premier northern hemisphere competition. I checked the Perpignan/Scarlets score at half time and at 22-nil up and 3 tries to the good a home draw was looking unlikely and so it proved to be. Scarlets exacted their revenge for 2 drubbings and Chris' preview by capitulating when their English cousins needed their help. Tigers have long memories - be warned Llanelli! Leinster away is possibly the best outcome for us and a home semi final draw leaves the prospect of 2 finals against our near neighbours from the South. Who'd bet against an East Midlands double now?
So in summary, we've done better than last year when a home draw cost us qualification but let's hope the celery noose doesn't throttle our hopes of qualifying again next year!
Match Facts:
Tigers 62, Treviso 15
9 tries (7 converted), 2 tries (1 converted)
1 pen, 1 DG
1 yellow card, 3 yellow cards
Best try: Alex on 38 minutes. Great hands in the build up.
My MOTM: Billy Twelvetrees
[Note to Scarlets fans: 1. I'm not a professional writer, 2. This is not intended to be an impartial report (the clue is in the URL), 3. If I see even one sentence of the above copied to your website I'm calling my lawyers!]
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011:02:08:20:50:49 by Stephen Bath.
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The best thing about the Internet is that it gives everyone a voice.
The worst thing about the Internet is that it gives everyone a voice.
How right that is.
Love the last four lines!
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However I really think your footnote displays typical English arrogance it should have said:
Nodyn i'r cefnogwyr Scarlets: 1. Dydw i ddim yn awdur proffesiynol, 2. Nid yw hyn yn bwriadu i fod yn ddiduedd adroddiad (y cliw yn y URL), 3. Os wyf yn gweld hyd yn oed un frawddeg o'r] gopïo uchod i'ch gwefan Rwy'n galw fy cyfreithwyr!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011:01:25:17:53:37 by IDLETIMES.
excellent read, and thanks ... firstly to my agent, and of course my family without whose help ... etc.
'Lions led by donkeys' .. Lest we forget
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... exposed to me at least .. it seems we get 50% of the gate if playing away at another club's home ground, or 35% of a projected higher gate if they hire a larger capacity .. which rather diminishes the financial wailing and gnashing of teeth if we don't get a tie specifically at home
'Lions led by donkeys' .. Lest we forget
But I'm still not clear on the maths as they relate to a home tie. Is 35% of the Aviva's 50k assuming it's full when one considers tbe extra cost of playing there greater than 50% of our own 24k (again assuming it's full) with much lesser costs and all the secondary spend?
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I'm assuming there's no take from a franchised catering set up, but there must be other ancillary income if we play at home [drink/programmes, etc.] - but equally, there must be ancillary costs to staging a game
If we played at the home ground of our hosts which they did not have to hire [seems the RDS may have had to be hired too] which had a capacity smaller than 24k then is it safe to assume we would be worse off? Probably, but not, perhaps, by hundreds of thousands
Where the capacity is as great as Lansdowne Road I cannot see the difference being that great - could we even be better off?
... but as you appreciate, my point is exactly that an away quarter final is not, in purely financial terms, the disaster it has been purported to be
'Lions led by donkeys' .. Lest we forget
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