Benetton Treviso v Tigers Match Preview
By ChrisC
December 10 2012
“Robert De Niro’s Waiting.... ...talking Italian” is the chorus of the big #3 hit by the unbelievably gorgeous Bananarama and was all over the airwaves both here and Canada when I first visited Vancouver, which is the most beautiful city I’ve ever been to.
San Francisco was close but it’s a madhouse now; where else could it be illegal to drink sugary drinks in a public place or sell Goldfish but be fine to openly buy (medicinal) Cannabis or, until very recently, be naked in the street or even in a family restaurant!?
Rome too is beautiful, although some of the buildings could do with some repairs and coat of paint. I’ve been to Italy a few times, including a holiday to the beautiful island of Sardinia but mainly went there on business and really I could have been anywhere as airports, hotel chains and factories are pretty much the same the World over.
Once though I had to go “native”. My destination was way down in Bari province and my hosts, true to character, failed to collect me from the local airport. So while Robert De Niro wasn’t waiting neither was anybody else, although everybody was talking Italian. It was late on a Sunday so the telephone at the factory went unanswered. There was nothing for it, I’d have to fend for myself. I was headed for a small town out in the countryside and with her customary efficiency my assistant had secured the exact address and name of the hotel where my hosts had reserved accommodation for me.
I hailed a taxi and in my pigeon Italian explained where I wanted to go, miraculously, forty-five minutes later, I arrived at the correct hotel, which was quite delightful. The next morning the chaos continued unabated and I found myself basking in the September sun while having an espresso while my assistant, back in the UK, sorted out the mess. Just to complete the lovely, lazy, idyllic morning a marching band, straight out of the 1959 Peter Sellers’ film “The Mouse That Roared”, paraded through the square where I sat so I was quite sad when, just as I was about to go back to the hotel for lunch, my host arrived with much waving of arms, shrugging and profuse apologies and at last we set off to the factory.
To make conversation I asked him what was in the gigantic silos that peppered the landscape and he replied “set aside grain”. I questioned him further and he patiently explained that these were used for the storage of the grain from the crops that the farmers grew on the land that was, at the time and on EU diktat, left fallow or set aside and that the grain would be sold later when the set aside period was at an end. I pointed out that the farmers got an EU subsidy not to use the land at those times so crops shouldn’t be grown on it. My host leant across, patted me on the knee and said: “Ah you English – always playing with, how you say, the straight bat, eh?”
That rather summed up my dealings with Italian companies. We were playing with a straight bat while they weren’t even playing cricket!
Some Tigers’ supporters may have been hoping for a cricket score to emulate that achieved by Quins against their Italian opponents, the new creation Zebre, earlier in the weekend and after the first half they may have still been harbouring such thoughts.
That is until they saw the slapdash, careless and frankly poor performance by their heroes in the second half when Treviso were the better team.
In truth all through the match Tigers missed tackles and were inaccurate but in the second half they conspired to let the visitors back to within hope of a memorable victory at the home of the fallen giants of the European competition.
I thought Julian Salvi and Matthew Tait put in high class performances on an individual basis and in the first half, before the changes were made, the collective of the Tigers’ scrum was good against a Treviso pack that are no mugs but without the guiding hand of Tony Allen the Tigers’ defence looked all at sea far too often.
There won’t be any cricket this weekend either when Tigers visit Italy for the reverse fixture where Treviso will be brimming with confidence after scoring three tries and being denied another at Welford Road.
My guess is that Treviso coach Franco Smith will be fancying the chances of his team next Saturday, especially as I think he largely kept his powder dry for the home leg.
While the Tigers’ pack marched the visitors backwards, sideways, up and down in the first half last Sunday once Smith deployed his replacements they gave a much better performance and the Tigers knew they were in a battle that they hadn’t experienced in the first half.
I expect that Smith will start with Michele Rizzo, Ghiraldini and Cittadini on home turf and that the Italy international Rizzo, who played for his country in the recent test against Australia, will complete the same starting front row trio that appeared in the match against Toulouse.
Richard Cockerill for his part will, I believe, stick with Marcos Ayerza on the loose-head and Tom Youngs at hooker while surely rotating Dan Cole into the tight-head berth. After the pummelling that their colleagues took in the first half last weekend the Italians will be out for revenge and I expect the contest to be closer, much closer.
The line out went well for Tigers with Geoff Parling his imperious self and demonstrating yet again his contribution around the park and with Kitchener standing in for the injured Louis Deacon the Tigers, aided by the presence at last of Ed Slater on the blindside, looked comfortable enough against Pavanello and Bernabo but here again I expect to see coach Smith go back to first choice Francesco Minto, who started at lock in both of Italy’s autumn tests, to partner Pavanello.
For some reason, with Slater going well in the #6 shirt, Richard Cockerill saw fit to move him to lock and bring the still struggling Jordan Crane into the Tigers’ back row, a move I hope doesn’t prove prescient for next Saturday.
If he’s fit I’d like to see the additional grunt that Deacon provides at scrum time where I have the feeling it may be needed. If he’s still injured then I guess the starting arrangement from last Sunday is the best option but with Minto in play it’ll be a tougher ask for the Tigers.
While Slater isn’t the fastest of blind-side flankers I think with Mafi and Croft injured and Crane still searching for form after his long layoff he’s the best bet.
Julian Salvi was once again quite splendid, he was everywhere and was rewarded with a brace of tries, exceptional yet again and sure to be in action again down in Italy I’d bet.
Waldrom once again seemed to run, and run, and run with the ball, in spite of taking a heavy knock and it’s hard to imagine he won’t keep the #8 shirt.
In the back row Treviso selected Kiwi Dean Budd who, before joining his current club, had most recently been playing in Japan for NEC Green Rockets and has Super 14 experience with the Blues on his cv. He’d only had two starts, in the Robocop, this term with that against Tigers his debut in the Heineken Cup. A try scoring debut as it turned out.
However I expect that next Saturday could see the return of club stalwart Roberto Barbieri at #8 rather than on the open-side where he plays for Italy doing so in all of their recent autumn tests, while the #7 shirt goes to Zanni and Vosawi completes the breakaway trio.
In truth Zanni, Barbieri and Vosawi can play pretty much anywhere across the back row and I think Salvi and his colleagues are really going to have their hands full at the breakdown and will need to be accurate as otherwise Mr Rolland will give a virtuoso performance of which Ronnie Renalde would be proud.
I see that the battle of the forwards will be much closer both in the tight and the loose than it was last Sunday and if, as may be the case, Tigers fail to get the kind of armchair ride that the forwards gave them for virtually the whole of the first forty minutes in the first encounter, then there’ll be problems.
Behind the scrum Ben Youngs was back from England, in body at least, but looked less than accomplished at times, so I hope that another week at Oval Park will get his mind truly back on Tigers’ wavelength.
George Ford’s kicking remains oddly patchy and I wonder what’s happened to cause this as last season it was sublime but now it looks odd somehow, it doesn’t appear right and doesn’t even sound right. I saw some odd flashes of his skill with ball in hand but, like Ben Youngs, he came across as somewhat muted.
Treviso had locked both Botes and Burton in the gun powder room ready for the return match and unless either or both are injured I’d be surprised not to see them in the match day squad next weekend, although I thought Gori had a good match in very trying circumstances. However if the Treviso pack gets parity or better then should Botes and or Burton be on duty George Ford and Ben Youngs will need to be on top form and Youngs won’t need to be missing tackles as he did last Sunday, unlike Young when he came on who seemed determined to prove his worth by tackling like a dervish.
In fact tackling was a bit of an issue in the centre of the Tigers’ backs where the absence of Tony Allen saw chaos reign at times and whatever merits Dan Bowden may have, organising defences and making his own defensive presence felt aren’t two of them.
In attack, under his stewardship and that of Ford, the ball just went back and forth with the Tigers’ attack having an asymptotic quality. I can’t help feel that with the dominance achieved in the first half Tigers had to do better than rely on three of their four first half tries coming from the forwards.
I hope against hope that Allen is recovered for the return leg at Stadio Communale di Monigo, for Tigers badly need him to stabilise their defensive structure and straighten the line in attack for there were opportunities that were eschewed as the ball was endlessly shovelled out to Manu Tuilagi, often in less than promising positions, and I hope that Tigers aren’t falling into the England idea of “give it to Manu and see if something happens”. As it happened Tuilagi seemed at times to be wherever Ben Youngs was and that wasn’t at Welford Road.
Once their pack got a bit of parity in the second half the Treviso backs looked dangerous and that was without some of their big guns being rolled out.
I reckon we’ll see the return of Italy’s inside centre; Alberto Sgarbi who scored a good try against the All Blacks during the Autumn Internationals, so the Tigers’ defence will need to be better, much better as with Tommaso Benvenuti likely to be on duty again this will be Italy’s current centre partnership and so Manu Tuilagi will need to be on his best tackling behaviour and see if he can find his hand-off, which seems to have been lost somewhere in the England changing room.
Out wide for the home side I expect to see Giulio Toniolatti trying to reprise his try scoring performance against Toulouse and partner another current Italy international Tommasso Ianone they can both shift a bit and I am a tad concerned that they’ll be able to get the better of Goneva who still worries the life out of me at times and this could be a match for the pace and robustness of Niall Morris.
Personally I find it difficult to understand how a player such a Thompstone, who just seems to have an instinct for the try line, can be excluded and I’d very much like to see him replace Scott Hamilton.
The conundrum for me is Tait or Murphy. Last Sunday Tait had his best match in a Tigers’ shirt and proved the saying that form is temporary, class is permanent. My goodness he’s a classy player and I just want him to be on the pitch. On the other hand without Murphy the backs lacked composure and somebody who can put their put a metaphorical foot on the ball, bringing calm and some good old fashioned experience to proceedings. I guess that Allen brings that quality as well so if he plays then I’d stick with Tait but if it’s Bowden at inside centre then I think Murphy has to start with Tait replacing one of the wingers.
There’s no such conundrum when the identity of the Treviso full back is considered, barring injury, it’ll be Luke McLean, who loved the loose ball that the Tigers gave him to run with last weekend. They mustn’t do it again as with what I reckon will be a full strength back division the visitors could find their hands full.
Tigers must collect five points from this match if they’re to have any chance of progressing in the competition and will be mindful that Treviso held the might of Toulouse to a twelve point margin when the French club came calling and had to concede two Yellow Cards and one Red in their attempts to quell the Italian side for whom Kris Burton kicked seven penalties.
I think this is going to be an incredibly difficult fixture. Will Tigers win? Possibly but I’ll put it no stronger than that based on last Sunday’s performance. Will they get five points? That’s a different question and for the answer to be in the affirmative Tigers’ backs will need to be a whole lot more effective and organised than they were last week otherwise it’ll be all out.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012:12:18:13:24:43 by Tiggs.
Good stuff.
Enjoy Spain.
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I would take 4 points now, 5 would be lovely. I don't see it as essential to progressing from the group.
If fit i'd like to see:
Ayerza
Youngs
Cole
Deacon
Parling
Slater
Salvi
Waldrom
Youngs
Ford
Goneva
Allen
Manu
Tait
Murphy
Hopefully as Duncan says above we know what we will be facing.
Thanks as ever.
Quote:seventyeight
Looking forward to it as much as you, no doubt, are your trip away!
I am indeed but still Previews for the London Irish, Gloucester and Worcester matches to come from me before
That it has come to this is sadly unsurprising and, in truth, I was pleasantly impressed by Tigers' first half achievements last week. We will see just how lcd** we have actually become by end of play, or, indeed, just how strong being a Tiger still really is - let's hope end of play does not mean end of participation, or, worse, end of pride. We can, of course, keep that flag flying high over Treviso, but will we?
[asymptotic]*
[lowest common denominator]**
'Lions led by donkeys' .. Lest we forget
Key words for me are ".... Allen is recovered for the return leg at Stadio Communale di Monigo, for Tigers badly need him to stabilise their defensive structure and straighten the line in attack".
Also agree that if Allen doesn't start then Geordan must do so at fullback. Otherwise I'd leave Tait there and bring in Morris and Thompstone on the wings. (Goneva injured isn't he?)
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