Toulon v Tigers HC QF Match Preview

By ChrisC
April 1 2013

I’m Alright Jacques Although, after two not entirely successful excursions, I never holidayed in France again I was obliged to return on business a couple of times.I had started to purchase a range of furniture machined in France but assembled here in the UK.

The product was well liked by the customers and sold in large quantities but supplies dried up. I tracked the problem to the components arriving from France being impossible to put together in the UK assembly plant. So I set off for the French factory, flying in a tiny aeroplane from an equally tiny airport near the Kent coast from where it was just a short hop to a grass landing strip near to my ultimate destination. Not being an intrepid traveller I didn’t much enjoy being able to see the whites of the eyes of the waving sailors on the ships ploughing up the English Channel as we skimmed over them.

The director of the factory showed me the production line and within a few minutes I’d identified that the machines had been incorrectly set – “doesn’t anybody check this stuff”? “Where’s the quality control”? I quite reasonably asked. My host just shrugged, stuck out his bottom lip and ushered me into an office. After a few minutes a large man arrived and was introduced as the senior shop steward, a man clearly held in some awe. I was invited to repeat my questions and make my points while the director translated in apologetic tones.

The shop steward, having heard enough, advanced and put his stubbled face a few inches from mine and launched into a tirade with much arm waving, fist clenching, head nodding, pointing and more shrugging. I gathered that my new acquaintance didn’t much like what I’d to say and, his wrath spent, he stalked from the office. Within seconds a deathly hush descended over the factory – they’d gone on strike! I was to apologise for making such a foul slur on the abilities of the workers or else no more furniture.

Fortunately I had an alternative English supplier ready to fill the breach and equally fortunately the design of the product was the property of my company.

I withdrew my business there and then and left for home. The factory closed for good shortly after.

Ironic really as in those days the French delighted in calling strikes “the English Disease”.

The “English Disease” these days is a need by the great and good to level all available playing fields.

Never is this trend better seen than in our sport where PRL continue with their quest to have it reduced to the lowest common denominator. The sport’s (mis) governing body and their media pals push the line that the Premiership has never been more competitive, what they fail to say is why.

It’s not through any great surge in standards, indeed quite the opposite, much of the rugby I’ve watched this term from the England team and the Premiership teams has been of as low a quality as I can remember.

Once Premiership teams are charged with venturing outside of the cosy cabal that is the Premiership things start to go awry. Where’s the aspiration to improve? What’s the reward for the teams and businesses performing the best? All that’s required by PRL is to maintain the status quo. The financial constraints placed upon the successful rewarding the feckless.

This malady will be brought into sharp relief when the teams for next weekend’s Heineken Cup are announced.

I started my usual research in preparing for this piece and the Toulon squad reads as a “Who’s Who” of rugby. Strength in depth would be an understatement and it speaks volumes for the quality of a number of clubs in the Top 14.

It does though seem there are limits to the depth of Toulon’s capacious pockets and it appears that their desire to sign Martin Castrogiovanni have foundered as M. Boudjellal has decided that his club doesn’t want to acquire the Italian’s services as much as Tigers want to retain them. So I’m hoping that we’ll have the Welford Road favourite for another season and that the distraction introduced by Toulon’s approach will enable the local restauranteur to put this untidy episode behind him just like so much cold risotto con pollo e funghi.

Last Saturday Toulon destroyed Stade Francais, even though they were away from home at Lille, in a four try rout which saw them coast home by 43 points to, an albeit relatively weak, Stade’s 11. The Toulon side still in first place in the Top 14 just ahead of Clemont by two points.

There was another rout at Franklins’ Gardens where Tigers finally put together the eighty minute performance that their supporters have been yearning for and ran out comfortable winners by 36 points to the hosts’ 8. I admit that I was expecting a tight match with the home team maybe edging it but in my defence I don’t think I was alone in not seeing that performance coming, but like all nice surprises it was very welcome.

So both teams go into next week’s quarter final full of confidence after big wins away from home.

It would appear that Andrew Sheridan is most likely to get the nod ahead of forthcoming British Lion loose-head Gethin Jenkins, who’s signing has not been an unqualified success, and if that’s the case it would be good news for Dan Cole who invariably prevails in contests against the big 6’4” 121kg ex Sale and England prop whereas he had a more difficult experience against Jenkins when he was wearing the red of Wales a week or so back.

Castrogiovanni made a good impact from the bench against Saints and looked more engaged than he has been for a while. I shall be interested to see if Sheridan still props like a tripod, an eccentricity which was largely accepted by Premiership referees.

Another ex Sale forward; Sebastien Bruno has been getting plenty of game time this season making fifteen starts and I suspect he may get the shirt ahead of young Jean-Charles Orioli to oppose a hopefully recovered Tom Youngs. I thought Rob Hawkins made the most of his opportunity when he replaced Youngs at Franklins’ Gardens but the dynamism of Youngs the elder in loose play is something that would be invaluable in the south of France.

I expect the superb and vastly experienced ex All Black; Carl Hayman to give Tigers’ Marcos Ayerza a stern test at scrum time in what looks an evenly matched pair of front rows however for me the Tigers’ trio will probably offer more in open play and at the breakdown.

Tigers’ starting locks for the rest of the season must surely now be Geoff Parling and the ever improving Ed Slater. Both made a mess of Saints both in the tight and open exchanges and with Kitchener available as reinforcement when opposition defences tire Tigers look in good shape here.

And they’ll need to be in good shape given that I expect Springbok Bakkies Botha to be joining England’s erstwhile lock; Nick Kennedy in an experienced and very tough pairing with Kennedy one of the most mobile of locks in augmenting his line out work. With Botha a World Class operator it will be fascinating to see how the Tigers duo fare against these two and it’ll enable the impressive Slater to measure himself against the best.

Tigers will have their peerless and not so secret weapon; Tom Croft to deploy to help the Tigers’ effort at the line out after a simply superb display at Franklins’ Gardens showed that the British Lion is back to his very best. The only stain on his outing against Saints was that having made an excoriating break, again ripping the Saints’ defence asunder, he failed to offload to the waiting Matt Smith who was clear through for another try. But such was Croft’s performance I for one can forgive him that “Billy Bunteresque” moment.

Croft won’t have things all his own way in the south France as I reckon he’ll have to contend with another legendary Springbok; Joe van Niekerk, who could be preferred to either Fernandez-Lobbe, who with his ability to play across the back row is the likely replacement, Rocky Elsom or young Gunther. Niekerk would be an ever present thorn in Tigers’ side at the lineout and a real threat in loose play as his six tries in all competitions amply demonstrate.

Julian Salvi was once again magnificent against Saints, his defensive work key to the overall effort as Flood was deployed further back. Salvi cemented his record as the most proficient in turning over opposition ball and his contest with Steffon Armitage will be something of rare beauty. The ex London Irish open-side, witlessly excluded from England duty when the national team is desperate for a genuine open-side that is now an endangered species as a consequence of the arrival of Leagueunion, is also a master of his art and as dynamic as the Aussie in the loose, so their meeting is one to whet the appetite for an enthralling contest at the breakdown – all that’s needed is for it to be managed effectively and consistently.

Completing a mouth watering contest in the forwards I hope to see Thomas Waldrom start. Jordan Crane had a good match against Saints but I think that the threat of Waldom is the greater especially as Toulon can choose between All Black Chris Masoe and Springbok Danie Rossouw, quite recently recruited from Suntory Sungoliath. I’m more used to seeing Rossouw at lock so Masoe is my bet.

It’s going to be a titanic battle in the forwards and with the likely benches also strong (assuming Mulipola has recovered) too close to call.

Behind the pack; Ben Youngs would appreciate better protection from his forwards against the rampaging locks and back row of Toulon than he was afforded at times against Saints but with the forward battle likely to be close I quite like the prospects for Youngs against Sebastien Tillous-Borde who’s international honours were short lived with inauspicious appearances in the 2009 Six Nations seeing him depart the international scene. The last I heard Michalak, who I always think of as a fly-half anyway, was injured so it looks as if Tillous-Borde is likely to get the gig with only Durand, who’s own international career foundered on France’s ill starred tour to new Zealand back in 2007, to gainsay his claim.

It was interesting to see Toby Flood’s deployment against Saints as he was back in his familiar flat, close order position in attack, releasing his outside backs into space, Tigers garnering rich rewards but defensively he was far more evident in the collegiate approach that I’ll return to later with the impressive Salvi slotting in to the 9/10 area which he covered well in concert with Tony Allen.

Jonny Wilkinson has signalled his intention to continue the longest farewell since Frank Sinatra and we pretty much know what he’ll bring to the party but for all that it will be interesting to see him opposing his erstwhile understudy. More likely to be laying a bit deeper these days but all Wilko’s skills, dump truck tackling, laser beam kicking, are still there.

Superstar time again at inside centre, where Wallaby Matt Giteau will be looking to display all his defence busting skills with seven tries to his credit already this term, which is vast improvement on the singleton he recorded in his debut season in France. Pretty much ever present since his arrival from the Brumbies and showing the class that won him over ninety caps. However he’ll need to unlock the Tigers’ defence, the second meanest in the Premiership, just three behind the positively Scrooge-like Saracens in tries conceded.

Now Tony Allen isn’t Matt Giteau going forward, although he made some telling breaks at Franklins’ Gardens, but defensively he has few peers and his work against Saints, both organisationally and personally, was once again of the very highest standard. Attack breaks down, who tidies up? Tony Allen. First line of defence misses a tackle, who covers? Tony Allen.

The Tigers centre will need to be at his defensive best and have his colleagues well schooled to snuff out the threat of Giteau and contain the sizeable threat of Bastareaud on the crash ball. When the big ex Stade Francais centre last met the lighter, but slightly taller, Manu Tuilagi in the Six Nations the Frenchman got little change from the Tigers own wrecking ball. Tuilagi’s range of skills is underestimated in my book and in the Saints match and others (the All Blacks victory for example) he showed greater variety and subtlety than he gets credit for and I fancy him to prevail again within the Tigers’ environment.

Tigers’ back three at Franklins’ Gardens had a splendid afternoon and benefitted from some intelligent coaching in changing the structure.

For too long the talented Matt Tait has cut an isolated and forlorn figure as the last line of defence in a position to which he is still pretty unaccustomed having hitherto made a significant majority of his appearances for club(s) and country at outside centre. However last Saturday the defensive pattern changed with Toby Flood dropping back to share the load, taking some of the relatively few high balls that Saints launched in a positively “Murphyesque” manner. His presence gave Tait confidence that he was not abandoned. He blossomed under the reduced pressure, looking assured under the high ball in the knowledge that he had support and was at last able to deploy his attacking talent, often causing problems in the 13 channel and his pass for the Morris try demonstrated superb vision, timing and skill and later the line for his own score was of the highest quality as befits an international centre where he started sixteen times.

Tait’s experienced presence enabled Tuilagi to drift out to the space vacated by the deeper lying wingers who, in the case of Thompstone especially, made hay by cutting in through the 12/13 channel at pace. It really was a quite splendid strategy, executed to perfection by the back three (and Flood) while Allen masterminded the midfield defence with Salvi.

Morris put his kicking travails of the previous behind him and produced another high class performance with his share of the duties at full back also yielding good go forward.

Thompstone and Morris played their full part in the new collegiate with the former coming to the aid of the rookie full back who had his best game for Tigers, albeit not in the style of full back play that Tigers’ supporters have come to expect from the now largely bomb proof Murphy, who had his own problems in defence back in the days of yore.

For all that though with Murphy seemingly now being seen as a finite resource (don’t let the government know or before we know it there’ll be a “Murphy Tax” every time he appears) that has resulted in him presumably being husbanded for a key future match and if the trip to Toulon is not such an occasion then it’s hard to imagine what could be. The veteran Irishman has not been on Cockerill’s list of unresolved injuries so I expect to see him back in the #15 shirt in France bringing all his experience to the fray with Tait providing multi faceted cover from the bench.

Toulon will, of course, present a higher level of challenge than did the Saints who outside of their pack offered little in attack until Morris was yellow carded, his absence from the collective seeing Myler scamper through the resultant gap for a try.

I expect to see France’s World Cup winger Alexis Pallison partnered with Samoan David Smith while the volatile Delon Armitage is likely to feature in the #15 shirt to test the Tigers’ back three with his kicking while roaring into the line in attack. He can be wrong footed in defence so I hope Tuilagi, back to playing his natural game and at Franklins’ Gardens having his best outing in a Tigers’ shirt since before the Autumn Internationals, gets to him in the wide channels.

Pallison, Wilkinson and Armitage will be probing behind Tigers’ centres so Ben Youngs will need a wide head on his broom for sweeping duties with the Tigers’ back three in a constant state of high alert.

It’s a massive challenge for Tigers but in the past they’ve overcome Stade Francais in Paris, Munster at Thomand Park and Leinster in Dublin in pursuit of European glory so who’s to say they can’t do it again?

Will money talk and see Toulon home or will Tigers upset the pomme-chariot?

You know if you’d asked me a week ago I’d have said the home side by a couple of scores but now? I think Tigers could just do it and wouldn’t that give M. Boudjellal something to think about as he counts his money?

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Toulon v Tigers HC QF Match Preview

Posted by: TheLeicesterTigers.co.uk (IP Logged)

Date: 01/04/2013 15:16

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013:04:08:21:31:01 by Tiggs.