Leicester pip Tykes

By Mike Hill
April 27 2003

Tigers struggled to a single point victory but once more failed to score a try as they beat Leeds Tykes 18 -17. This was dire error-ridden rugby for the most part with very little continuity for either side.

Leicester's points came via six penalty goals, five for Booth with McMullen slotting the other after injury saw Booth stretchered off.Geordan Murphy was obviously playing with an injury, which made him slightly reluctant to embark on his usual mazy runs.

Steve Booth probably wishes Geordan had gone himself in the first half when instead he threw the ball left to Booth who failed to take the pass. This led to the only try of the game as Leeds stole the ball and Hegarty chipped through for George Harder to run unopposed to the line.

No one had thought to cover the gap left by Booth who was buried in the ruck. A passage of play that must have left the coaches pulling their remaining hair out. The game was littered with basic errors and this together with Leeds propensity to give away three points every time Leicester threatened led to a rare try less win for the Tigers at Welford Road.

Braam van Straaten missed a couple of kicks including the conversion of Harder's try whilst Leicester kicked six out of seven and this ultimately decided the game. The kicking for touch was of an unusually high standard with both sides sending the ball huge distances down the touchlines. The half back partnership of Ellis and McMullen was lacking in control and failed to bring the outside backs into the game.

With Ellis caught too often at the base of the ruck and probably over-committing himself in the tight exchanges he has a lot to improve on. McMullen started well but kicked too many aimless high balls in the second half and gave away possession too readily. Add to this the centres poor handling, the mess that was the lineout and the front row spending all afternoon going backwards and you can see why we struggled.

Unbelievably Leeds were even worse than us and missed a great opportunity to win at Welford Road. Had they the confidence to run the ball more often they probably would have beaten us. To cap it all the referree had a shocker too I suppose it was just one of those days.

As for the Man of the Match award it was easy this week. Adam Balding had a stormer producing a powerful yet controlled performance at eight. In my opinion he was far and away the best player on the pitch. Well done Balders!

The injury list grows longer by the day and unavailable for Saturday was Moody, Smith, Rowntree, Back, Kronfield, Will Johnson, Healey and Vesty (and I've probably missed a couple) no wonder we struggled. The worrying thing is that we were struggling even with most of the squad fit so how are we going to cope down at Kingsholm for the final game when we really need to win to secure fourth? That of course will be irrelevant if we lose to London Irish next week. Yes they are playing badly too and yes they are struggling to score tries but they are facing relegation and that will make them extremely hard to beat.

I read in the Mercury that Deano wasn't sure he needed to sign a fly half in the summer. My opinion is that if we want to win anything next season then that should be our priority. Look at the difference Wilko makes at Newcastle, Mercier at Glaws and Stransky made at Tigers and decide for yourselves if we need an experienced outside half.