Jaco slays the Dragons

By Mike Hill
January 25 2004

A fine team performance saw Tigers topple the Dragons 26 - 20 capped by a magnificent display by two try hero van der Westhuysen at fly half. It was only our second away win this season and sets up a pool decider with Stade Francais on Friday night.

For once it was a dry, calm and relatively mild evening in South Wales and the conditions probably favoured the visitors. Tigers were able to continue in the same style as last weekend's rousing thumping of Ulster. The ball went wide often and the outside backs played with a sublime mix of precision and aggression. Quick ball was the order of the day and Ellis and Jaco made the most of the pace and power outside of them. Lloyd and Gelderbloom combined well in attack and prevented the Dragons punching any holes in midfield.

There had been 3 changes to the published starting XV with Deacon deputising for Kay and Healey and Baxter both unfit to play. The two stand in wings Booth and Tuilagi made countless telling breaks. Freddie was at his stampeding best whilst Steve stepped and darted his way past a floundering home defence. Although the Dragons had a slight edge in the scrum Tigers lineout worked well and the ball retention was excellent with Louis Deacon making light of his more experienced colleague's absence and winning a lot of ball.

The game started well for the home team with early pressure leading to a successful Jarvis drop goal after 4 minutes. Tigers response was swift with strong runs from van der Westhuysen and then Lloyd driving the Tigers deep into opposition territory. The ball went left and Jaco found himself one on one with the prop Adam Black who he beat comfortably on the outside and touched down under the posts. Vesty converted to give Leicester a 7 -3 lead but it didn't last long.

A weak clearance kick from Leon gave the ball to the Dragons in our half and after a strong run by Michael Owen Tigers got caught offside at the ensuing ruck. South African fullback Percy Montgomery struck the penalty kick well to narrow the Tigers lead to one point. Sam Vesty then wasted a fairly easy three points with a poor kick at goal and minutes later turned down the chance to take a shot from the 10 metre line.

Thankfully Montgomery missed his next penalty after a clever kick by Jarvis had forced Booth to chase back and hack the ball dead. The following five metre scrum popped up and the referee penalised Leicester. Tigers then stepped up a gear and Louis Deacon stole a Dragons lineout before Leon made a powerful break up the middle shrugging off several tacklers. Quick ball gave Jaco the time to judge a perfectly weighted chip, which bounced straight into the arms of Henry Tuilagi to score unopposed. Vesty missed the conversion and Tigers only had a 12 - 6 lead when it could have been 20 - 6.

Montgomery then narrowed the gap once more with a 35m penalty goal before Vesty missed another penalty after Ellis was taken high in the tackle. Half time saw Leicester with a slender three point lead and much still to do but lots of positives to take from an exciting first period. The second half started slowly with Vesty leaving the field with what looked like a pulled muscle to be replaced by Luke Myring. Will Johnson and Gough were then sin binned for fighting as Tigers struggled to reassert themselves on the game. With the crowd finding their voice the Dragons drove deep into the Leicester half and Jarvis kicked a fine drop goal to level the scores at 12 points apiece.

With fifteen minutes of the second half gone Tigers got back on track with a clever midfield move putting Steve Booth through. He neatly stepped the fullback but was collared a yard short of the line. The support arrived instantly and Ellis fed West who dummied outside and drove over the line. Booth then converted the try and Tigers looked to have their tails up. However as so often happens a poor pass opened up the Tigers defence for Andy Marinos to sprint through. Harry Ellis made the tackle but it was too high and Montgomery kicked another penalty to keep the Dragons in the hunt.

The star of the show Jaco then kicked cleverly down the right wing and the Dragons are forced to carry the ball into touch. A good lineout catch and drive is stopped just short before Jaco once more finds the gap and scores with a quick inside break as the Dragons are too eager to drift out wide. Booth converts to give Tigers a 26 -15 lead with only ten minutes to play. The match and the bonus point secured Leicester eased off slightly and the Dragons did finally manage to score a try through Percy Montgomery. It was all too little too late for the Dragons and Montgomery's missed conversion was the last kick of the game.

Without putting too much of a downer on a great result most people will recognise the absence of a decent kicker could well have cost us dear in this match. Next week against Dominguez we will need the more accurate boot of Ramiro Pez (unless Jaco can kick goals as well) we cannot rely on scoring lots of tries against Stade.

Thank you to all the home fans who made us feel welcome at their club although they do seem to be reluctant to accept the new set up with half the crowd chanting Newport and the other Dragons. I'm sure when everything has settled down the town will unite behind the team. They seem to have a bright future with good facilities, passionate support and a rich owner in Tony Brown willing to bring players of the calibre of Bobby Skinstadt to Rodney Parade. Skinstadt has a lot to live up to with his retired countryman Gary Teichmann afforded God like status at the club I'm sure he won't let them down.

The Heineken Man of the Match was spot on this week with Jaco richly deserving his cheap looking tankard (what happened to the bubbly!) Other notable performers were Henry Tuilagi who was quite awesome on the charge and Leon Lloyd who ran hard and made space for those outside him. That said the team wins or loses as a unit and on this occasion they all fronted up quite superbly. Let's hope for more of the same next weekend.