Who’s For a Beer?

WildCardFinal 04
By Chris Chaplin
May 26 2004

Heineken of course is the only brew served in The Last Chance Saloon where Tigers meet their nemesis of the 2003/4 season – Sale Sharks. Victory means a refreshing injection of top class European Rugby next season whereas defeat means perhaps quite the opposite.

As soon as I knew that we’d have to take part in this farce I again watched both the Tigers match against Quins and that of Sale against Gloucester and was struck by how similar the two games were.

The forwards of both Tigers and Gloucester demolished their opponents in the first three quarters of their respective contests and then changes which upset the balance and shape of Tigers as well as both the sides dozing off and making the same mistake of letting the dangerous back divisions of their opponents have as much ball as they wanted to run back at them, with the devastating consequences of such foolishness almost seeing Sale steal the game at the death while Tigers conceded tries in quick succession to reduce their lead dramatically to just two scores whereas at one point having earlier held a 40-7 advantage.

Sale were once again blighted by a lightweight pack which had Sheridan, Anglesea, Fullaton, Sanderson and Cairns all unavailable with the dangerous Scottish World Cup player Jason White dragooned into the second row leaving Chris Jones on the blindside.

In the first three quarters of the match the justly fabled Sale backs just didn’t really see much of the ball other than when in the hands of a Gloucester player running toward them or bouncing over their heads as Duncan McRae chipped over or through them. It has to be said though that the Sale team, to a man, defended as if their lives depended on it.

Scotty Benton, an old Kingsholm favourite of mine, did well enough given the service he received from his pack and made the most of the chance that Jim Mallinder’s lifeline signing gave him when, having been released by Leeds he ended up in National Two with Cleckheaton, he must have thought his top class career was at an end.

Charlie Hodgson still doesn’t look to be back to his brilliant best and I thought that notwithstanding Gloucester’s contribution by not just taking their collective foot of the pedal but at times putting the gear selector into Park, the whole Sale effort was lifted when another inspired Mallinder signing, American Eagle Mike Hercus, came to the fray late on, although he’ll want to forget the pass that allowed his soon to be colleague Robert Todd to nick another of his trademark interception tries.

There is no doubt that even without the injured Dan Harris the Sale midfield of Chris Rhys-Jones and League convert Chris Mayor look a combination of power and guile with Mayor now having cemented himself into the team, with nineteen Premiership appearances alone this term the naivety of his early days after changing codes has largely been put behind him and while he has always been a strong, elusive runner he now looks to have added the different awareness that Union demands to his skills.

Hanley didn’t seem to get fully engaged when the Cherry and Whites dominated whereas even in those dog days of the contest for Sale Cueto was ever present. I do like Cueto. He’s one of those players that have it all, power, agility and cussedness in defence and attack. How he has not been rewarded with more representative opportunities remains a mystery to me.

Jaded, tired, mentally and emotionally drained is our Mr Jason Robinson! Hmmm! Well after a virtuoso hat-trick performance showing us again, as if we needed to be reminded, that he is the most devastating finisher in World Rugby from any position and seemingly from any situation we can only imagine what havoc he’d have caused had he been fully rested!

I hear that Vaughan Going is thought to be departing the beauties of Edgely Park and if so it’ll be a big loss to the north-westerners. Like Billy The Whizz he’s another of those players that make me suck in my breath when he starts running at a defence. So it was a fortnight ago when he made a late appearance and was kindly provided with ball by the Gloucester half backs so he could slice across field and bring the full panoply of the Sale back division into play – he must have thought it his birthday.

Up at Welford Road shortly after Tigers did much the same thing as had their old adversaries at Kingsholm earlier. Having first dominated and then all but destroyed the will of the Quins eight for the first three quarters of the game coach Wells decided to bring off a plethora of players and the whole thing became shaky and disorganised for a while, the Quins pack gaining a degree of parity at times about which they could have only dreamt earlier in the evening when Darren Morris and Julian White turned their opponents, including the fabled Funbus, inside out and all ways round until they didn’t know whether they were coming or going. With the back row again in superb form it was only left for George Chuter to carry on playing like a pocket battleship that thinks it’s a Corvette as he belts around in open play with Jonno and the ever excellent Louis Deacon left to cement the whole pack together into a typically fearsome Tigers unit.

Harry Ellis had another trademark perky evening and was a real thorn in the opposition’s side but once again Jaco’s kicking, as was the case at Wasps, lacked the precision that we had become used to seeing from him earlier in the season. His vision, awareness and playmaking were again superb though with Daryl Gibson revelling in the service provided. Leon was not to the standard that we saw at The Causeway Stadium a week earlier with the gremlins in his catching and passing reappearing although he did improve as the beautiful Spring evening wore on.

Austin and Geordan look to be getting near to their best form with the continually improving and hopefully long term signing errant Welford Road son Andy Goode, showing some good touches, sublime kicking out of hand as well as again demonstrating his improving fitness levels, OK he missed Monye but I thought that stemmed more from the lack of correct positioning, which would have been instinctive to an experienced full-back, than anything else, with cover tackler par excellence Oz not even able to get near the Quins’ speedster as he ran home some gift wrapped ball as Tigers started to lose concentration and gave Quins the chance to show off the skills of their back division.

If I had a concern though it was that Tigers again leaked tries through the midfield, a matter which I trust Messrs Howard and Back will have been addressing over the past week or two.

What of Saturday though when we shall all be at Twickenham en fete (or so the organisers hope anyway!) to see the final acts of this strangest of seasons?

As I write this there is no word from either camp on team selection so what follows is an uneducated guess – no change there then!!

With the Tigers pack being dominant over opposition eights it is difficult to imagine the Sale combination reversing the trend come the weekend and although they do have a good rolling maul technique when in attack they may well leak penalties when defending against the same tactic.

Sale were in trouble in the forwards for the majority of the game against Gloucester and with the settled and destructive front row of White, Chuter and Morris retained by Tigers I expect the Sale trio to have a pretty torrid time of it in the scrum. Andy Titterell remains one of the most accomplished and mobile of hookers in the loose but as we have seen the rejuvenated George Chuter has, of late, showed his own abilities in this direction.

At lock, with Jason White engaged on Scotland duty, if fit I expect Dean Schofield to join with Day as Fullaton is also on international duty but against Johnno, who is now in really classic form for the Tigers and his young sidekick, the vastly improved Louis Deacon, who I expect to be preferred to the still jaded Ben Kay, the Sale duo will do well to match them in the set piece confrontations although they will remain a real threat in the loose and Chuter will have to be spot on with his throwing if the ever present threat of Chris Jones is not to materialise in spite of his being closely policed by Corry.

On the subject of Chris Jones. I don’t really know what to make of this lad sometimes. He is very talented without doubt and almost freakish in his speed of foot in loose play when he has the pace of a centre. He is a great presence in the line out and gives his side a very real option as does Martin Corry for Tigers. However on a couple of occasions I’ve seen him get involved in the “rough stuff” for no good reason and seemingly lose a bit of focus thereafter, this was the case when he decided to engage in a bit of unnecessary rucking at Kingsholm whereas had he kept his cool the penalty could well have been for his side instead of against it.

With White, Anglesea and another bound for Sarries, Mr Sanderson, all absent Winter signing Aussie Hugh Perrett should, if “Big Red” is still unable to take part ahead of his operation, start and although I’ve not seen too much of him what I have seen of the young ex Waratahs and Australia Sevens player suggests that he’s very mobile although how he’ll fair against a bang in form Neil Back around the breakdown and tackle area is another thing.

What is for sure is that the Sale trio are fast around the park and they’ll be looking to exploit this advantage over the less agile Tigers set up. With Martin Corry also now in a rich vein of form, his work in the receiver role from the kick off having been simply superb of late, and with Will Johnson playing some of the best rugby that I can remember from Johnno junior, I think that in the closer encounters the Tigers will hold sway but in broken play it could be an entirely different matter.

Behind the pack with another departee, Nick Walshe, engaged elsewhere I expect the much improved young Richard Wigglesworth will have an opportunity to test himself against England squad player Harry Ellis whose surge in form since his return from suspension has seen him become heir apparent for the England #9 jersey. Behind the Tigers pack going forward I think he’ll be too much for the Sale man.

Mike Hercus, now back in the bosom of the Land of the Free and with Jos Baxendell injured Charlie Hodgson is seemingly the only game in town. While he didn’t look comfortable at Kingsholm what’s the betting he has a real stormer on Saturday especially as our latter season talisman, Jaco etc, who having been belatedly “discovered” by new Springbok coach Jake White, has been put into purdah down Cape Town way.

Andy Goode is a fine young fly-half but an on song Hodgson he ain’t. However if the Tigers pack is as dominant as I believe will be the case Charlie may well find himself the subject of rather more attention from the Tigers back row than will suit him and combined with the likely patchy service from his forwards I expect to see the Sale back division denied much quality ball as was the case against Gloucester. While Goode on the other hand may get a more comfortable ride and be able to show just what a contender he is for the #10 peg at Welford Road next season.

What is without doubt is that in the wide open spaces of Twickenham the Sale backs and Messrs Robinson, Hanley and Cueto in particular, could have a real end of term party if they get decent, or for that matter dodgy, ball to run with. Any slip ups, dropped passes or turnovers could be severely punished by them of that make no mistake.

As good a partnership as the strong Rhys-Jones and Mayor make they do miss the clever and instinctive play of the injured Graeme Bond and it will be interesting to see how Rhys-Jones fares against the experienced Daryl Gibson both in attack and defence. Unless Wigglesworth and Hodgson can get some good early ball to him and Mayor then the Tigers midfield could snuff them out as did Henry Paul and Terry Fanaloua for long periods a week or so back. They will find the direct and strong running of Leon Lloyd a challenge but will know that if they can get in to his face his handling is vulnerable as are his defensive capabilities when play opens up. The fact that it is largely the centre of Tigers defence that has leaked tries will not have gone unnoticed by the Sale coaching staff I am sure.

As this is positively my last preview of the 2003/4 season (cries of hurrah were heard from all parts!) I will say it just one more time – can we please have Ollie Smith, the country’s best young centre, playing in the centre? OK., OK., I know the answer but it has to be said that in the current circumstances a back three of a newly in form Austin with Geordan in his British Lions position of Full Back seems to cry out for Leon on the wing to complete a fast, strong talented trio to face the most dangerous back three in the premiership.

So! Biro or Beer? Well without being too partisan (who me??) I find it difficult to imagine that the injury and international duty stricken Sale Sharks forwards will be able to overcome the form pack of the last four months and secure enough ball for their talented back division to score sufficient points to overcome the currently rampant Tigers.

So it’s a Tigers win for me. The only real caveat I have is that Tigers back division, hugely talented in their own right, must keep their concentration, which they didn’t against Quins but did against Wasps, take their chances and under no circumstances whatsoever kick the ball in front of or to the Sale back three or there could be trouble on the wide open greensward of Twickenham and the scent of inkwells instead of the barmaid’s apron next season.

I’m now putting away by previewer’s hat, taking lessons in punctuation and expect I’ll be back, boring you all to death, in the Autumn – have a great Summer.