24 Carrot Encounter!

Glahs
By Chris Chaplin
November 3 2004

Supplies of Red Diesel are running low down Gloucester way as the Cherry and White hoards begin their annual pilgrimage to Welford Road to try and secure another victory to add to their double of last season and move themselves above Tigers in the league.

The Cherry and Whites were the last English team to win at Welford Road when they over ran a dispirited Tigers just as 2004 began and could hardly have had a better warm up this time than their 55-13 six try drubbing of our old friends from Ravenhill.

It’s a little difficult to judge the Gloucester side’s performance against the Ulstermen who fell away alarmingly, much as they did when they visited Welford Road. Like so many sides in the Heineken Cup Ulster are an entirely different proposition when at home, as Tigers’ supporters know to their cost after the debacles at Ravenhill and Biarritz, but more of that later.

Gloucester’s performance against Stade was probably good enough to beat most teams and but for their going to sleep for a while in the middle of the match it was for them to win against the team who remain my tip for this year’s HEC.

The Kingsholm pack has always been a strong suit for the West Country club yet for much of this season it has not fired on all cylinders, largely because the front row has been disrupted by Woodman’s departure, Phil Vickery’s injury and then by further injury to Sigley ahead of the arrival of Christo Bezuidenhout, leading to the loan signing of Simon Emms as emergency cover.

With the giant Bezuidenhout firmly installed, Vickery returned and steadily making his way toward full match fitness, all is returning to normal in the dark recesses of the Gloucester scrum although it did struggle against a superb Stade.

Without doubt Ollie Azam brings great mobility and with Vickery represents an ever present threat in open play however Azam’s insistence on his American Football throwing technique does have very real problems as far as the Frenchman reliably finding his man at the line-out and there is his legendary short fuse and affinity with the Yellow Card.

Chris Fortey on the other hand is rock solid at the set piece, invariably finds his jumper and has, for a front row player, a decent disciplinary record and was truly outstanding against Ulster.

As it is Azam went off at Kingsholm after injuring his shoulder having not long replaced Fortey with the latter having to put down his pint and retake the field. So I expect to see Fortey again start next Saturday and face James Buckland who certainly livened things up when he made his belated appearance against Biarritz.

At the other end of the front row from the all action Raging Bull is the huge Bezuidenhout. The ex Bulls Super 12 player really is the biggest of big old units weighing in at 116kg (which is over 18 stones in old money) and stands the thick end of 6’6” in his boots! I think that only Sale’s Andy Sheridan is a bigger prop in the ZP.

The 34 year old, four time Springbok, who played against England in the World Cup semi-final is a good scrummager and it’s going to be a real tussle when he comes up against scrummager supreme Julian White, who must be kicking himself for starting a fight down at Biarritz and bringing Tigers’ most promising attacking move of the first half to an abrupt end, the resultant penalty pushing Tigers back well into their own half.

The encounter will be close to call in the tight, although Tigers should really get the best of things with Morris adding his bulk to a very solid looking front five.

Early on in the season the Cherry and Whites had converted flanker Peter Buxton partnering the superb Alex Brown in the second row while Adam Eustace recovered from injury. Buxton, a local lad who made his name down at Newport until returning to Kingsholm back in 2002, shortly after Melville’s arrival, made a fair job of his new role but is not a high class lock.

While always a great presence in the back-row, where he is usually Dean Ryan’s “grunt option”, I didn’t feel that he looked settled at lock and he’ll have been pleased to get back to blind-side against Ulster.

Against Tigers though he could again find himself back in the second row if Alex Brown doesn’t recover from an injury to his arm, which is likely at the moment, and Buxton is preferred to the now returned from injury Mark Cornwell who, while a good line-out player, for me has always lacked something around the park.

If Brown is missing, ending the ex Bristol man’s record of uninterrupted Premiership starts, then he’ll be sorely missed by the visitors, he being one of, if not the, best ball stealers in the game with his work around the park of a similarly high standard.

In Biarritz I thought Johnno looked out of sorts although Ben Kay did not seem as weary as the rest of the tight five and put in a good showing, the others will need to have been rejuvenated in time for next Saturday if this is not to be an area of difficulty. If normal service is restored, especially if Alex Brown is missing, then I see Tigers having a degree of dominance in the set pieces and if Corry is restored then the Tigers’ options increase, as does the chance of containing the threat that James Forrester represents at the tail of the line-out.

Will Johnson, hard working player that he is, did not have the best of afternoons against Biarritz thus Corry will take over at #8 where he’ll probably face the now bulkier, but still lightening fast, Forrester.

Rather like Chris Jones of Sale young Forrester is something of freak of #8 nature with his speed although also like Jones he has been a bit lightweight for the rigours of the international scene.

That wonderful competitor and ex Tiger Jake Boer missed the Ulster match following an eye injury that caused bleeding of his retina. He is tipped to be fit in time for the trip to Welford Road so maybe the new Kingsholm favourite; Adam Balding, will be preferred to Buxton to start against his erstwhile colleagues at blind-side.

The Gloucester back-row is a huge danger and this will be another great contest and although Tigers can at last field what is their first choice combination of Moody, Back and Corry, Wells have mysteriously chosen not to do so which I think could prove to be a costly error against the Gloucester back row..

The Cherry and Whites’ pack was certainly below par against Stade as were the Tigers against Biarritz with only Moody and Kay showing a spark of the old Tigers go forward, although Julian White continued to dominate at tight-head. If they’re all back on song, and with Corry restored, they should win the contest in the tight but may find it hard work against the very mobile Gloucester trio in the loose with Moody having to scrap with Boer around the breakdown.

Although Tigers should be capable of gaining an edge in the tight, Gloucester will try to play to their strengths by disrupting the Tigers pack and make the play fractured as did Biarritz to great effect last weekend and it must be a concern that in spite of Tigers being camped inside the Biarritz 22 for virtually the whole of the second half just one try was achieved and that by some good fortune blessing Rabeni.

Behind the pack Andy Gomersall will not have the opportunity to show the young pretender who opposes him good notice that he is not yet ready to surrender the England #9 shirt for which he’s been made to wait while others unjustly went before him.

Scott Bemand deputises for the injured Ellis and while he may get slightly better ball from his pack I don’t think it will enable him to gain an advantage over Gomersall who has a superior pass and is quicker and more decisive in his use of the ball. I expect the revitalised Gloucester man to win the day.

At Fly-half Duncan McRae, love him or loathe him, has really got the Cherry and White back line moving and has formed a fine partnership with the form inside centre of last season Henry Paul, who has also curiously been made to wait for another chance in an England shirt in the full size game after just one appearance against France.

At the moment though McRae is strapped into a neck brace after a nasty injury incurred at the bottom of a ruck when his head was over extended and his neck injured. It is currently believed to be soft tissue damage but an MRI scan will reveal more. The Australian will not make the trip to Leicester.

Gloucester’s probable option will be to draft in England Sevens specialist and skipper Simon Amor. This will remove the efficient partnership of McRae and Paul and provide an opportunity for Tigers to capitalise. The only other realistic contender for the #10 shirt is young Brad Davies unless Paul moves to #10 and Mauger and Fanaloua play at centre.

Tigers will start Andy Goode who had a horrible day against Biarritz when, in perfect kicking conditions, he missed eleven points with his boot. All the kicks were well within his capabilities and by some simple arithmetic it will be seen that those misses may well have been pivotal in Tigers missing out on a losing bonus point.

I thought the Goode’s vision was better and he’s clearly benefiting from the influence of Pat Howard however he has a deal to do in honing his skills in the implementation of the expansive style of back play that holds sway at Oval Park these days and I do wonder if Ross Broadfoot would be a better option at the moment with Goode returning to #15.

While Amor does not have McRae’s strategic vision or pass he does have loads of pace and will need to be closely shackled for if he gets loose there’ll be problems

Poor Daryl Gibson seemed to hardly feature in the Biarritz match so little ball did he see and it is essential that his robust skills are brought into play against Henry Paul who cannot be allowed to settle into his game and who at times still displays defensive frailty.

Like Andy Goode the faux Englishman is a confidence player and if he’s rattled it will affect the kicking prowess which produced 25 points against Ulster and, together with McRae, some lovely out of hand kicks. No posing at the kicking tee, clasping of hands and the Wilkinsonesque impression of using a French toilet for the ex rugby league star, just a quick look at the posts, a casual trot up to the ball and over it goes! Job done and back to his BMW X5 and off for a bit of clubbing in Cheltenham!

In the outside centre berth Terry Fanaloua, for so long a favourite son of The Shed faithful, continues to bust through defences much as does Tigers’ Fijian try scoring machine Seru Rabeni.

Like Rabeni the Samoan can miss the odd tackle and knock the ball on and his passing this term has been a bit haphazard.

When either of them latch onto player or ball though things can really happen and a Geiger counter could well be needed when the two of them meet, with either of them capable of winning the contest.

Nathan Mauger, brother of All Black Aaron, is now on the playing staff at Kingsholm, actually looking more like a #6, and replaced Fanaloua later on against Ulster. The Kiwi is similarly robust and unless Tigers’ tackling is much improved over last Saturday’s display Paul and his colleagues will run riot.

It is out wide that Gloucester would have expected to have a real edge with James Simpson-Daniel exuding real undeniable class. However the youngster has once again been cruelly struck down by injury, this time to his hamstring, and will not only miss the trip to Leicester but also the Autumn internationals.

Melville’s choices here revolve around the probable starting of James Bailey who was signed from Bristol in the close season and is a real flyer scoring 14 tries from 21 first team appearances for the Shoguns but I’m told he has doubtful credentials in defence.

The other option would be a debut start for the newly signed A international Seti Kiole who played for Tonga against Wales A in November 2001 as well as against Scotland and Canada before getting a full cap in the Tongan’s 64-21 victory over Japan in 2002. He’s big and quick and hard to miss having a hairstyle which must have come from jamming his fingers into a 13amp socket!!

Marcel Garvey who, while it is true to say is not that difficult to fathom out, has speed, a newly found step off either foot, a Jason Robinson like low centre of gravity and strength out of the tackle.

Working out what the youngster is going to do is not the trick, it’s stopping him doing it, especially as he’s now, for the most part, given up the technique of running laterally until somebody nabs him.

The only weakness is that he can be lazy and not go looking for work, what in soccer would have been called a goal hanger, and he is not the best defender in the world but he’s classy in attack of that there’s no mistake.

Class is, I’m afraid, not something that Tigers have on the wings without an on form Healey. Sam Vesty is a good honest club man but he has neither the skills nor pace that is required of a winger, so I’m pleased to see him back at 15 deputising for the injured Murphy.

With Healey, Lloyd, Smith, Holtby, Murphy, Tuilagi and Booth all injured the impressive Tom Varndell is deservedly to get a run although Dan Hipkiss may be found wanting for pace out wide

Young Jon Goodridge is pretty much a fixture in the #15 shirt following the departure of Thinius Delport to neighbours Worcester. Some good kicking out of hand and incisive running is the order of the day from Goodridge. He is prone to occasional poor defensive positioning but for the most part will cope well with high kicks. Low kicks straight at him he likes rather less though or having to turn and collect.

Without McRae and Simpson-Daniel and possibly Alex Brown the Cherry and Whites will be deprived of some hugely influential players, although they’ll be pleased to see Jake Boer back.

I think that this disruption, combined with the fact that the contest is at Welford Road and with Gloucester not always great travellers, it will be a close run Tigers win in spite of coach Wells being in part forced and in part choosing to not play his strongest side from the start and frankly if it’s not a home victory then some serious questions need to be asked as to what is going wrong!