Here Comes The Bridesmaid

PowerGen
By Chris Chaplin
December 16 2004

After the blood and thunder of the last two weeks I feel a bit sorry for the Powergen Cup competition as it comes to it’s time of the season and perhaps feels a bit like an unloved bridesmaid as it stumbles into the spotlight.

There is of course nothing wrong with a good old fashioned knock-out competition but somehow in these days, when the Premiership and European Cup hog the limelight, the Powergen must seem something of an irrelevance to the top teams and many of their supporters and I wonder whether the time has come for this route to European qualification to be closed and the competition reformed to exclude the Premiership clubs.

This would enable more of a reward for the clubs that perform the best in the Premiership by enabling another to qualify for Europe, remove the need for log tables to work out who has and has not qualified for the senior European competition and as importantly release some playing days for player recuperation by ending the need to play through either the Autumn International or the Six Nations periods.

As it is the Powergen is back and frankly as I write this piece I am struggling to work out what the teams from Tigers and Gloucester will look like.

From what I’ve read about the injuries sustained by Tigers during the “Battle of Britain” it seems, that if sense is to prevail, a good number of those that were on the fields of pain over the last couple of weeks, following on as they did from an unremitting campaign of Premiership, European Cup and International action since the early days of September, will be rested.

The word down Kingsholm way is that the Powergen is not of a high priority for the visitors with their own back to back defeats of Cardiff, and the lack lustre display by Stade Francais at Ravenhill, giving the Cherry and Whites renewed hope of progression in the European Cup.

Between the exertions of the last two weekends and the final phase of the European Cup pool stages Tigers must meet Worcester, when they visit Welford Road, and then travel to Kingsholm on 2nd January.

Gloucester in the meantime have a trip to The Causeway Stadium – that’ll be another dust up and no mistake, with the two clubs vying to keep in touch with Tigers should they defeat the Warriors.

All in all then I can’t see where any good purpose would be served by not at least resting those players with injuries for Saturday’s match and permitting the squad players and those returning from injury to get some game time.

Gloucester may well take the chance to give new signing, Welsh International hooker Mefin Davies, his first outing in the famous Cherry and White colours and where better than at Welford Road. Props are not exactly thick on the ground for the West Country side and with Terry Sigley, the close season signing from Birmingham and Solihull (sorry the Luddite in me can’t bring itself to call them an employment agency) likely to partner either feisty Welshman Gary Powell, another new boy but this time from Leeds or maybe the well regarded ex academy youngster Nick Wood will get a start. In any event it would be a big surprise if Nigel Melville risked his HEC registered players in this match.

We have already heard that Julian White and Graham Rowntree are carrying injuries from last week’s encounter and I expect to see Darren Morris and Michael Holford join with James Buckland in the starting line up for Tigers which should be a good enough trio to match the Cherry and Whites.

Alex Brown made a welcome return from injury last weekend and I’d expect him to start, perhaps with Adam Eustace who has not been overused this term.

Johnno has apparently a minor back problem and so with travails ahead of Tigers I expect Ben Kay to start with Louis Deacon in a very good pairing and which will need to be at it’s best to combat the threat of the Gloucester duo with Alex Brown a top rate player whether he’s stealing opposition ball or stretching his legs in one of his breaks in the loose.

In the back-row James Forrester looks likely to start with Peter Buxton with Adam Balding getting a breather. At open side they have the choice of Jake Boer or Andy Hazell and while Boer could do with a break I don’t see a natural skipper if he’s absent.

Lewis Moody has had some tough games but has played just four times this term and I would not be surprised to see him get a run in his favourite open-side position to give Neil Back a rest after a hard three months and to be joined by Will Johnson and either Henry Tuilagi or Brett Deacon in a good back-row and one which will be good around the park and at the breakdown. If Forrester starts he will have to be carefully watched as he breaks from the back of the line or the maul however Moody has good pace and the Gloucester beanpole can be stopped.

The packs should, if my hypothesis is correct, be evenly matched.

Behind the pack key man Gomersall may start from the bench, giving young Alex Page another crack at the big time and facing the very experienced and pacey Scott Bemand who has been an excellent signing for Tigers, why on earth did Quins let him go? If this scenario is enacted then the much more experienced Bemand should have the edge and the Cherry and Whites will be hard pressed to catch Bemand if he gets a clean break.

Duncan McRae made his first appearance against Cardiff last weekend since sustaining what looked like an horrific injury. The Australian is key to getting the Gloucester back line in to play and has been sorely missed by the Kingsholm side. I would be surprised if this game was not used to bring him back up to full speed.

Andy Goode has been a player transformed since first returning from the maw of Rod Kafer and ultimately coming under the influence of Pat Howard. His playmaking from hand is unrecognisable and he is back to his best with the kicking tee however I do think that when kicking from hand he should be less ambitious and get more safe touches so that the opposition cannot endlessly run the ball back as was the case in the last two matches against Wasps.

In the wings of course is young Ross Broadfoot who I thought did a superb job when Goode was out injured and I think he may get a start in the #10 shirt against the Cherry and Whites so that Andy can take a breather.

This would give him a chance to test himself against McRae who has been one of the form fly-halves this season and he should do OK.

Gloucester have a bit of a problem at inside centre insofar as if Henry Paul is missing they don’t have a front line kicker so I’d expect, perforce, the erstwhile League man to resume his productive partnership with McRae.

Ollie Smith has only played a couple of matches since returning from injury so if he’s fit I wouldn’t be surprised to see him take over the #12 shirt so that the incredible Daryl Gibson can also have a break.

This could then be a good hunting ground for Tigers as I think that Ollie could expose Paul’s reluctance in defence and get the Tigers backs underway.

Terry Fanaloua and new signing Nathan Mauger are very similar “bash it up” players and here again it may be that Kiwi Mauger will get the nod over Fanaloua who has been carrying an injury for a few weeks.

Leon Lloyd has looked good since he came back from injury and has clearly been practising his handling skills. Seru Rabeni must also be close to fitness now and these two would do an equally good job whether at outside centre or on the wing.

On the other wing Tigers will doubtless welcome back Tom Varndell and if by some stroke of fortune Rabeni and Varndell both started then Gloucester will have something to think about.

The Cherry and Whites still have that unlucky player James Simpson-Daniel in the treatment room and Marcel Garvey looked very lame at the Arms Park last weekend so it may well be that young flying machine James Bailey will start on one flank with yet another cousin of Jonah Lomu, Seti Kiole, on the other.

Now Bailey is fast, of that make no mistake and he’ll get over the whitewash if he’s given the faintest sniff, but the word is that his defence training is not going too well so how he would cope with either Varndell or Rabeni must be open to doubt and I can see that if given the ball that Tigers pairing could run riot.

Kiole is big and fast but he has the excrement or bust tackling style that may just suit the Tigers’ backs so if the ball gets to them watch for fireworks.

At full back Jon Goodridge is developing into a fine player but he too has made eleven starts so far in the Premiership and when his European Cup exploits are added to this it will be seen that he’s been well used and Nigel Melville may feel that young Rory Teague should get a start.

At Tigers Irish lynchpin Geordan Murphy should surely not be risked and the increasingly impressive Sam Vesty be asked to carry on the good work of his time during the Autumn Internationals. It’s true that he doesn’t have the Murphy magic, but then who does? Vesty is however solid in defence, sound under the high ball and will form a solid redoubt.

Now as I said at the outset this whole Preview is based on even more supposition than usual and really reflects just my best guess of what should/will happen – if I’m wrong, and there would be no surprises there, then ignore everything that I’ve said!

The outcome?

Gloucester do have a very thin veneer of cover once the usual first choices behind the pack are removed from the equation and with the packs likely to be evenly matched then it’s here that it could be decided, with Tigers squad having the greater strength in depth and experience and for this reason and because it’s at Welford Road I think it’ll be a win for Tigers.