Tigers Lose Heineken Resolution at Welford Road

HEC
By Ian Birks
January 9 2005

Tigers had the opportunity to set themselves up for qualification to the knockout stages as Biarritz Olympique made their return trip to Welford Road. Having won at home, the Basque side, who are not known as strong travellers, had it all to do.

The first few minutes looked as thought Leicester would run the game as they have done all season but the Welford Road crowd was silenced in the 4th minute as Thion scored the first of the visitors tries from an attacking 5m line-out. Yachvilli added the conversion to take Biarritz into a 0-7 point lead with barely 5 minutes played.

One of the few attacks from Leicester in the first half came from Ellis whose chip ahead after a break from his own half was caught and easily marked by the defending Biarritz Olympique.

The French side took a further 3 points in the 13th minute as Johnson was judged to have pulled down a maul. Yachivilli kicked the penalty and the Biarritz score moved into double figures – 0-10.

Only 4 minutes later, Leicester were penalised yet again for a crooked throw. Traille was perfectly placed to score the drop goal from the resulting scrum as Biarritz extended their lead to 13 points.

Leicester did make an attempt to make a game of the first half, but were dogged by handling errors that saw passes behind players as the home side tried to force the pace.

Biarritz were denied a try from a short line-out when Ellis intercepted a likely try-scoring pass, only to be caught behind his own try line. Marlu crossed the line in the following minute when Biarritz won their own 5m scrum, the ball was flicked on to the waiting Marlu on the left wing. He conversion was missed on this occasion, remaining at 0-18.

Leicester’s only realistic chance to put some points on the board came in the final few minutes of the half when, in a rare excursion into the Biarritz 22, the visitors were pinged for killing the ball. With an 18 point deficit to make up, Johnson shunned the virtually guaranteed 3-pointer from in front of the posts only to see Goode’s line kick go dead for the drop-out.

The second half was all about Leicester possession and attack versus Biarritz excellent defensive work.

The restart by the visitors went straight out gifting the Tigers a scrum on the half way line from which to build an attack. Their efforts were rewarded as Biarritz infringed to allow Goode the chance to kick for 3. This time, the penalty was taken and the first points of the day were added to the Leicester score card, 3-18.

Just 5 minutes later, the Welford Road crowd were looking for Smith to get over the line after getting the ball from a Leicester 10 line-out, but good cover from Marlu resulted in Ollie spilling the ball with some 10m to go.

Biarritz were gifted a further 3 points when Ellis shoved Yachvilli as they both competed for a lose ball in the Tiger’s mid-field. Ellis was treated to a 10 minute rest by referee, Alan Lewis, and Dimitri Yachvilli added the 3. With less than half an hour to play the score moved on to 3-21, and Leicester began to realise that chance of qualifying for the next round of the HEC was looking extremely remote.

As if galvanised by this realisation, the twice former European Champions started to play the rugby that we know they can play. A series of attacking scrums on the visitor’s 5m line ended when Healey’s pass was booted as far as Goode, who cleverly chipped the ball through for Lloyd to chase. Despite a little shove, the ball was kicked dead by the Biarritz defenders. Again, the Tigers attacked the try line with Goode prevented from scoring by the narrowest of margins.

Two drives from Gibson were stopped within 2 or 3 metres of the line by some brilliant cover tackling.

Tuilagi came close after knocking on a pop pass from Lloyd, again within stumbling distance of the Biarritz line.

Tigers pressure paid off in the 34th minute of the half when a rolling maul was stopped short of the line in the middle of the park and the ball was shipped out to a waiting Alesana Tuilagi on the wing. Goode added the conversion from out wide to bring the score on to 10-21.

Leicester did not give up on their intensive play; Goode dropped an intercepted pass in the mid-field that would have seen him get very close to crossing the line had he not been called back.

Leicester were playing like a team that believed that it could still win the game as the clock on the score board ticked over the 40.

With 42 minutes showing, Ellis picked up the ball from the back of a 5m scrum to dive over just to the right of the posts. After a short wait for the video ref’s decision to confirm the score, the try was awarded and Goode kicked the extras to move Leicester’s score on to 17-21.

Despite a concerted effort for the home side after the restart, Mr Lewis drew the game to its inevitable conclusion and the visiting Basque side took the 4 points for the win, but Leicester, finishing just 4 points behind, earned the losing bonus.

So, with 5 games completed, the pool 1 standings are: Biarritz on 18, Wasps with 15 after demolishing Calvisano at the Causeway Stadium taking the bonus, Tigers on 14.

Even with a 5 point win at Calvisano, a result that is far from guaranteed, the best that Leicester can hope for in the other pool game next week is either a draw or a win for Wasps at Biarritz; even then the chances of qualifying are far from certain, and even if Leicester do scrape through, they face the daunting task of an away leg in the quarters.

Taking the old Leicester credo, they will take it one game at a time; it is not the Leicester way to rely on other teams’ performances to give them anything.

There can be no complaint about the result. Leicester did not perform during the first half, and they effectively lost the game in the first 20 minutes, giving themselves a monumental task to claw back the French score.

For their part, Biarritz played a good, strong defensive game when they needed to and took their chances when they presented themselves. They played a well controlled and well disciplined game and thoroughly deserved the win on the day.

Still, it is a pity that Leicester did not start their come-back 50 minutes earlier.

Scores:

First half
04 Thion try 0-5
05 Yachvilli conversion 0-7
13 Yachvilli penalty 0-10
17 Traille drop goal 0-13
25 Marlu Try 0-18.

Second half
42 Goode penalty 3-18
53 Yachvilli penalty 3-21
74 Tuilagi A. try 8-21
75 Goode conversion 10-21
82 Ellis try 15-21
84 Goode conversion 17-21

Sin bin
53 Ellis