Tigers 32 points Saints nil point

After emptying a few containers of horizontal lubricant, purely to display our thanks to the new league sponsors of course, we set of for Welford Road. Brilliant sunshine and the ground was, as ever, full. The crowd was treated to the sight of a huge chopper being displayed in the middle of the pitch just before the festivities got under way, obviously the Saints fans had never seen one quite that big before.

Onto the pitch sprang the brave men and we were under way. Now let’s get this bit out of the way quickly, Andy Goode’s season DVD will probably not have the first match played too many times. Kicking out of hand seemed to be straight from the Walkers Stadium match against Toulouse – kick to Reihana in plenty of space? let’s label that one option C shall we. And missing 24 points from place kicks, let’s be thankful it was yesterday and not in a tighter game. I am convinced Goodey will return to his best and soon.

Andy wasn’t the only one to have his kicking radar out of calibration, Reihana missed two and Spencer, starved of the ball as he was, didn’t seem to kick well. The game ebbed and flowed a bit and then Cozza went for the catch and drive with Jim Hamilton finishing things off. 5 – 0 after 15 minutes. The Leicester Forwards were showing distinct signs of gaining the upper hand in all phases of the game and shortly afterwards Tom Smith went for a rest after upending Leo Cullen in the line out, incidentally I thought Cullen had a good debut for the club. Against seven men it was not rocket science to go for the catch and drive again and a maul rumbled inexorably toward the Saints line for Michael Holford to score his first try for 1st XV. Based on the few times I have seen Michael play before, I was expecting that he too would have a little rest at the Referee’s request but there wasn’t a hint of indiscipline all game.

So this is Pat’s new Devil may care Tigers – two tries from driving mauls and don’t kick any points. The defence looked really solid all match, aided and abetted by some dreadful Saints play. It was a loose pass that got them further into trouble as Alesana Tuilagi intercepted a ball in his own half and sped off to score, given the day Goodey was having, I rather thought he might have tried to get nearer the posts! Good night, game over really. 17 points to nil at half time and even had Saints taken both of their penalties there was precious little on offer from them.

The second half got under way and the increasingly impressive Vesty (my man of the match) slipped a ball beautifully out of the tackle to set Alesana off again at speed, I and I suspect the Saints defence expected a big bosh, but no, Hipkiss running a delightful supporting line scooted in for another try and the bonus point was gained.

The team were so much in control that the subs bench was used early, for me there was a little less crispness at the base of the scrum with Cozza off but Austin was giving a lot faster service to the Backs than Harry had done. Another piece of brilliant play from Vesty saw him put in a grubber kick in the tackle for Varndell to scoot through for the team’s 5th try. Julian had come on and immediately the Saints scrummage started to retreat.

Saints were playing some very young lads and so were we, the difference being that ours have been blooded over a number of seasons already and the step up to the top level is therefore no surprise to them. I was impressed with Jennings who was very fast to most things.

All in all a massive team performance against a Saints side that simply didn’t click. There were lots of dodgy bits and against a better side we might have suffered through these. 32 points to nil has a nice ring to it, one better than the 31 – 0 scoreline at FG we were on the wrong end of a while back. Its good to be back.