Wet but not so wild at Rodney Parade

It was with some trepidation that I volunteered to write a match report for Friday’s game against Newport-Gwent Dragons as previous weeknight games I had described had at best ended in a draw. Unfortunately my record continued with this game. But this was an entertaining game, at least for those of us viewing from the dry comfort of our own living room.

(thanks to Nikki for the photo, ed)

The game started off evenly matched in conditions that made handling difficult. However, it was to prove that Dragons were able to cope with the wet better than our fancy-Dan Guinness Premiership side. However, the first scoring opportunity came to Tigers from a chip from Matt Cornwell into the in goal area which left the Dragons defence helplessly flatfooted. Had Alex Tuilagi been half a yard quicker, he would have been able to dot down the important first try, as it was the ball frustrating just rolled onto the whitewash and so became dead.

Such are the vagaries of the oval shape ball we love (and sometimes hate perhaps?) that the next significant passage of play saw a delightful chip by Goode spilt by Breeze bounce very kindly into the possession of Dragons fullback Kevin Morgan. With a different bounce Varndell could very easily have picked up the ball for a certain Tigers try. However, Morgan made the most of his opportunity and headed of on a mazy 40+ yard run. Following a well-timed pass to Michael Owen, who showed good hands to shift the ball on, Warlow finished of the move for a try, which he converted himself. Dragons took a lead, which they would not relinquish for the whole of the match. I think Tigers could very easily scored the first try and I think the night might have been very different if they had as it would have been the dragons chasing the game rather than the Tigers.

Tigers played a territorial game, a tactic, which looked to be a good one in the difficult conditions, which saw both sides struggling to gain good possession fro the line-out. However it was from a line-out that Dragons ultimately scored their second try of the game. A break in midfield lead to a ruck underneath Tigers posts. Although the ball was slow from this ruck, principally due to some cynical loitering off-side by Rowntree for Tigers (arguably a yellow – perhaps the try saved him), Breeze came of his wing to take the ball and bisect Ellis and Gibson to put the ball down behind the posts. An easy conversion was taken by Warlow. 12 – nil to Dragons in the 29th minute.

It wasn’t until the 25th minute that Tigers got on the score-board and it came from their best move of the match through forwards play. The move started from a lineout on half-way, moving through several phases including mauls, rucks and pick & drives until Shane Jennings rounded the play of by taking the bal about 10 yards from the line and bursting over. To my mind Tigers should have utilized this area of the game more; keeping ball in hand around the tight and using our more powerful pack to work scores. There then followed an exchange of penalties. First, Goode was caught in possession from a Tigers scrum, and was penalized by Nigel Owens for holding on; Warlow converted to make it 15 – 10. From the restart a dragons player was adjudged to have blocked the chasing Tigers and so Goode was able to make amends for his earlier mistake by slotting the resulting penalty through the posts. Unfortunately Goode undid his good work by being caught offside when charging out of defence from a scrum on Tiger’s 22. If the officials had missed Goode’s transgression Dragons would have been punished severely as Tuilagi looked to have a clear run of goal from the spilt ball. As it was Warlow converted the penalty to take Dragons in at half-time 18-10 up.

Tigers had a chance at the start of the second half to get some momentum as a result of a penalty awarded from a scrum on half-way after Warlow have failed to kick the ball the required ten yards from the kick-off. Unfortunately Goode’s long range effort drifted just left of the posts.

Warlow did not make any mistake from his next chance. Matt Cornwell, who did not have the best of nights, spilled a high ball which he should have taken; the resulting scrum allowed Warlow to have a go at a drop goal which was successful. Shortly afterwards Cornwell was unsurprisingly substituted for Austin Healey, who performed with greater authority at fullback than his younger colleague was able to do.

Dragon’s lead was further extended in the 69th minutes by another Warlow penalty which was made all the more easy due to Rowntree’s back chat meaning the Owens felt compelled to advance the kick 10 yards further. At 24-10 Tigers were really up against it, having to play catch-up rugby. However, they did respond in the 74th minute after Harry Ellis floated a beautiful pass out to Lloyd who, having earlier replaced Varndell, was able to stride along the left wing unopposed to score Tigers second try. Unfortunately, Humphries, who had replaced Goode, missed the conversion, which would have given Tigers a losing bonus point. As this was the last significant play of the game, with dragons able to play for territory and run the clock down, the score ended 24-15 to the Dragons.

The Dragons deserved this win as they played the better rugby for large sections of the game. However, Tigers wasted territory and opportunities with poor handling; particularly in the backs. Given a few luckier bounces Tigers could have got a lot more out of this game. However, ultimately it was their poor handling and indiscipline that let them down. Hopefully a rare bad night at the office, although I doubt Tigers will be hoping for many more Friday night games in Wales as they don’t seem to enjoy them very much!

The Teams:

Dragons: Morgan; Wyatt, Luscombe, Sweeney, Breeze; Warlow, Baber; Black, Brown, R. Thomas, Gough, Sidoli, Hall, Forster, Owen. Replacements: Maddocks for Black (58), Ringer for Forster (58), Bryan for Owen (69). Not Used: L. Jones, Tuipulotu, Bryant, Ireland.

Leicester: Cornwell; A. Tuilagi, Smith, Gibson, Varndell; Goode, Ellis; Rowntree, Chuter, White, L. Deacon, Hamilton, B. Deacon, Jennings, Johnson. Replacements: Healey for Cornwell (47), Lloyd for Varndell (61), Humphreys for Goode (75), Taukafa for Chuter (71), Cullen for Hamilton (47), Skinner for B. Deacon (63). Not Used: Holford.

Referee: Nigel Owens (WRU).

The Scoring:

For Newport-Gwent Dragons: Tries: Warlow, Breeze Con: Warlow Pens: Warlow 3 DG: Warlow

For the Leicester Tigers: Tries: Jennings, Lloyd Con: Goode Pen: Goode

Man of the match: Warlow (Dragons). 19 points and the whole sweep of scores can’t be bad.

Time-line:-

Time (min)	Type	Scorer	Gwent v Tigers
9	Try (unconverted)	Warlow	5 v 0
14	Try	Breeze	10 v 0
	Conversion	Warlow	12 v 0
29	Try	Jenning	12 v 5
	Conversion	Goode	12 v 7
33	Penalty	Warlow	15 v 7
34	Penalty	Goode	15 v 10
39	Penalty	Warlow	18 v 10
45	Drop Goal	Warlow	21 v 10
69	Penalty	Warlow	24 v 10
74	Try	Lloyd	24 v 15