Welford Road wash out for Worcester

Last night we attended the Saints With a Heart Quiz night at Franklins Gardens. It was great to experience the camaraderie and rivalry that is part and parcel of the game of Rugby. And as we left we wished them well in their match against the Dragons. There were, of course, some misgivings. No, we didn’t want the Dragons to win, but neither did we want the Saints to do better against them than we had. And to be honest I didn’t really think they stood a chance. Ha!

A lot of the regular supporters had stayed at home today, some to watch the footie, others preferring to see Saints get stuffed by the Dragons, many unwilling or unable to fork out x pounds for tickets to see a throwaway game in a throwaway competition.

Well £400,000 prize money is not to be sniffed at. And although at kick off this may have seemed to the casual spectator a bit of a training exercise, thanks to our chums down the road it’s now all to play for. A crowd of about 8 ½ thousand watched the game. About the same number as saw last Monday’s Extras game against Sale Jets. A subdued atmosphere hung over the ground. Maybe it was the relentless drizzle that dampened the mood, or perhaps the mistaken idea that the team didn’t really have their hearts in it. Whatever it was I can almost guarantee that the next round, against our Saintly neighbours, will be a sizzling affair and if there are any season ticket holders out there who don’t intend to take up their ticket allocation there are plenty who would snap your hand off for it. So come on you Saints. I for one can’t wait!

Talk about ‘Wet Friday Nights in Wales’! Wet Saturday afternoons in Leicester can be pretty grim too, especially if you’re one of the opposition. And if Wuss had any doubts about the Tigers’ attitude to the Powergen Cup, they were probably put to rest within minutes of the kick off.

This was Ian Humphreys’ first team debut and some understandable first-night nerves were in evidence but, with a bit of encouragement from his team mates, once the whistle had gone, he soon relaxed into the game.

Warriors kicked off towards the A & L stand, being penalised immediately for protecting the receiver. From the penalty, Tigers progressed with a rolling maul until Julian White was penalised. Not looking too good. But soon the relentless pressure from two successive lineouts near the Wuss 22 told and Chuter found a gap in the defence to cross over at the clubhouse end. Humphreys converted.

Drahm knocked over a penalty after Skinner was judged to have gone off his feet, before Lloyd capitalised on a fumble under the high ball by Warriors full back, Hylton.

Worcester went down to 14 men when Lombard was carded for playing the ball on the ground when Tigers were on the attack. Another converted penalty from Humphreys.

Warriors attacked relentlessly towards the end of the first half and, once Hipkiss had been carded, Hinshelwood finally crossed the line. Drahm converted.

After the interval Goode came on for Humphreys. Ben Kay had left the field before the end of the first half nursing an ankle injury with Louis Deacon taking his place.

HT Score Tigers 20 Warriors 16.

Goode kicked a successful penalty after the break and it wasn’t long before the Warriors offended near their try line. With his eye on the bonus point, Goode elected to kick to touch rather than go for goal. Again Worcester offended and again Goode kicked for touch. From the lineout, the ball came to Healey and, to the delight of himself and the crowd, he drove over (with the aid of a couple of forwards) to score his first try in 14 games. Conversion Goode.

Oz had hardly got back for the restart before he was replaced by Ellis. This week Harry looked much more in control of himself and his forwards. Shortly afterwards, Skinner emerged from a maul, popped a pass to Lloyd who then sprinted downfield before offloading to Ellis who crossed over in the corner. Bonus point to Tigers.

In the final quarter, the game went slightly off the boil. Cabbage replaced Chuter, Brett Deacon replaced Skinner and Varndell took over from Tuilagi. The final points of the game came when Lloyd juggled a pass to Murphy. He was able to control the ball and send it wide to Varndell, who scored in the corner, before Goode slotted the conversion.

Final Score Tigers 40 Warriors 16.

Overall, this was a great improvement on last week’s performance. Although the conditions were similar Tigers made fewer errors. Worcester were by no means a walkover but were unable to force errors in the way the Dragons had. This was a tough game but the Warriors were rarely able to capitalise on the pressure they exerted.

The Irish forwards, Cullen and Jennings both had solid games. It was great to see Will Skinner making a first team start again.

My Man of the Match Award would have gone to Leon Lloyd for his relentless defence including two try-saving tackles and some great breaks, two of which resulted in tries but in real life he had to make do with a bottle of Bolly for Tackle of the Match, while Powergen Man of the Match went to Captain Corry.