Friday Night Lights
By Nick4219
March 9 2021
I volunteered to write the match report for Leicester v Irish following a request from Griff. Being a Friday night game, I thought I had dropped a ball when I realised the two future Irish players love a bit of a late night on a Friday, however, in cahoots with the wife, we started the bedtime routine early which worked and had me ready for action with the pen and paper about 15 minutes before kick-off.
Welford Road looked cold and dry but we don’t get many wins up there and I wasn’t feeling very confident even though the form book suggested we had a good chance.
Kick off and Irish started fast, Cowan and Mafi making a nuisance of themselves and Cowan subsequently ripping the ball from Tigers in the tackle (Sir had not called maul), Hepetema crashes up the centre and with two tacklers hanging off him, he offloads to Jackson who is in and scoring in 36 seconds which isn’t even our quickest try of the season. 0 – 7.
The next passage of play saw a few box kicks from Phipps and a lacklustre chase from Irish. Rogerson is then shown a yellow card for a high hit on a Tigers player. A little harsh as the Tigers player was pushed in to the contact by his own man not giving Rogerson much of a chance to change his position. 3-7 as Tigers kick the penalty.
Mafi showing his athleticism early on with a pick and go from the base of a ruck as he did against Bristol but Tigers bring him down and Irish pinged for coming in at the side.
Jackson showing some good touches and provides a perfect cross field kick that OHC gathers, Tigers scramble to get him down but don’t roll away and Jackson slots the penalty 3-10.
What then followed was a spell of aerial ping pong between Jackson and Steward as neither wanted to give up much territory, the only bright sparks being a lovely off load from Cowan out the back of his hand and Parton looked quite comfortable under the high balls, as did the Tigers man Steward.
The first scrum came on 20 minutes in and Parton who picked up an earlier knock was replaced by the debutant Will Joseph. Loader switches to full back and Joseph on the wing. Tigers began to get some control as Irish seemed to be overrunning in midfield leading to turnovers and penalties giving Zak Henry ample opportunity to kick deep in to Irish territory. Tigers using their forwards well as they traditionally do to batter the line but the Irish defence is strong in the contact area. Eventually Tigers go away from the forwards and Van Wyk runs a tidy line to score under the posts, unlikely that anyone would have stopped him at the pace he went in at. There was a slight hint of an obstruction on Jackson but not enough to begrudge Tigers the levelling score. 10-10.
Jackson kicks Irish in to lead again following a 5 metre lineout and Tigers not rolling away 10-13.
Tigers come back and Irish indiscipline at the breakdown allows Henry to pull back to 13 all with the penalty kick. OHC gets a slight chance of a run down the Tigers right wing just before half time but the move ends with the ball in to touch and Sir Whistles for the break.
The restart leads to more indiscipline for Irish and a silly penalty given away for the Irish pack being in front of a Jackson clearance allows Tigers to kick in to the corner. A quick lineout off the top sees Tigers 12 crash up in between the 9 and 10 channel for and after several quick phases, Chessum scores. 20-13.
Irish look to hit back as Cowan goes quickly from the base of a ruck and puts Rona goal bound with a very naughty no look pass that beats the defender, Rona is stopped just short of the line but is able to pop the ball back up to the supporting Cowan who dots down. It gets called back though due to Hepetema illegally blocking Zak Henry away from the play. Tigers use the penalty to gain territory and after only the second scrum of the game, Henry kicks the penalty for 23-13 when Irish are judged to have collapsed the scrum.
Pressure seems to be mounting on Irish and feels like Tigers could start to run amok as Irish commit further penalties allowing Tigers to get back in to our 22. Tigers try to go down the short side off a line out but it’s defended well and Creevy takes a quick short lineout giving Jackson time to clear, Tigers are offside and Jackson gets a penalty and kicks to halfway and it feels like Irish could have saved themselves. Jackson feeds Will Joseph in midfield who goes on a long jinking run and brings OHC off his wing, Irish battering the line and eventually WGC is over for a score. TMO reviews and shows a Phipps knock on at the base of the scrum so it’s scrubbed. Penalty to Irish though for multiple off sides by Tigers and a kick to 5 metre line.
Cornish and Donnell replace Creevy and Cowan. Cornish throws a dart and gets on the back of the rolling maul which trundles close to scoring but Tigers effort stops it short, Phipps sees something out wide and quickly throws a looping miss pass to take out the last Tigers defender and in to the arms of the electric OHC who dots down in the corner. 23-18 as Jackson can’t convert out wide.
Shots of Eddie Jones talking to Tigers staff in the stands, wonder if he was having a look at Parton prior to injury?
Irish again go off feet allowing Tigers possession and territory, in the end the pressure gets too much and Hepetema sees red for a high shot on Van Wyk. It doesn’t look good in real time or in the subsequent TMO reviews and there are no arguments from Hepetema who trudges off looking visibly disappointed. Tigers kick the penalty and its 26-18.
Phipps is swapped out for Meehan and with Tigers still attacking, Tuisue lands a big and legal hit in midfield, however, Tigers have some impressive footwork and lines to score a cracking try under the posts. 33-18 and looks like the game is gone.
A Steve Mafi charge down gets Irish down to the Tigers line but we fail to clear out the Tigers defence and gift them an easy penalty and get out of jail free card to clear the danger. Penalty count now at 18 for Irish. Irish are not done yet and Will Joseph again shows some promise and Irish launch a number of phases out wide which ends with the replacement Tigers 9 deliberately knocking on. TMO review shows had the ball gone to an Irish hand then it would have been scored so a penalty try awarded whilst 21 goes to the bin. 33-25 with a minute left to try and get within 7.
Irish again attack deep in to Tigers territory with Jackson appearing to be caught high, play continues and Tigers get to drive Irish back to their own half, Will Joseph tries to go from deep and ends up with a chip away that he can’t gather and that looks to be the game. However, Sir Blows for a TMO review on the high shot on Jackson and the Tigers 18 is shown a yellow card. A bit harsh but if Rogerson’s was a yellow then this one cancelled that out. Penalty kick now from not far out and pretty straight, Jackson with some confidence elects to go for the kick to the corner which perplexes Healey in the commentary box. Can Cornish banish the demons of a few weeks ago? He throws another Dart and gets on the back again to power over for the score. Jackson converts and the game ends 33-32.
A great result away from home and we did well to come away with 2 losing bonus points. Huge credit must go to Jackson for steering the ship and making the big calls, and converting them to get us in this position. The Irish of old would never have recovered from 33-18 down with 5 minutes to go and this shows a huge shift in the Psyche of this team to be strong enough to do that.
Negatives for me, this was Irish’s worst performance in terms of discipline all season and indeed they conceded the most penalties of anyone so far this season. Parton’s injury will hopefully not be too bad. Hepetema is probably looking at a ban anywhere between 3 – 6 weeks on recent standards which with TBC injured, we may now have a selection headache at 12 for a few weeks.
Positives, OHC is a real live wire and looks like he can make things happen from anywhere on the pitch and put away his chances well. Will Joseph also showed flashes of brilliance and Tigers didn’t seem to be able to target the debutant for some treatment. Jackson was solid all night. Man of the match from an Irish perspective for me goes to OHC.
Tigers rightly won the game as it was our own indiscipline that cost us, but I feel very happy we came away with 2 losing bonus points that keep us firmly wedged in mid table which should see us stay in 6th position at the conclusion of the weekend.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.
I rely on these reports this year.
Thanks
very well crafted indeed.....Quote:Ginger Pirate
Thank you very much for the report, i don't have BT sports and the majority of rugby podcasts barely cover prem games so these reports are much appreciated.
All matches and highlights are available on the Premiership rugby website
