Leicester vs Sale Match Thread

[nathan]

I'll try and keep this thread up to date with match scores etc.

[maestegmafia]

Captain Geordan Murphy and Alesana Tuilagi will bolster the Leicester team for the Aviva Premiership New Year's Day clash against Sale at Welford Road.

Full-back Murphy and wing Tuilagi were both absent during Tuesday's victory over Worcester Warriors at Sixways, but return to the starting team for Sunday's match.

With Manu Tuilagi missing due to a hamstring injury, Matt Smith moves from wing to centre.

In the pack, Martin Castrogiovanni and Rob Hawkins, who started the Warriors game on the bench, are promoted to the run-on XV while Graham Kitchener replaces the injured Louis Deacon at lock. Steve Mafi and Julian Salvi return to the back row alongside Thomas Waldrom.

"We've had a very short turnaround from Tuesday so we're managing all of the squad through this period," Director of Rugby Richard Cockerill told the Tigers' official website.

"This is a very important game for us, especially with another home game to follow against Wasps next weekend.

"Sale have had a good start to the season, they are above us in the Aviva Premiership table and Steve Diamond has done a good job in a very short period of time there."

Meanwhile, Sale Sharks have made two changes in their side with Joaquin Tuculet coming in on the left wing and Tony Buckley taking over at prop.

"It's a massive challenge for us to go to Welford Road, but players and coaches are involved in the game for the chance to visit stadia like that, with a full house, on New Year's Day and put up a performance," Sharks' Executive Director of Sport Steve Diamond told the team's official website.

"The Leicester crowd is knowledgeable and we hope to show them something to applaud.

"Tigers have a very strong side and will be keen to win this game and also the following Aviva Premiership match. They'll be missing their internationals in the next block, so it will be important to them to get a foothold in the top four, in the next week or two.

"They have a huge squad, we don't. We - fortunately - have a great gang of thirty players. We operate under the salary cap, and we can't rotate that many, so we'll go to Welford Road with the pride and desire that we've been showing in recent games. We've achieved four successive wins, and we'll see what we can do."

Form: Leicester Tigers' only defeat in any competition since mid October was 12-30 at Clermont Auvergne in the Heineken Cup on 11 December. The Tigers continue to reside at the bottom of the "home" table with just eight league points from their five Aviva Premiership Rugby encounters at Welford Road this season. Sale Sharks have recorded four straight victories in all competitions but have not won five in succession since season 2006/07. The Sharks' two away wins in the Premiership this season have been at Wasps and Bath. Leicester have won their last four encounters with Sale, whilst the Sharks have not lowered the Tigers colours at Welford Road since February 2008.

The teams:

Leicester: 15 Geordan Murphy (capt), 14 Horacio Agulla, 13 Matt Smith, 12 Billy Twelvetrees, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Steve Mafi, 5 Graham Kitchener, 4 Ed Slater, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Rob Hawkins, 1 Martin Castrogiovanni.
Replacements:16 George Chuter, 17 Boris Stankovich, 18 Logoviii Mulipola, 19 Ben Woods, 20 Tom Croft, 21 Micky Young, 22 Jeremy Staunton, 23 Scott Hamilton.

Sale: 15 Rob Miller, 14 Tom Brady, 13 Johnny Leota, 12 Sam Tuitupou (capt), 11 Joaquin Tuculet, 10 Nick Macleod, 9 Dwayne Peel, 8 Andy Powell, 7 David Seymour, 6 James Gaskell, 5 Andrei Ostrikov, 4 Fraser McKenzie, 3 Tony Buckley, 2 Marc Jones, 1 Alasdair Dickinson.
Replacements: 16 Andy Titterrell, 17 Vadim Cobilas, 18 Henry Thomas, 19 Kearnan Myall, 20 Mark Easter, 21 Cillian Willis, 22 Andrew Higgins, 23 Will Addison.

Date: Saturday, January 1
Venue: Welford Road
Kick-off: 15.30 GMT
Referee: Andrew Small

[nathan]

Sounds like a bad clash of head's. Not sure who they are yet as i only have radio.

BBC Radio Leicester isn't the best!

Penalty for Tigers at the scrum, Youngs takes quick.

[maestegmafia]

Great start nasty injury.

Ben youngs stops the game... Clash of heads between Seymour and last minute replacement prop Henry Thomas.

[nathan]

Great start nasty injury.

Ben youngs stops the game... Clash of heads between Seymour and last minute replacement prop Henry Thomas.

thanks maesteg. Radio comm failed to mention who.

[nathan]

penalty try to tigers!

[maestegmafia]

I didn't think that warranted a penalty try, very lucky for Leicester. They have the superior scrum, but that was a penalty not a penalty try.

[gowales]

Lee Imolek coming on out of position at tighthead is in for a tough time if Henry Thomas cant' come back on.

[nathan]

I didn't think that warranted a penalty try, very lucky for Leicester. They have the superior scrum, but that was a penalty not a penalty try.

But it's been about 4-5 penalties at scrum time within the first 10 minutes.

[maestegmafia]

Dan Ryan agrees...

[nathan]

Dan Ryan agrees...

who's Dan Ryan?

[gowales]

Apparantley Tony Buckley had to pull out before kickoff due to injury Henry Thomas starts instead.

Is Imolek playing or is it Coblias i can't tell, they look quite similar.

[maestegmafia]

I didn't think that warranted a penalty try, very lucky for Leicester. They have the superior scrum, but that was a penalty not a penalty try.

But it's been about 4-5 penalties at scrum time within the first 10 minutes.

On the replay a few of those penalties should have gone the other way, the highlights just showed castrogiovanni dropped one scrum. The final one was driving sideways causing itself to collapse.

Should not have been a penalty try.

[nathan]

Murphy's in under the posts.

Radio is saying that Flood is playing really well, that the case for you guys watching the game?

[maestegmafia]

That try was good though. Nice pass through the poor attempted tackle and releases billy twelve trees who puts in Irelands againg full back Georgian Murphy

[maestegmafia]

Murphy's in under the posts.

Radio is saying that Flood is playing really well, that the case for you guys watching the game?

16 minutes gone. Will let you know a bit later on.. Looks alright.

Could be a citing for a tip tackle by the tigers number 6.

[gowales]

Oh it was Cobilas who was playing. Strange that he got penalised so much, hes usually a very strong scrummager. In fact hes probably the strongest tighthead scrummager in the Sale squad, coming on as 3rd choice probably doesn't help your confidence though.

[gowales]

Beautiful try by Sale there, thats more like it.

[flynnnio]

how has buckley been playing for sale since he arrived? be great if ye could finally teach hm how to scrummage but fear he s just to big(height wise).

[maestegmafia]

Beautiful try by Sale there, thats more like it.

Nice interpassing by the two second rows

[Standulstermen]

Castro off injured and i didnt hear why?

[gowales]

He was limping, the commentators didn't know what it was specifically. Henry Thomas is off injured as well, looks serious probably ACL. So Sale are effectively down to there 3rd choice tighthead for the rest of the game (Buckley should be third choice ).

[maestegmafia]

17 - 10 to tigers but sale are in this game playing better all the time

[maestegmafia]

Castro off injured and i didnt hear why?

He had a heavily strapped calf so could be a previous injury

[maestegmafia]

Rain is tipping down but Sale are handling the ball well

[maestegmafia]

Try tuilagi in the corner kick missed, poor defence by a now error ridden sale...

Leicester really looking strong now

[maestegmafia]

Lovely try by sale. Miller in the corner

[maestegmafia]

63 mins gone

25 - 20 to the tigers

[EnglishReign]

Sarries v Glos just finished 15-15 if anyone's interested.

[maestegmafia]

Penalty tigers stretch the lead by three

[maestegmafia]

Last second drop goal by McLeod

28 - 23

[nathan]

Sorry i didnt keep up :P i managed to borrow someones ipad to watch it. (with what seemed like 3 x 3 pixels).

Regarding the tip tackle maes, if it's the one i'm thinking of then theres no chance he will be cited. He came down level to the ground.

Little annoyed by some of the missed infringements at the breakdown.

[maestegmafia]

Nathan it was early in the first half and I have seen plays sent off recently for similar innocuous tackles...

Breakdown was a battle that tigers were in and out of. Refereeing was not perfect.

Good game and a score that reflected the match.

I thought Flood did well, nothing spectacular but solid enough.

[formerly known as Sam]

There's nothing wrong with the mafi tackle. The player is lifted but crucially the landing is controlled. Big tackle but nout wrong with that.

Thought 12trees had a great game as did Slater who was everywhere. Agree with Nathan about Small, he just decided not to ref the breakdown in the second half.

[Mike Selig]

I thought Small had a good game: fair, consistent, only penalised the clear and obvious, and got all the obvious calls right. Both sides got their share of quick ball at the breakdown, and when slowed down illegally were penalised.

A couple of things I would querry from him:
1) the PT at the start, I don't think Leicester had enough of a nudge on to make a try "probable" but for the infringement. It seemed very much a case of PT for persistent infringeing which is incorrect. PK and YC for me.
2) Leading up to the PT Sale had given away a huge amount of penalties in the short period of time (including quite a few in the red zone), but no YC or even warning from Small.

On the game, I thought it was excellent (I support neither side) given the conditions. I was quite happy Sale got the BP right at the end, they certainly "deserved" something from the match.

[majesticimperialman]

Thomas Waldrom Man of the Match, but did he realy deserve it? i thought Twelve Trees had a better game personaly.

[formerly known as Sam]

To be honest I thought the three best Tigers players were Slater, Salvi and Twelvetrees. Tigers certainly lacked the authority at the breakdown in the second half when Salvi went off, his savvy was a major benefit in stopping the Sale shenanigans on the floor. Slater's work rate was excellent and his tackling, carrying and clearing out gave Tigers good go forward, was disapointed to see him subbed but it looked like he had taken a knock on his knee. Twelvetrees offered the passing, running, tackling and kicking required to give Flood a much easier game and he was instrumental in the second and third Tigers tries.

I disagree with Mike's assessment. Certainly in the first half both sides were pinged fairly but in the second it was a free for all with little quick ball unless an offload came from the tackle. He lost control and did nothing to try and re-access the balance. For the penalty try Sale were going back at a rate in that particular scrum and had they not dropped it then Tigers would have sent them over their own try line. A yellow card would suggest repeated infringement but this was really a one off drive Sale couldn't handle. I did wonder why there was no warning after 5 penalties in 5 minutes but Small didn't show any particular want to police the breakdown later in the game either.

[Mike Selig]

We may have to agree to disagree on the breakdown. But with regards the PT the collapse happened when Leicester had only driven the scrum a meter or so. They still had a long way to go. Certainly the drive was fairly impressive up until then, but they'd only done a 5th of the job. Was a try probable? Debateable, but I thought it was harsh. On the other hand it was the 3rd Penalty at a scrum at least, which certainly constitutes repeated infringement.

[B91212]

Impressed by Sale, only the second time I had seen them this season and they deserved their loosing BP. The early injury to Seymour seemed to make them loose their focus for 10 minutes (and mine come to think of it, fair play to Youngs & Slater for sportsmanship) but they stuck at it and seem a completely different team from recent years - credit to Steve Diamond for that.

Also didn't think Waldrom stood out and didn't deserve the MOM. Salvi looks a class act at the moment and for me is just about the best 7 in the prem on current form - what happens when Craig Newberry regains fitness, they have got to find space for him to stay but how?. Also agree Slater had a good game. Seems to have cut on the penalties from when I saw him last season and is looking every inch long term replacement for Deacon if he keeps his current form.

[LondonTiger]

My opinions from the Clubhouse stand, with no TV replay (damn brother reckoned he had recorded the game) so without the benefit of multiple viewing angles or replays:

Penalty Try - scrumm looked to be going forward at a pace of knots - Sale fans seemed happy with decision, but at opposite end of pitch.

Castro - seemed to get kneed in the thigh

Mafi tackle - man brought down on his butt.

Flood - excellent first half, should perhaps have kicked to the corners instead of garryowens when the rain was tipping fown.

Dwayne Peel - best scrum half in the NH

Andy Powell - useless waste of space

Tuilagi's try - best try I have seen all season for speed of hands and passing to beat the defender, then great footwork by Alessana to step round the cover and stay in touch.

Miller's try - possibly as good, but scored running away from me rather than in front of me so hard to tell. Great running by the young lad, awfully lazy by alessana who seemed to assume that Geordan would make the tackle.

Tigers mistakes - so many times we made silly mistakes when under no pressure to cough up the ball and put ourselves in trouble. A good team would have stuffed us yesterday.

[yappysnap]

I disagree with Mike's assessment. Certainly in the first half both sides were pinged fairly but in the second it was a free for all with little quick ball unless an offload came from the tackle. He lost control and did nothing to try and re-access the balance. For the penalty try Sale were going back at a rate in that particular scrum and had they not dropped it then Tigers would have sent them over their own try line. A yellow card would suggest repeated infringement but this was really a one off drive Sale couldn't handle. I did wonder why there was no warning after 5 penalties in 5 minutes but Small didn't show any particular want to police the breakdown later in the game either.

Agree with this but the same there could be said for Wayne Barnes' display these last two weekends and for a number of other refs like Wigglesworth. I thought the directives were for the ref to favour the attacking team and to strictly enforce things like tackler rolling away, but as winter has set in they've slowly let it it creep back to the bad old days when the breakdown is just a mess. Sam you think it's tough for Tigers, imagine if your team played in a style like Quins or Irish.

[yappysnap]

Oh and yes it was great to see Leicester playing like how we all know they can, at least for parts. 12T's seems to really compliment Flood and let them both play to their best, again though I just think you need one out and out speedster in the back three and a second winger so that you can drop Tuilangi when he's a prat and you'll be sorted.

Well done to Sale for a great display too, but how many NEQ players were in that matchday team?

[gowales]

My opinions from the Clubhouse stand, with no TV replay (damn brother reckoned he had recorded the game) so without the benefit of multiple viewing angles or replays:

Penalty Try - scrumm looked to be going forward at a pace of knots - Sale fans seemed happy with decision, but at opposite end of pitch.

Castro - seemed to get kneed in the thigh

Mafi tackle - man brought down on his butt.

Flood - excellent first half, should perhaps have kicked to the corners instead of garryowens when the rain was tipping fown.

Dwayne Peel - best scrum half in the NH

Andy Powell - useless waste of space

Tuilagi's try - best try I have seen all season for speed of hands and passing to beat the defender, then great footwork by Alessana to step round the cover and stay in touch.

Miller's try - possibly as good, but scored running away from me rather than in front of me so hard to tell. Great running by the young lad, awfully lazy by alessana who seemed to assume that Geordan would make the tackle.

Tigers mistakes - so many times we made silly mistakes when under no pressure to cough up the ball and put ourselves in trouble. A good team would have stuffed us yesterday.

Seems like most people who watch the Aviva think the same. But welsh fans who don't watch it say hes living on his past performances, which is the biggest loaded of Poopie i have ever heard.

[formerly known as Sam]

Having seen the Scarlets and Ospreys twice in the HEC this season Dwayne Peel is better than what either have to offer.

[DaveM]

Good to see Twelvetrees playing well. He's a far more attacking 12 than Barritt, I wonder what Lancaster will do.

I was impressed with Sale playing such positive rugby in the conditions away from home. I hope Thomas hasn't done a cruciate, as that's the best I've seen him do in the scrum, and he's brilliant in the loose.

Apparently Sale are working hard on bulking Imolek up. It'll be interesting to see if it works.

[formerly known as Sam]

I think Lancaster will go with Barritt and that will be the right choice. He adds defensive leadership which England surely need and a good all round skillset. He might not set the world alight but with Tuilagi, Ashton, Foden etc outside him he doesn't need too. He just needs to give the 10 the security and confidence to play a running style. Twelvetrees doesn't have that leadership quality yet but does offer more in attack as you say, just think England need a 12 that will pull the side together rather than another potent attacking weapon.

Speaking of potent attacking weapons anyone fancy Miller the Sale FB as a 6N bolter. Another impressive performance from the young fly half.

[hawalsh]

Barritt is definitely the right choice for England at IC, Sam is spot on in his analysis.

Twelvetrees looking very decent in the opportunities he's getting. The last couple of games he's shown again that he's the best distributing IC on England's horizon (his flat passes out wide really open defences up), whilst still also physical with ball in hand and more than solid defensively. Ultimately I think he'll overtake Barritt as the longterm answer, but can see both being involved for a number of years.

Maybe Tiger fans can confirm, but isn't Allen due back next week? With Tuilagi on England duty in Feb & March (any news on his injury?), will we see Allen & 36 together in midfield, or with Ford on loan will we see 36 on the bench to cover a starting Staunton?

If they do play together, I'm sure Cockerill will select Allen at 12, but I'd prefer to see 36 there and Allen at 13, I think Allen makes a better OC than 36, and Twelvetrees' distribution (& boot) is better utilised at 12, particularly if Staunton is starting.

[formerly known as Sam]

Twelvetrees tends to play 13 though they switch when paired with Allen. Twelvetrees has more pace and a better offloading game so suits 13 pretty well. See the game vs Wasps earlier in the season for a good demonstration of this.

Allen should be back within a week or two, maybe too soon for the game vs Wasps on the 7th but should be back the follwing week. Hopefully Parling will be returning then as well. We could do with both for the Ulster game that's for sure as anything to tighten up the defence and challenge the Ulster lineout will be a bonus.

[LondonTiger]

Allen was one of the waterboys on Sunday, though as his injury was in the hand - not sure this has any relevance.

[DaveM]

I think Lancaster will go with Barritt and that will be the right choice. He adds defensive leadership which England surely need and a good all round skillset. He might not set the world alight but with Tuilagi, Ashton, Foden etc outside him he doesn't need too. He just needs to give the 10 the security and confidence to play a running style.

Speaking of potent attacking weapons anyone fancy Miller the Sale FB as a 6N bolter. Another impressive performance from the young fly half.

Yes, he'll probably go for Barritt. Mind you, Lancaster did ignore him last season and go for Twelvetrees (who wasn't being picked by Cockerill) instead, and there's not much point in having excellent outside backs if they don't get the ball. Bottom line is I really don't want to see England's backs playing like Saracens'.

Miller is quality - like Alex Goode with slightly more pace. Loads to learn, but when we see how much Brown has improved between 22 and 26 he clearly has the potential to be an international fullback given time. I'd put him in the Saxons. Sale occasionally use him as FH, but I've not seen him play there so hard to know if he could convert to 10 long-term.

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