Warriors v Tigers

First topic message reminder :

Back-rower Croft returns for the opening Aviva Premiership fixture of the new year after his recovery from a neck injury suffered last season.
He joins fit-again Steve Mafi and Thomas Waldrom in the Tigers back row at Sixways. Rob Hawkins is joined by Logovi'i Mulipola and Martin Castrogiovanni in the front row.

Mathew Tait returns at full-back, and there are starting places for Scott Hamilton, Matt Smith and Dan Bowden in the backline, with Toby Flood and Ben Youngs at half-back. Warriors expect to welcome their biggest crowd of the season so far for Friday's fixture as they defend an unbeaten home record strecthing back to September.

Worcester lost 23-24 on the opening day of the season against Bath at Sixways but have been unbeaten on home soil in the eight games in all competitions since then, however, Tigers are fielding a very strong side and I can't see past a win for them this evening.

Leicester Tigers

15 Mathew Tait
14 Scott Hamilton
13 Matt Smith
12 Dan Bowden
11 Adam Thompstone
10 Toby Flood
9 Ben Youngs
1 Logovi'i Mulipola
2 Rob Hawkins
3 Martin Castrogiovanni
4 Louis Deacon (c)
5 Ed Slater
6 Tom Croft
7 Steve Mafi
8 Thomas Waldrom

Replacements
16 George Chuter
17 Marcos Ayerza
18 Dan Cole
19 Graham Kitchener
20 Julian Salvi
21 Micky Young
22 Anthony Allen
23 Niall Morris

Worcester Warriors: 15 Chris Pennell, 14 Josh Drauniniu, 13 Alex Grove, 12 Jon Clarke, 11 David Lemi, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Jonny Arr; 1 Ceri Jones, 2 Aleki Lutui, 3 Euan Murray, 4 James Percival (c), 5 Dean Schofield, 6 Sam Betty, 7 Matt Kvesic, 8 Semisi Taulava
Replacements: 16 Ed Shervington, 17 Matt Mullan, 18 John Andress, 19 Chris Jones, 20 Neil Best, 21 Ollie Frost, 22 Danny Gray, 23 Josh Matavesi

Big punch from Goode off the ball. Citings galore in this one.

Penalty try for Tigers for the victory.

Croft was Tigers best player in the first half, went off early in the second.

Interesting match, think we should of kept the ball in hand more. Think flood kicked too much. Will be interesting to see who gets cited.

We did not deserve that win, but I guess sometimes you lose undeservedly.

Flood looked flustered all game - except for goal kicking - never seen anyone slide so many kicks under the crossbar, but accuracy was good.

Defence in first half wasvery poor. Bowden shouts a lot and tries to take Allen's place as the defensive co-ordinator but fails.

Will be a lot of citings - Flood to get 6 weeks rest for the spear tackle, while Goode, Smith and Grove should also be seeing the disciplinary panel for off the ball stuff. Probably more.

Also was really glad that a ref finally took a look at the try scorer being fouled after he scores. Far too many times defenders deliberately leave the knee in (Shane Williams suffered from this cowardly act rather a lot).

LondonTiger wrote:We did not deserve that win, but I guess sometimes you lose undeservedly.

Flood looked flustered all game - except for goal kicking - never seen anyone slide so many kicks under the crossbar, but accuracy was good.

Defence in first half wasvery poor. Bowden shouts a lot and tries to take Allen's place as the defensive co-ordinator but fails.

Will be a lot of citings - Flood to get 6 weeks rest for the spear tackle, while Goode, Smith and Grove should also be seeing the disciplinary panel for off the ball stuff. Probably more.

Also was really glad that a ref finally took a look at the try scorer being fouled after he scores. Far too many times defenders deliberately leave the knee in (Shane Williams suffered from this cowardly act rather a lot).

RE Floods kicking, he probably didn't put as much power into the kick as the pitch was pretty soft.

The only complaint I have, is how Tigers marched Wuss back once in the last scrum and got the pen try instantly. Glaws did that in the last minute against Sarries and it was just another pen. No consistency.

Ed Slater deserved his MOM. Can see him as a future Tigers captain, good to see local Leicestershire beef making up the engine room.

Agree with your summary LT. Think Flood will get 12 weeks halved for good behaviour previously and then another week knocked off for admission of guilt. Be back in time for an England call up no doubt.

Very disappointed with some of the Tigers backline, Tait being the only one to have a good game.

How's Tait coming along, am I right in thinking hes had a run of games now at 15?

Tigers were second best today, but I disagree that they didn't deserve to win. They played poorly but dogged it out. For me that was deserving of the points.

EnglishReign wrote:The only complaint I have, is how Tigers marched Wuss back once in the last scrum and got the pen try instantly. Glaws did that in the last minute against Sarries and it was just another pen. No consistency.

Probably because Tigers were pulverising Warriors at that scrum and it was moving forward at a rate of knots. The referee deemed (rightly) that a try was inevitable and awarded the penalty try - a warning wasn't necessary. Richard Hill certainly didn't seem to argue post match.

I think they may struggle at The Liberty next week - well they will if they play like that. On the other hand, some key players were rested and Tigers can only improve. Fingers crossed. As far as the league goes, Tigers are well placed now, with Oxford Welsh to come next at WR.

How's Tait coming along, am I right in thinking hes had a run of games now at 15?

He's been a bright attacking threat, decent under the high ball and his positioning in defence is alright. Promising signs. He's no Geordan Murphy but the again nobody else is. Think Tait will start to come into his own next season after he's properly bedded in at 15.

I think they may struggle at The Liberty next week

It's a tough place to go but there's a lot of quality players to come back in. The majority of the 12 changes will be reversed so we should be fresh. Tge Ospreys have a few injuries to contend with as well.

Found this the most difficult match to call in my accumulator last night. I was right....but fortunately went for Tigers in the end.

Im sure Tigers will be terrified of visiting the Liberty after watching the way they crushed the mighty Zebre by a point

Zebre committed what was tantamount to suicide at half time as well. They made 7 changes including their entire front 5 and both half backs. Cannot understand why Zebre would have done that when they were leading at half time. Maybe they thought the added energy would work to their advantage, or maybe there is some dodgey Italian betting syndicates involved, I'm not really sure.

In saying all that Peter, after the performance against Worcester and recent performance against Treviso, Tigers are winning but not really setting the world alight at the minute.

Late to the show but I really enjoyed this match. Thought Wuss played well and were pretty unlucky. Matt Kvesic carried well, can see why he has played at 8 although I didn't see how much 'dirty' work he did so will withhold my judgment on him being the next English Richie McCaw until I have seen him a few times , Also thought Pennell looked good at 15 other than the charge down thing which resulted in Tait's new nose job.

Following on from what LT said about Bowden, he does seem like a bit of a square peg in a round hole at IC for the Tigers. I think they would be better off having him as just another 10 option and leaving 12 to the other centers in the squad. Also noticed how much less assured Leicester look in all aspects of their play when Murphy isn't at the back. The guy has an amazing presence.

Murphy is a once in a generation player. I doubt Tigers will ever have a full back with Geordie's amazing skill set and longevity again. Tait is doing good things at the back though and he won't have the same presence as a true Tigers legend, Matt is still earning his stripes but is looking classy whilst by his own admission only being at about 80%.

I don't think Kvesic will ever be a McCaw, he does remind me strongly of David Wallace though, particularly in his running style. He had a very good game. I'd love him at Tigers.

Artful_Dodger wrote:Zebre committed what was tantamount to suicide at half time as well. They made 7 changes including their entire front 5 and both half backs. Cannot understand why Zebre would have done that when they were leading at half time. Maybe they thought the added energy would work to their advantage, or maybe there is some dodgey Italian betting syndicates involved, I'm not really sure.

In saying all that Peter, after the performance against Worcester and recent performance against Treviso, Tigers are winning but not really setting the world alight at the minute.

I just watched the highlights and saw the zebra physio tackle his wingers when he only had one defender to beat as well!

This was a rotation tigers side, I'm confident that full strength one could win in Wales. But that isnof course not certain, just that histone bad performance shouldn't make them afraid