Rugby - Six Nations, S14, Lions, Can't Wait

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Job done. Wasn't hard either.

[Havak]

Is it ever?

[Havak]

The Sarries chief exec reacting to the side being boo'ed by the crowd last weekend:

"When was the last time the Leicester Tigers were booed by any section of the crowd at Welford Road? Ever?"

Sadly it has happened. Shortly before Deano was dismissed when we lost at home to Stade Francais in a humiliating fashion an element of the crowd did boo that day.

There are numpties at all grounds on occassions.

On the day in question I had to have an extra second half beer just to cope with what I was seeing.

[Havak]

So the Beeb report Jonno as backing rolling substitutions in Union when what he actually said was:

"I liked it when 15 guys had to battle it out and you had to be fit for 80 minutes, but you come around to thinking about it as a possibility."

In other news the second tier outfit Birmingham and Solihull face going out of business over a tax debt of 'just' 93K . What little money there is in Union is concentrated in the premiership.

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Conservative J**** at his blinkered best. He also says his current squad has the potential to be world-beaters. Deluded chappie. I've been quite surprised by the narrowness of his thought processes over the last year or so.

One of the Sydney Premier Division clubs is also in danger of folding. But then Sydney clubs run on the proverbial smell of an oily rag, the lesser ones relying on very local sponsorship, as in the cake shop down the street.

Bath and Quins proved that two badly out of form and misfiring teams can still turn on an exciting finale. But, cripes, for the rest of the time it was dire. Both have players to come back, but Quins, in particular, are the palest shadow of last season. Deano is plainly missed.

[Havak]

Scandal aside he has proven himself a successful Director of Rugby over the last decade. But surely the turmoil at the club would have handicapped any successor?

Mr Latham is still a class act - and Worcester are better than I thought (impressed by the wingers, scrummy, Gillies at lock, Mr Latham of course and I think Glaws reject Walker controlled their game quite well).

But oh boy do Tigers have issues - I kid you not when I say we had 90% of the ball in the first half and failed to make it tell.

Sadly Mr White had a howler - I actually lost count of the number of time Worcester conceded penalties in their own half before half time and never a yellow was hinted at. Shocking perfomance from Chris. The proof of that pudding was in how fullsome Ruddock was in praise of his 16th man.

I think that may be the first point Warriors have ever taken from us at Welford Road.

Yes Jonno has been disappointing - clearly pragmatism on the field is successful whilst in the managers office it leads to inertia when change is needed. I dread the team announcement for the autumn to be honest.

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At least Leeds should guarantee that Worcester stay up. I saw Worcester a few times last season and thought they showed some potential. I think I commented on Chris Latham managing to play his own great game while, at the same time, obviously coaching the players around him. They did lack playmakers. Walker is very handy, hopefully he can do the job.

From my limited observations this season, Leicester's problems - injuries aside - seem to be in the players' heads.

Rocky Elsom is the new Wallaby skipper. Very good decision. Stirling's future is uncertain with his untold injuries and George Smith proved he's a great flanker but an ordinary captain. Interestingly, Berrick Barnes is vice-captain. No room at the top for Matt Giteau. There are stories floating around that he's less than happy in Australia. No room in the squad, either, for Phil Waugh, and Al Baxter - most-capped Wallaby prop - has finally been given his marching orders. Not before time. Nathan Sharp's injury absence makes for an under-sized and inexperienced bunch of second-rowers, with several new faces utterly unknown to me. A Grand Slam Tour is a very very big ask.

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Interesting if disappointing contest between Irish and Leinster last night. Disappointing regardless of the tightness of the result. Lots of very bad kicking because neither side seem prepared to chance their arm through attack, probably fearful of the opposition's counter-attacking potential. Kick deep and man the defences was the go. Quixotic French refereeing at the breakdown and management of the offside line didn't help. Leinster didn't make the most of their dominance in the first half and paid the price. It could be costly for them.

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I would imagine that Treviso pipping Perpignan counts as a boilover. Treviso played to the best of their limited ability. I'm not sure, but I suspect Perpignan fielded a 3rd XV. I hope so, because I can't believe anything like their 1st XV could play so badly. Perpignan actually showed the only quality in the game - bits and pieces, admittedly, in five second bursts - but their decision-making and handling was schoolboy stuff. In fact, their try - the only one of the match - came after managing to recover from one of their many flubs.

The win will do good things for Italian rugby in terms of psychology and profile. In terms of practical benefits, like signalling a rise in the standard of Italian rugby, forget it. Treviso kicked very often and very badly. Unfortunately for the national team, Luke McLean was one of the worst offenders. It was simply that Perpignan fumbled and lost the ball virtually every time they retrieved the kicks and tried to bring the ball back.

[LDiCesare]

I didn't see Perpignan's match. A quick search tells me they had seeveral players hurt or rested:
Grandclaude, Mélé, Durand were hurt, which doesn't help in the scrum half department.
Also Burger, Olibeau, Tonita, Perez, Freshwater, Hume were rested. This made for a weaker pack. The backline should still have been good on paper, but apparently they weren't.

Biarritz were a bit lucky in Scotland, although the Scots were unable to get past their defense. Biarritz needs more discipline. The referee's decisions were sometimes hard to understand, his decisions in scrums against Biarritz and those in lineouts against Glasgow were sometimes questionable.

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Actually, Perpignan's scrummy, Cazenave, whom I think the Italian commentators said was only 19, was very lively. The problem was that the backline, with plenty of opportunity, never found rhythm. They either ran into each other, fumbled the ball, threw it behind the intended target or straight into touch. Certainly, the Treviso defence was solid, and they managed to disrupt the Perpignan set piece, but Perpignan lost the game rather than Treviso winning it. In fact, the Treviso #10, a Bok, is symptomatic of the problem with Italian rugby. He's a plodder with hands like feet and little vision. Yet he holds down the key creative job with one of Italy's best clubs.

Munster -v- Saints was a different kettle of rugby altogether. Outstanding contest. Saints surprised me with their power, commitment and desperation. The difference between the teams turned out to be Geraghty. I'd heard of his potential, but he delivered in spades. Quick on his feet, even quicker thinker, and he played literally on the gain line. Very brave, classy effort. J****, watching from the stand, would have been impressed.

[kittenOFchaos]

32-32 Leicester Vs Ospreys

An awesome game to watch, enjoyed it massively. In the end Leicester could and should have edged it and made those Osprey supporters on BBC 606 look even more stupid.

Billy Twelvetrees was a real find though. An awesome prospect, can't wait to see much more of him playing.


Now to wait for Sale's second string team to get devastated by Toulouse - oh my.

[Havak]

Toulouse is a hard place to come away with anything. The late flurry when Toulouse took their foot off gives hope for the return leg I think. French sides still don't travel well in the HC for some reason (Brive's Andy Goode opined on Radio 5 yesterday that their preparation for away fixtures is lacking Professionalism - don't shoot the messenger!).

Hugely entertaining game yesterday. Ospreys nearly blew us away as we tried to force the game and made two try leaking errrors. Then their own Lions (Phillips and Bowe) made schoolboy errors in return. Great to see Ryan Jones back in good form - and of course his Kiwi back row is decent company for him.

Heh Finbar - did you see how many of Tigers tries came from phase 1 ball? I wasn't sure I was watching Tigers at all.

Amorosino looks very promising in the long term.

Whatever Johnson says Ospreys will have been relieved in the end - the late petulance from Biggar and Hook showed just how unsettled they had become. To mount a serious HC challenge they must learn to defend 20 point leads (stick the ball up the jersey!).

English clubs are of course being hoist by their own petard. Tigers have 35 players in the senior squad. If any of these were paid what Collins and Hollah reputedly pull we could afford a squad of just 16 players to fit under the salary cap. The boot is now firmly on the other foot and the English sides are entering Europe on an unlevel playing field. Not that you will shed any tears for us from outside this Sainted Isle.

Twelvetrees had an amazing game, breaking the line almost at will. The test is how he will fare against a team that has been able to analyse him beforehand. As a ten minute sub pre-kick off he was a total mystery to Ospreys - but now sides will be watching him. I hope he can deliver like that again, I really do. he clearly has talent - now for the consitency.

In addition of course Tigers have spent nearly a year now paying for the prviate medical treatment of Maugers ongoing back problem. Though I would hate to see it I think his release could come quite quickly now as we just aren't getting any game time from him.

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Ospreys -v- Leicester wasn't shown here. Had to make do with a replay of a Currie Cup match! But, cripes, if Ospreys can't beat Leicester with the lead they had, and as weakened by injury as Leicester were, they never will. Obviously, with Gav, they would have won by 60.

Never heard of Twelvetrees. Who is he? Where did he come from?

Perpignan weren't a case of not travelling well. They were too dreadful for that.

[Havak]

He came (back - it is his second spell with us as he was an Academy boy) from Bedford (National league One) where he scored freely last season but I know very little about him.

Quick google: Just 20 years old he was told 18 months ago he had no future at Tigers - but the scouts found him again last season and snapped him back up.

The boy has potential to make it big now perhaps.