Forum Rugby Club - 2009-2010 Season

Well he would do, he's a Tiger.

Article in The Independent, Tuesday 10th November. Brings a lump to the throat...

Peter Bills: Leicester epitomise the meaning of a rugby club

England have still to play the All Blacks, France have tasty looking encounters lined up against South Africa in Toulouse this Friday and New Zealand, in Marseille, at the end of the month.

Nevertheless, I would be surprised if any match in the remainder of this month or season reproduces the roaring emotion, the jagged edge-of-seats stuff and the sensational outcome that made Leicester against the South Africans the match of the season so far.

Last Friday evening at Welford Road epitomised the real meaning of a rugby club. Leicester's roots run as deep as the mightiest of oaks, a strong, proud tradition that exemplifies what club rugby has always been about.

Much has changed at Leicester since professionalism arrived. At times, and I've been one of their sternest critics, they play the type of rugby that would drive most people who are not Tigers supporters away from the game. Kick for the opposition 22, win the line-out, ball up the jersey and churn forwards until you reach the line and someone in a group of 8 or more players falls over the line. It'd send me to sleep.

But having said all that, there remains much to admire about the club. It has a set of followers who are so loyal many would turn up for the away fixture at Krasnoyarsk. They filled Leicester and its new Caterpillar stand last weekend, creating a terrific atmosphere with 24,000 voices in full flow.

Yet the portents were hardly encouraging. Most of us in the press box surveyed the two teams, especially Leicester's weakened outfit, and suggested a 30-point stroll for the South Africans. After all, look at some of the players they had – Pienaar, Rossouw, Steenkamp, Jannie du Plessis, Olivier, Ndungane, Nokwe and a few others. Sure, there were some kids too but there should have been enough comfortably to see off so weakened a Leicester side.

Doubtless that was what the South Africans expected. But what we got was one of the best displays of raw emotion you'll witness in years. Not just caused by the atmosphere but by the deeds of the home players on the pitch. Leicester's hotch-potch side played as if its very life depended upon it.

Stand-in captain Aaron Mauger, the former All Black, was playing out of position at No. 10, so short were the Tigers. Yet he emphasised to his team beforehand; show them respect but do not show awe. We can beat them.

Leicester, and their fanatical followers, then went out and did just that. The team gave the supporters their cue with some stirring early efforts and, once they'd got into the opposition heads with their singing, roaring and constant encouragement, they never let go.

On the field, there was the bravest of bravest displays. Leicester's heroes flung themselves at the mighty South Africans, cutting them down as they would have been on a fence of barbed wire. And then came the piece de resistance; Martin Castrogiovanni gave THE tight head scrummaging performance not just of this season but of any for the past few years.

The Italian utterly destroyed the South African scrum. For powerful, proud South Africans, this was nothing short of humiliation. At one point, a South African scrum hurtled back about 15 metres. The visitors had never seen anything like it.

The crowd, increasingly aware that they could be witnessing a sensational upset, were going spare. I can tell you, even those in the press box were going spare, living every move, helping make every tackle. This was the very best of sporting emotion, a live event and real lifestyle drama which was simply unmissable. I'd battled the Friday evening traffic around London and up the M1, cursing at the coming rain and growing congestion. Well, all those thoughts disappeared on such a unique occasion.

Frankly, you felt privileged to be there, witnessing such an extraordinary performance of guts and determination. But then, perhaps are the two qualities that best define Leicester rugby club. They offer their visitors the warmest of welcomes and, whatever the occasion, give their all on the field. Off it, they gave every help and assistance we in the media could have wished.

A well organised club, a club with tradition and with the vision to create something special and back their judgement by building a fine new stand... these are just some of the qualities that make Leicester different. But essentially, where Leicester has been cleverest is in somehow retaining that unique 'feel' about the club.

It doesn't strike you as a 21st century professional outfit that just wants to suck money out of you at every turn, as is too often the feeling you have at Twickenham. Of course, finances are crucial in the modern age but Leicester have magically retained that sense of club spirit above all else.

It was alive and kicking last Friday night, backed by some of the craziest, most fanatical and most loyal supporters to be found anywhere in the world.

Whatever the secret concoction is, we can but hope Peter Tom, Peter Wheeler and all those who plot the future path of the English champions, continue to hold true to their roots. It is those traditions that make this place so unique, not just in English but world rugby.

Reading this had me stood to attention and saluting the screen, it is a fantastic atmosphere and the cat stand is a great place to be to watch any game. As for the Tigers you can wear your jersey anywhere in the world with enormous pride + when wearing the jersey in the uk i find i get tagged by people wanting to know the latest score or how they are progressing or just to talk about the Tigers

England put in a shameful performance today at HQ with only the boot of Wilkinson again saving their skins from humiliation and the ferocity of the tiger Lewis Moody who deserved man of the match, although Wilkinson faltered on a couple of occasions with missed penalties. If they play like that next weekend against the all blacks they will get ripped apart

quote:

Originally posted by deadlifter:
England put in a shameful performance today at HQ with only the boot of Wilkinson again saving their skins from humiliation and the ferocity of the tiger Lewis Moody who deserved man of the match, although Wilkinson faltered on a couple of occasions with missed penalties. If they play like that next weekend against the all blacks they will get ripped apart

Yes. How come "transition" is a state that southern hemisphere teams spend a few weeks in. England, on the other hand can expect it to last a decade.

OK, injuries. But looking at that line up there were some class players out there, but the team performance was woeful. Kicking good ball away, not even very well.

Joe

Fully agree and it makes me shout and scream abuse at the tv when they start to punt the ball up and down the pitch hoping the opposition will make a mistake, and that arse Andy Goode is a serial offender for that.
They really need to get a grip and produce the quality of rugby they are capable of PDQ

Overall, to me England looked, well, old fashioned, and therefore entirely predictable which is why the opposition have been able to close it down so effectively, and exploit the weaknesses. And but for the indifferent kicking of the Argentinians and a few reasonable performances by individual English players the paper result would have been woeful.

The character of the current Union game at its best has, to my mind, something of the quality of the best of League (a code I don't usually follow), with its interesting and imaginative ground play.

Jonno and his staff seemed to spend most of the game with their head in their hands. Is it that the players are simply not doing what they've been told on the training grounds?

When in a few games' time and the baying English press and rugby public demand Jonno's head on a spike, is it all simply going to be handed over to the next 'England legend' waiting in the wings, Dallaglio? Cos he talks a good game too, but where's the evidence that if they don't listen to Jonno they'll listen to him?

Maybe its time that those who do not listen and play as directed are removed from the elite team or benched until they do, and we start to look at new and up coming players. You only have to look at how the tigers played against South Africa last week without 15 first team players

It was one in a sequence of the worst run of performances I have ever seen from an England team and makes me feel quite despondent about their immediate future.

I think the problem is perhaps that the players are listening too much to the coaches and don't have enough invention to change the game plan when it is not working. They look to the bench for instruction when we really need leaders on the pitch who can take charge like Johnno did and make things happen.

What made Johnno great as a captain is his downfall as a head coach in my opinion. He is a controlling and dominant personality and the players need a little room for expression, after all the one or two bright moments in the game came when players went on runs and broke the monotony of the woeful kicking game they appear to have been instructed to employ.

Yes there were a lot of handling and other individual errors, but these were not the cause of the dire performance, it was the rigid, turgid game plan. I would rather a few errors in the pursuit of some game breaking manoevres than the stodgy, predictable tripe we are being served up.

Moody was again magnificent and Wilko was encouraging apart from kicking out of hand, which I am sure he will fix, and Monye (on the wing, Cueto and Haskell had their moments.

NZ will get 50 points plus against this lot.

I went to Twickenham yesterday. It was a dire game, only flashes of decent play from either side which soon returned to mediocrity with a hoof back upfield.

We were level with one of the 22s and hardly saw England cross it with ball in hand.

Highlight was the planes (made from the mosaic sheets handed out to publicise the kit manufacturers) reaching the pitch from the top levels.

Do yesterday's results France vs Argentina and Scotland vs Australia put England's performances into perspective?

quote:

Originally posted by JWM:
Do yesterday's results France vs Argentina

Mais oui, or should that be "yndi?"

quote:

Originally posted by JWM:
Do yesterday's results France vs Argentina and Scotland vs Australia put England's performances into perspective?

I think we already had a good perspective on those performances...bloody awful. Those other games just confirm it.

Yesterday v NZ was better, especially defensively and at the breakdown but the lack of any attacking nous whatsoever is a real worry.

Forget the week end internationals.

Gloucester fought like TIGERS!

Congrats FF. (Only sorry that Tuqiri managed to knock-on a dolly at the end, to miss a dead-cert winning Try )

Are you coming up to Welford Road for the 'other half' in the new year?

Good wishes,
James

quote:

Originally posted by JWM:
Congrats FF. (Only sorry that Tuqiri managed to knock-on a dolly at the end, to miss a dead-cert winning Try )

Are you coming up to Welford Road for the 'other half' in the new year?

Good wishes,
James

James

We were all concerned that the Tigers had a player like Tuqiri in their team, but he had a shocker of a match thank goodness.

May be this game will be the turning point after almost two years of dire rugger, it will be a long rebuilding process.

We will see about Welford Road trip, not saying NO at this stage. 20th February are you going?
Regards
Roger

Hi Roger (if you're still checking in)!

Yes, we (son and I) will be there on 20th Feb, looking for a bit of revenge.

Before that, we're also managing vs Leeds tomorrow (28th Nov) and vs Wasps on 9th Jan, with Chillkram and JamieWednesday.

Tomorrow we have Toby Flood's return to starting line-up to look forward to, and our first sit in the new Caterpillar Stand.

Good wishes,
James

Some contrasting results in today's autumn internationals. Scotland followed up last week's immense resulat against Australia with a defeat against Argentina. Ireland played well against a tired looking Springboks team to make it a pretty miserable tour for the world champions. They competed really well up front and deservedly beat SA 15-10.

Australia, however, blew away Wales with a display of power scrummaging, brilliant backrow play at the breakdown and superb 15 man rugby to finish Wales off with 4 tries. To top it all their defence looked impenetrable, at least for a Welsh team lacking in imagination and confidence in attack.

A very mixed bag of results that doesn't really tell us much other than South Africa are tired, Australia are rebuilding with a young team who are currently inconsistent, Wales are lacking in confidence, England are directionless and dull. France are the best of the Northern hemisphere with Ireland not far behind. The rest are currently useless.

Sorry, missed the above as we were at Welford Rd watching Tigers beat Leeds 39-6.

To be honest, a disorganised and lacklustre first half, 6-6 at HT. But then a rather more organised second half and 33 unanswered points for Tigers, including an excellent 30m sprint by Lewis Moody, swerving past and outrunning the Leeds, to score an excellent Try. Great to see Toby Flood back, and playing very well. And the speed and quality of service at the Cat Stand Bar was excellent.

It will be interesting to see what, if anything, the authorities do with regard to Wasps, refusing to play when both Sale and the Ref had declared the ground playable. Third time in recent years, as I recall, that Wasps have done something like that at Sale. Edgely Park may not be the best ground on the circuit, but everyone else seems to manage to play there. It's beginning to look a bit like Wasps gamesmanship...

Statement from Premier Rugby re Wasps refusal to take to the field at Edgely Park on Friday 27th November:

"Following the cancellation of the Sale Sharks v London Wasps game this evening, Premier Rugby will urgently requesting a full report from the referee."

Perhaps less to do with the state of part of the pitch, and more to do with the Wasps injury list as reported on the previous day, 26th November: Joe Worsley, Danny Cipriani, Tom French, Jason Hobson, Warren Fury, Tom Lindsay, Tom Rees and Mark Robinson.

"It is an absolute shambles and a total joke," said the England wing Mark Cueto. "It's not even that bad. It is a little bit wet but it is a rugby field at the end of the day."

"There wouldn't be a lot of rugby played anywhere in the nation tomorrow if games were going to be called off on pitches like this one," added Sale's director of rugby, Kingsley Jones, in an impromptu press conference on the squelchy surface.

"It is the second time they have done it to us," Cueto added. "They did it to us during the Six Nations a couple of years ago. They forgot to turn the underground heating on at their ground – coincidence that they had a few players out at the time. A lot of teams don't enjoy playing up here on a Friday night at Edgeley Park so it gives us an advantage. And if one team can do it then what is stopping every team coming up here and saying they don't fancy it?"

Great game this afternoon Barbarians versus the All Blacks and the first win for the Baa-Baa`s since the 70`s against them, with Habana excelling
himself as per usual with a hat trick of try`s.
Tigers versus Wasps tomorrow unless they are down on players and then i suppose the pitch will be no good

Glad to hear from you DL? How's ticks?

Even most of the fans on Wasps' own Forum think that the Pests were just pulling a fast one at Sale re complaints about the state of the pitch.

Not bad mate, just been busy and i have not seen much rugby of late To tell you the truth. I am very pissed off that the game is not on the tv tomorrow and starting to wonder what i pay £40 for sky sports for. [rant over]
The little fella is going great guns and at 14 weeks old is 11lbs 6 ounces, i have now finished working for cemex [Rugby Cement] where i spent the best part of 9 years, but i am very happy to have left as i had lost the stomach for the politics there as well as the bullshit from the management, just waiting for the 18th dec for my payout.
On another note i feel sorry for consciousmess [jon] as i know what the black boxes do to you and i could have gone down that route myself if it was not for knowing that my lad was on the way and he means so much to me that i could never put his future at risk, so i will just have to wait for my inheritance
Also i am awaiting our tickets for the Tigers v wasps game on the 9th jan so i know where we are sitting, hopefully it will be in the cat stand.
So there you are fully up to speed.
TTFN

tuqiri needs to go, bloody useless

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