Forum Rugby Club - 2009-2010 Season

Of course it does all rather depend on whether Wycombe Wasps will actually play the game, or whether they'll be bringing their solicitor to ring Pizza Hut for some pizzas to be delivered to the team bus at 2.45...

I think if they don`t play they will be savaged by the press as well as the supporters. But having said that they are southerners after all and it may be to chilly up here for them

Tigers are making every effort to ensure the game can go ahead - so no crying off and eating pizzas, you Pests (until, that is, you are crying into your pizzas afterwards).

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Originally posted by deadlifter:
20 games without losing at home, they will have to come and play the game of their lives

And guess who their last home league defeat was against!

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Originally posted by JWM:
Tigers are making every effort to ensure the game can go ahead...

We all know they're not too bright 'oop north'!

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Originally posted by Chillkram:

quote:

Originally posted by deadlifter:
20 games without losing at home, they will have to come and play the game of their lives

And guess who their last home league defeat was against!

Though that wasn't the one we went to at WR though, was it?

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Been away from the forum for a while but now I'm back to take you Tigers down a peg or two!!! Obviously Wasps have had a bit of a bad run lately, but I had to go to the sporting history section of the local library to look up the last time we lost to Tigers, so the gap should have closed a bit by Saturday evening!

OH DEAR, the wheels have come off the wasps wagon for sure now after an absolute annihilation by the Tigers today ending in a 34-8 victory to the Tigers which is 5 points more than wasps deserve after a forward pass that gave them their try [missed by the ref] but not the commentators and the cat stand. Tigers are now top of the prem and wasps out of the running

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Originally posted by deadlifter:
Tigers are now top of the prem and wasps out of the running

Oh ho ho ho!! You should know better than that! We only need to finish fourth and then see you at Twickenham in May to finish the job like we've done before.

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after a forward pass that gave them their try [missed by the ref]

Can't believe you won and you're still offering up excuses!

It was clear that after 39 minutes of the first half we had you on the rack. As it was such a long time since you had beaten us we decided to give you an opportunity and Tim Payne got himself sent off. It's much more fun coming from way back and stealing the trophy from under your noses.

We've all been here before many times but it seems you have forgotten the pain already.

Silly boy!

Anyway, to avoid any accusations of bias, I restrict myself to quoting a selection of the unbiased press. "Tigers hammer Wasps" (scrum.com); "Leicester thrash Wasps" (Times online); "Tigers demolish Wasps" (BBC website).

Wasps seemed to throw-in pretty much everything they could in the first 30 minutes, including their fortunate early Try (from a pass so forward that if it had been a kick we would be congratulating the kicker on a natty little chip ahead). Interestingly, Chillkram and JamieW commented on the forward pass without any prompting from me...

In contrast with Wasps' best efforts, Toby Flood was again a peerless kicker, without fault on a difficult surface.

There was some imaginative back play. Tigers' Full Back Scott Hamilton played another stonker. But the whole back line opened up the Wasps defence like a tin opener at times. I'm still not completely sure about Tigers' getting Tuqiri, but he's got to be congratulated on his two excellent Tries today. And Ben Youngs too at Scrum Half also greatly impressed again.

But for me, it was the incredible performance of the Leicester pack that was the standout. Fair dos, they didn't have it all their own way in the loose, but the scrummaging was simply awesome, in the face of which Wasps were completely powerless, on at least three occasions being pushed back some 20m+. Their only real strategy in the face of such pressure was to repeatedly collapse the scrum, which first cost them the sin-binning of their Loose Head Tim Payne late in the first half (and very nearly a repeat in the second), and eventually a Penalty Try.

Anyway a great afternoon out with one's chum's. (Sorry not have been able to meet up with DL this time round.)

And to demonstrate the underlying harmony in the rugby fraternity, even between traditional rivals, I couldn't agree more with Mark, "the finest refereeing display of the season".

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Originally posted by JWM:

And to demonstrate the underlying harmony in the rugby fraternity, even between traditional rivals....

Even to the point where that oldest of taboos - don't speak to your neighbour at the urinal - was broken by the Tigers' fan next to me who asked what I thought of the game in the name of comradely exchange.

ps. I couldn't help but notice as I turned to see who was engaging me in such unexpected circumstances that he only had a very small willy, thus confirming all my suspicions!

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We've all been here before many times but it seems you have forgotten the pain already.quote

Man i would have loved to meet you today just to see your face and how far it had dropped by the end of the game
I bet Shaun Edwards kicked their bollocks up hill and down dale all the way home

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Originally posted by deadlifter:
Man i would have loved to meet you today just to see your face and how far it had dropped by the end of the game

Nothing stops me smiling DL. I'm happy for Tigers to have their moment of glory; it only serves to heighten their expectation which is so much more fun to cut down in the end of the season bash at HQ.

Well i`ve got my ticket already so i`ll see you there

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Originally posted by Chillkram:
...Tim Payne got himself sent off...

Did you hear that, after yesterday, Tim Payne is going to change his name to Sketchley, having been taken to the cleaners so often...

Just finished watching the game again having recorded it, so sweet.
So was it a good journey back home to Norfolk/London[Wycombe], my mrs being a globe trotting girly who also works in london commuting every day on train and underground got us on the wrong bus which meant a one hour plus wait for the next one

Got my tickets for the Twickenham Wasps v Bath St Georges Day clash in April, £20 for 1x adult and 2x kids. Bargain.

High hopes after the first 10 mins at Welford Road.

If we'd taken our kicks and been 10-0 up. If we'd been able to hold our line at the end of the first half. Who knows?

As it was, we just collapsed in the 2nd half and you can't win without the ball. Tigers simply outplayed us massively for that 40 mins.

Tell you what I found a bit surprising though. The crowd. The Tigers crowd have always been somewhat vociferous. Much like Gloucester though they seem to be turning into a crowd of football supporters. Usually, even nowdays I find most partisan behaviour still maintains a bit of the boo, hiss panto about it and is pretty good natured and helps the atmosphere of a game no end. But there often seemed real venom aimed at Wasps players by the Tigers crowd yesterday...Far more like what I'm used to at football matches (I don't like it so much there either...) Is this due to the money? The new stand? Perhaps a holier than thou atitude of the more likely Man Utd of rugby? Just seemed a bit to much bile...

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Originally posted by JamieWednesday:
Man Utd of rugby....

See?!!

We are a proud bunch and i also think it had something to do with the ref missing a forward pass which resulted in a try and also Tigers being penalized when a wasp clearly came in at the side, and if it was like a football crowd you would not be sat amongst us but segregated like a football crowd and not allowed alcohol on the stands. Also it could be put down to the rivalry between the two most successful teams in the premiership and possibly rugby history

From my own vantage point I'd say there was indeed a lot of 'panto'. In my experience, that's the nature of the Tigers' crowd.

This fixture is one the great old rivalries. And as DL comments, we were all mixed in together, Tigers and Wasps, beer was freely available, and everybody was very happy together. So not really like roundyball at all - certainly not like Birmingham vs ManU on R5Live on the way home, segregated supporters, riot police and all.

Perhaps two other factors were (1) we were right at the top/back of the Crumbie, which has the greatest concentration of the diehards, and the shape and size magnifies sound; and (2) the 24,000 crowd, unusually large for most rugby clubs, and twice the size of Adam's Park.

It is generally quite a knowledgable crowd, and it lets you know what it thinks (in good heart I think) - just as any side's supporters would, but because they are generally far fewer in number you simply don't notice them as much!

It is also also a crowd noted for keeping silence for the kickers - of both sides, and applauding good play - of both sides.

Tom Vardell got a bit of a panto boo. Tigers don't mind when one of theirs moves on elsewhere, but I guess the way he dissed Tigers after leaving was bound to rile the mob a bit on his first time back. (But there were also claps and warm greetings.)

Also, exchanging his ruby slippers for banana skins didn't help his play any...

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Originally posted by deadlifter:
..if it was like a football crowd you would not be sat amongst us but segregated like a football crowd and not allowed alcohol on the stands.

I agree with this. I could not sit amongst a rival football crowd proudly wearing my shirt and shouting when we scored. I've also found the Tigers friendly and they have always asked me what I thought of the game when I've been there.

I also think that you couldn't enjoy the kind of banter we do without expecting a beating at a football ground and that is at least half of the fun for me (not the beating, the banter!).

Long may it continue.

There you are you see...We are all nice sorts after all

It's just we're better than you. Clearly.

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Originally posted by JamieWednesday:
It's just we're better than you. Clearly.

Ever the joker! That's why I like you so much.

Sorry, I couldn't resist. I know I shouldn't really terrify you Tigers like that!