Kyle to find gaps?

By P G Tips
December 30 2014

The writing is on the wall. According to Richard Cockerill it has been on the changing room wall at Welford Road since September 20: 45-0, the tale of a five try humiliation for the Tigers at the Rec. It is a tale no Tiger or supporter wants to see repeated, but one to provide ample motivation for revenge. After two local derbies, Bath must now travel to Leicester for a match of even greater spice: a clash with old rivals who have much to prove. Tigers have not seemed such dangerous beasts this season, losing at home to London Irish and struggling in their last two fixtures. In these they failed to exploit a man advantage from the seventeenth minute at Franklins’ Gardens and trailed Sale by 15 points before eventually finding the way to win. It is the last point that matters: find a way to win they did. Against Bath on Sunday, winning will be all that matters, the game plan and style will be almost secondary. This will not be a match for the faint hearted.

No matter that Bath stand second in the table to Leicester’s 5^th, with 11 points separating the two clubs. No matter that Bath’s credentials as Top 4 material are well established at the mid-point of the season. With the possible exception of their East Midlands derby against Saints, this is the fixture the Tigers will most want to win. The return of Parling & Cole strengthens both their set piece and their defence, while considerably adding to their threat at the breakdown. Tom Youngs can add tempo to their forward carrying game and his younger brother can be expected to pull the strings efficiently from scrum half. Ben Youngs has indeed been one of Tigers’ few stand-out players this season, his club displays in a struggling side helping him win back the England shirt from Danny Care. With Tom Croft available to poach lineout ball and stretch his sprinter’s legs and Bai, Goneva & Tait all finding some recent attacking form, the Welford faithful will surely expect this to be the match when their season is turned around.

Against that optimism Bath can point to growing confidence and performances at Welford Road in recent seasons. The last two AP fixtures there have seen a narrow defeat and a draw in a match which Bath dominated until Stuart Hooper was harshly carded 10 minutes from time. In the LV a few weeks later Bath gained an emphatic, 4 try victory. So the venue itself may not hold the same aura of previous years but the atmosphere will be daunting all the same. To succeed, Bath will need to eradicate some of the carelessness in passing which gifted tries to Exeter last weekend. As usual in a Bath: Leicester contest, the key lies up front and the Bath front five in particular must stand to be counted in what should be a ferocious physical challenge. Bath will want to establish control at scrum and lineout and should play for territory with a game based, at least initially, on tactical kicking. Mike Ford admits that in an early season visit to the East Midlands, Bath began too conservatively against Northampton, but posed a greater threat once they threw off the shackles and attacked with ball in hand. We can expect therefore that the boys in blue, black & white will want to find a balance in their attacking play. The rolling maul was a potent weapon against both Gloucester and Exeter and could prove equally effective against Tigers. If Bath’s forwards can provide swift, clean ball we can also expect George Ford to bring his backline into play as the game develops. Bath’s midfielders, Eastmond and Joseph will need to find gaps in order to draw in the cover. If they can do that then chances should appear for the back three.

Tigers’ recovery and climb up the table seems to have begun, so with 20,000 roaring them on I expect that they will win. Bath though may not come away empty handed if they can repeat the form of the last two weeks.

Possible teams:

Bath: Auterac, Webber , Wilson, Hooper, Attwood, Garvey, Louw, Houston. Cook, Ford, Banahan, Eastmond, Joseph, Rokoduguni, Watson,
Bench:, James, Batty, Thomas, Day, Fa’osiliva, Stringer, Devoto, Agulla

Leicester Tigers: Ayerza, Youngs, Cole, Kitchener, Parling; Gibson, Salvi, Crane. B Youngs, O. Williams.Benjamin, Allen, Bai, Goneva; Tait;

Replacements: Rizzo,Ghiraldini, Balmain, De Chaves, Croft , Mele, Burns,Smith.

Predators Prepare to Pounce, Leicester v Bath

Discussion started by Comeonmylovers.co.uk (IP Logged), 30/12/2014 16:24

Comeonmylovers.co.uk
30/12/2014 16:24

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015:01:06:19:01:44 by Stuart Anderton.

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Stopsy
30/12/2014 20:02

Thanks PG Tips, I suspect you will be happier at the outcome than us.

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P G Tips
30/12/2014 22:19

Could be Stopsy & I hope so - but we have learned to be wary of wounded Tigers!


PG

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Widcombe boy
31/12/2014 11:02

Nice one PG.

I'd be surprised to see Auterac start against Cole. JJ may be a doubt, and I think Rolo played most of the UTD game on Monday & perhaps they've put him in there to regain some form.

Should be a belter

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