Worcester sensed a possible upset and selected a full strength team with All Black Rico Gear making his first Premiership start of the season.  Worcester kicked off with a strong wind blowing from the south west and so both across and in the direction of the Alliance and Leicester Stand towards which Worcester were playing. It was not long before Mr White found fauly at the break down and Tigers found themselves behind to a Willie Walker penalty.

An intelligent Staunton kick behind the Worcester defence gave Tigers their first foray into the Warriors 22. It started a period of Tigers pressure that saw them win a penalty when Worcester failed to roll away from the tackle. However, Staunton’s kick was caught by the wind and swerved violently as it approached the posts to go wide to the right.

Worcester conceded a string of penalties but the referee Mr White saw no persistent or serious pattern to the offences.  Louis Deacon decided to ask Staunton to kick from the 22 and he made an adjustment for the effect of the wind to bring Tigers level after 15 minutes.

Tigers were playing with ball in hand to negate the wind and enjoyed both possession and reasonable filed position.  A charge by Danny Hipkiss, the most incisive of Tigers backs from a ruck on halfway saw him sprint through a series of tackles into the 22 and, when Worcester conceded a penalty at the breakdown, Staunton knocked over his second penalty to put Tigers into the lead.

Walker’s second penalty followed as Worcester made a rare foray up field and Louis Moody was adjudged to have come in at the side of a ruck: one of Mr White’s correct decisions.

Tigers attacked down the right and the ball came loose for Matt Smith to hack deep into the Worcester 22 and Chris Latham had to concede a 5m line-out. From the throw Tigers controlled the maul and Moody drove over the whitewash in the corner. Staunton succeeded with the most difficult of kicks into the wind.

Walker reduced the Tigers lead to 13-9 just before half time with a wind assisted penalty from 10m inside the Tigers half that bounced on top of the crossbar and over.  It was a good performance from Tigers into the wind with your correspondent looking forward to a push for four tries with the wind assisting on the second half.

It was no to be.  Worcester showed the greater energy at the start of the second half, traditionally a Tiger characteristic at Welford Road.  When Leicester tried to use the wind they were defeated by unfortunate bounces and Chris Latham’s excellent positioning. Lucas Amorosino was given his Tigers debut when he came on as a replacement for Matt Smith.   Staunton struck the left post with a long penalty.

Worcester mounted a sustained period of pressure. From a line-out a series of drives took Worcester to within ten metres and it needed the combination of Johne Murphy and Scott Hamilton to snuff out the threat.  Worcester brought on two front row replacements and Martin Castrogiovani was penalized several times as he struggled to cope.  This helped the Warriors to continue to press and they scored in the corner moments when Latham stepped up from full-back to join the line and opposed by forwards he was able to free Tom Wood to score in the corner with a pass that looked marginally forward. The try gave Worcester a 14-13 lead with about 20 minutes left.  White replaced Castro, Davies came on for Duffey, who had played well, Ayerza replaced Borino and Ben Youngs replaced Grindal. 

The lead lasted just two minutes as Tigers won a penalty in the Worcester half which Ben Youngs took quickly to drive into the 22 and towards the posts.  From the ruck, Staunton landed a drop goal from 30m to put Tigers back in front

At mazy run by Amorosino, helped Tigers gain an attacking scrum. The changes in the front row told to earn Tigers a penalty which was converted into three points to extend the Tigers lead to 19-14.

Tigers continued to try to press to the final but Worcester settled for their losing bonus point and kept the ball through a series of forward drives near half way.  Once time had elapsed the ball was booted sideways into the Crumbie to end the match.

Man of the match: Chris White (he had the single greatest influence on the match making a series of mistakes over knock ons, given and not given, and riled the crowd at Welford Road, as usual, with other decisions (right and apparently wrong).

Positives: good debuts from Amorosino and Duffey and only one injury of note (Mefin Davies). Tigers did win. The first half. Staunton’s kicking is very solid. Tom Croft.

Negatives: lack of penetration from the backs and a feeling that on present form fifth in the table is a best about right.  London Irish away will require Tigers to raise their game a lot to come away with any points.  We need at least one more play maker and Aaron Major seems to be available only occasionally.  When will Toby Flood or Sam Vesty be fit?

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