Sale 27 Leicester 13
By Whaley Shark
December 1 2008
It’s a cold, dry evening at Edgeley Park. The Worcester débacle is still clearly fresh in my neighbours’ minds but there’s hope that last week’s hard-fought win at Wasps is a turning point. Even so, most go for a Tigers win, though I am the lone optimist “Sale by three, but ten minutes of hanging on at the end”. So, there’s a good deal of apprehension as the game kicks off.
December 1 2008
It’s a cold, dry evening at Edgeley Park. The Worcester débacle is still clearly fresh in my neighbours’ minds but there’s hope that last week’s hard-fought win at Wasps is a turning point. Even so, most go for a Tigers win, though I am the lone optimist “Sale by three, but ten minutes of hanging on at the end”. So, there’s a good deal of apprehension as the game kicks off.
We start brightly, though, and after ten minutes Geordan Murphy loses the ball in the tackle, Quates scoops it up and shoots 70 metres up the pitch to score. That’s a bit of a surprise but gets us all nicely worked up- we clearly treasure tries all the more this season for their rarity. Ten minutes later, after a neat bit of salvage work from Captain Lobbe, Matthew Tait is held up a few metres out, the forwards get behind him and shunt him over. Super Luke converts again. What on Earth is going on- 14-0 up after less than 20 minutes?
After a dream start, we really go for it, overthrowing a lineout to McAlister on the charge; Seabass bullocking away from the tail of a lineout, drawing a rather worried-looking last defender and setting David Docherty loose- gosh that boy can run. Only a last-ditch tackle on the 22 stops him from going over but, still, another penalty keeps the scoreboard moving. However, after more than half an hour, Tigers get on the board. They follow up a high kick quickly (why don’t we do that more?) and while Rory Lamont takes it well, he’s isolated and has to hold on, giving Dupuy a straightforward penalty kick. It’s looking quite comfortable at half time, and there are a lot of smiling faces around me.
However, the second half is a bit more even. Losing Charlie to illness at half time seems to blunt our cutting edge a bit, and I imagine that the Tigers’ coach, who has spent most of the first half looking VERY unhappy and VERY scary, even from 12 rows back, has given his players a bit of a roasting. We seem to struggle in the scrum, and Tigers seem to develop a bit more of a cutting edge. They gradually exert pressure until, for no obvious reason, some very shoddy defence lets Mauger through for a rather soft try. The worried faces around me are clearly all thinking “Oh no, here we go”. But no, we steady ourselves and, after a late Leicester assault on Wiggy, Luke slots another penalty and we have a bit of breathing space.
Tigers pressurise us again and, after some naughtiness in the corner, David Docherty is binned. Down to 14 men and with the Tigers pushing hard, we hold out and Tigers take the three points. I hope this means they aren’t confident of getting a try, but maybe it means the opposite- “We’ll take the three now, and we’ll have nearly ten minutes to et a try or two”. We’re under the cosh now, struggling up front and stretched in defence. Luke tries a massive penalty, which just falls short, and back the Tigers come. They hammer away, but we hold out, and then the clock runs down. Well into overtime, Tigers are still on the attack, keeping the ball alive and I am curled up in a ball, barely able to watch. Then they spill the ball, Rory Lamont kicks it on, I am screaming at him to get it off the field, anyhow, anywhere, but he’s cooler than that. He hacks on again, gathers the ball and dives over to score. With the conversion, it’s finished 27-13 and, even the normally reserved Prawn Sandwich Stand is bouncing.
Summing up, it was a really good game- a win to satisfy those who want to win at all costs, and some nerve-tingling tension for those who like their rugby to set the heart racing. Also, there was much more bite than against Worcester, we tried some things, we pinched a bit of lineout ball and I have the feeling that the best is yet to come. My man of the match: Rory Lamont- solid under the high ball, always making ground and difficult to put down. And as for me- I got the winners right, the margin wrong but, dear God, I was certainly correct about the hanging on at the end.
After a dream start, we really go for it, overthrowing a lineout to McAlister on the charge; Seabass bullocking away from the tail of a lineout, drawing a rather worried-looking last defender and setting David Docherty loose- gosh that boy can run. Only a last-ditch tackle on the 22 stops him from going over but, still, another penalty keeps the scoreboard moving. However, after more than half an hour, Tigers get on the board. They follow up a high kick quickly (why don’t we do that more?) and while Rory Lamont takes it well, he’s isolated and has to hold on, giving Dupuy a straightforward penalty kick. It’s looking quite comfortable at half time, and there are a lot of smiling faces around me.
However, the second half is a bit more even. Losing Charlie to illness at half time seems to blunt our cutting edge a bit, and I imagine that the Tigers’ coach, who has spent most of the first half looking VERY unhappy and VERY scary, even from 12 rows back, has given his players a bit of a roasting. We seem to struggle in the scrum, and Tigers seem to develop a bit more of a cutting edge. They gradually exert pressure until, for no obvious reason, some very shoddy defence lets Mauger through for a rather soft try. The worried faces around me are clearly all thinking “Oh no, here we go”. But no, we steady ourselves and, after a late Leicester assault on Wiggy, Luke slots another penalty and we have a bit of breathing space.
Tigers pressurise us again and, after some naughtiness in the corner, David Docherty is binned. Down to 14 men and with the Tigers pushing hard, we hold out and Tigers take the three points. I hope this means they aren’t confident of getting a try, but maybe it means the opposite- “We’ll take the three now, and we’ll have nearly ten minutes to et a try or two”. We’re under the cosh now, struggling up front and stretched in defence. Luke tries a massive penalty, which just falls short, and back the Tigers come. They hammer away, but we hold out, and then the clock runs down. Well into overtime, Tigers are still on the attack, keeping the ball alive and I am curled up in a ball, barely able to watch. Then they spill the ball, Rory Lamont kicks it on, I am screaming at him to get it off the field, anyhow, anywhere, but he’s cooler than that. He hacks on again, gathers the ball and dives over to score. With the conversion, it’s finished 27-13 and, even the normally reserved Prawn Sandwich Stand is bouncing.
Summing up, it was a really good game- a win to satisfy those who want to win at all costs, and some nerve-tingling tension for those who like their rugby to set the heart racing. Also, there was much more bite than against Worcester, we tried some things, we pinched a bit of lineout ball and I have the feeling that the best is yet to come. My man of the match: Rory Lamont- solid under the high ball, always making ground and difficult to put down. And as for me- I got the winners right, the margin wrong but, dear God, I was certainly correct about the hanging on at the end.
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