The building of these facilities no doubt gave much needed work to demobilized soldiers: the ‘Tigers’ of the Leicestershire Regiment. 

The Members’ Stand has stood in its current form at Welford Road for nigh on 90 years.  I have sat in it, although I prefer the Crumbie Terrace opposite.  The Members’ Stand was there when I first visited Welford Road in the late 1960s when the ground had piles of cinder behind each goal making very cheap ‘stands’ that were only occupied during the sell out games (Leicester v Barbarians and Midlands v touring teams). At that time the land to the south now occupied by a supermarket was the cattle market.  There has always been a link between rugby and farming and Leicester had that link and it probably helped to swell the crowds.

Leicester has for over 100 years had one of the largest rugby grounds in England.  The Members’ Stand has been part of that ground since the earliest time. Build of wood, it represented a bygone era.  Wood is no longer the material of choice and the huge new stand has an enormous steel frame.  However wood is warmer than concrete and steel, if more combustible, and it responds to the stamping of feet to make a noise.  So the new stand will be safer and may have better facilities but it will be colder, less reponsive and further from the pitch side thus diminishing the atmosphere. But it was and is the size of the ground that has enabled Leicester to be a first rank club and so perhaps we must welcome the new stand.  It will bring the ground capacity back towards the days of old when most people stood.

It was Geordan Murphy’s first game as Tigers captain as both Martin Corry and Aaron Mauger were injured.  Sale Sharks centre Luke McAlister failed a fitness test on a hamstring injury, much to my relief.  This was a game both sides needed to win; Sale to stay in touch for the playoffs and Leicester to keep pace with the top of the table.

The crowd was in full voice as Tigers went on the attack with Flood and Tuilagi both going close.  Tom Croft won a lineout which led to the first try for Leicester after five minutes. After several ‘phases’, attacking towards the posts, the ball was passed right where Tuilagi forced his way over Ripol and past Tait to score. Toby Flood’s conversion put Tigers 7-0 ahead.

Sale had their first excursion into Tigers’ half and frustratingly for the home team a penalty was conceded for offside and Charlie Hodgson kicked the penalty goal. A offence by Sale was then punished by Flood to restore Tigers’ seven-point lead.  With their second attack, Sale drew level when they tried a move seen often from England in the Six Nations: from a line out in the Tigers’ 22, Cueto caught Hodgson’s inside pass to run through and score under the posts. The conversion tied the scores at 10-10.

A break from Vesty on half-way opened up the way to the line.  He was supported by Erinle, on as a blood replacement for Flood, but he was tackled just short of the line. The ball was recycled and passed to the left for Vesty to find Hamilton with the line at his mercy. Vesty added the conversion to put Tigers 17-10 ahead.  Tigers were well on top except at the restarts where Hodgson’s high, short kicks were to cause mayhem all afternoon.

A quick throw by Ripol in front of the Crumbie saw Sale sweep down the left. Ripol received the ball back from MacLeod and only an excellent tackle from Harry Ellis prevented a try.  From a 5m scrum Tigers went down to 14-men when Julian White was given a red card by referee Wayne Barnes for punching Andrew Sheridan who went down like a glass jawed fighter.  The fact that Sheridan had thrown the first punch seems to have been missed by both referee and assistant.  It was a decision that displeased the Tigers supporters; it had this correspondent wondering how on earth Tigers could manage to win because they were playing with the wind in the first half and not at all far ahead.

Sale reduced Leicester’s lead when a Mathew Tait break opened up Tigers on their 22 and the ball was passed right in classical fashion giving Cueto the overlap to score in the right corner. Hodgson missed the conversion. Flood then missed a penalty goal with the last kick of the half as Tigers went in 17-15 ahead.

Sale went into the lead for the first time just after the restart when Harry Ellis tackled a man without the ball and the resulting penalty was kicked from half-way.  Villain to the crowd, the fully recovered Andrew Sheridan, was next penalised and Flood punished him legally with the three points to put Tigers 20-18 ahead.  But the visitors scored their third try when no 7 Briggs ran in from 30m as Tuilagi’s attempt at an interception failed. Charlie Hodgson added the conversion; 25-20 to Sale.  Surely Tigers would run out of energy now.  They had upped their energy levels for 40 minutes and the superior numbers for the Sharks must surely now tell.

Tom Croft picked up the ball on the Tigers 22 and burst into the Sharks midfield. He passed to Ellis who drew his man to release Hipkiss and Tuilagi in front of the Crumbie.  They exchanged passes to confuse the last defenders with the centre taking the return one-handed before crossing the try line. Flood was wide with his conversion to leave the match level at 25-25.

Tigers next claimed the lead and a bonus point. With amazing energy the pack drove Sale back into their 22 before Flood slid a grubber kick through the Shark’s defensive line and the ball sat up for Hamilton to score under the posts. The conversion put Tigers 32-25 ahead. A penalty to Sale then pinned the Tigers back to 32-28.

Still the Tigers tore into Sale and Vesty saw a gap to score again in front of the Crumbie.  A missed conversion left Tigers 37-28 ahead.  Hodgson brought Sale back to within seven points with a penalty with 60 seconds remaining. Almost straight from the kick off Ripol knocked on and the home supporters erupted in joy and appreciation for a performance worthy of the epithet ‘Tigers’.

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