Tigers will be relieved to come away with a losing bonus point as Lamb missed a late kick that would have left the midlands team empty handed. Time will tell whether that miss will prove important in the end of season play off picture.

Approaching the ground there was a sense of urgency in the air, which Irish would turn up? The heroes from Dublin or the side turned over at home to Scarlets. The presence of Steffon Armitage showed the importance Irish placed on this game. The double act of Booth and Catt is one of the more impressive Premiership coaching line up’s but you can’t help but think they missed a trick in not selecting this key player for their previous match.

Surely, Last year’s Guinness Premiership Finalists shouldn’t be so insecure about their Play-off chances that they choose to have such a talented player missing for the best rugby competition in the World. The RFU must want their England prospects playing European rugby and could be considering some refining of the EPS system to ensure English teams are forced to rest players in the domestic competitions.

In the forwards, both teams picked exemplar front fives. Dermody, Coetzee and Ion against Ayerza, Chuter and White, combinations full of power, skill, strength and experience. Deacon and Blaze were up against the media’s favourite second row pairing in Casey and Kennedy. Despite all the praise both sides backs get throughout the season it is these powerful engine rooms that see the sides challenging at the top of the table.

The opensides were the headline grabbers in the morning papers; the aforementioned rested full England squad member Armitage vs the battle hardened Saxon Moody. With many of the other contenders injured, this was billed as the head to head for the England 7 shirt. Sorcerer vs Apprentice but with the Apprentice ahead in the reckoning, Moody had a point to prove.

Crane vs Hala’Ufia was the other eye-catching match-up. Two of the best ball carrying 8’s in the league, Crane the Twickenham hero last time the teams met but struggling for recent form (possibly feeling the pressure of his battle to win England honours) vs the Titanic Tongan. Both players are renowned for power but have much underrated handling games. For once slipping under the radar, there was little pre-match discussion of Tom Croft and his blindside rival Samoan (yes, another one…) George Stowers.

Looking at the backs, Irish appeared to have the clear advantage at half-back with the highly rated pairing of Hodgson and Lamb against the much maligned but consistent combination of Grindal and Staunton. Watching Gloucester fans must have been crying into their beer to see their favourite son on one side and then to look to the other and see the talent that is Anthony Allen.

In a combination that Martin Johnson and his coaching team would have been watching closely, Allen lined up next to his English team-mate Hipkiss against the brawn and subtlety of Samoans’ Seveali’i and Mapusua. With Alex Tuilaigi reportedly fit and drumming his fingers at home in Auckland, awaiting Visa clearance, it made one wonder if we can learn something from Irish in the paperwork department. No doubt Ryan Lamb was relieved his nemesis was as far away as humanly possible.

In Tuilagi’s place on the wing was Lucas Amorosino, the pacy, wispy Argentinian back last seen seducing a young lady in Viadana! We could have played Lucas and his lady and still been short on weight compared with the missing Mr T. The irrepressible Scott Hamilton and the vastly underrated Johne Murphy made up Tigers back three of fullback wingers.  The Irish back three saw man monster Tagicakibau and the monster boots of Hewat and Homer.

On the benches the injury situations seemed to show, but nevertheless there was plenty to anticipate, Leicester had the exciting prospects of Youngs, Twelvetrees and Forsyth while Irish had experience in Chris Malone and Peter Richards. Both sides had plenty of ugly back up forwards to call on if needed.

In the circumstances, it was a testament to two strong squads. Home advantage and the mix of power, pace and subtle kicking games in the Irish back division saw them listed as 3 to 4 point favourites with the bookies.

The Madjeski stadium was about three quarters full, our view was excellent from the middle of the South Stand, during the warm-up the Tigers backs seemed to be determined to prove they could all kick; Amorosino, Twelvetrees and Youngs nailing long kick after long kick possibly in a hint to the management.

The “Match day experience” at Irish is unique, the amusing wannabe American compere, irish wolfhound, leprechaun on a penny farthing and pre-match rousing music including their own song, were definite pluses. £3.60 for a shockingly poor pint and the incessant drums a definite minus. The drums subject with Irish and Sarries has been done to death so probably doesn’t need re-visiting.

Straight from the kickoff, Armitage broke through and almost scored, then Lamb undercooked a cross-field kick and ex-Bath man Elvis Seveali’I overcooked a chip through. Three clear try scoring opportunities in the first minute. Before the crowd could draw breath Johne Murphy took a quick drop out and with Grindal down injured Leicester still managed to make a clear upfield break and create a chance. End to End exciting action and surely we were in for an open match with plenty of tries.

Unfortunately for Tigers and England, Julian White went down in the 4^th minute, it took an age for him to leave the field in obvious discomfort. It must be extremely doubtful that he can make the Autumn Internationals and Martin Johnson is now looking at a serious front row crisis.

Around 10 minutes in, the Irish pack made a statement of intent, driving Tigers back in the scrum and winning a penalty when Castro stood up, Tigers missing White already. Lamb let off the Italian with one of the worst miss-kicks you will ever see.

Relieved from the let off, Tigers marched up the field and five yards out gained penalty advantage. Staunton missed a drop goal then added the three from the tee. This kind of thinking has some place in the game, particularly from further out, but I would have liked to see him gamble for more points by spreading it wide or using the cross field kick. After the last two weeks of Twelvetrees magic there was a bit of a ‘what would Billy have done?’ conversation amongst the Tigers fans.

Eighteen minutes in, Irish forced Chuter up in the scrum again and Lamb had a long range opportunity to level the scores. It would be great for Tigers if scrummage dominance was rewarded like this every week. It is one of those areas of rugby law where the ref has a huge leeway in interpretation. Who stands up first? Are they forced up by the other side not going straight? Tigers are on the wrong side of the interpretation too often at the moment.

Tigers kicked off and established some territory, gaining a scrum. This time Tigers drove Irish back, having them in all sorts of trouble, the clearest deliberate wheel of a scrum since well, for two weeks since the Ospreys visited from Wales, was rewarded with… a turnover to Irish rather than a penalty to Tigers. An area for Tigers to look at must be whether we are communicating well enough with the referee in these situations, the contrast with Hodgson, the clear heir to Dawson in the mouth department was noticeable.

Tigers were camped in the Irish 22 and needed to make the territory count. Irish were defending strongly, but every time they got the ball they gave it back to us. Hodgson got in Amorosino’s face and forced the turnover but Armitage rushed a quick lineout and we got the ball back. Not Steffon’s best moment of the game.

Tigers were camped on the Irish line and won a penalty this time from Irish breaking off the scrum. We chose not to go for goal and kicked to the corner, a complete disaster as we failed to lift a man. This key turnover was made more important as Amorosino dropped the Hodgson box kick. Had he caught it we would have had the ball on the 22 with men wide and the missed line out may not have mattered. As it was, it was a crucial period of pressure without points.

Tigers had the ball just in our own half and couldn’t get momentum, Crane tried a grubber kick but Armitage blocked. The Tigers’ No. 8 pulled the Irish 7’s shirt and he went down like Didier Drogba. Through Tigers’ eyes, the sight of one of the strongest runners in English rugby rolling around arms flailing as his team mates (Hodgson, again) berate the referee to award the penalty was unedifying. To Irish’ eyes the only question was ‘why isn’t it a yellow card?’ It was certainly needless from Crane.

Lamb added the three points from 40 yards and I was wishing I’d bought Irish kicking yards in the Sporting Index markets, a feature of losing Tigers performances is often how many stupid penalties we give away from long range.

A clear forward pass from Irish was spotted by the ref but not by the Irish fans, that were celebrating a Tagicakibau “Try” that never was. The big screen showed it a good 6 yards forward.

Tigers had phases in Irish territory again and couldn’t capitalise. A penalty against Croft for hands in the ruck was tapped quickly by the irrepressible Hodgson. Irish went right then left and their quick ball was stopped by Crane killing the ball. Hodgson and Casey piled in seeking retribution, the Irish fans around us were incandescent with rage at Crane. Lamb punished the indiscipline making it 9 – 3 and since their early missed opportunities Irish had scored almost every time they were in our half as Tigers continued to waste chances in their half.

Straight from the kick off Tigers won a penalty and Staunton kicked to make it 9-6, a cheap three points that should have set us on the way. A short kicking dual was won by Irish as Lamb skilfully evaded Moody and put the ball up for Amorosino again, he dropped it and momentum swung again. Tigers must have been considering bringing on Twelvetrees or Forsyth.

Another long range penalty from Lamb came after Crane was pinged for holding on, we weren’t making them work hard enough for their points. A major moment followed when a blocked kick bounced straight into Hewat’s hands, it could easily have bounced our way. Tigers were glad of Hewat’s lack of pace again when he intercepted a pass and couldn’t win a race with Staunton.

Irish were offside following a clearance kick and Staunton added the three to draw us within three points and well set with 25 minutes to go. Time for the impact subs? Time to bring on our playmakers? Apparently not.

Sustained Irish pressure followed and after several phases a clever inside pass from Elvis to Stowers saw a chance. The ball spilled out of the tackle and Tigers got a scrum which could have been given for either a forward pass or knock on despite Lamb’s touchdown.

Still 3 points down, 15 minutes to go. The Tigers fans were looking towards the bench, was Ben Youngs warming up? Was Twelvetrees stretching? A hammer blow to Tigers as Moody broke off the scrum too early, 15-9 to Irish and finally it was time for Youngs to replace Grindal.

Immediate impact from Youngs, darting through a non-existent gap, getting the visiting supporters on their feet. Irish killed the ball, no cries for a yellow card this time. Youngs converted his own kick, the new Dupuy? Moody was back out of the blood bin and Tigers back to 3 points down, could we steal the match?

Seven minutes to go and a Mapasua break changed the match, from being isolated on his own 10 metre line he broke across halfway and came down on our 10 metre line. The ball was coming back slowly but with no great danger, Castro entered the ruck from the side and Lamb punished the indiscipline again. 18 – 12 to Irish and a mountain to climb.

Tigers ran some phases left and right, Youngs snapping at the base of the rucks. A thuddering Stowers tackle forced one turnover from Parling, another attack was thwarted by an Amorosino knock-on.

Hamilton held on to the ball on the floor and with Armitage over him, Hodgson ever helpful to the ref was screaming for the penalty. Barnes obliged and with three minutes to go Lamb had a chance to deprive Tigers of a losing bonus point. He hooked it left, still some signs of life in the Tigers.

Not for long. Tigers knocked on from the re-start. One minute left, Barnes doesn’t say advantage over. Homer goes for a drop goal. It’s blocked. Alive again?  No. No advantage. Back to the scrum and that’s the match.

Official man of the match was Paul Hodgson. On the basis that any player that’s a total pain in the backside is a good player then that’s a fair choice. I think it should really go to one of the Irish forwards. I made honours even between Armitage and Moody but thought Stowers outplayed Croft, for that reason I’d have George Stowers as my man of the match.

Looking to the future, Tigers are off the play-off pace. Saracens and Wasps have no European Cup distraction, and Irish have shown willingness to target league games ahead of Europe so it may be a shoot out between Tigers and Saints for the 4^th spot. Next week is a massive game. On the positive side, we’ve got the same match points as from the equivalent matches last year and Ben Youngs continues to improve, will we have more trust in him next week? Tigers need Tuilagi back. We need Matt Smith back. We need some go forward in the backs. We need to trust Youngs either from the start or earlier in the second half.

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