Dual of Titans
By Props Are Not Stupid
October 25 2009
Yes, it was a duel between the best two teams in the premiership last season (and probably this season too), the team with the most tries against the team with the least tries, the top points scorer (Staunton) against the second top points scorer (Lamb), and also the battle for the English 7 jersey between Steffon and Moody. Who won that battle?
October 25 2009
Yes, it was a duel between the best two teams in the premiership last season (and probably this season too), the team with the most tries against the team with the least tries, the top points scorer (Staunton) against the second top points scorer (Lamb), and also the battle for the English 7 jersey between Steffon and Moody. Who won that battle?
Please read on if your name is Martin Johnson and you need any help with the decision.
I intended to be at the Madstad for one o’clock as I had volunteered to shake a bucket for the Breast Cancer charity. Not only had I to arrange tickets for two different sets of guests and set up the drums, but also I volunteered to do this match report, so I was a busy bunny. A traffic nightmare meant that the usual hour road trip between Epsom and the Madstad was over two hours, so I ended up shaking a bucket for 10 minutes (sorry Colin), but I managed to collect a bit of money for them. Many thanks to all of you who embraced the spirit of the day by wearing pink, donating money and specially Big Al, who ended up showing me his breasts in exchange for a charity donation as promised.
I finally take my seat on the drums alongside Joe, a virgin drummer, who joined his sister Sarah as the new generation of Easty Beasties comes along. It was nice to see so much pink and especially, such a nice North Stand half full. Well done to the club for this, even if most of those seats were freebees.
The game started with a huge pace, with Homer kicking off, Steffon chasing the kick and coming out with the ball, which was chipped over the top in an uncharacteristic Irish attack move that left us with no points on the board. I am counting Steffon 1 – Moody 0 on their personal duel.
On the fourth minute White goes off injured quite badly and is replaced by Castrogiovanni. Yet another blow for the England front row, but Tigers have very good front row replacements. Moody concedes a penalty for coming from the side (2-0 to Steffon). Irish turn over the scrum against the put in and are awarded a penalty in front of the posts, about 20 meters away. Lamby kicks with his fat toe nail, missing the posts by a country mile.
Dermondy is doing a great job against Castrogiovanni and Ion on Ayarza, which is great to see as I expected our pack to be weaker than theirs. Every rugby aficionado knows that the forwards decide who wins the game, and the backs by how much. It was only a matter of time before we scored, I thought.
Tigers enjoy their first visit to our 22 and are awarded a penalty, which Staunton converts after missing a drop goal while referee Wayne Barnes was playing advantage. 0-3 to Tigers against the run of play.
Homer restarts , Moody is off his feet at the ruck, handles the ball on the ground and doesn’t get penalised, so in their particular duel with Steff I make it 2-1 to Steff now.
We get awarded a penalty in a Tigers scrum for Castrogiovcanni not going straight. This one is harder than the one Lamby missed earlier, but he gets it right this time, so 3-3 after 19 minutes. Moody put pressure on Homer and his late hit doesn’t get penalised: 2-2. Steffon takes the quick line-out, but his rushed pass is too high for Mapusua to gather and it goes horribly wrong: 2-3 to Moody.
Tigers are awarded a scrum 5 mts away from our try line, this time the penalty is awarded to them and go for the line out. Wrong decision, as Big Bob has got a big hand that knicks it, Steffon gathers and Homer kicks it away from danger.
Steffon charges down a kick from Crane, who could only stop him with a cynical off the ball tackle worthy of a yellow card. I make it 3-3 so far in their particular duel and 6-3 to us after Lamby gets the penalty. Barnes forgot the yellow cards in the changing room and Crane gets away with a “don’t do it again” telling off.
On the 32rd minute Tagi scores a try, but the level of noise was so high at the time that neither the crowd nor the players from either side had noticed that Barnes had blown his whistle for a forward pass.
Crane commits a double penalty on the same move, this time even worse than the off the ball tackle, and another yellow card that Barnes decides not to show. This is Tigers Cheaters at their best! I just don’t know how they manage to read refs so well. 9-3 to us with 2 minutes to go. Steffon tackles Staunton and comes out with the ball, so 4-3 to him and he is also in the lead when half time comes.
I go for my passive smoking session at half time. It is great to have a chat with the regulars. I have given up cigarettes, but not the conversation that goes on with the smokers. Points discussed included the very small margin of 6 points, most people agreed that we deserved a bigger lead, and that Tigers would always be a danger if they were within 7 points. Some said that we were destined to lose this game, and that sooner than later a yellow card would be shown – to us! Most people agreed with me about Barnes’ unusual bad game, at least watching the game with our green tinted spectacles.
Second half comes and a minute after the restart Tigers make it 9-6. Then Crane gets isolated and concedes a penalty for holding on Lamby reinstates the 6 points gap with another penalty kick, 12-6.
There is now a period of messy play, which undoubtedly favours Leicester. Hewatt manages to intercept the ball in a couple of occasions, but we gain nothing but territory from them.
There is now some good play from Moody, who grabs a lose ball and forces the penalty: 4-4 in that duel and 12-9 in the scoreboard. It is really looking like a 50-50 game that will go to whoever wants it the most.
Another 50-50 ball, with Steff and Moody competing for it. The green shirt wins it, so 5-4 to Steffon.
Both players are involved again, with Steffon losing the ball as he is tackled by Moody (5-5). Moody gets penalised this time for going off his feet in the ruck. (6-5)
Some good phases of play follow with Stowers involved with the backs, which end up with Lamby scoring a try which gets disallowed for a knock on. I have to check the scores and I can’t believe we are only winning by 3, as we are the only team that is clearly playing some rugby. We have a scrum inside the Tigers 22 and Moody concedes a penalty and has to go away for a blood bin. 15-9 with 12 minutes to go and I make it 7-5 to Steff. ;-)
Paice, very active coming from the bench, gives away a penalty for holding on to the tackled player and Youngs get the points: 15-12.
Every single phase of play is cheered very loudly by the crowd in the last few minutes of the game, sadly it was more about the Tigers’ mistakes than our successes: no penalty is given after Dodge gets tacked by his collar, but Castrogiovanni gives away a penalty in front of the posts. Lamb takes his time as there are only 7 minutes to go and doesn’t miss: 18-12.
At this time we were all waiting for Tigers to get a converted try in the last minute of the game; we have all been here before, but bad handling from the Tigers back 3 and a superb turn over from Steffon (8-5) ends up in a penalty to us, that Lamb misses narrowly. We finish in a high and although 18-12 doesn’t reflect our superiority in the game I bet any of us will be very happy with the 4 points.
The cowshed after the game was excellent. We did party hard, as it is not everyday that you beat the premiership champions and you go to bed top of the league! A bit of banter to the other Barnes (Stuart) on the way to the car and then back home full of excitement. Thanks to the players for such a display and I can’t wait for more of the same at the Stoop on Saturday!
I intended to be at the Madstad for one o’clock as I had volunteered to shake a bucket for the Breast Cancer charity. Not only had I to arrange tickets for two different sets of guests and set up the drums, but also I volunteered to do this match report, so I was a busy bunny. A traffic nightmare meant that the usual hour road trip between Epsom and the Madstad was over two hours, so I ended up shaking a bucket for 10 minutes (sorry Colin), but I managed to collect a bit of money for them. Many thanks to all of you who embraced the spirit of the day by wearing pink, donating money and specially Big Al, who ended up showing me his breasts in exchange for a charity donation as promised.
I finally take my seat on the drums alongside Joe, a virgin drummer, who joined his sister Sarah as the new generation of Easty Beasties comes along. It was nice to see so much pink and especially, such a nice North Stand half full. Well done to the club for this, even if most of those seats were freebees.
The game started with a huge pace, with Homer kicking off, Steffon chasing the kick and coming out with the ball, which was chipped over the top in an uncharacteristic Irish attack move that left us with no points on the board. I am counting Steffon 1 – Moody 0 on their personal duel.
On the fourth minute White goes off injured quite badly and is replaced by Castrogiovanni. Yet another blow for the England front row, but Tigers have very good front row replacements. Moody concedes a penalty for coming from the side (2-0 to Steffon). Irish turn over the scrum against the put in and are awarded a penalty in front of the posts, about 20 meters away. Lamby kicks with his fat toe nail, missing the posts by a country mile.
Dermondy is doing a great job against Castrogiovanni and Ion on Ayarza, which is great to see as I expected our pack to be weaker than theirs. Every rugby aficionado knows that the forwards decide who wins the game, and the backs by how much. It was only a matter of time before we scored, I thought.
Tigers enjoy their first visit to our 22 and are awarded a penalty, which Staunton converts after missing a drop goal while referee Wayne Barnes was playing advantage. 0-3 to Tigers against the run of play.
Homer restarts , Moody is off his feet at the ruck, handles the ball on the ground and doesn’t get penalised, so in their particular duel with Steff I make it 2-1 to Steff now.
We get awarded a penalty in a Tigers scrum for Castrogiovcanni not going straight. This one is harder than the one Lamby missed earlier, but he gets it right this time, so 3-3 after 19 minutes. Moody put pressure on Homer and his late hit doesn’t get penalised: 2-2. Steffon takes the quick line-out, but his rushed pass is too high for Mapusua to gather and it goes horribly wrong: 2-3 to Moody.
Tigers are awarded a scrum 5 mts away from our try line, this time the penalty is awarded to them and go for the line out. Wrong decision, as Big Bob has got a big hand that knicks it, Steffon gathers and Homer kicks it away from danger.
Steffon charges down a kick from Crane, who could only stop him with a cynical off the ball tackle worthy of a yellow card. I make it 3-3 so far in their particular duel and 6-3 to us after Lamby gets the penalty. Barnes forgot the yellow cards in the changing room and Crane gets away with a “don’t do it again” telling off.
On the 32rd minute Tagi scores a try, but the level of noise was so high at the time that neither the crowd nor the players from either side had noticed that Barnes had blown his whistle for a forward pass.
Crane commits a double penalty on the same move, this time even worse than the off the ball tackle, and another yellow card that Barnes decides not to show. This is Tigers Cheaters at their best! I just don’t know how they manage to read refs so well. 9-3 to us with 2 minutes to go. Steffon tackles Staunton and comes out with the ball, so 4-3 to him and he is also in the lead when half time comes.
I go for my passive smoking session at half time. It is great to have a chat with the regulars. I have given up cigarettes, but not the conversation that goes on with the smokers. Points discussed included the very small margin of 6 points, most people agreed that we deserved a bigger lead, and that Tigers would always be a danger if they were within 7 points. Some said that we were destined to lose this game, and that sooner than later a yellow card would be shown – to us! Most people agreed with me about Barnes’ unusual bad game, at least watching the game with our green tinted spectacles.
Second half comes and a minute after the restart Tigers make it 9-6. Then Crane gets isolated and concedes a penalty for holding on Lamby reinstates the 6 points gap with another penalty kick, 12-6.
There is now a period of messy play, which undoubtedly favours Leicester. Hewatt manages to intercept the ball in a couple of occasions, but we gain nothing but territory from them.
There is now some good play from Moody, who grabs a lose ball and forces the penalty: 4-4 in that duel and 12-9 in the scoreboard. It is really looking like a 50-50 game that will go to whoever wants it the most.
Another 50-50 ball, with Steff and Moody competing for it. The green shirt wins it, so 5-4 to Steffon.
Both players are involved again, with Steffon losing the ball as he is tackled by Moody (5-5). Moody gets penalised this time for going off his feet in the ruck. (6-5)
Some good phases of play follow with Stowers involved with the backs, which end up with Lamby scoring a try which gets disallowed for a knock on. I have to check the scores and I can’t believe we are only winning by 3, as we are the only team that is clearly playing some rugby. We have a scrum inside the Tigers 22 and Moody concedes a penalty and has to go away for a blood bin. 15-9 with 12 minutes to go and I make it 7-5 to Steff. ;-)
Paice, very active coming from the bench, gives away a penalty for holding on to the tackled player and Youngs get the points: 15-12.
Every single phase of play is cheered very loudly by the crowd in the last few minutes of the game, sadly it was more about the Tigers’ mistakes than our successes: no penalty is given after Dodge gets tacked by his collar, but Castrogiovanni gives away a penalty in front of the posts. Lamb takes his time as there are only 7 minutes to go and doesn’t miss: 18-12.
At this time we were all waiting for Tigers to get a converted try in the last minute of the game; we have all been here before, but bad handling from the Tigers back 3 and a superb turn over from Steffon (8-5) ends up in a penalty to us, that Lamb misses narrowly. We finish in a high and although 18-12 doesn’t reflect our superiority in the game I bet any of us will be very happy with the 4 points.
The cowshed after the game was excellent. We did party hard, as it is not everyday that you beat the premiership champions and you go to bed top of the league! A bit of banter to the other Barnes (Stuart) on the way to the car and then back home full of excitement. Thanks to the players for such a display and I can’t wait for more of the same at the Stoop on Saturday!
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Posted by: The Craic www.londonirish.org (IP Logged)
Date: 25/10/2009 20:29
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Re: Dual of Titans
Posted by: Clontarf (IP Logged)
Date: 26/10/2009 22:00
Good report Aitor, its probably not a wise thing to say on this board but I'd say Lewis Moody and Steffon finished all square, I have no doubt that Steffon is the man for the future but for now with a squad that is seriously disrupted by injury I couldn't blame Jonno for going with old hands.
Re: Dual of Titans
Posted by: Duncan Keene (IP Logged)
Date: 28/10/2009 10:32
Thanks for the report PANS and congrats on the win.
My report wearing the opposite coloured spectacles is here:
[www.rugbynetwork.net]
I find it amusing that you thought Tigers 'played the ref', i thought it the complete opposite with Hodgson having him in his pocket all day. On a different day Ion is penalised in every scrum and the retaliation equals a reversed penalty rather than a warning for Casey. Your teams' communication with the ref was excellent and ours was awful.
My report wearing the opposite coloured spectacles is here:
[www.rugbynetwork.net]
I find it amusing that you thought Tigers 'played the ref', i thought it the complete opposite with Hodgson having him in his pocket all day. On a different day Ion is penalised in every scrum and the retaliation equals a reversed penalty rather than a warning for Casey. Your teams' communication with the ref was excellent and ours was awful.
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