This Pussy Bites

The usual and unusual suspects and a number of folk who are not suspicious at all met again on the crumbie terrace after, what had seemed to be a very long summer, hoping that the team could reproduce their heroics of our penultimate game last season and make it a historical third victory in a row over our illustrious opponents.

The first surprise of the afternoon was that both teams appeared to be playing as announced earlier in the week. The second surprise were the ridiculous black and yellow outfits that the referee and his touch judges were wearing. As it was Spredbury the image that came to mind was that it was like watching a bumble bee on acid. Lord only knows what colours they’ll turn up in when they’re in charge of a Wasps game.

Irish started the stronger, playing uphill and into a slight breeze, retaining the ball well and probing the tiggers’ defence. However on their first visit to Irish territory tiggers were awarded a penalty in front of the posts (offside) and Stimpson (doesn’t he play for Perpignan?) slotted an easy kick for 3-0 lead after 6 minutes. On 10 minutes we had the first complaint about the drums, unfortunately for the steward the complaint fell upon deaf ears (no doubt a direct consequence of being in the eastiebeastie drum band) and the drumming continued along with some ironic renditions of ‘Silence is golden’ and ‘its all gone quiet over here.’

Back to the rugby – the Leicester back row were penalised for offside and Tofty stroked a beautiful penalty from long range over to make the score 3-3 after 13 minutes. Stimpson then missed a penalty from all of 60 metres (had the distance) before a period of untidy play where both sides seemed to struggle to hold onto the ball. Irish were still having the best of the play and were rewarded with another penalty when Monsieur Stimpson was caught on the 22 trying to run the ball out of defence. Tofty truly obliged with the kick – 6-3 to the Irish. It was a warm afternoon and the ref called a drinks’ break 20 minutes into the first half – we’ll be having tea next week!

The Irish support was still going strong (mainly AG fuelled) and making themselves heard above the 16,000 strong crowd. In the 24th minute Irish had a lineout just outside the home team 22, Irish won a scrappy lineout and Spreadbury seemed to be playing an advantage to Irish, however Irish lost the ball in contact, the tigers broke down field and, in desperation, killed the ball giving Stimpson another easy penalty – 6-6. Tofty and Stimpson exchanged further penalties to leave the score 9-9 as half time approached. Irish had had the better of it up to this point but the tiggers finished the half the stronger – tiggers attacked and had secured ruck ball on the Irish 22, Spredbury had his back to the ruck as he checked on the positioning of the Irish midfield, the tigger number 9 picked up the ball and was collared by a fired-up Kieran Dawson. The home crowd howled for an offside and the ref, despite having his back to the incident, duly obliged. The tiggers declined the 3 points and kicked for the corner. Big Bob Casey pinched the lineout but the ball was untidy and Irish conceded a 5 metre scrum. The Irish pack made a mess of the tigger scrum (as happened most of the match) and turned over a retreating Dan Lyle before breaking up field and only being prevented from scoring by a try saving tackle from the excellent Ollie Smith. Half-time – 9-9.

Tiggers turned up the heat in the second half and despite their scrummage struggling managed to provide their dangerous backs with plenty of ball. In fact the Leicester pack really denied Irish any decent possession at all. Ryan Strudwick was penalised for pulling down in the line-out and Stimpson put tiggers into a 12-9 lead. The tiggers continued to control possession and exert all the pressure. Lala and one of the home team second rows (couldn’t tell you who as it was impossible to hear the PA system) were yellow carded for a spot of handbags at 10 paces. Both sides made a number of substitutions and Irish brought on Murphy, Barrett and Barry Everitt. To the joy of the tiggers’ fans Austin Healey came on and his first act was to spin the ball wide from a lineout, slick handling allowed Ollie Smith the room to race in at the corner despite desperate Irish cover. Stimpson converted from out-wide – 19-9 after 62 minutes, and soon after added another penalty to put the home side 13 points ahead. Another Tofty penalty reduced the deficit.

More tigger pressure created a huge hole in the Irish midfield allowing Henry Tuilagi to score untouched under the posts with his first touch of the match. The conversion followed – 29-12 with a few minutes to go. Irish then started to play catch up rugby -throwing the ball around – the tigger pack playing ‘hold-on’ rugby - trying to slow the ball down. Another penalty to Irish in the tiggers’ 22 and Spreadbury called over the Leicester hooker and put his hand in his pocket – a yellow card- no, must have suddenly remembered where he was – or so it seemed to us through our green-tinted glasses. The Irish pressure finally told as Orac squeezed over in the corner to score a deserved try, duly converted –29-19. It was the final act of the match.

These are the bare facts – but what about how the team played – where did it go wrong? The front 3 looked more than solid in the tight and the tigger scrum more often than not was on the retreat. We struggled a bit in the lineout and I felt this was disappointing. We were up against an inexperienced hooker and 2nd row (though Dan Lyle compensated for this with a typically decent display in the lineout) and I thought that we put little pressure on them. This may have been because their lineout was functioning too well – but I felt it was mistake not to challenge them more especially early on. I thought the back-row did fine but I thought that Kronfeld just held the edge here and it is no disgrace to come a close second to such a fine player. Murphy looked a real handful when he came on and I think that we will see him making a lot of the ‘hard yards’ over the coming season. The half-backs functioned well and I thought that Tofty was our man of the match. Nils had a tough baptism but I felt that he came through it pretty well and certainly didn’t disgrace himself – definitely one for the future.

When we did have the ball I think our lines of running weren’t straight enough – the sideways movement on a narrow pitch did not allow our ‘attacking’ back three any room in which to work their magic. However the main reason we didn’t get more from this match, I believe, was that we struggled to retain possession in the second half (after shading the first half and turning around all square to play with slope and breeze). When we did have the ball we more often than not lost it in contact and either turned possession over or knocked on and there were very few times that we recycled the ball through a number of phases –except when the match was over a s a contest.

Tiggers, on the other hand, held on to the ball well. The scarcity of possession meant that when we did get the ball we were often attacking from very deep and when you are not recycling it….. A word about Mr Spreadbury, others and I felt that we didn’t get much in the way of the marginal decisions that were going (maybe he blamed us for his kit!!) but, with the exception of the Dawson penalty, I didn’t think he made any huge errors and he certainly didn’t cost us the game. The better side won, but with a bit of luck and some benevolence from the man in black and yellow (charcoal and banana?) we could easily have come away with a losing BP. Plenty of work to do, but certainly potential on which to work.

Why Kipling – well if I could have chosen to win one of our last 2 matches at WR I would certainly have chosen last seasons crucial match. The tiggers supporters were gracious in defeat that day and I hope that we were humble in victory. The shoe was on the other foot this weekend and I’m sure that we took the defeat on the chin –ready to fight another day. Never forget what that very talented marketing man once said ‘Believe’ - I do.

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon