By Mike Hill
March 2 2003

Gloucester edged out Tigers 16 - 11 to set up a Twickenham final against Saints who walloped London Irish 38 - 9. Tigers laid siege to the Gloucester line for the final ten minutes of the game but failed to find a way through. The first half was a dour error strewn affair but the contest came to life after the break when Gloucester scored two tries in quick succession. Leicester led 6 - 3 at the interval with both Stimpson and Mercier missing kicks at goal. Neither side was able to get any momentum and handling errors were prolific.

Gloucester had a five minute purple patch just after the break with the pack getting up a head of steam to supply the back line with some quick ball. With Henry Paul combining well with Simpson-Daniel in the centre and Thinus Delport cutting some sharp angles Gloucester suddenly looked dangerous. Delport pulled Stimpson wide and passed inside for Marcel Garvey to sprint over from 25 metres as first Leon Lloyd and Tim Stimpson failed to catch the stocky winger.

Tigers were still reeling when Gloucester did it again with quick ball leading to Delport scoring in the same right hand corner. Leicester's once vaunted defence has been shambolic at times this season and this needs to be sorted if there is to be any new additions to the trophy cabinet. Add this to the number of scoring opportunities Tigers created in the match and you have a major problem.

You can count the number of clean breaks by a back on one finger and that was when Sam Vesty was forced to run the ball after a poor pass from Hamilton put him in trouble. There was a bit more snap when Tom Tierney replaced him at nine but what a difference Austin could have made to the match. His quick delivery from the base gives the outside backs that little extra time in which to create something and his pace around the fringes keeps the opposition back row tied in for longer.

Mercier missed the conversions of both tries and with it the chance to bury the Tigers. Instead Leicester responded well and Josh Kronfeld was driven over from a well worked lineout catch and drive to narrow the gap to 13 - 11. Tim Stimpson missed the conversion from close to the left touch line and with it the chance to level the scores. Things got worse when Mercier stretched the lead to five points with his second penalty goal of the game.

The game was set fair for a rousing climax and the crowd wasn't disappointed as Tigers pounded the Gloucester line for the final ten minutes. Three times Tigers kicked for the corner and each time they were repelled illegally. Lander warned the Cherry and Whites after they collapsed the maul the second time that the next time he would act. However when they drove underneath Corry and stopped him from coming down they also prevented Tigers from getting the drive on and Lander should have showed the yellow card at least.

Instead he gave a scrum and what's more told Tigers that they couldn't push. If the situation had been reversed Lander would have showed no such reluctance to send a Leicester player to the bin. Time and Tigers options were running out and a last desperate attack came close to a score under the posts but unfortunately no cigar.

This weeks man of the match award I'm giving to Martin Johnson for marshalling the troops well and driving Tigers close to victory despite all their shortcomings. The pack as a unit just had the edge on the Gloucester eight it was out in the backs that Leicester lost the game. The whole back line looked very ordinary and Geordan who has been excellent all season had a shocker by his own high standards.

Let's hope Tigers can get back on track for the long trip north to Newcastle who have just lost by a single point to Wasps to send them back to the bottom of the league. It's not going to be easy against a side fighting for their existence in rugby's top flight and possessing the best fly half and kicker in world rugby.