By Tiger_ress
May 16 2003

Would Tigers record a victory after losing last time at the Stoop, or would they bow down, finding themselves an impossible task to complete on Sunday?

Wildcard Wonder!

After, lets face it, a harsh season, Leicester Tigers found themselves up against the Harlequins for the 4th time this season. Would Tigers record a victory after losing last time at the Stoop, or would they bow down, finding themselves an impossible task to complete on Sunday?

When I arrived, I wasn’t surprised to find that the Stoop was very empty. I suppose people didn’t think that it would be a good match. But the result gave an impression that it was close fought, and for the second half, it certainly was with tigers pulling back 20 points in those 40 mins.

Quins kicked off, and things started scrappily for both teams. A few loose balls by Tigers, and passes at feet, I think they were relieved when Quins kicked for touch after McMullen missed the first of many of the evening. Our lineout a good take by Deacon and a 25m Maul followed. Quins came offside, (not noticed by the ref!)we went to a ruck but the ref blew for a scrum.

After losing the ball to Quins, Shaggy made a good break only to be tackled and lose the ball in contact. A series of handling errors followed only for the ref to blow on 9mins for the 1st penalty of the match. In was in Quins favour, and Nathan Williams made a lovely clearance kick into touch. Their line out and Quins found a gaping hole in the Tigers defence, only for their player to be tackled by Deacon just short of the 5m line. We took the ball and Harry Ellis had a sparkling moment when he made a fantastic break to find himself 3m outside our 22m.

A bit of support and we could have been away. At this point it didn’t seem that we had a game plan at all. The “big” guys were missing, yes, but we faired quite well for the first 20mins. Some big hits were flying in, lots of rucks and mauls, not a lot of open play. A good pass to Murphy from Freddie saw him show Quins a clear pair of heels, but it was seen as forward and so Quins gained a penalty.

Burke lined up just inside our half only to miss the penalty on 14mins. The 22m drop out saw the ball find Shaggy and again he moved beautifully up field, showing why he’s picked for England for every game. A Quins fan next to me was clearly shocked, and said “God, he doesn’t usually show up for the Quins”. Well he certainly did in the first 20mins! Shaggy, after this run, made a crossfield kick only for it to go too far find touch. A few fisty cuffs set in and Mel Deane was penalised for not attempting to tackle. Stimmo stepped up to kick and my heart was in my mouth, would he make it? Of course!! Tigers were 3-0 up. But our joy was very short lived, when, from the kick off, Quins won the ball, passed it out wide to Tani Fuga for him to score left of the posts.

The pass was “Blatantly Forward” the BBC said, and these tries are getting a bit of a habit at the Stoop. Burke stepped up to make it 7-3 on 21 mins. Quins for the 3rd time this match were penalised for scooping the ball back seemed to be their favourite penalty-giver that night! Stimmo failed to take the three points, but tigers won the 22m drop out.

Another lovely pass by Freddie to Geordan saw him off and running only for him to lose his footing. The Tigers fans in the crowd, I think, always gasp when he gets the ball, he is a magical player. This slip earnt Quins another turnover and we lost ground from the 22m to 50m. Territory was slipping away from us. The ball found Shaggy (again) for him to make a break and pop the ball to Mat Powell to put Deane under the posts. Suddenly Tigers were on the rack (as one Quins fan so eloquently put it!) 14-3 after Burke added the conversion on 27 mins

A lineout to Quins in the 30th min just inside our 22m saw us give away a penalty for diving over the top at the ruck. Burke took the penalty kick to make it 17-3. I seriously thought Tigers were now up for a 40-3 thrashing, Tigers seemed to had lost any form that they might have had in the 1st Minute. The turnover count was rising, and this I think has been a major problem this year, the breakdown and the amount of turnovers conceded. Anyway, Tigers got a free kick only for us to not find touch and for Quins to come on the counter attack. A double knock on saw Tigers have a scrum on 38 mins. Another loose pass saw Burke tackle Louis Deacon. Well he didn’t tackle him, Louis just fell over at his feet, very gracefully I might add. Murphy made an excellent break on 39mins popped a past to Gelders who got knocked into next week by Diprose. GG passed the ball to Harry, but he should have gone to Specsavers because didn’t see it coming, and the ref then blew for Half time.

With Miles off for Quins and Davidson on (he had already been on as a blood replacement) tigers kicked off and a good take by Diprose saw tigers give a penalty away for killing the ball in the 1st min. This was put on Burke shoulders only for him to strike it beautifully to make it 20-3, we needed a miracle, although a game plan would do at his point. We weren’t out of sight completely but it was disappearing fast.

We were given a penalty in the 4th min of the second half, which saw Stimmo take nicely. 20-6. We were slowly making ground, beginning to look a threat when we got the ball. 8mins saw a peach of a drop goal by Burke making it 23-6. Only tries would do now.

Monya showed his speed when in the 50th min he got the ball for what seemed the 1st time in the match and flew down the right side of the pitch only for him to be ran into touch near the 5m line. 51st Min saw what I think turned the match. Louis Deacon, George Chuter and Ricky Nebbitt came off to make way for Johnson, Darren Garforth and the welcome return of West. Surely things should liven up now?

3 mins later a wonderful pass from Johnson to Murphy saw him pick a great line to sprint through midfield and score right of the posts. Stimmo converted to make it 23-13. Ten points adrift, could we pull it back?

My confidence was growing, and it was evident that the teams’ was too!

The introduction of Jones and Rudski implied that Quins perhaps felt they could lose the match if they weren’t careful. Either that or they just made substitutes (?). Anyway, now the big boys were on, niggles and fisty cuffs came to light even more so than in the 1st half, Lloyd was seen to be joining in along with Ellis and Garforth. Ellis was given a talking to by the ref and Burke line up to take the penalty. He pulled a Kenny Logan, and was denied the points by going underneath the bar. Doh!

Pezza came off to be replaced by Rowntree and things were evidently getting better. We were finding spaces, balls were coming quicker from the breakdown and things were generally looking up, although nowhere near the form that we have been before. 68 mins saw a wonderful dummy by Stimmo for him to make a clearance kick near to the half way line. The ball came back Stimmo’s way and whereas he should have called for the mark like he had done a min earlier, he was tackled into touch. Their line out and this saw Cozza throw a punch in on the floor and earn himself 10mins tea break in the 62nd min.

Murphy kicked extremely high for it to be caught by Quins but a wonderful tackle into touch by Freddie saw him go into touch our lineout. A scrum followed along with a free kick to us for Quins boring in. West then also got involved in fighting and things really were hotting up. Tigers need to keep their discipline. Garforth won our first turnover of the match only for us to make a good break and then give away possession. Vesty came on for McMullen who had had a very quiet second half. 31st min saw us give our first penalty away for scooping the ball back and Burke kicked to make it 26-16.

From the restart Tigers had the ball and Vesty broke the gain line only for him to get pulled back. We had a penalty and Stimmo kicked only for it to rebound off the posts. Balding came off and Skinner made his appearance. This seemed to lift the team as a good 3/4mins pressure followed right inside the Quins 5m line and they kept us out. 5m scrum and the refreshed Corry scored a good try by keeping low to the ground. Stimmo converted to make it 26-20. An injury time penalty for pulling the maul down saw Stimmo line up to make it 26-23. Ellis was then replaced by Hamilton. Tigers regained possession for the rest of the match and only lost it when a big hit on Hamilton saw him lose possession. But that was ok, it was full time! The first half just wasn’t clicking for tigers, loose passes, numerous turnovers, but must be a record for the first penalty of the match to be given 9mins in! But the second half saw Tigers claw their way back into the game. Quicker ball, good moves good lines by wingers. Was nice to see Lloyd on the wing and not the centre and also great to see Gelders starting. Roll on Sunday!

Teams

	Tigers	Harlequins
1	Perry Freshwater	Jason Leonard
2	George Chuter	Tani Fuga
3	Ricky Nebbitt	Gomez
4	Louis Deacon	B Davidson
5	Martin Corry	Miles?
6	Peter Short	Winters
7	Josh Kronfeld	Andre Vos
8	Adam Balding	Tony Diprose
9	Harry Ellis	Mat Powell
10	Craig McMullen	Paul Burke
11	Leon Lloyd	Dan Luger
12	Freddie Tuilagi	Mel Deane
13	Glenn Gelderbloom	Will Greenwood
14	Geordan Murphy	Monya
15	Tim Stimpson	Nathan Williams
16	Dorian West	?
17	Graham Rowntree	Jones
18	Darren Garforth	Evans
19	Martin Johnson	Rudski?
20	Jamie Hamilton	Sanderson
21	Sam Vesty	Beamon?
22	Will Skinner	Ben Gollings