By Workie Ticket (13/03/03)
March 14 2003

The Falcons' mini revival spluttered at Adams Park a week last Saturday when they were unable to find the spark necessary to beat a Wasps team who went on to take third spot in the Zurich Premiership following the win. Rob Andrew was happy with the bonus point & the 10 points gained from the three games that followed the humiliation at Sale & went onto comment that we were back among the relegation dogfight when we were well adrift at the end of January. Winning all of the next three home games must be seen as being essential to guarantee Zurich Premiership status.

Sunday 16th March sees this season's visit of the Leicester Tigers, the current Zurich Premiership Champions and Heineken Cup holders. The Tigers are the most successful club of the professional era having won the premiership four consecutive times and the Heineken Cup for the last two years.

Games between Newcastle and Leicester at Kingston Park have always been very close with only three points separating the teams at the end of the corresponding fixtures of the last two seasons and the game ended a draw on a very windy Bonfire night in the 1999/2000 season. One of my worst moments watching rugby has to be Leicester's win at Kingston Park in the 1998/99 season where their 21-12 win secured their first of four consecutive Premiership titles. It is hard to believe that the only win against Leicester at Kingston Park in the Premiership era came last season at a time when Leicester were resting British Lions Johnson, Back and Corry. You have to go back to the 1997/98 Falcons championship winning season for the last win against the Tigers when we managed to do the double over them at Welford Road and the "home game" which was played at Gateshead Stadium.

Strength up front

Leicester are well known for their strength upfront and their hard nosed tactics. In the front row ABC club props Rowntree and Garforth are still turning out for the club, along with club regular Derek Jelley. This season they are joined by French international prop Franck Tournaire from Toulouse. Tournaire is the first Frenchman to feature in the Leicester team and was part of the France side that took part in the 1999 Rugby World Cup Final packing down in the scrum against our own Andrew Blades, although both played at tighthead that day. Controversy surrounded Tournaire following France's surprising semi final wing against New Zealand when he was cited for, and subsequently cleared of, biting an unspecified New Zealand player. The other member of the infamous ABC club, hooker Richard Cockerill, moved onto French club Montferand having spent most of the last few years vying for a place with current England A captain Dorian West, who is currently sharing the number 2 shirt with George Chuter.

Their second row features current first choice England pairing Martin Johnson and Ben Kay. Despite his recent injury which prevented him from playing in the England v Italy game last weekend I think that Johnson will start the game and will be relishing the opportunity to go up against Mark Andrews (pictured) in what may end up being a mini version of the battle that took place at Twickenham when England took on South Africa in December 2000. With Ben Kay featuring in all of England's games so far this season he is likely to make an appearance from the bench, with Louis Deacon getting the nod to start.

A very competitive back row sees a host of England internationals, British Lions and an All Black, with Lewis Moody, Neil Back, ex Newcastle Gosforth player Martin Corry and Josh Kronfeld featuring alongside club regulars Adam Balding and Will Johnson.

Unstable half-back combinations...

Probably the main reason for Leicester's inconsistency this season has been their lack of a stable combination at halfback. Scrum halves Jamie Hamilton, Tom Tierney and Harry Ellis have all featured at some point partnering fourth generation Tiger Sam Vesty who has been rapidly accelerated from the ranks of the development side. Former Irish international Tierney appeared to make a difference when he came on in the Powergen Cup game against Gloucester and I will expect him to start. Austin Healey has tried to make the Leicester 10 shirt his but reports in the national press this week appear to say that he has given up on this and wants to go back to being a scrum half. We'll have to wait and see on that one!

The backs

Their backs feature former Wallaby Rod Kafer, who has failed to make the same impression as his predecessor Pat Howard, England debutant Ollie Smith, Leon Lloyd and Rugby League converts Freddie Tuilagi and Steve Booth. The squad also includes ex Falcon and English International and British Lion Tim Stimpson who has been alternated at full back this season with current Irish full back Geordan Murphy.

Tigers hit by injuries

Injuries prevail at the moment with Moody, Back, Johnson, Healey and scrum half Harry Ellis amongst the injured. Dean Richards is hopeful that captain Martin Johnson and Neil Back will both be fit for Sunday's Zurich Premiership clash at Newcastle. "They should be all right," said Richards, Tigers' Director of Rugby. "We will wait and see how the week goes." Back has been out since pulling a calf muscle in the opening Six Nations game against France.

Austin Healey had hoped to make his comeback against the Falcons after three months out with an Achilles problem. But that has now been put on hold. "It's probably going to be too early," said Richards. With Dean Richards's reputation for being "canny" I wouldn't bank on Healey's exclusion from the Leicester side. However, Healey's unpredictability has seen his performance range from the sublime to the ridiculous and he may not make his return in a crucial away game.

Returning Falcons?

For the Falcons we may see hooker James Christian make his return from injury, along side Peel and Hurter in the front row. Having started three Six Nations games for Scotland and just about all of the Falcons games this season it might be time to let Stuart Grimes start from the bench. With his almost certain inclusion in the Scotland squad for the World Cup later this year, it is a good opportunity to let Craig "Stretch" Hamilton (pictured), who will probably be playing alongside Andrews for most of next seasons ZP games, have another start. Hamilton has been the most impressive of the fledglings this season and his performances are certainly living up to his alternative nickname of "Diddie Doddie".

The Falcons' back row?

After his performance at Wasps you would have thought that Epi would have had to have missed out on this game. There has been nothing official from the club, but as Tonga are playing a Rugby World Cup qualifier against Korea this weekend it would have appeared to be almost certain that he would not feature. However, he has been named in the squad unlike Newby and Britz. Expect to see Epi start at blindside with Mower at openside and Vyvyan at 8.

Changes and injuries?

At scrum half I expect Hall Charlton (pictured) to start. Grindal started in the annihilation at Welford Road earlier this season, which Leicester won 52-9, and I think that Rob Andrew will have realised that the Leicester coaching squad know Grindal's strengths and weaknesses following his time there.

Yet again we saw Jonny leave the Twickenham pitch with an injury while on England duty but he was quick in his reassurances to say that he would be playing this weekend. I understand some changes may be forced in the backs due to injury and this may result in Tom May starting at outside centre with Jamie Noon on the wing.

Record breaker

A large crowd is expected and the Kingston Park record of 7490 for the corresponding fixture last season is expected to be broken. Let's hope that the crowd can get behind the team as we all know how crucial this game is for the Falcons. Bottom of the league again and level on points with London Irish, who have a game in hand over us. However, as they say the show's not over until the fat lady sings and with only 5 points separating the bottom six teams and with each team having 5 or 6 games left to play it is still potentially wide open as to who is going to end up in the bottom spot.

10 man rugby

Leicester, currently in fourth place, four points behind Wasps but with a game in hand, must win to maintain their challenge for a play-off place. They aren't going to win the league but they will want to be competing for the Zurich Championship. Having won their last three league games in a row they will want to maintain the momentum and reclaim third place in the league. However, their away form has let them down this season. Their visit to Adams Park at the end of December didn't see them net any points and they also lost the two games prior to that, at home to Northampton and away to London Irish. The combination of inconsistent away form, their injury list and the number of players they have had involved at international level will all have an influence on how they play. They are weak at fly half and this is where the pressure should be applied. For that reason I can see Mower given the job of targeting Vesty, or Healey, and capitalising on any errors which can be forced from there. I think that the combination of youth and experience along with Blades' coaching has made our pack as competitive as any in the Premiership and this was demonstrated in the Wasps game two weeks ago. However, based on the recent performances of our backs we should be looking to play 10 man rugby for this game, keeping the ball in the forwards and only letting the backs have it when we are well up inside the Tigers half.

It isn't going to be a pretty game; they never are against Leicester. Referee Tony Speadbury is certainly sharp enough to see through the cynical playmaking of Back and Johnson and should be able to keep them under control. I will go for a Falcons win with Leicester getting a bonus point.

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Photographs courtesy of Timofe & Newcastle Falcons.