Well Cockers!!

[TigerS2]

[olist=][/olist]

what total claptrap, what a great season, pipped at the post, why blame Cockers, why not blame Floody for missing kicks , blame, blame , blame,
WHY NOT congratulate Saracens for winning a :censored: tough game, what great defence at the end,

roll on next season, COME ON YOU TIGERS !

..................
Good post...

[Zdzislaw]

It's a game, we lost to a better team. Some of the comments above belong to the confines of a soccer ground. Two premierships and a Heineken Cup Final in 3 seasons is not bad!

[Bill W (2)]

It's a game, we lost to a better team.

Sorry I do not agree with that.

We lost to a team who kicked all five of their (kickable) penalties whilt we kicked 6 out of 8.

We failed to score a try. We had at least four opportunities and squandered them.

[tonyw]

I knew it was going to be a bad day when my train was cancelled but got there with minutes to spare.
From what i saw Sarries fully deserved the win, they were better in every department and we must be gracious in defeat, i cannot believe we got caught with another sucker punch (the try) in another final but it was a well worked planned move.
Floods kicking was dire and im not just talking about penalty kicks, Farrell gave him a lesson today, i wonder if Cockers might give Ford a chance with some game time off the bench next season as i do agree with some of the posts on here that he is too conserative at times with his selections, when the player of the year is warming the bench again it does make you scratch your head.
Heres to next year and well done Sarries you were the better team.

[TigerS2]

I bet Norris and Emily (SB DM) will be happy with the result.

[Cliffeclimber]

Bill, what don't you agree with? Surely Sarries were the better team as they won. They had more points at the end of the match. Doesn't that make them the better team?

[Bill W (2)]

Bill, what don't you agree with? Surely Sarries were the better team as they won. They had more points at the end of the match. Doesn't that make them the better team?

That they won is unarguable.

Had one of the two very kickable kicks that Toby missed gone over then he would have kicked another from the penalty awarded under the posts in the dying minutes when there was no time left to go for the corner. Then we would have won.

So Toby missing one out of two kickable kicks makes Sarries the better team? I think not.

But they did win.

[Mr_Ben]

Yes, today's performance wasn't good enough.

For me some of the reasons for this have been just under the surface for a while and they need to be addressed. However to keep things in perspective...

2004/5 - 1st in league, lost final to Wasps
2005/6 - 2nd in league, lost final to Sale
2006/7 - Won EDF Cup, 2nd in league, thrashed Gloucs to win title(1st trophy for 5 years!), lost HC final to Wasps
2007/8 - Lost EDF Final, 4th in league, lost final to Wasps
2008/9 - 1st in League, beat London Irish to win title, lost HC final to Leinster
2009/10 - 1st in League, beat Sarries to win title

Our worst league finish in the last 10 years has been 6th.

Sarries won the title for the first time today

Saints were relegated in 2006/7!

Bath won the Challenge Cup in 2008 but haven't won the league for 15 years!

Irish finished 6th this season and are now talking (http://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/rugby ... heir_means) about targetting the LV Cup to win silverware

Wasps finished 9th haven't won a trophy for 3 years and are rebuilding their squad with largely unknown players from NL1

Sale finished 10th and have spent the last 2 seasons fighting to stay in the league

I'm not thrilled that we lost, and expect the problems to be addressed but if I was for example a Wasps fan I'd be looking on with envy and wonder at how Tigers fans could consider this season a disaster.

[jamiewilkinson]

Yeah a really great season.Diddly squat won.

urm...A League Champions!!!

[jamiewilkinson]

I don't like to point the finger at one player but Flood was the main reason we lost today, two easy kicks missed and kicking
out of hand was dreadful. I lost count how many times they were able to run it back or he missed touch.
The Flood that played against Baaarth was a shadow of him today.
I don't think Johnno would have been too impressed either.

If he is going to be that flakey we need another top ten to bring on.
Time to get one Brace.

Every game he is vocal towards the lads we have won, organised them superbly and everyone looked like they knew what was going to happen.
every game he has been less vocal we have struggled and on most occassions we have lost. Not perticularly a fan of BY making his own decisions of box kicking, nobody seems to know when he's going to do it, and dont chase it down, and when they know its coming they seem very slow off the mark. have to say that all season we have let teams run at us, not chasing kicks down, and just what looks like lazyness to get ot the ball. Past seasons we have had Moody chasing everything down and putting opposing players under so much pressure, but we dont seem to have had that kind of player this season.
But next season is the start of a new season, yes it will be tough during the world cup, but we have to just get on with it.
Bring it on....keep the faith!!!
Congrates to the team this year, shame we didnt get the big ones
Bring on season 2011/12!!!

[APJones]

Dammit , I just renewed my season ticket last week !

Cockers was not playing today , the team were , its down to the team on the pitch on the day and the only time the head coach gets involved to make a difference is at halftime. Why were we insistant on keep on kicking the ball straight back to the sarries without chasing it ?
Alesana was good in parts but didn't make his tackles count , Floody missed two kickable penalties again. We didn't have pace and it appears that in the last 7 minutes we didn't have enough muscle either. We had a couple players that could have made a difference but weren't used Twelvetrees can kick penalties and is quick and will tackle , Staunton has proved himself before , can kick penalties and tackle, Dan Hipkiss very usefull but where was he ? but the worst waste of talent on the pitch was Agulla there were long periods of the game where he was alone on the wing with a virtually empty pitch in front of him but the ball never went to him. We missed Manu and Geordie today and I fear Floody needs to get back to his old kicking ways or else !

I wore my wrist band for the NZ earthquake fund today , all black it was, very fitting in the end.
A few drop goals wouldn't have gone amiss

[Smudge]

Our bench with the exception of Jezza and Grindal was a strong one but as usual
used much too late. 5 Minutes for 36.
Also the failure to use Danny Hipkiss (if he is now fit) is ludicrous.
He is a former international who won it for us last year by his great strength
standing up. Why on earth leave him out? Unforgivable.
Especially in the absence of Manu.
The last few minutes needed something a bit extra so why on earth not bring in
a whole load of backs to push the maul over?
Watford South African's defence was superb but it should have been breeched.
Am I the only poster to note that they were coached by a former Tiger, Paul Gustard?
Aussie commented about the substitution of both our Captain and vice Captain
within a few minutes of each other. He also found that unbelievable. As do I.

[Noggs]

As Mr Ben points out, Tigers have a track record second to none and the envy of every other team in the premiership. We don't have a god given right to win every time and over the years the competition has undoubtably improved.

I admire the saffers defence but frankly I can't say the same about their general style of play which in the main lacks adventure. That said, we also lacked adventure on the day and paid the price. Flood had a bad day at the office and I thought the back row were generally slow in support. What has happened to our pick and go game attacking the tackle position? It has worked well for us in the past and can put even the best defence on the back foot.

Farrell's kicking was better and in the end that was probably the difference between the two teams. However, he will need to offer a lot more if he is to take an England shirt. Youth is on his side and I feel sure his game will develop.

Though it pains me to say it on balance the saffers did deserve their win. Had Manu been available with his ability to punch holes it may have been a different story but he wasn't and it isn't!

Like anyone, Cockers will not get things right every time but he gets it right more than most and for that reason alone he keeps my vote

[Ian Cant]

Well I find it amazing that Cockerill is being criticised.In the heat of the moment at a game I do, but then I know he is a TRUE TIGER and a GREAT COACH. I have been to all the away league games since Christmas as usual and we have scored plenty of tries so something must be right! Cockerill has done a brilliant job to get us to the top of the league and a final. Didn't Tigers score the most tries, didn't Tigers have an appalling injury list for most of the season and on the day, yesterday a full strength Sarries just about deserved their win as their Kicking game and defence was nothing but outstanding. GET BEHIND THE TEAM HOME AND AWAY. There are so many very good teams now that, yes, I want to win Finals but to get in the top 4 is every year is fantastic-just ask the Wasps fans!!!!

[G.K]

Inevitable I'm afraid, it's the nature of the beast - when there is a loss there will be criticism and questions asked, which are forgotten after a win.

Nothwithstanding the injuries though I think some criticism is valid, yes we topped the leage, yes we scored the most tries (though I'd like to see the stats against the top teams in the AP and HC - I'd bet they tell a different story) but I thought the tactics were very poor yesterday and I have to say few Tigers players can take any positives from that game:

- Why the insistence on kicking so much with no decent chase? Only a few times did we really chase hard and Smith won the ball because of it, the rest of the time is was free ball to Saffas. Played their game plan it seems.

- Why were Tigers so lethargic in the first half? They just don't seem fit enough to me. Several times recently they have dug themselves into a hole like this, this time there was no get of jail card, it was bound to happen sometime.

- Where are the support runners when the odd break is made and the offloads? Where was the initiative to try something different,a chip over or through - anything to keep the Saffas defence guessing. Tigers never looked like they had a plan A to break down Sarries let alone a plan B.

- Why take the penalty with 5 minutes to go rather than the corner and go for 5 or 7 and the possibility of a late drop goal or penalty from the restart - seemed like playing for a loosing bonus point type mentality.

- What was the point about 12T at 75 minutes, why not earlier? Again a recurring theme through the season has been the poor use of substitues. Why not also have Danny on the bench if we had 12T as back up kicker?