Tigers v Treviso

[Darc Tiger]

Great 2nd half boys. Job done. Particular praise to Crane and Allen. Changed the game with their control and direction. Bit disappointed in Mele considering the pack upped the tempo and presentation considerably, he didn't seem to get to the rucks quick enough. Others were doing his job. Did allow someone to kick for Flood though and his passing was accurate.

Treviso played much better in that first half than anyone was expecting I think. They were aggressive and countered really well. We had the wrong mindset. Trying to score from every phase without earning the right to go wide. We do look irresistible when we up our game though. Shame we can't do it enough.

Bring it Ulster!

[DickyP]

It is interesting but the scrum looked more solid when Balmain, Hawkins and Stankovich were on than with the starters. We really missed Tom Youngs today - nobody was doing the dirty work and clearing up in the dark areas, and BY had no safety valve to get a couple of metres when under pressure. Salvi probably had his best game of what has been, for him, a fairly subdued season, so far.

Reckon that Williams is developing nicely. Nowhere near the real thing yet but looking very good. He and Mele both need a lot more place-kicking practice, however.

[Skin_and_Muscle]

I actually thought Mélé brought tempo just when we needed it (right after the break). He controlled the game fairly well, too.

Crane demonstrated his value to Tigers today; there was very little structure to our attack today and he provided that. The commentary team made a valuable point about him in that he always gives a focal point for the rest of the team. You don't need to be a 'flash' player to do that and it invariably brings a depth to the attack. Before he came on, we were incredibly flat and lateral.

Tait had an excellent game in attack and defence. Benjamin is getting better and better; what a finisher. Great to see Allen back, he showed that he is the crux of this team. Hawkins has also showed us what we've missed in his absence, go forward to match Youngs.

We've got every chance of beating Ulster next week but there's a lot to work on; a massive contributory factor to the second half was Treviso's fatigue.

[baz1664]

Mafi in for Deacon, Allen for Flood, Flood for Williams, Crane for the tank, Mele for Youngs, Hawkins/T Youngs for Biggs, these changes will give us a chance next week.

[MJB]

At least the doom mongers cannot say we didn't make full use of our bench today!

[G.K]

Was Morrison AWOL again at wing, no-one has mentioned him at all?

[voice of the crumbie]

Unfortunately I was not present at the game or able to watch on TV so had to content myself with Radio Leicester.

Could anyone who saw the game please comment on what was going wrong in the scrums? The normally reliable Ayerza and Cole - 2 of the best scrummagers in the game - were penalised repeatedly.

[Darc Tiger]

Ayerza struggled for whatever reason. Couldn't hold his end up. A little concerning. Don't think we lacked grunt in the engine room.

[snoopster]

Ayerza struggled for whatever reason. Couldn't hold his end up. A little concerning. Don't think we lacked grunt in the engine room.

It looked to me like the Treviso prop was dropping his bind 9or not even binding) but Ayerza was getting the blame when that side then collapsed - it was certainly the case on one of them when they showed a close up replay.
We should probably look at starting Melee when the ref is French, I suspect he is better than Youngs at influencing a French ref come scrum time - I'm sure earlier in the season we had Poite (can't recall which game) and the close calls felt like they kept going the other way till Melee came on and got in Poite's ear.

[voice of the crumbie]

Ayerza struggled for whatever reason. Couldn't hold his end up. A little concerning. Don't think we lacked grunt in the engine room.

He has played an awful lot of rugby without much of a break when you consider he came straight back in to the Tigers team after a lot of international rugby. Possibly tired or carrying a knock.

[MrPartridge]

Reckon that Williams is developing nicely.

I like Owen - but I can't agree with this comment, he was poor today, but ditto all the starting XV in the first-half. I think Michael Lynagh was right on the TV - we tried to force it too much in the 1st half. Play through the phases and earn the right...

2nd half was much better and the changes made a huge difference, in particular AA, Mele and Jordan. Good to see Mafi back in the mix. Well done to the coaches for recognising that we needed to change the personnel/momentum early in the 2nd half - it made all the difference IMO.

Will be an interesting call on team selection next week… who knows what to expect, e.g. JC or TTTE, Mafi in the XV off the bench, BY or Mele at 9, TF or OW at 10, centres could be any from: AA, Smith, Goneva or Flood. More chance of picking the Euromillions numbers next week than the Tigers starting XV! Ulster coaches will be finding it hard to know what team to prepare for!

[Eon B]

G.K asks



Was Morris AWOL again at wing, no-one has mentioned him at all?

My impression is formed by the Radio. I think he received very few passes, many of them of the hospital variety.

Maybe he is finding it hard to play alongside Tait, too. Some partnerships take longer to form.

[Darc Tiger]

We just had the wrong mindset and gameplan. Half time team talk, and Treviso energy levels dropping sorted us out. A bit naive, but we redeemed ourselves. Owen will mature, particularly when we get our best players around him.

[leic]

BY wasn't at his sharpest today but he looked injured to me, hence the heavy strapping on his leg. Does anyone know if he is?

[kpj tiger]

Morris didn't play too badly, he received 2 awful hospital passes from Toby, but he was good in defense and had one of his first meaningful runs Ive seen this season, I don't know what has happened to Morris and Thompstone as both seem to have gone off the boil a fair bit (although in Morris's case its stranger because he was immense in pre season)