Today's game v Newcastle

[Maximus66]

Hats off once again to Niall Morris, who was fearless in his tackling of Alex and on one occasion got trampled on by said Samoan. Just dusted himself off and carried on.
He's definitely a Tiger on form at the moment

[Nostradamus]

A couple of questions about the game.

Did anyone note the penalty count in the first half? It seemed the Ref was very lenient with Falcons. I thought the count was very much against them and a yellow would not have been out of place. If Deano thought his team was the wrong side of the Ref then he might suggest to his Captain not to exaggerate the shaking head every time he walked away from the Ref.

Did anyone get a clear view of the Falcon's second try. On BT Friday night they said that this season the Referees were going to make a big effort to avoid 'over use of the TMO'. From where I was sat I don't see how the Ref could have seen the touchdown and it seemed that the linesman confirmed it, but I don't see how his view could have been better. Was this a benefit of the doubt to the attacking side? Personally I am quite happy with the call and Saul was last up with the ball beneath him, but will we get the same treatment?

[TigerLad]

I really like the look of Bai. He has good hands and is very intelligent with his kicks. In my opinion what he brings will be key for us. We saw it multiple times on Saturday when he saw the blitzing defence and just chipped through. That was a gripe a lot of people had with Flood in that he never seemed to chop through which led to the blitz defence stifling us. I thought Burns also played well. He had the 3rd highest points tally on debut for Leicester and that's nothing to be sniffed at when you look at the players we have had through the years. He did seem a bit nervous at the start of the game but i suppose that was down to the lack of momentum in the first half in general. As we grew into the game I thought he grew more and more confident which is great to see. All in all a decent performance but the game against Exeter will be a test. It's their first game at a revamped Sandy park and they just put 50 past Welsh in Oxford. Should be a good game.

[TomWeston]

A couple of questions about the game.

Did anyone note the penalty count in the first half? It seemed the Ref was very lenient with Falcons. I thought the count was very much against them and a yellow would not have been out of place. If Deano thought his team was the wrong side of the Ref then he might suggest to his Captain not to exaggerate the shaking head every time he walked away from the Ref.

Agree, after about the fourth cynical penalty in their 25 I found myself shouting 'how many more, Mr Pearce?', but he didn't heed me.

[TomWeston]

All in all a decent performance but the game against Exeter will be a test. It's their first game at a revamped Sandy park and they just put 50 past Welsh in Oxford. Should be a good game.

And they will be up for it, especially TTTE who scored two and looked sharp, carrying a bit less weight than last year. He will want to make his mark.

[rocktop51]

All in all a game of one half !!

[Norfolk & Goode]

Did anyone note the penalty count in the first half?

Cockers certainly did! - he was in the refs changing room straight after the game letting all the officials know!

[Smudge]

Watching the highlights on the box last night I am more convinced than ever that the pass
to Richard Mayhew for his try was forward.

My opinion was confirmed, (in my mind at least) when it is measured against the line they crossed at the time.(25)
Surely I am not the only member of the forum that saw it?
Not that it matters now but had we lost as a result of it I would have been %*+&^%ed

[Noddy555]

We played like wazzocks again in the first half and only seemed to wake up when Newcastle scored, today's game just showed that we really need our top forwards back especially when playing the better sides. I'm in trepidation about next week because Exeter looked good against London Welsh on Sunday.
My question is why wasn't Tom Youngs on from the start was he nursing an injury? After he came on the scrums performed much better.

[Maximus66]

Exeter did indeed look good, but Welsh were anything but a cohesive unit and that was reflected in the score line.
I'm sure Dan Cole would be on the pitch next week if you let him and Marcos is still away. Cockers is the one that knows what resources he has available, so what would you suggest he does?
Fraser is getting the game time he otherwise wouldn't be seeing, as he was performing in fits and starts last season. He's playing alongside English, Italian and Samoan internationals. Good for his development surely.

[WhitecapTiger]

My question is why wasn't Tom Youngs on from the start was he nursing an injury? After he came on the scrums performed much better.

Didn't tom Youngs have the summer 'off' for personal/family reasons? Therefore, presumably, no pre-season involvement other than maybe a bit of training. Maybe that was the reason he came on from the subs bench in the second half.

As an aside, I thought the line-outs were, marginally, better whilst Ghiraldini was on, and I don't think there was much difference in open field play between the two.

but, then again, it was only the first game of a long season......

[Jay C]

My question is why wasn't Tom Youngs on from the start was he nursing an injury? After he came on the scrums performed much better.

As an aside, I thought the line-outs were, marginally, better whilst Ghiraldini was on, and I don't think there was much difference in open field play between the two.
but, then again, it was only the first game of a long season......

I didn't think the scrums or lineout were much different tbh, which is a backhanded compliment to Ghiraldini !

Morris, Bai, Manu, Burns & Niki all had very good individual performances, but the 'backs moves' were not as fluid as they could be (to be expected at this stage of the season, though) - couple of exceptions including Niki's try from Burns' break - a lovely move.
Ben Youngs really set the tempo - just wish he would impose himself more through a game as we looked so much better when he dictated the play. A couple of nice breaks by him, too.

Barberi played well & it looks like JC will have a real fight for his place this season. Our 2nd choice props performed very well - Balmian really looks up for it this year & Logo was his usual steamroller self !

Finally, I was pleased that Alex Tuilagi got the biggest cheer of the day when he came on for Falcons - great to see a Leicester legend get such a good reception from Welford Road (& quite pleased we managed to keep him quiet, although he did seem to be a yard slower & maybe a couple of pounds heavier than when he left - not that I'm going to tell him !!)

5 points was the target for this game, so its job done

[Ads677]

Ben Youngs in an interview on Radio Leicester said he thought the player had gone into touch but did concede that you play to the refs whistle! There was no whistle till the try was awarded!

He went into touch then leaped out to catch the ball, landing with his right foot a grass-blade infield. From 40 metres away he would've looked on the line or out.

My understanding is that if a player jumps from inside touch and catches the ball before his feet are back on the ground in the playing area then the ball would be deemed to have gone into touch.

[The Boy Dave]

My question is why wasn't Tom Youngs on from the start was he nursing an injury? After he came on the scrums performed much better.

Stupid comment, falcons had been ground down, it's a squad effort.

Exeter did indeed look good, but Welsh were anything but a cohesive unit and that was reflected in the score line.

Agree with this.
I think the Exeter v Welsh game reflected our game only a much larger physical gulf was apparent.
I think our backs look exciting and we possess some great individual talents who combined very nicely for the first game of the season.
We will see how it goes against a team who can match us physically, an area we just had an edge over falcons IMO.
Can Exeter match us physically, not sure but we will soon see.

On the ref leniency regarding players on the wrong side etc, if a team is dynamic in it's clearing of the ruck area attempting to play quick attacking rugby then it's much easier for a ref to spot infringements but when a side is more powerful than opponents and playing the tight game and rolling on the ball carrier at the breakdown and actually contributing to slowing the ball down themselves then players will be trapped on the wrong side. Refs need to differentiate between cynical trapping of tacklers and clear infringements which is not easy these days. I thought there were a couple of occasions that falcons were fortunate and also a couple of occasions that they were harshly treated, and the same for us but we clearly had the edge.

[4071]

Ben Youngs in an interview on Radio Leicester said he thought the player had gone into touch but did concede that you play to the refs whistle! There was no whistle till the try was awarded!

He went into touch then leaped out to catch the ball, landing with his right foot a grass-blade infield. From 40 metres away he would've looked on the line or out.

My understanding is that if a player jumps from inside touch and catches the ball before his feet are back on the ground in the playing area then the ball would be deemed to have gone into touch.

If a player jumps from in touch and lands in the playing area, then he's not in touch. If he catches the ball in the air, it's all about where he lands, not where he takes off from.