Tigers v Quins

[No8]

Brendan O'Connor superb yet again.

I think too many on here are now looking for reasons to moan, I don't think anyone in green has been "poor" today, most have been solid, that in itself is a problem too many "steady" players

Completely disagree, you don't have to look far for reasons to moan and several players were poor, ball-handling was particularly atrocious. Got the result in the end, which is great, but how many tries were stuffed-up because we couldn't look after the ball, then compounded our errors? Not good enough!

[G.K]

Well pleased Tigers won, but this looked exactly like it was, two bottom of the table mediocre teams slugging it out for points. Still think MoC needs his P45 and several players with him. Next week against Saffas second team it will be back down with a bump I expect.

[Leicestertinytiger]

Positives for me:

1) We won, considering how poorly we played, a win shouldn’t be underestimated and this may be crucial come the end of the season

2) Owen and Holmes, 2 of our new signings in the backs both put in a shift and given more game time could grow as players. Holmes has gas that can stretch defences. Toomua played well at 10 but obviously did, he is international class.

3) O’Connor and Kalamaonfi both made a nuisance of themselves. Kalamafoni wasn’t great ball in hand but put in some big hits and has a massive workrate.

The poor:

1) Handling at times as awful and let Quins back into the game so many times. Dropping the ball so much doesn’t let us build any pressure on the opposition. Whenever we strung a couple of phases together we can threaten teams.

2) All our Tigers veterans were poor. Harrison slow in delivery and way off the pace. Youngs aswell almost seems to be trying too hard and Mulipola looks like injuries have played their hand and is as slow as an oil tanker. Tuilagi started poorly but did seem to grow into the match especially in the last quarter. Williams also could do with some time out of the XV.

3) Forwards in general as a unit were poor but hopefully our new coach can put an end to this. Whenever we ran onto the ball with pace they got over the gainline.

[RagingBull]

I suspect it’s the same team next weekend.
But would start TPN, Wells next weekend over Youngs, Fitz/Kitch.

Denton has a good game v Glaws tried hard but made some big carry’s.

Manu came out of his shell I thought later on but his defence needs so much work.

[TigerCam]

Brendan O'Connor superb yet again.

I think too many on here are now looking for reasons to moan, I don't think anyone in green has been "poor" today, most have been solid, that in itself is a problem too many "steady" players

Completely disagree, you don't have to look far for reasons to moan and several players were poor, ball-handling was particularly atrocious. Got the result in the end, which is great, but how many tries were stuffed-up because we couldn't look after the ball, then compounded our errors? Not good enough!

Bateman, O'Connor and Tooma were the only standout players. Poor basics the down fall yet again; too many easy turnovers and lateral play so easy to defend against. Sarries and Wuss will do a number on the Tigers unless things radically change?

[Big Dai]

Well. At least I can have a Remy and enjoy a pint down the wilted daffodil for the second week running. Missed the whole game due to the car going into "limp mode" on the way home from London. It too is feeling its age. Will look at the game on the recording. The old man merely commented "better but handling was sometimes poor".

Cheers folks.

[drc_007]

Great to cheer on a win, even if the final score flattered Tigers.

Toomua top class, even playing out of position he was the best player on the pitch.
Pack still not working as a unit and splintered too easily in maul.

O'Connor and Kalimafoni worked very hard, I don't think Williams does enough to justify his place.
Bateman always gives a good all round performance, the rest of the pack were solid but nothing more.

Harrison was very slow to the breakdown on occasion and offers nothing ball in hand.

Backs never seem to take the ball at pace, I guess changes in personnel means they don't have the desired familiarity but I do wish occasionally they would take the ball moving forward.

Handling in contact dreadful.

[Wayne Richardson Fan Club]

We won but.......
Our constant ability to get outflanked by 14 men is embarrassing, whilst at present we struggle to make space for the wingers (who both played well, think they are competing for a shirt when May is back)
When people came on an angled run & with pace, we looked good, but we are still not a sum of our parts.
MT & BOC brilliant, if Evans is fit he should play 7 next week with BOC Kalomofoni (you cannot fault his work ethic)
4,5 & 6 is a real issue, we need to try something different.

[Spicer]

I think we are all feeling a little mixed. We won which is great. But our performance leaves a lot to be desired.

[Goshengareth]

A relief to get a win which looked unlikely after 50 minutes or so. As everyone has said, OConnor Bateman and Toomua excelled, and Kalamafoni not far behind. Wells TPN and young 9 should play. Harrison was sooooo slow. Big decline in last 12 months. Used to bring zip and energy. One wonders when G Ford is back whether we are better off playing Ford Toomua Owen and dropping Manu. He certainly doesn't deserve Marquee salary tho I've no doubt he is trying his best for the club. Handling all round was truly atrocious. Lineout much improved.

[MikeR]

MT , Bateman and BOC excellent .Poor start by Manu but got better, Kitchenor excellent in lineout , Holmes and Thompstone did well. Harrison snail like slow . Tom Youngs and Mulipola not up to pace - Veanu is a shadow of his former self .
Many of the forwards lazy and just do not work hard enough . 2 lucky tries flattered us .

[longlivethecrumbie]

A win is a win.

The scrum was solid throughout and Cilliers and Rizzo did well to win the scrum pen near the end.

Line-out went well, didn't botch one (in terms of hitting the target) but rolling maul, in both defence and attack, was awful (again).

Like with many on here - BOC, Bateman and Toomua were good and put in good shifts. Owen did what he does - played well while he was on and then seemed to get injured. Tommo also put in a decent shift and Holmes was OK and looked for work.

Other than that, dross, no cohesion, no structure and nobody taking control and bossing the game.

As for Telusa, not sure what's gone on there as he doesn't seem to want to run the ball back these days - and that was the case before he did his jaw too.

Anyway, what has happened to the pitch?! Have we got rid of the light rigs??

[JP14]

Time for my ratings:
1 Bateman - Made a great break early on and was perhaps the only forward to get us over the gainline regularly. A few slight wobbles in the scrum however does bring down his score. 7.5/10

2 OTY - Yeah let’s face it, definitely past his best and missed a few tackles, also contributes zilk when it comes to captaining the side. However I believe his lineout throwing was spot-on. 5.5/10

3 Mulipola - Was penalised at scrum time, mugged off by an Aaron Morris dummy and rarely carried with any grit, a few inconsistent big hits in defence. 6/10.

4 Fitzgerald - Made one clean break, tackled and carried, might have knocked once and played reasonably well but Wells should be starting next week. 7/10

5 Kitchener - Excellent in the lineout and finished his try well, people on here were too harsh on him today. 7/10

6 Williams - Didn’t play too badly but still shouldn’t be starting. Made a few good cover tackles and carried with a bit more intent. 6.5/10

7 O’Connor - Outstanding once again, menacing at the breakdown and brought energy to the fore when carrying or setting up a play off the lineout. 8/10

8 Kalamafoni - A few good strong carries including one in the buildups to Kitch’s try and was very good in defence. 7.5/10

9 Harrison - Really slow to the breakdown, took forever to box kick even with Kitto opposite him and his passing was too high. 5/10

10 Toomua - Really grew as the game got on, great individual try, apart from a missed penalty attempt was good with the tee and contributed 23 points to the cause.

11 Holmes - Troubled the defence with some fast running but wasn’t given enough quality ball to threaten really, unlucky not to score with some good last-ditch defence from Kitto. 6.5/10

12 Owen - Assured performance from the centre, and defended well to my knowledge, however I don’t think inside centr is his best position. 6.5/10

13 Tuilagi - Grew as the game went on, victim of some suspiciously high seatbelt tackling but is starting to get back into the thick of things and made a nice clean break. 7/10

14 Thompstone - Read an offload superbly to get the last score, box-kicks weren’t good enough for him to compete with though but we saw some glimpses of his last-season form. 7/10.

15 Veainu - A tad quiet and took a hit early on but lasted the entire game, to be fair to him though Quins hardly kicked it away. 6/10

Front row replacements - Nice to Rizzo back and he won us a penalty at the end in the scrum, Polota-Nau was accurate with his lineout and carried well. Cilliers was quiet but assured, all 6.5/10

19 Wells - Should start next week however he did make a crucial handling error as he was stripped of possession. 6/10.

20 Hamilton - In my opinion he reinvigorated the Tigers when he came and should be starting in Williams place next week really good work in carrying and as lineout receiver. 8/10

21 Simmo - Brought on way too late. N/A

22 J. Ford - Wasn’t brought on thank god N/A

23 Mathew Tait - Came on, made a few good link plays. 6/10

[POSTIGER]

I think the criticism of Veianu is a bit harsh. Took a bang on his jaw in the first minute but played on. Will take him a while to get back to top speed.

Similarly, I thought Manu was very rusty but there were some green shoots there. I could see from where I was standing just how cream-crackered he was at FT. He was absolutely gasping. It's extremely slow progress but he's not done yet.

The big concern for me was the desperately poor handling, the missed tackles and the over-elaborate plays that seemed to constantly result in those handling errors. The guys need to work on their catching and holding on to the ball in the tackle - their back row were able to force the strip / knock on in the tackle 4 or 5 times with relative ease. Geordan is in charge of skills and frankly those skills aren't there. He's got a lot to prove in my eyes.

Good bless Matt Toomua. What a talent and seems like a top fella too. BO'C was superb as was Bateman. As others have said Kalamafoni was very good too but Williams should be behind both Hamilton and Evans. I thought TPN brought some much needed aggression when he came on too.

[chewbacca]

Been impressed with Toomua every time he's been on the pitch and he was very good today. MOC considers him an international quality 10 and that 10 may be his best position having coached him in Aus.