Leicester 26 London Irish 18 - Your Thoughts Please!

tigermad · Post by **tigermad** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 5:13 pm

Leicester turned in a cracking performance today but were pushed all the way by London irish. Good to see Ian Humphreys doing the business at 10 and Tom Varndell with a brace of tries as well. Your thoughts please!

LEICESTER TIGERS ROARED TODAY!

Tigersfan90 · Post by **Tigersfan90** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 5:24 pm

Just got back from the match. Ian Humphreys played absolutely fantastic with all his kicks going through the posts. Well-deserved M.O.T.M. What can I say about Toms try's both were brilliant the atmosphere in the corner of the next stand after Varndell pounced on the ball for the secong time was great. :D :D :D

chris whelan · Post by **chris whelan** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 5:52 pm

I'd put Humphries in as first choice immediately - very balanced,cool player.
Ellis added NOTHING when he came on and we must question SV's decision making - gave 9 pts away,a real curate's egg of a game. Overall,not a great game but valuable points

Bud · Post by **Bud** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 6:02 pm

Wasn't a brilliant game, with little atmosphere, but Humphreys showed everyone what he could do. 100% post kicking, excellent flat passes, speed and awesome touch finders. Hopefully that performance is making him our clear number 2.

Goffer3404 · Post by **Goffer3404** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 6:06 pm

To be fair to Vesty he was being used differently today to cover for IH dubious tackling, as shown towards the end of the game as some monsters moved at him, so maybe this had a bit of an effect on his decision making. He did try to break out a couple of times when he should have just kicked for touch. I suspect they were given the game plan run from wherever. Penalties in the first half were what showed that the Irish were playing a slowing down game and Tigers got frustrated and became poor discipline. Had Tigers made the most of their possession in the Irish 22 in the first half, then I think we could have witnessed a cricket score. Overall a ground out win that could have been a greater score had it not been for ill discipline. Humphries deserved man of the match, some real hope for the future from some of the players doing the work whilst we give 12 players to International duty. My heart dropped as they said on the radio that Varndell may now be called up ............

Rozza · Post by **Rozza** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 6:29 pm

Humphreys played very well, except for one facet of his game - tackling. He has to improve that if he ever wants to be a first choice. Nonetheless I'd put him ahead of Burke as no. 2 to Goode now.

JoeyFantastic · Post by **JoeyFantastic** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 6:52 pm

How did Frank Murphy go? Never got too much of a chance to show his full skills with Munster, hope he went well.

glenn · Post by **glenn** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 7:07 pm

lets be fair now, irish had pretty mucha full squad to chose from we lost ten internationals. We did very well against a stong side. Humph did well hes a running attacking fly half, its what we need..... something different. good to see the centers doing well Darryl was great again.
Well done Jordan CRane, good running and safe hands. Thanks boys!

Phil B · Post by **Phil B** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 7:14 pm

I was truly impressed with Humphreys - gave us spark and purpose - and what a boot! Best we have by a mile.

Rubymint · Post by **Rubymint** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 7:26 pm

Did anyone hear PH on Radio Leicester?

He was not very enthusiastic about Ian Humphreys - Saying only that it 'might not be his last start this season' and that he still had a problem with tackling....rather than wholeheartedly endorsing him - What's his problem???

I thought he had a great game with a solid and accurate boot - What more can we ask?

His Man of the Match award was well deserved

If Burke gets any more starts in favour of Humpreys it simply will not be right

dailywaffle · Post by **dailywaffle** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 7:42 pm

Rubymint wrote:Did anyone hear PH on Radio Leicester?

He was not very enthusiastic about Ian Humphreys - Saying only that it 'might not be his last start this season' and that he still had a problem with tackling....rather than wholeheartedly endorsing him - What's his problem???

I thought he had a great game with a solid and accurate boot - What more can we ask?

His Man of the Match award was well deserved

If Burke gets any more starts in favour of Humpreys it simply will not be right

If Burke had been fit Humph would not have been picked. PH has, by earlier actions, clearly demonstrated that he doesn'r really rate Humph at the moment. Had Geordie been available I wouldn't have been surprised if he had picked Sam at FH.

Given all of that, and I didn't hear the interview, what you post comes as no surprise.

Rubymint · Post by **Rubymint** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 7:51 pm

The report on http://www.guinnesspremiership.com also recognises Humphreys contribution to the game:

Ian Humphreys flawless kicking helps Tigers to win

A memorable game for Ian Humphreys as he marked his first start for Leicester at Welford Road by notching 16 points in a flawless kicking display.

Tom Varndell's try double also helped Leicester secure victory over London Irish in the GUINNESS PREMIERSHIP.

Tigers head coach Pat Howard was without 15 players through international call-ups and injuries and gambled on the inexperienced half-back partnership of Humphreys and Johnny Murphy.

Humphreys was handed only his third start for the club at number 10 and his first at home and Murphy got the nod over both Harry Ellis and Scot Bemand at scrum-half.

Stuart A · Post by **Stuart A** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 7:57 pm

I thought both half backs played well and injected much needed pace into moving the ball out. But for a couple of handling errors and the fact that we were playing 16 men again (thankyou Mr Rowley) we would have been out of site by half time.

Humphreys was clearly enjoying himsel and took full advantage of the opportunity. I really think he has pushed himself in to the number two slot at least on today's display.

Yelphere · Post by **Yelphere** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 8:00 pm

Pat Howard is right - there is not very much between both 1st and 3rd choice Fly half and Scrum half positions. An excellent game from Humph - kicking and passing. Tackling - room for improvement. Frank Murphy - steady and yes - Harry didn't improve on Frank's display. At last - this critical combination is up for grabs and Tigers have excellent players to compete for both positions. Not a great game - but great to see Tom V coming along with his footballing skills. I didn't have that sense of panic that he gave us earlier this season when he got the ball deep in the Tigers half - he seemed a lot more with it - and made some good decisions when under pressure.
The "work in progress" is coming along nicely!
Encouraging stuff.

COME ON YOU TIGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

westwinds31 · Post by **westwinds31** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 8:07 pm

Strange game....fantastic start with Tigers scoring from a break inside our own 22....great pass by Vesty and good running by Hipkiss to set up TV for the try. Before you knew it, 10-0 and it looked like an easy day....WRONG !! Should have scored after about 1,000 phases in front of the posts but didn't...they got back in the game then. Second half, great awareness by TV for his second try...fantastic...Irish looking for the ball to go dead....Tom sprints past the last man and touches down - FANTASTIC !! Humphreys was excellent, Murphy not great, nor Ellis when he came on....threw a 20 yard pass to no one at all. Fact is, Tom Varndell will never play for England again, unless his decides to tackle once in a while !! Jordan Crane is a Corry in the making and our best signing for ages. We haven't the players to win at Wasps, Gloucester or Sale away when internationals are on. All we can hope for is a top 4 place.