Veainu and Thomo-what commitment and stunning defence

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Ian Cant
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Veainu and Thomo-what commitment and stunning defence

Post by Ian Cant »

The try saving defence by Veainu and Thomo must surely go down as one of the greatest pieces of defensive play witnessed at Welford Road for many a season! Both players overcame good blocking lines run by Munster players to prevent a try and then get a penalty! Best moment in the game. As for Veainu, he surely can become, if he isn't already, World Class. The poor bloke was high tackled 3 times in the first half hour yet kept getting up to put in an incredible performance. McCaffery must also have come close to Man Of The Match too, as did the whole team and the fans from both teams.
tigercaspian
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Re: Veainu and Thomo-what commitment and stunning defence

Post by tigercaspian »

Absolutely! Deserved the 3 or 4 mins standing ovation it got!!
RagingBull
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Re: Veainu and Thomo-what commitment and stunning defence

Post by RagingBull »

As Cockers said its nice to have try scorers who can stop them.

Maybe a slight dig at a certain someone's Defence when he was here.

Everyone's defence was top notch.
DickyP
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Re: Veainu and Thomo-what commitment and stunning defence

Post by DickyP »

Not to mention that Veainu is probably the only player in the league fast enough to have caught Saili who is no slouch!

His sheer energy and mix of good defence and counter attack at 15 means he'll be forcing Mat Tait to re-think his favourite position. Veainu has that knack Geordan Murphy had of always avoiding the first chaser however close they get when he fields a high ball.
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mol2
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Re: Veainu and Thomo-what commitment and stunning defence

Post by mol2 »

I think the concept of a choke tackle was taken too literally!
I was disappointed at a normally good ref.
Let Munster get away with repeated off sides, high tackles and shenanigans in the scrum only to yellow card Dom Barrow for a minor infringement when Munster were not really threatening the try line.
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Re: Veainu and Thomo-what commitment and stunning defence

Post by mightymouse »

Agree that Tommo and veainu were outstanding but I did think Macca was the MOM. He tackled himself into the ground yesterday. Fitz and slats were brilliant as well.
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Re: Veainu and Thomo-what commitment and stunning defence

Post by Noddy555 »

Yes this is precisely right, I don't think I've ever seen anyone run as
quickly as Telusa Veianu to chase Keith Earls in the second half, he appeared like lightening out of nowhere and made a stupendous tackle that will go down in Tigers Folklore. All together I think it was the best defensive display I've ever seen at Welford Road. Now let's confirm that quarter final home draw with a five pointer against Treviso in January.
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Re: Veainu and Thomo-what commitment and stunning defence

Post by TigerCam »

Just need to get the forwards up to the same speed and whoosh; lets see who can live with it :smt026 :smt026
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Re: Veainu and Thomo-what commitment and stunning defence

Post by Spicer »

People have forgotten Betham. He caught there centre who initially broke away, which forced him to pass to the player just next to Thompstone which enabled him to tackle.
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Re: Veainu and Thomo-what commitment and stunning defence

Post by RagingBull »

Spicer wrote:People have forgotten Betham. He caught there centre who initially broke away, which forced him to pass to the player just next to Thompstone which enabled him to tackle.
Pretty sure that was Veainu.
ellis9
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Re: Veainu and Thomo-what commitment and stunning defence

Post by ellis9 »

Yes it was Veainu who sprinted and chased down their 13 who just before being tackled and passed to another Munster player, who was tackled by Thompstone and then Veainu won the penalty at the tackle. Fantastic defence from them!
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Re: Veainu and Thomo-what commitment and stunning defence

Post by Darc Tiger »

Betham made the most telling contribution at the following ruck to win the turnover.
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Re: Veainu and Thomo-what commitment and stunning defence

Post by WhitecapTiger »

Noddy555 wrote:Yes this is precisely right, I don't think I've ever seen anyone run as
quickly as Telusa Veianu to chase Keith Earls in the second half, he appeared like lightening out of nowhere and made a stupendous tackle that will go down in Tigers Folklore. All together I think it was the best defensive display I've ever seen at Welford Road. Now let's confirm that quarter final home draw with a five pointer against Treviso in January.
Veainu went past Earls (some have suggested a deft little tug on Earls to get past) to tackle Saili - who had broken away, Thompstone floored Zebo when Saili offloaded.

It was right up there with Steve Mafi's try saving chase and tackle / ankle tap some years ago against Saints, IIRC, maybe on Tom May.

We may still need a result against Stade. If they get 2 x TBP wins against Munster (not likely IMO but still possible) and we get TBP against Treviso we go into last match on 23 pts and they'll be on 20 pts.

If they beat us by more than 7 at their place they move to 24 and we stay on 23. If they get TBP and we get LBP they finish on 25 and we finish on 24. If they win but no TBP and we get LBP then we tie on 24 pts by my reckoning.

Still work to do and talk of a Home quarter after the Treviso match is a tad premature.

Happy to be corrected :smt023
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Skin_and_Muscle
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Re: Veainu and Thomo-what commitment and stunning defence

Post by Skin_and_Muscle »

Darc Tiger wrote:Betham made the most telling contribution at the following ruck to win the turnover.
I think that was Veainu, again. He stepped past the ball to keep three arriving Munster players occupied while other covering defenders did the poaching.
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Re: Veainu and Thomo-what commitment and stunning defence

Post by Skin_and_Muscle »

WhitecapTiger wrote:
Noddy555 wrote:Yes this is precisely right, I don't think I've ever seen anyone run as
quickly as Telusa Veianu to chase Keith Earls in the second half, he appeared like lightening out of nowhere and made a stupendous tackle that will go down in Tigers Folklore. All together I think it was the best defensive display I've ever seen at Welford Road. Now let's confirm that quarter final home draw with a five pointer against Treviso in January.
Veainu went past Earls (some have suggested a deft little tug on Earls to get past) to tackle Saili - who had broken away, Thompstone floored Zebo when Saili offloaded.

It was right up there with Steve Mafi's try saving chase and tackle / ankle tap some years ago against Saints, IIRC, maybe on Tom May.

We may still need a result against Stade. If they get 2 x TBP wins against Munster (not likely IMO but still possible) and we get TBP against Treviso we go into last match on 23 pts and they'll be on 20 pts.

If they beat us by more than 7 at their place they move to 24 and we stay on 23. If they get TBP and we get LBP they finish on 25 and we finish on 24. If they win but no TBP and we get LBP then we tie on 24 pts by my reckoning.

Still work to do and talk of a Home quarter after the Treviso match is a tad premature.

Happy to be corrected :smt023
Spot on. We could really do with Munster winning the first game (or they'll probably lose the second). Only then will a presumed win against Treviso be enough to go through as pool leaders.
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