Play Off Semi-final - Sale - 14th May 2023 - KO 3-00pm

[Bptiger25]

I know we won the final last year with a kicking game but I have to say todays effort was terrible, we just kicked and kicked , we have a gun out on the wing Watson he never seen the ball from a backline movement , I hope our new coach will bring a better balance to our play next year , disappointed with the result but overall we had another great year , hope the boys have a great break and come back ready to go again

[CharlieTheTiger]

Well done Tigers I think considering we lost Genge & Ford last summer then the coaches during the season we have reached our target.

Some great away days this year and looking forward to more next year, nothing compares to chanting Tigers.

I think we missed leadership yesterday. With the main decision at the end should have been to go for 3 points on the first go for broke kick and 2nd one I cannot blame JVP and it would have been a great effort.

[CrumblingTerrace]

I know we won the final last year with a kicking game but I have to say todays effort was terrible, we just kicked and kicked , we have a gun out on the wing Watson he never seen the ball from a backline movement , I hope our new coach will bring a better balance to our play next year , disappointed with the result but overall we had another great year , hope the boys have a great break and come back ready to go again

I feel you have to be able to take some shots yourself to beat the best teams. You can't purely kick and wait for mistakes, because they might not happen. We've seen it in our big games this season: Sarries (A), Sale (A), Leinster (A), Saints (H).

WW has done an incredible job and I wouldn't expect him to be able to make big changes to how we attack mid-season, but I really hope McKellar can make us more of a threat with ball in hand next season, because we'll have the back three to do it!

[chris111]

I know we won the final last year with a kicking game but I have to say todays effort was terrible, we just kicked and kicked , we have a gun out on the wing Watson he never seen the ball from a backline movement , I hope our new coach will bring a better balance to our play next year , disappointed with the result but overall we had another great year , hope the boys have a great break and come back ready to go again

The rumours about Watson possibly staying after all seem a little implausible to me - but if we was to stay surely it can only be that he believes our game will evolve into something that is better suited to his. I’ve loved watching him this season, and he’s put in some good performances, but our game plan this year has not fully utilised his qualities. If we could find space for him and Hassell-Collins we would certainly have an extra gear for those games when we can’t bully the opposition up front.

[Hot_Charlie]

To be fair we forced enough mistakes yesterday. We just didn't capitalise on them with poor execution, or worse, our discipline let us down at the key moments (an example that stands out perhaps was the pen reversal on Henderson*; a very kickable pen to us - to make it 7-9 or 0-9 - became a Sale line-out in our own 22).

*to be clear, Curry 100% deserved what he got from Henderson though.

[Old Hob]

I know we won the final last year with a kicking game but I have to say todays effort was terrible, we just kicked and kicked , we have a gun out on the wing Watson he never seen the ball from a backline movement , I hope our new coach will bring a better balance to our play next year , disappointed with the result but overall we had another great year , hope the boys have a great break and come back ready to go again

The rumours about Watson possibly staying after all seem a little implausible to me - but if we was to stay surely it can only be that he believes our game will evolve into something that is better suited to his. I’ve loved watching him this season, and he’s put in some good performances, but our game plan this year has not fully utilised his qualities. If we could find space for him and Hassell-Collins we would certainly have an extra gear for those games when we can’t bully the opposition up front.

or, even better, when we HAVE bullied the opposition up front.

[sam16111986]

I know we won the final last year with a kicking game but I have to say todays effort was terrible, we just kicked and kicked , we have a gun out on the wing Watson he never seen the ball from a backline movement , I hope our new coach will bring a better balance to our play next year , disappointed with the result but overall we had another great year , hope the boys have a great break and come back ready to go again

Losing your international flyhalf 10 late on and being left with a veteran or a talented rookie is always likely to hurt any attempts at fluent attack. Especially when Pollard was central to the fluent attack.

Hindsight being 20/20 the big error was in the team selection. We finished the game with a very young backline and in the key decision makers (9, 10, 12 and 15) we didn't have a player over the age of 22. Sale had Ford and brought on Sam James for additional experience of controlling a game with RDP playing most of the second half as well. Some more experience late on for us might have meant cooler heads and us taking the opportunities we had.

[Leicestertinytiger]

Agreed, next season we’ll have OHC, Kata, Basset, possibly Watson. We need to use the backs more and seemed scared to go through the hands without a penalty advantage.

The forwards are the best or one of the best sets in the premiership. But to beat the best we need to play a full XV game.

Only thing I feel we might be missing is a kicking option on the centres. Sarries and Sale have Lozowski and Du Preez at 13 which allows them to vary the kicking. We don’t have many options who aren’t 9/10.

[chris111]

To be fair we forced enough mistakes yesterday. We just didn't capitalise on them with poor e

*to be clear, Curry 100% deserved what he got from Henderson though.

Actually, what Curry deserved was costing his team 3 points at a crucial juncture! An understandable and forgivable loss of composure on Tigers’ part meant that he got away with it.

[CrumblingTerrace]

Only thing I feel we might be missing is a kicking option on the centres. Sarries and Sale have Lozowski and Du Preez at 13 which allows them to vary the kicking. We don’t have many options who aren’t 9/10.

Ford and du Preez were very good yesterday. Different kind of players, but it reminded me of Cipriani and Gopperth in their heyday.

[Hot_Charlie]

To be fair we forced enough mistakes yesterday. We just didn't capitalise on them with poor e

*to be clear, Curry 100% deserved what he got from Henderson though.

Actually, what Curry deserved was costing his team 3 points at a crucial juncture! An understandable and forgivable loss of composure on Tigers’ part meant that he got away with it.

This is also true. I'm guess the TMO checked the Curry foul play an said it was nothing more than a pen only. That becomes unfortunate when it comes to the reaction from Henderson.

[ourla]

For all the ifs and buts definitely a loss we can "take".

Our coaching situation is very unfortunate. Saracens and Chiefs did well never to have McCall or Baxters eyes turned. But it was going to happen to someone.

I think with a new coaching set up you can't be overly confident of the future but it does seem that at board level we have people who know what they are doing and we still have a good squad, a lot of which is growing together.

[Darc Tiger]

With Eddie seemingly locked into Australia til 2027, there's a good chance McKellar is here for a significant period even if things go really well.

[Hot_Charlie]

Our coaching situation is very unfortunate. Saracens and Chiefs did well never to have McCall or Baxters eyes turned. But it was going to happen to someone.

I think those two were never seriously in the running. Both very successful but only within the bounds of their own clubs and setups. Very few successful international coaches seem to have a similar lack of "worldliness".

[Ian Cant]

Hugely proud of the Tigers.
With 5 minutes to go we had a kickable penalty which should have been taken to try to put us one score behind. Then Atkinson should have taken the next penalty with just over 3 and a half minutes to go to try to get within a converted try to win.
Not to be.
Pollard out was a huge blow then some dubious reffing by Wayne resulting in two penalties against us!
Ford was superb but I feel Pollard would have had a similar game to George: Goppeth, I thought was very good considering he wouldn’t have had much time training as 10.
To come 3rd this season was remarkable.
And the away support yesterday, considering the problems getting tickets, just sensational.