Leicester Tigers Women 2023/24 - Vicky Macqueen in 'The Magnificent Fifteen'

[Darc Tiger]

Disappointingly they do have a game in hand though...

Yeah, but it's Gloucester-Hartpury

Tigers and Sale meet again before the end of the season so that is likely to be the decider who finishes bottom?

Decent chance of that, though if we can perform more consistently like we did in the first half on Saturday, I'd hope we might be able to pull clear.

[LE18]

It was a great first half - so much attacking running rugby. So glad I was there. Such improvement over the season which was always going to be difficult. Its such a shame that there weren't more people to support the team.

Most probably because it was 6N weekend, dates need careful planning to avoid clashes, but how many would turn up just for the Ladies game, should the fixtures always be double headers to get most folks staying on and for max efficiency, ie bars, secureity, lighting costs etc etc?

[Hot_Charlie]

And with Sale's continuing misfortunes, those two bonus points lift us off the bottom of the table!

Disappointingly they do have a game in hand though...

Yeah, but it's Gloucester-Hartpury

Excellent!

[Darc Tiger]

Nice article about Tess Feury on the Beeb, on her journey and working as a nurse through the pandemic

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/67650337

It also looks like we'll be playing the RAF at Hinckley on March 16th. Presumably without our 6 Nations players.

[Hot_Charlie]

Oh dear, 5 point deduction for EQP issues in the first period of the season.

On the positive side, Sale have been hit with the same penalty.

[Darc Tiger]

Oh dear, 5 point deduction for EQP issues in the first period of the season.

On the positive side, Sale have been hit with the same penalty.

It is what it is. I had a feeling this was coming at some point, as our best 23 is not EQP compliant.

I guess the club feel it's worth taking the hit in order to get a foothold in the league. We are starting to see noticable progress now. The deduction doesn't really change what we're building.

[Darc Tiger]

Derby day against Lightning at Franklin's Gardens tomorrow, 2pm! I think they're even playing in Saints colours!

STARTING XV
15 Tess Feury [8]
14 Amelia Tutt [5]
13 Meg Jones [9]
12 Claire Gallagher [3]
11 Francesca McGhie [9]
10 Natasha Jones (c) [29]
9 Amy Relf [28]
1 Leah Bartlett [9]
2 Elis Martin [9]
3 Lisa Cockburn [8]
4 Julia Omokhuale [2]
5 Catha Jacobs [6]
6 Keia Mae Sagapolu Sanele [8]
7 Roisin McBrien [26]
8 Tahlia Brody [8]

REPLACEMENTS
16 Alana Bainbridge [10]
17 Churchy Knight [26]
18 Ofure Ugiagbe [25]
19 Charlotte Fray [15]
20 Becky Noon [28]
21 Morgan Richardson [29]
22 Lucy Nye [19]
23 Sarah Nicholas [6]

Its the first time we've named an unchanged XV, with just Ofure Ugiagbe replacing Eva Donaldson on the bench. They'll take plenty of confidence from the way they attacked the Gloucester-Hartpury game and fought to the death. No messing around for Lightning, who are fielding the likes of Helena Rowland and Sadia Kabeya, and are coming into good form. I won't say I expect a win, but if we can play to a similar level as last week, we've got a shot.

[Hot_Charlie]

Oh dear, 5 point deduction for EQP issues in the first period of the season.

On the positive side, Sale have been hit with the same penalty.

It is what it is. I had a feeling this was coming at some point, as our best 23 is not EQP compliant.

I guess the club feel it's worth taking the hit in order to get a foothold in the league. We are starting to see noticable progress now. The deduction doesn't really change what we're building.

Yep, my underlying feeling is it was a hit worth taking in the name of trying to become competitive. Even tomorrow's 23 only has (by my reckoning) 12 obvious EQP players (so I presume some loopholery somewhere).

[Jimmy Skitz]

if they want us to play more EQP players then they should allocate the England players evenly over all the clubs otherwise clubs like us have to some extent, take what we can get to compete

[Darc Tiger]

if they want us to play more EQP players then they should allocate the England players evenly over all the clubs otherwise clubs like us have to some extent, take what we can get to compete

There has been talk of a draft, though it probably won't happen.

Its certainly not a level playing field, and we're significantly behind the curve. You can't just throw a bunch of Championship level players in and expect them to play a Saracens team.

[Darc Tiger]

Another great performance!

17-22 at the Gardens!

[Ian Cant]

Fantastic result ladies. Congratulations to all the coaches, players and supporters. Brilliant.

[Jimmy Skitz]

Another great performance!

17-22 at the Gardens!

nice win away by the looks of it, no BP this time?

[Lutontiger]

Excellent result!

[Qbec]

Great result well done the whole squad & coaches, things are starting to pick up