Brian Hoping to Be Tiger Tamer
Leicester Tigers returned to third after getting their fecking act together by defeating the Sorries at Welfare Road on Bank Holiday Monday. This was on the back of an unlikely defeat to Brizzle during the Christmas period, a defeat that was not best received by their travelling faithful.For the festive games, the Tigers management had targeted the Brizzle game as an opportunity to utilise their squad players as a means to rest the battered masses of the first team regulars. Having been fecking well gouged, punched and kicked by the Ospreys during the preceding fortnight in the HC, Smith, skipper Corry, Murphy, Goode, Chuter, Kay, Jennings and Healey were given time to put the frickin paws up and watch on as the newly promoted side took the spoils.
Now, the exiles cannot be overly critical of the side that lost at the Memorial Stadium, as they had been thoroughly fecked by the supposed third string back in November, a night I wished I had avoided the dreaded Welfare Road experience.
This may well be in the mind as Pat Howard selects their squad for the visit to the Madstad, as eyes may well wander towards the HC with the visit of Stade the following weekend. This is a make or break game for the former European top dogs as defeat to the French team - last seasons HC runners up - would end their assault on the premier trophy. He knows that the Tigers squad can compete and beat the Irish, even with key international class players on the sideline.
Having said all that shite, the Tigers will not be content with their current position in the league, having targeted a top two finish to ensure a home play off. They will not be happy with an away day to either the Sale Sharks, or London Wasps to gain entry into the play-off final. To catch these feckers up, they will need to start winning games away from their fortress and win them well. In Irish, they will see a grand opportunity to gain 5 points, up the confidence for the HC, and move on.
Also, with Sale at home to Brizzle and the fecking Pests entertaining Squeaky’s Falcons, the likelihood of these two form sides gaining wins will ensure the Tigers needing to win to prevent the gap being extended to 13 or 14 points. That sort of point’s difference will be almost impossible to catch with ten remaining games left for the season, and 6 nations rugby to pressure their squad still to come.
The Midlands club are the meanest lads in the league as far as conceding tries, having only allowed their opposition to cross the line on thirteen occasions in the eleven games played to date. They are also only second to the fecking Pests in scoring the tries with 26, of which the explosive young fella, Tom Varndell has contributed 7 of them. Three try bonus points has been the return for these 5 pointers.
Their three league defeats to date have all been away from Welfare, having lost to Sale, Bristol and Worcester on the road. This is where Brian Smith must take a lot of heart and try and select a side to out pressure on the visitors from the off.
With Parma as a following game after the Tigers, Smith can pick the strongest team at his disposal rather than rotating the squad. Having made twelve changes from the side that beat the Sorries away, and that lost to a mighty Wasps outfit on New Years Eve, this must have been in his mind, however, a few injuries to the leading lights may have fecked his plan.
At scrum half, Edwards and Willis are carrying knocks and may well not make the squad, and skipper Mike Catt MBE, sustained a facial injury against the Wasps (a feckin huge egg on the forehead!). Dominic Feau'nati also limped off on New Years which will deny flexibilty of selection to the Irish DOR.
On the plus side, the Samoan international Sailosi Tagicakibau’s visa has now been sorted and now should be available for selection, although a debut against Parma may well be the best time for him to get aquainted with the side.
London Irish are 4 points behind the Tigers after eleven games, and 3 off the play-off places, so a win before the European break would be a fecking awesome tonic. The league is very tight, so a defeat could see the exiles drop to 7th, dependant on other results.
What ever side the Tigers choose to select, it will be a tough fecking ask of the Irish lads, but another challenge for the deveolping squad. I, for one, am frickin up for this, just hoping the rest of the club are. That said, it is the fecking Cheaters!
Tigers Team against Sorries:
Vesty, Lloyd, Smith, Hipkiss, Murphy, Goode, Healey,
Rowntree, Chuter, White, L Deacon, Kay, Johnson, Jennings, Corry.
Subs: Varndell for Smith, Abraham for Johnson, Cullen for L Deacon, Buckland, Morris, Cole, Broadfoot.
Against Brizzle:
Vesty; Hipkiss, Rabeni, Gibson, Varndell; Broadfoot, Cole;
Morris, Buckland, White; Cullen, L Deacon; B Deacon, Abraham, Johnson.
Subs: Taikaufa, Holford, Kay, Skinner, Bemand, Humphreys, Smith.
-- Master Scribe