Friday night saw Tigers make a welcome return to action, after a 3 week hiatus caused by the cancellation of the European fixtures and the Covid cancellation of the eagerly-anticipated East-Midlands derby against Northampton Saints. This meant they went into their game against Sale Sharks with only 1 game in 6 weeks to their name, their battling 36-31 victory against Bath at the beginning of January.
Whilst the fixture list had been disrupted, Tigers went into the game off the back of 3 victories in a row, leading to raised expectations from the fanbase regarding future fortunes of the side, for the rest of the season. Unfortunately, this all came crashing back to earth, with Tigers going down 25-15 in a physical and bruising encounter. Naturally, the reaction to the loss on social media was one of disappointment, with numerous comments on the poor performance, with doom and gloom all to be seen. The result left Tigers in 9th at the end of the weekend, however still 8 points above bottom club Gloucester. As the dust has now settled after Friday night, and we settle into a new week ahead of next Saturday’s big home fixture against Worcester, should we as fans be downcast, or were there positives that can be taken that can keep our heads held high?
Now, in the interests of fairness, a full disclosure here. I hate losing. No matter the sport, competition or occasion, if there is something to compete for, I am all in for winning, every time. That being said, I am also an individual who prefers to look and see the positives and try and find what can be salvaged from any disappointment. I also try and be as objective as possible, and in that fashion I will try and dissect Friday night’s game, looking at both the good as well as the bad.
Firstly, let’s look at the negatives and get them out of the way first. We should be realistic here, there are plenty of disappointing points to taken from the game, both in terms of the result and the performance. We should not hide from that or try and sugar coat it, the players and coaches won’t be doing that; so there is no point trying and argue that things were perfect on Friday night.
The result is an obvious starting point, no one likes losing, especially at home. In addition, conceding an intercept breakaway try and then subsequently a sloppy penalty, under our posts, meant that we went in at half-time with the opposition holding 10 points that had been gift-wrapped in a nice shiny bow for them. Those 10 points, as it would turn out, were the final margin of defeat. The Premiership is an unforgiving league; you are not going to win many games of rugby by giving freebies out to your opponent. As a result of our generosity, Sale went into half-time with a lead that they had not had to work hard for, and neither was it one that was deserved. Unforced errors not only gave points to Sale Sharks, it also had an impact on our performance. Knock on’s and missed tackles all disrupted our play and routinely killed any momentum we had been building.
Tigers then compounded the problem by their own ill-discipline. The first 30 minutes saw no penalties given away by the home team, as they raced into their 8 point lead, however as Sale came back into the game more, Tigers buckled under the pressure, going on to concede 9 penalties in total for the game, with some at crucial moments in the context of the game. In isolation, giving away 9 penalties is not a disaster, however given they all came in a 50 minute period, and where and when they occurred, this is a cause for concern and an important reason for the loss. In addition to the penalties, Tigers also received 2 yellow cards from the referee, again making their own lives much harder than it needed to be. Again, this has been a feature of the season, and one that does need addressing if improvement is to be found.
It was not just our own errors that let us down on Friday. We all know the team under Borthwick has a penchant for kicking, as focus on the attack has been lower on the priority list of issues to overcome, with the team resembling a Rugby League side of kicking after 5/6 phases of play. And on Friday night the team’s tactics worked for the initial half hour, but as all good teams do, Sale adapted and they quickly started to have less of an impact as time went on. In fairness to Tigers, their kicking game contributed highly to their win against Bath, and did allow them to progress to Sale’s 22 on several occasions in the first half. But on more than one occasion, we were greeted to kicks from outside-half Zach Henry from attacking positions on the 22, with little to no ambition shown to use the backline. With a backline featuring Ndolo, Van Wyk and Moroni, it feels perverse that with the opportunities that we did have, we did not use them and show any sense of attacking patterns and play. The heavy reliance on kicking was so much, it was to question what the team and coaches had been doing with their 3 weeks of training in their downtime. Whilst this is not a criticism of Henry, as he was clearly playing to instructions, but with the rumours of a return to Welford Road of Freddie Burns, it is hard not to think that he would have done a far better job of adapting and mixing up the style of play.
So with all of this in mind, should we be downcast and pessimistic about our future chances this season? Short answer, is no. The longer answer also provides enough reasoning to still keep the faith and stay positive for the season. The irony of the heavy reliance of the kicking game, was that yet again, Tigers threw off their shackles in the last quarter of the game and actually played some progressive rugby. Just as they did against Brive, Tigers played the ball at pace, putting the ball through the hands, and made progress up the pitch that way. And just as they did against Brive, this change in attack mean that Nemani Ndolo came away with a try scored late on. This time from a simple backs move off a 5 metre scrum, allowing the flying Fijian to dive over unopposed. The last quarter’s performance leads to more questions about why we do not at least attempt this more often. Quite clearly, when the team does go through the gears, it has the ability to cause teams some issues.
Other positives can be found with our young players who again impressed. Freddie Steward at full-back looked Rolls-Royce as usual, taking the high ball time after time as we have become accustomed to this season. In addition, and possibly more impressively, he beat Marland Yarde in a footrace to tidy up as the winger kicked through and looked almost destined to score. Given Yarde is no slouch, to have run the race demonstrates the pace that Steward possesses and gives hope that there is an added dimension that he can add to the backline, as the attacking game progresses over time. Jack van Poortvliet also came away with his reputation enhanced. Not for the first time, the young scrum half came off the pitch and increased the tempo of the play, getting the ball away from the ruck at speed allowing the team to attack and progress up the pitch quickly.
Despite the performance and result, the lead takeaway from Friday was this was a game that Leicester had lost, rather than a game that Sale had won. This was not a loss that was symptomatic of the last 2 years, where Tigers looked so far off the races that they need not have bothered playing. This was a performance again full of heart, full of tenacity and with a team playing to the end. Whilst these are standards that are expected, they are ones that have been missing for far too long at Leicester. It is to great credit to the players that they stayed in the fight and did not allow heads to go down at any point.
The word journey, is one that has been used a lot at Tigers, with the club’s marketing department using the word as part of announcements of new signings. Whilst at times derided, and a bit cheesy, the reality is that it is relevant to where the team is at currently. People may not like it, but Tigers are a work in progress. It took 7 years between winning the league in 2013, to finishing 11th for the second consecutive season. To believe that Tigers will be automatically be competing for the top 4, just by appointing a new and talented Head Coach, as well as a host of exciting new signings is to put it politely, misguided. Sport is not as simple as it is on a computer game, where you press the right buttons and the result you want can be generated off the back of it more often than not. Rugby in real life is played on grass and with 2 sets of 15 players on the pitch. It is that human element that makes the game exciting and one that provides the element of unpredictability, no matter how much coaching and training you do. Tigers are what they currently have shown – a team that is improved on previous years, one that plays with spirit and a defined game plan, and one that is still finding its feet. Tigers sit 9th in the table, and all the evidence they have shown this season, suggests that they are indeed a mid-table team at the moment. They are implementing a new game plan, with new players and new coaches, whilst blooding more talented young players that are making their first steps in their career.
This is a team that has and is improving. They are demonstrating qualities that have not been seen for several seasons, with players that want to be here and care deeply about the club’s fortunes. Amidst the inconsistency, and at times questionable tactics, they have shown that there is a game plan and framework that they can use to win more games of rugby. If the team can learn and build upon the progressive rugby shown in the last 10 minutes of games, as well as implement the good moments produced in the first half an hour against Sale, and cut out the negative points seen in the 40 minutes that fell between, this is a team that can make us fans proud.
Reasons to be disappointed after Friday? Yes! Reasons to be downcast after Friday? Definitely not!