Saturday 9 January 2010

Good Times/Bad Times: Leicester Tigers vs London Wasps

I've just finished watching the Leicester Tigers vs London Wasps game, and what a game it was for the Welford Road faithful.  A frosty full house witnessed the Tigers raise the temperature with a 34-8 bonus point winning performance over the London Wasps.  But what was good about the only Guinness Premiership fixture to survive the snow and ice this weekend, and what left some room for improvement?

Good times:

Leicester head groundsman Steve Packwood and his team - For beating the weather and ensuring the Welford Road pitch was playable.

Leicester pack - Controlled power, power, and more power in the scrum.  Totally dominated Wasps and stopped them from building any kind of platform.

Ben Youngs - Sharp, quick passing, expertly taken box kicks and some great running.  Ready to play for England.


Ben Youngs: Overtaking Ellis to an England place?

Lote Tuqiri - Looking like a classy international for probably the first time this season and with two tries to boot.

Danny Cipriani - Starting at number 10, displaying some immaculate passing and great running and a big confidence boosting kick in the first half.  Cipriani is again starting to show the dazzling talent we all know he has.

Geoff Parling - Aerially domiant and a great all round performance from the Leicester lock.

Toby Flood - Back to his best.

Dan Cole - Man of the match and man of the moment.  A try saving tackle in the loose on Tim Payne and an excellent day in the scrum.  Will he be included in Martin Johnson's EPS squad on Wednesday?



Dan the Man


Bad times:

Wasps' pack -  Totally demolished in the scrum for the second consequetive week and to make matters worse they also conceded a penalty try.



Stuck in reverse

Tim Payne - Sin-binned, crushed by Cole in the scrum and tackled by Cole to be denied a simple enough try in the corner.  A very bad day for the Wasps loosehead.

Simon Shaw - Seemed to hobble off which is a major worry for Martin Johnson.

The eleven Guinness Premiership teams that aren't Leicester - Leicester are shifting through the gears nicely and are currently in top spot - a place they aim to be come the end of the season.

Dave Walder - Benched as Cipriani started at ten, then minutes after stepping onto the pitch he was off with a bashed in face.  Is Walder back to being the second choice behind Dashing Danny?

1 comment:

  1. Early on, Cipriani looked very good for Wasps in the number 10 shirt.

    The Leicester pack was just devestating in the scrum-particularly in the closing minutes of the first half-I kept waiting for a penalty try to be given, but after one of the Wasps props got yellow carded, the Tigers got their reward. I think the Tigers just flat-out out put a beat down on Wasps. I also think that for H-Cup Rugby, having Tuquiri as one of the wings can be an X factor for Leicester.

    ReplyDelete