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Leicester begin their Guinness Premiership season on SundayLeicester's new head coach Heyneke Meyer has named his team for the first match of this season's Guinness Premiership which pits the Tigers against the team they beat in last season's play off semi final Gloucester. Unfortunately he has already had his selection problems with injuries to Martin Castrogiovanni, Lewis Moody,Louis Deacon, Martin Corry, Ayoola Erinle and summer signing Derick Hougaard. However with an all international back line and plenty of experience in the forwards there is cause for optimism, but as the standards seem to be getting closer there are fewer "easy" matches than ever.
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Leicester at Gloucester
Apart from the extremely heavy and slippy conditions the first problem Leicester had to face was the late withdrawal of their selected skipper Aaron Mauger due to injury with youngster Matt Smith taking his place. At the end of an error strewn first half the Tigers led 6-5 thanks to two Toby Flood penalties against an Olly Morgan try (and also some awful place kicking from Ryan Lamb).
Lamb managed to find his range in the second half to give Gloucester a two point lead but although they then spent a long time camped in the Tigers 22 some sturdy defence and appalling decision making meant that they failed to score again. The Tigers then struck twice in the last quarter firstly when Geordan Murphy sliced through the defence (after a move from a lineout) to score a try converted by replacement scrum half Julien Dupuy and then Toby Flood intercepted a Gloucester pass to touch down, and then convert his own try.
All in all not a classic match but a good start to Heyneke Meyer's reign and with some experienced players to come back the future is looking good.
Tigers v. London Irish
In a move away from last season's rotation policy coach Heyneke Meyer has made only one change (and one positional change) to last week's successful team. Fit again Aaron Mauger takes his place in the centre with youngster Matt Smith switching to the wing in place of the injured Alesana Tuilagi.
London Irish make two changes to their side with Eoghan Hickey taking over from the injured Mike Catt at outside half, and in the front row Tonga Lea'aetoa (a good old Irish name!)starts at loosehead prop in place of Alex Corbisiero, who is named among the replacements.
After both teams won their opening matches this is an early test of their championship winning credentials.
Tigers beat Irish (just)
Leicester got off to a good start when Geordan Murphy scored his second try of the season after only ten minutes which was converted by Toby Flood to open up a seven point lead. Irish hit back with a monster penalty from Eoghan Hickey and a try from flanker Stefan Armitage converted by Peter Hewat. Flood kicked a penalty just before half time so the sides went in level at 10-10.
Irish were then gifted a try when Seilala Mapusua charged down a clearing kick and gathered the ball to score, with Hewat again adding the extras. Leicester flanker Ben Herring then had a major influence on the game with first of all a neat chip that was gathered by Tom Croft for a score in the corner, brilliantly converted by Flood, and then scoring under the posts again converted.
Irish however refused to lay down and broke away to score a try with just two minutes left. If scorer Delon Armitage had thought about things perhaps he should have tried to get closer to the posts instead of going for an extravagent dive. He left Hewat a difficult kick which drifted to the left of the posts and Leicester were then able to run the clock down and claim their second four points of the season.
Week Three away to Worcester
In a league that is becoming increasingly competitive Leicester visit Worcester on Saturday hoping to improve on their form after last week's scrappy win over London Irish, and also dent Worcester's confidence after their last minute win at Wasps.
The Tigers have injury doubts over Harry Ellis, Dan Hipkiss and Richard Blaze in addition to long term absentees Lewis Moody, Martin Castrogiovanni, Louis Deacon, Derick Hougaard and Alesana Tuilagi although Martin Corry looks set to make his seasonal debut. At least it will give the fringe members of the squad some invaluable match experience before the decimation of the Autumn internationals starts.
As expected Harry Ellis, Dan Hipkiss and Richard Blaze miss out on this Saturday's match and Martin Corry makes his seasonal debut albeit in the second row rather than his normal back row position. Benjamin Kayser swaps places at hooker with George Chuter, while Julian Dupuy comes in at scrum half and Matt Smith switchesg back into the centre and Johne Murphy coming in on the wing.
Tigers go top after narrow win
Leicester maintained their winning start to the season with a hard fought 19-17 victory at Worcester. After Toby Flood opened the scoring with a ninth minute penalty Tigers were unable to make anything of a bout of sustained pressure and fell behind when Worcester then scored the first try of the match which with the successful conversion opened up a 7-3 lead. Despite playing with 14 men with Jordan Crane in the sin bin Flood reduced the deficit to one point on the stroke of half time with his second penalty goal. A third success five minutes into the second half restored Leicester's lead but it only lasted for 4 minutes when Number Eight Netani Talei ran in a try from half way again converted by Loki Crichton. Flood and Crichton then traded penalties leaving worcester 17-12 ahead with just under 20 minutes left - and worse for the Tigers Flood was sent to the sin bin. Cometh the hour cometh the man. Stand in scrum half Julien Dupuy scored a a try to level the scores and then in the absence of Flood picked himself up and slotted over the conversion to give Leicester a two point lead that they were able to maintain up to the final whistle.
Tigers v. Wasps
Leicester Tigers continue their season this Friday hoping not to be stung by London Wasps. Both sides are in need of the victory, Tigers to maintain their lead at the top of the table and Wasps to get their season kick started and move away from the bottom of the table.
Head coach Heyneke Meyer has made three changes to his Leicester Tigers team for the Guinness Premiership match with first starts being given to prop Dan Cole, second row Marco Wentzel and back row Ben Woods, although all three have come on to play some part in previous matches, from the bench. The back division remains unchanged from last week but is still missing injury victims Harry Ellis, Dan Hipkiss and Alesana Tuilagi as well as suspended Seru Rabeni.
Disaster against Wasps.
As is so often the case Wasps raised their game to a level not seen from them this season when they came up against potentially their greatest rivals last Friday. It has to be said however that they appeared to be totally dependent on the boot of the recalled Jeremy Staunton who kicked 23 of his teams 28 points. Although Leicester took a half time lead of 13-6 they were never really in control and conceded too many penalties and too much territory for comfort. They now have to pick themselves up for the visit of East Midlands rivals Northampton on Wednesday for what has always been one of the fiercest contested matches of the season.
East Midlands Derby
After both teams suffered defeat over the weekend Leicester and Northampton needed a good result to get their respective season's back on track. The home side were able to welcome back Harry Ellis and Dan Hipkiss after injury and gave a first start of the season to prop Boris Stankovich in a changed front row.
Toby Flood kicked two early penalties for Leicester with Stephen Myler slotting one for the visitors. Boris then made his first mark on the game by getting sin-binned in the ninth minute, and while he was off for ten minutes his opposite number Euan Murray scored the first try of the evening converted by Myler. An exchange of kicks left Northampton 16-9 ahead at half time.
The Tigers came out after the break in a determined mood and Johne Murphy scored his second try in consecutive matches, converted by Flood to level the scores. However with 12 minutes to go Myler kicked his fourth penalty (from the half way line) to put Northampton ahead again. Calling on all their resilience Leicester kept on attacking and were rewarded by tries for Hiopkiss and Flood in the last eight minutes, which together with a further Flood penalty took the game out of Northampton's reach, and also denied them the comfort of a bonus point.
EDF (Anglo Welsh) cup
As a rather unwelcome break in the season the first group match in this competition saw Leicester travel to fierce rivals Bath. Unsurprisingly both teams put out radically different teams from their previous matches. Leicester took the opportunity to blood some accademy players and also recalled Alesana Tuilagi after injury and gave a debut to South African Derek Hougaard fit at last from a long standing shoulder injury. In the end Bath paid the price for not having a specialist kicker losing 15-19 as Hougaard kicked 14 points for the Tigers but Robbie Kydd missed several kicks for the home side.
EDF Week Three
With the last group match being played tomorrow Tigers make several changes to the team beaten at Cardiff last week due to a combination of injuries and international call ups. In the pack the good news for supporters is that Lewis "Mad Dog" Moody plays his first game since February, and this week also sees Craig Newby make his debut. There are also first home starts of the season for Seru Rabeni and Derek Hougaard who will no doubt be trying to impress the supporters. This match could be vital depending on the result of the Bath/Cardiff game or could be totally pointless, but I feel sure that the coaching staff will not let the intensity drop.
Guinness Premiership resumes
After a six week break due to the EDF Energy Cup, the first two group matches in the Heineken European Cup and an international week, normal service was resumed at the Rec with the top two teams in the Premiership facing each other. Both sides had several players still on international duty but it was Bath who started the stronger and opened up a 20 points to 3 half time lead. Unfortunately for Leicester South African Butch James seemed to have rediscovered his kicking boots and had scored ten of these points. In a stirring second half the Tigers hit back with two tries of their own the second with only three minutes to go to give them a one point lead. In a final twist James scored an injury time try (which he then converted) to leave Bath still on top and the Tigers with the scant consolation of a losing bonus point.
Team for the match against Harlequins.
As the Autumn International season continues to eat into resources Tigers have lost two further players to call ups. Jordan Crane is in the England match day squad for the match against South Africa for his first cap and Geordan Murphy is set to win his 56th Ireland cap as he makes his first start of the season against Argentina. With another eight players on the injured list (Martin Castrogiovanni, Louis Deacon, Alesana Tuilagi, Ben Herring, Ben Woods, Ben Pienaar, Julian White and Richard Blaze being the players in question) coach Heyneke Meyer could be forgiven for wondering what will go wrong next.
He gives a first start of the season to new signing Scott Hamilton at full back in a team that still shows a lot of experience to back up the younger players filling the gaps.Hopefully the team will gel and put the disapointment of last week's last minute defeat behind them.
Leicester defeat Harlequins
Leicester made an uncharacteristically brisk start to the match on Saturday scoring their first try after only 76 seconds through Johne Murphy and converted by an increasingly influential Derek Hougaard. Hougaard then scored a try himself which he converted and kicked two penalties before half time. Quins only reply at this stage was three penalties from the boot of Nicky Evans, which left the Tigers in control by 20-9 at half time. Young winger Matt Smith then got his first try of the season again converted by Hougaard before Quins had the final word with a try 4 minutes from the end which reduced the deficit to 27-14. In an extremely tight Premiership table that result lifted Tigers to third in the table but after the Sunday matches they dropped to fourth. Quins however suffered a bigger fall dropping from second at the start of the weekend to sixth at the end.
Leicester announce team for Friday's match away to Sale
The Tigers welcome back five of their international contingent this weekend with Geordan Murphy, Seru Rabeni, Marcos Ayerza and Jordan Crane all getting the nod to play on Friday. In addition Benjamin Kayser is on the bench. There are still at least five first team squad players missing with three in the England line up and two on the long term injury list. Immediately the team was announced however there was a change due to injury with Julian White pulling out.
The team has a strong look which hopefully will stand them in good stead against what looks like an experienced Sale line up.
Another poor result
After the previous week's "turbo charged" start Leicester reverted to type on Friday and were 17 - 0 down before half an hour was up, and went in to the half time break 17 - 3 down. Although they got the difference down to 7 points with just under half an hour left they were again undone by an injury time try which left the score 27 - 13 and the Tigers facing another soul searching week before the next two rounds of the European competition take up their interest.
Leicester v Newcastle.
Leicester started this match reeling from the news that Harry Ellis had just been handed a six week suspension, but buoyed by the first appearance of the season of "Castro". In a match that they were supposed to win easily they stuttered and were quite unable to impose any real order on the match. Relying mainly on the boot of ex Newcastle player Toby Flood and a try apiece from Geordan Murphy and Aaron Mauger they did just enough to obtain the four point victory but never looked like getting the four try bonus point. As their next match as at Twickenham against Harlequins they will need to play with a lot more conviction next time.
Harlequins v Leicester
Leicester put out a stong looking team for their final match of 2008 (against Harlequins), played in front of a 50,000 crowd at Twickenham (the largest for a club match in England). Quins took an early lead through a Nick Evans penalty and although Toby Flood equalised soon after, two further Evans kicks left Quins leading 9-3. Two more successful Flood kicks equalised and then Tigers went ahead just before half time when Johne Murphy scored a try which Flood converted to give the visitors a 16-9 lead.
Ten minutes after half time Tom Croft scored a second try for Leicester again converted by Flood to leave Leicester 23-9 ahead. A penalty apiece led to the final excitement when first Mike Brown scored for Quins (converted by Evans) and then with Lewis Moody in the sin-bin Ugo Monye scored with the last move of the match to leave Evans with a kick to draw the match. Unfortunately for all Tigers supporters he never looked like missing. If any proof were needed of the importance of retaining a full team on the field that would be it.
Leicester now host Bath and will be looking to avenge their earlier defeat (again with the final movement in the match)