Leicester Tigers 28 Sale Sharks 23: A victory that's better than it looks

In recent years, the inability to secure a bonus-point win over Sale Sharks would have been viewed as a disappointing result, but as Leicester Tigers found out on New Year’s Day, things have changed. Richard Cockerill’s side moved into the play-offs for the first time this season with a hard-fought 28-23 victory, but the last-minute drop-goal by Nick Macleod that brought Sale a losing-bonus-point muted the home crowd.

Source: Belfast Telegraph

The away fixture at Welford Road is the one to look for in the calendar for many in the Aviva Premiership as it still represents the biggest domestic scalp and Steve Diamond’s men played with the belief that they could get a result. Sale are the embryo of a very good side, even if they haven’t mastered the PR side of professional rugby union with today’s fluffed ‘big announcement’ press conference. To beat them, Leicester had to rely on their tried and trusted weapons in the set-piece, some scintillating ball-handling and the continued good form of their fly-half.

Sale have redistributed their salary cap from high-earnings backs like Charlie Hodgson, Matthew Tait and Ben Cohen to a new set of forwards to try and compete up front. Despite this investment, injuries in the front row have still left them lacking a little grunt and it appeared that this was accurately identified by the Leicester coaching team as the home side repeatedly turned down kickable penalties to press home their advantage in the scrum. Dan Cole was not as effective as usual in the loose but he and the rest of the pack scrummaged strongly to win 100% of scrums on their own ball.

In the line-out, Leicester have finally found another player of Geoff Parling’s calibre in Graham Kitchener to make the calls. In his first league appearance since the Saracens whitewash, Kitchener oversaw a lineout with a 93% success rate and helped disrupt nearly 30% of Sale’s ball. With the continued maturing of Ed Slater, who can do a little bit of everything in the second row, Leicester are blessed with locks if they can ever get them all fit at the same time.

Toby Flood has been instrumental in most good things that Leicester have done in the last month and he put in another match-winning performance at fly-half. With the media speculating on the international prospects for Owen Farrell, Freddie Burns and Ryan Lamb, Flood has raised his game considerably. We have mentioned his mental strength several times recently and against Sale, again, it was evident. Having missed a very kickable first penalty with the game finely balanced he then, with his next touch, sent the ball spiralling through the crisp January air a full 50m into touch. His half-back partner, Ben Youngs, box-kicked poorly for most of the game but he too had the tenacity to keep trying when it was required for the team and ended up kicking the ball 16 times: more than any Leicester scrum-half in any game all season.

Leicester simply do not ‘do’ offloads and have not offloaded the ball more in a match than any opponent this year. Yet they inflicted real damage on Sale from their short, accurate passing in midfield for the Murphy and Alex Tuilagi tries. Forwards and backs alike were involved but twice the incision came from Flood and Billy Twelvetrees combining beautifully. The fly-half plays so flat that if a line-break can be made it is almost guaranteed to make a lot of metres; the centre ran two penetrating running lines that created the opportunities to score.

Twelvetrees has the backing of a lot of Leicester supporters who have seen glimpses of his huge potential as he has sporadically been given opportunities over the past couple of seasons. Against Sale, he was superb in all aspects of the game, be it the aforementioned running lines, his razor-sharp passing, his relentless, Lewis Moody-esque chasing of high balls or his delightful grubber kick. There have previously been concerns about his defensive capabilities but he has improved this area of his game considerably and is now in Leicester’s top 10 tacklers for the season.

Leicester needed some strong individual performances because Sale played a brand of rugby that Richard Cockerill’s men often struggle against. With 5 back-rowers on the pitch in McKenzie, Myall, Gaskell, Auva’a and Powell, Sale were, unsurprisingly, mobile and provided plenty of support runners for their ball carriers. It can be difficult to keep defensive discipline and slow down this type of high-tempo attacking play and Leicester missed as many tackles collectively as they have done all season. Whilst their narrow defence has always been strong they are often exposed when it is required to expand and contract; Rob Miller’s 131m with the ball from full-back were testament to how the drift defence struggled at times to cope with Sale’s powerful runners. Without Hodgson they rely much less on tactical kicking and appear to have acquired players with the right skills to match.

The stand-out performer for the away side was undoubtedly Onasai Auva’a. Brought in as injury dispensation for Hendrie Fourie, he is to Sale as Julian Salvi is to Leicester. Auva’a made a scintillating break for Sale’s first try, made 17 carries, 45 metres with the ball and a colossal 23 tackles without missing one. He is officially only at the club until February but if a long-term deal can be arranged then he could be the player that takes this embryonic side up to the next level.

For now there are, perhaps, Leicester fans who will view taking 4 points from having played Sale at home as not quite enough. By next season, with the added grunt of Richie Gray and at least one other expected stellar addition, Sale will start to edge closer to becoming the ‘Northern Super Club’ they desire to be, and it will be viewed as a very good result. It is now 6 games unbeaten in the league for Leicester and they are manoeuvring themselves into a strong position for the impending loss of their international players during the Six Nations.

Next up is another home game against Leicester’s biggest rivals of the last decade: London Wasps. Dai Young’s side are on their longest losing streak in the league for 10 years and are a far cry from their days of competing at the very top. Against Worcester last time out they suffered the embarrassment of not scoring a single point. But, as mentioned earlier, they will view a trip to Welford Road as the perfect opportunity to turn their season around.

Courtesy of Getty Images (source: Daily Telegraph)

Leicester will hope to have Julian Salvi fit as the battle of the back-rows is there to be won for the home side. In their last game, Wasps conceded a dizzying 19 turnovers and there will almost certainly be low-hanging fruit for the street-smart Australian to pick. Leicester have had the better of almost every opponent at the breakdown this season. Legs will be weary after some tough games on heavy pitches but, in spite of the long-term injuries to Jordan Crane and Craig Newby, Richard Cockerill should still have the quality to choose from that can provide the platform for victory.

Leicester have already learnt from the Adams Park leg of this fixture where Wasps’ threat can come from. The blisteringly quick Christian Wade has been playing in the wrong team to set the league alight this year but has the raw speed to cause Leicester’s immobile defence problems, as illustrated by his hat-trick earlier in the season. Add Nicky Robinson, Tom Varndell and Riki Flutely into the mix and you have a back-line that can be magnificent on a good day but invisible on a bad day. If Leicester can dominate up front as they have been doing in recent games then they should be confident of a victory.