Leicester 42 Newcastle 15: Bad things come in threes for Toby Flood

For Toby Flood, bad things come in threes. After the unwarranted criticism he received at the end of the 20-19 win against Saracens last week, came a performance of huge promise by his young rival for the Leicester no.10 shirt, George Ford against Newcastle on Saturday. Then, with club fans questioning his place in the starting line-up, his rival for the England no.10 shirt, Owen Farrell,  played with a level of self-assurance and class in the 12-19 loss to Wales that has had rugby commentators up and down the country purring in delight...

(Source: Leicester Mercury)

The strategic decision by Richard Cockerill to no longer favour the departing Billy Twelvetrees for the back-up fly-half role – a man he placed all his chips on as recently as 6 weeks ago in the Heineken Cup against Ulster – has given an opportunity to George Ford to respond to the hype surrounding him during the Six Nations.  At the time of writing, the ‘Ford MUST replace Flood’ thread on the Leicester Tigers forum has 3,395 views and the ‘Ford v Gloucester… Yes or No?’thread has 1,236 views. There is a huge expectation on the IRB Junior Player of the Year and, with a strong performance in the Aviva Premiership, there is now a rallying call from some for him to be installed as first-choice fly-half.

Against Newcastle, Ford played the role of the conductor. The highlights reel may not have picked up many individual moments of brilliance but he consistently brought the other backs into the game and showcased their talents. His two assists were the icing on the cake. Ford has a precise kicking game, an arrow-like pass and looks for the gap like a scrum-half. Kick, pass, and run. It sounds so simple, doesn’t it? But this combination of skills had the Newcastle defence unsure all game long as to how to handle him, because of his ability to deliver all three with aplomb. The caveat to this is that Newcastle were as poor as they have been since Gary Gold took over at the turn of the year. A Gloucester team who have just beaten the league leaders will be a sterner test, but should they hope to target Ford’s channel they would do well to acknowledge that his 8 tackles on Saturday made him the highest tackling back on average for the whole season.

The ephemeral nature of sport means that players are only deemed as good as their last performance. Flood has personally inspired several Leicester victories this season and, even though they are now just a memory for many fans, the distinction between ‘change’ and ‘progress’ should be made very clear. Ford had a strong game against Newcastle but a strong game doesn’t get you into the starting XV automatically – just ask Lucas Amorosino - only sustained good form does that. Flood’s strong performances this season have unfairly been viewed as weak currency; if Ford can put in similarly commanding performances against Gloucester and a strong Bath side in the LV= Cup semi-final then we are starting to build up a reasonable exchange rate between the two players. The rise of one does not have to mean the demise of another; it is OK forLeicester to have two top-quality fly-halves.

The bonus-point try by Thomas Waldrom early on in the second-half meant that around 38 of the 80 minutes played at Welford Road had the feel of a pre-season friendly. Leicester knew they had the 5 points they desired and Newcastle knew they were going home with nothing. Creative licence was afforded to Leicester’s forwards as the reward for a totally dominant 42 minutes and they used it by offloading in the tackle more than in any other Premiership game this season.

Leicester’s patterns of play lacked structure at times as they routinely went from one side of the pitch to the other before taking the ball into tackle; just under half the number of metres with the ball were made compared to the recent LV= Cup game against Newcastle.  But they enjoyed huge success when they retained the ball for a number of phases and broke down the spirit of the opposition defence. The two stand-out performers in the pack were George Skivington and Steve Mafi. The former has come into form since he announced his decision to join London Irish next season and on Saturday he provided physicality, determination and some excellent line-out calls in equal measure. The latter is having his best season so far for Leicester and will be seriously pushing for the no.6 shirt after the Six Nations. Mafi is second only behind his rival Tom Croft in line-out takes this season (50) and Thomas Waldrom for the ground he makes each game (23m on average).

It was that familiar weapon of the set-piece that really crushed Newcastle. The line-out was 100% for the third time this season and 3 times ball was stolen from the opposition. In the scrum, Marcos Ayerza and Logovi’i Mulipola had tremendous games for the second week running, pounding Grant Shiells and Euan Murray – a British & Irish Lion - into submission. When substitutions were made it was time for the farmer, Julian White, to roll back the years and plough right over Jonny Golding. The hit from White at their first scrum was so powerful it nearly took poor Golding’s shoulders off. As long as the set-piece continues to be this reliable a platform then Leicester have to believe that they are capable of overturning the most disastrous of starts to a season and winning this competition.

One concern has to be the team’s kicking percentages. It has been 7 games now since Leicester's kicker (be it Flood, Ford, Staunton or Twelvetrees) kicked over 71% of their goals. On Saturday, Ford's 63% felt deceptively good because they were weighted towards the end of the game and included some tricky angles. Leicester are consistently 10% below their opponents off the tee and if the set-peice can win them the Premiership then their kicking percentages could lose them it. 

Next up for Leicester is an extremely important game against Gloucester. A win could give Richard Cockerill's side some daylight between them and 5th place for the first time this season, but the Cherry & Whites have just impressively beaten Harlequins.

(Source: The Guardian)

Whilst Leicester will again have the edge in the forwards the focus will be on the defensive performance of the likes of Anthony Allen - if available, Matt Smith and Horacio Agulla to stop the electrifying Gloucester backs. Johnny May's breathtaking try against Harlequins is enough to send shivers down the spine of any coach; they can and will strike from anywhere on the pitch. Gloucester beat an incredible 22 defenders in that win, made 10 line breaks and forced 23 missed tackles. Leicester will hope for the heavens to open and for this one to be a slug-fest to allow them to use the weapons at their disposal.