London Irish 32 Leicester Tigers 41: Two can play at that game

Back in November, when Leicester were marooned at the wrong end of table some 20 points adrift from leaders Harlequins, we spoke on this blog about how 10 more wins - a feasible target based on previous World Cup years in 2003 and 2007 - could get the club into the play-offs. As Leicester's players left the Madejski Stadium pitch on Sunday they could bask, not in the glorious Spring sunshine, but in the realisation that they have achieved 9 more of those wins - 11 in total - and have a home tie against the league's lowest scoring team to come...

(Source: The Guardian)

Put simply, this bonus-point win was the stuff of champions. At times Leicester were pretty dreadful, but they took on the opposition at their style of play and succeeded. They gave penalties away like they were going out of fashion, but they still kept scoring nearly every time they got into dangerous positions. And, as always, they had a scrum that could almost win the game on its own. It almost did, for it was the combination of the scrum and the excellent form of a discarded England fly-half that secured all 5 points.


Leicester engaged in a battle of attrition last week against Northampton in the LV= Cup final. The two front rows ground each other into the ground and the back rows smashed each other of the ball. It was as physical and as intense as a domestic game gets. This week, they faced an opposition who love a warm day, a flat pitch and the ball in hand, so that is the game Leicester played. Sure, they used their set-peice, but they also consistently got the ball into the hands of Billy Twelvetrees, Manu Tuilagi and Horacio Agulla. And when they did it, they looked incredibly dangerous. London Irish didn't manage to keep a lid on Toby Flood for the entire game.


As we've mentioned several times on From The Crumbie Terrace, the way Leicester's defence expands and contracts is often a weakness. Hammer the narrow channels consistently like Worcester and they can soak up the pressure; get the ball wide consistently like Gloucester and they can use their drift. But when a team truly has strength in both areas, Leicester concede a lot of metres. It happened last week, and indeed every time they meet Northampton, and it happened against London Irish. The home side used big ball carriers like Bryn Evans and Declan Danaher to good effect before unleashing their backs, who made 7 clean breaks. Saliosi Tagicakibau beat a staggering 10 defenders on his own. The combination of pace, power and guile from Irish's runners was consistently effective. The only way Leicester could stop him and them was to conceded penalties, which Tom Homer dutifully kicked.


Yet in spite of Irish's potent attack, Leicester always looked like the most dangerous team in their opponent's 22. Even with Manu Tuilagi having a relatively quiet game, they looked capable of scoring each time they built up the phases. Twelvetrees used most of his repertoire in distributing well, kicking and unleashing a step for the Tuilagi try that has seldom been seen at Welford Road but will surely be warmly received at Kingsholm next season; Horacio Agulla continued to do his best Dan Hipkiss impression by being next to impossible to get to ground with the ball, and; Scott Hamilton started showing the type of form we took for granted a couple of seasons ago.


This effort in the backs could at best be described as going toe-to-toe with London Irish. Where the two teams were on a different level entirely was at the scrum. Alex Corbisiero has been a solid if unspectacular scrummager in his 15 tests for England since his debut in February of last year, but after demolishing Ireland in this year's Six Nations he was elevated to the status of a Fabien Barcella, Rodrigo Roncero or Tony Woodcock. At club level, the fact is that he has not regularly been London Irish's first-choice. On Sunday, he was beaten hands-down by his international team-mate Dan Cole. Indeed the whole balance of the game swung mid-way through the first half when, after 20 minutes of consistent Irish pressure in which Leicester didn't even managed to get into the 22, a series of 6 punishing scrums in a row crushed Irish's spirit and gave Toby Flood the away side's first try.


Flood has had to cope with falling behind both Owen Farrell and Charlie Hodgson in the England team and having his starting place called into question at Leicester given the form of George Ford. On Sunday he showed the country that he is still the attacking fly-half in England. Sure, he doesn't consistently kick with the same accuracy as Farrell (though he did  on Sunday) and he isn't benefiting from the goodwill that all youngsters like Ford receive early in their careers, but he still cut London Irish to ribbons. Steve Shingler and Joe Ansbro are a good defensive midfield but they were pulled this way and that by Flood for 80 minutes. If this is how Flood reacts to pressure, then the battle between him and Ford for the no.10 shirt is a blessing for Richard Cockerill.