Leicester Tigers v ASM Clermont Auvergne

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Tigers team:

15 Geordan Murphy = 14 Horacio Agulla = 13 Matt Smith = 12 Manu Tuilagi = 11 Alesana Tuilagi = 10 Toby Flood = 9 Ben Youngs = 1 Boris Stankovich = 2 George Chuter = 3 Martin Castrogiovanni = 4 Louis Deacon = 5 George Skivington = 6 Tom Croft = 7 Jules Salvi = 8 Thomas Waldrom
16 Rob Hawkins = 17 Julian White = 18 Dan Cole = 19 Steve Mafi = 20 Ben Woods = 21 Sam Harrison = 22 Billy Twelvetrees = 23 Scott Hamilton

ASM Clermont Auvergne

15 Lee Byrne-14 Sitiveni Sivivatu-13 Regan King-12 Wesley Fofana-11 Julien Malzieu-10 David Skrela - 9 Morgan Parra - 1 Lionel Faure - 2 Ti'i Paulo - 3 Clément Ric - 4 Jamie Cudmore - 5 Jason White - 6 Gerhard Vosloo - 7 Alexandre Lapandry - 8 Julien Bonnaire
16 Benjamin Kayser - 17 Vincent Debaty - 18 Daniel Kotze - 19 Nathan Hines - 20 Elvis Vermeulen - 21 Kevin Senio - 22 Brock James - 23 Gavin Williams


A number of changes for Clermont. King & Skrela start in the backs, and several in the pack. Cudmore replacing Hines most noticable. White in second row an interesting call.
Looks like an injury for Ayerza as Bobo starts and two tightheads on the bench. Other changes for Tigers sees Waldrom start for Mafi, and Woods on teh bench for Slater.

Is he a double agent??? He effectively gives Clermont 3 points and then runs in front of the kicker from the resulting kick off.

eirebilly wrote:I know you are nathan

Clermont back in front, touch match to call.

owens penalising people who arnt even on the pitch!!!

i can have that one cant i!! :p

Some good play by Manu Tuilagi

i'm sorry but when hamilton went in then, clermont wernt even trying to roll away!

Owens give Clermont a warning..... Not as if Leicester havent done it enough either

Flood kicks it and Leicester lead again

eirebilly wrote:Owens give Clermont a warning..... Not as if Leicester havent done it enough either

Flood kicks it and Leicester lead again

leicester have done it, but Owens seems to have been pretty hot on stopping them!! However he hasn't done the same with Clermont!

how did they screw that up GRRRR

handling errors explains leicesters failure!

Blew it! That was their chance to spend the last 15 minutes chasing the bonus point.

Excellent stuff from Leicester this second half, well deserved lead, be it only 1 point.

Sorry but tha is a shocking decision by Owens against Clermont !!!!!

eirebilly wrote:Sorry but tha is a shocking decision by Owens against Clermont !!!!!

what a crock, they were clearly sealing off the ball!

Should of been a yellow too as they have already had there warning!

another penalty and no yellow?

Disagree with you there nathan. I thought that Leicester were diving in.

I want Leicester to win but they have been playing Owens a little too well for my liking.

4 points the lead now

another penalty and no card even though theyv'e had the final warning already....

What a second half from Leicester

Well done Leicester, great battling win.

Group now looks like:

1 - Ulster 14 pts
2 - Leicester 12 pts
3 - Clermont 11 pts
4 - Aironi 0 pts

Ulster vs Tigers at Ravenhill probably gonna decide it now for best runner up, I cant see Clermont losing at home to Ulster or away to Aironi.

Leicester will have to beat Ulster and Aironi to go through I think.

They could both finish on 18 points and then it would come down to .....?

Artful_Dodger wrote:They could both finish on 18 points and then it would come down to .....?

Better head-to-head record I think.

Artful_Dodger wrote:They could both finish on 18 points and then it would come down to .....?

trys?

Yeah.

It goes to the head to heads between the tied teams.

(1) Match points over the 2 games (ie. 4 for a win, 2 for a draw etc.)

(2) Most tries scored in the 2 games.

(3) Best aggregate points difference from the two matches

Yeh - I think it comes down to Ulster vs Tigers, but if Tigers beat Ulster they could still win the group.

Think they might both finish on 18, Ulster taking 4 point and Tigers 1 at Ravenhill, then Tigers taking 5 at home to Aironi and Ulster gettin 0 away to Clermont. Possible that Ulster could leave Clermot with 1.

Ulster in the better position - marginally for me.

nathan wrote:

Artful_Dodger wrote:They could both finish on 18 points and then it would come down to .....?

trys?

No, who did better in the two games between the clubs equal on points. So if Ulster and Leicester finish on equal group points Ulster will have to beat Tigers by more than 11 points at Ravenhill to top the group (Tigers won at home 20-9 as I'm sure you know).

Or what they said.

If they both finish on 18 points I'd say they'll both go out. I fancy ulster to finish on 19 and go through.

i have no actual idea on who will win!!

Good battling win. Ulster v Tigers should be a cracker now!

Thought Waldrom looked excellent. Maybe he is English after all Tuilagi smashing Byrne was another choice moment, though Byrne had a good game overall.

Interesting pool this one.

Well done Tigers. Not a great result for us but looking forward to you coming to Ravenhill!

SUFTUM!!

Can't see Ulster getting into knockout stages, I am backing Tigers to beat them at Ravenhill as the tigers front 5 will be too strong.

I think Ulster's is stronger personally.

Court vs Stankovich
Best vs Chuter
Afoa vs Castrogiovanni
Muller vs Deacon
Tuohy vs Skivington

Look forward to it anyway

Manu's Boxing Coach wrote:Can't see Ulster getting into knockout stages, I am backing Tigers to beat them at Ravenhill as the tigers front 5 will be too strong.

No chance buddy

leinsterbaby wrote:

Manu's Boxing Coach wrote:Can't see Ulster getting into knockout stages, I am backing Tigers to beat them at Ravenhill as the tigers front 5 will be too strong.

No chance buddy

+1 yeah what Leinsterbaby said .........SUFTUM!

roddersm wrote:

leinsterbaby wrote:

Manu's Boxing Coach wrote:Can't see Ulster getting into knockout stages, I am backing Tigers to beat them at Ravenhill as the tigers front 5 will be too strong.

No chance buddy

+1 yeah what Leinsterbaby said .........SUFTUM!

I havent seen enough of Ulster to think they are really one of the top teams in Europe, they have a good home record but they are not impossible to beat, Leicester when on form are a better team than Ulster and I think they will pull one out of the bag and win.

I'm watching a replay of the Leicester-Clermont match now. From what I have seen now and in other matches this season (once the internationals returned), Leicester still do not look ike they are really clicking. Going to Ravenhill will be are real challenge. I can see Leicester winning, but it is a lot easier for me to see Ulster taking the match.

doctor_grey wrote:I'm watching a replay of the Leicester-Clermont match now. From what I have seen now and in other matches this season (once the internationals returned), Leicester still do not look ike they are really clicking. Going to Ravenhill will be are real challenge. I can see Leicester winning, but it is a lot easier for me to see Ulster taking the match.

I think we are missing Allen, Tuilagi and Smith are too similar both strong hard runners but neither are proper 12's making us look slightly disjointed at times.

leinsterbaby what you mean no chance? Tigers front five had the upper hand in both set pieces against Ulster last time out. The second half saw them gain superiority in the tight exchanges as well. If Ayerza and Parling are back that will add to our strength at set piece and in the loose.

Let's not forget Ulster struggled to penetrate our midfield when we had our 5th and 6th choice centres. Home advantage and the return of Wallace will boost them but that game can easily go either way and Tigers must make it go their way like last year at the Parc.

Just to point out that as well as Paddy Wallace - we had no Afoa or Pienaar at Welford road - our two big match players along with Ferris and Muller.

We we're still nearly 12-12 well into the second half had Humphreys not missed from infront of the posts.

I think Ulster are gonna win this one. I realize Tigers we're missing plenty as well of course - but Ulster's first team is very very strong, they problem is a lack of depth. With Ferris, Afoa, Pienaar and Muller all playing I dont think we will lose at Ravenhill. Best also in the form of his life, the only thing that worries me is the mercurial Ian Humphreys.

Home advantage is a massive massive thing here guys. We havent lost at Ravenhill in the Heineken Cup in 3 years. I would also add that statistically we had the dominant lineout against Tigers at Welford. Scrum time will be massive and Ulster will have to be very quick at getting the ball out imo.

It is set up nicely because the Tigers always rise to these kind of challenges. I could see it going either way but i wouldnt rule out a big victory either.If Ulster win and deny leicester the BP we are as good as guaranteed a European QF. What an incentive.

Standulstermen wrote:Home advantage is a massive massive thing here guys. We havent lost at Ravenhill in the Heineken Cup in 3 years.

Don't spoil the surprise stand......

Manu we are not one of the best sides in Europe but I'm not convinced that the Tigers are either this year. I think with home advantage we will have the upper hand but it could go either way. It will be an awesome occaision and I can't wait.

After todays result gonna need at least 5 points from the remaining games against Tigers and Clermont.

Standulstermen wrote:Home advantage is a massive massive thing here guys.

Absolutely agree. Ravenhill and the Ulster supporters are a rough ride for any team. And, I think this Ulster team has a bit more steel in them.

Ozzy3213 wrote:Is Rougerie injured?

I think Tigers will win this, although I can't see them getting a TBP and can see ASM getting the LBP, which in the overall scheme of things is probably a better result for ASM than Tigers.

Ozzy once again proving his ability to be able to see into the future!

It sure does make for an interesting table. Tigers are 1 of 3 teams that can still qualify. We go away to Ulster now, which for me is the group decider because if we win this... we win the group. And I'm not brushing aside Aironi but I think most Tigers fans will be very confident of a home win over them.

Our fate is in our own hands here, which is exactly how it should be. I really hate qualifying by other results going our way as it always feels like a hollow qualification.

Metal Tiger wrote:
It sure does make for an interesting table. Tigers are 1 of 3 teams that can still qualify. We go away to Ulster now, which for me is the group decider because if we win this... we win the group. And I'm not brushing aside Aironi but I think most Tigers fans will be very confident of a home win over them.

Our fate is in our own hands here, which is exactly how it should be. I really hate qualifying by other results going our way as it always feels like a hollow qualification.

Not sure how you work that out Metal Tiger, surely the fate of the group is in Clermont's hands? They have 3 bonus points and with Aironi and Ulster at home its hard not to see them picking up 9 or 10 points.

formerly known as Sam wrote:leinsterbaby what you mean no chance? Tigers front five had the upper hand in both set pieces against Ulster last time out. The second half saw them gain superiority in the tight exchanges as well. If Ayerza and Parling are back that will add to our strength at set piece and in the loose.

Let's not forget Ulster struggled to penetrate our midfield when we had our 5th and 6th choice centres. Home advantage and the return of Wallace will boost them but that game can easily go either way and Tigers must make it go their way like last year at the Parc.

Ulster will have Afoa, Pienaer, a fully fit Ferris (he was carrying an injury for most of the 2nd half at Welford road) and Wallace back - we will be much stronger in the return match

Also we will have a proper Full back playing this time - whether it is Darcy or Terblanche and will not make the mistake of playing Danielli there.

I know Leicester have some players back but I think Ulster will benefit far more form the returns than Leicester.
That plus the fact the match is at Ravenhill gives me every confidence

As Rodders said even you do beat us you will probably not win the group.

Lets assume Leicester get 4 points against Ulster and Clermont get 5 points against Aironi they remain top because of the superior head to head.

Clermont then at home for us and us out of it - I would fear the worst

I know Leicester have some players back but I think Ulster will benefit far more form the returns than Leicester.

Depends on the weather, if it is firm under foot Tigers actually having a backline will mean they can attack properly as there was no real option for passing moves vs Ulster. Ben Youngs playing from the start (he turned the game at Welford Rd) will be a massive benefit, plus Pienaar vs Youngs will be a great battle. If the weather is bad Ulster re-inforcing their front row and gaining a more reliable fb may well benefit more.

I think Ulster's is stronger personally.

Court vs Stankovich
Best vs Chuter
Afoa vs Castrogiovanni
Muller vs Deacon
Tuohy vs Skivington

Should be more like;

Court vs Ayerza
Best vs Chuter
Afoa vs Castrogiovanni
Muller vs Deacon
Tuohy vs Parling

Ayerza has a small fracture in his hand and will be out for three weeks, so back in time and Parling was out for 6 weeks about 4 weeks ago.

Comparing players is all subjective. The reality is that Ravenhill is an extremely tough place to win in Europe hence there is an expectation, certainly by myself that we should be getting a result here.

Its not necessarily that we have a better side on paper but at home we are a totally different proposition so I don't believe the Welford rd game will have much bearing on the return game.

It will be a massive game for both sides and the Tigers will be coming to win for sure but Ulster don't lie down for anyone at home (although we sometimes do away )!

SUFTUM!!

It will be a massive game for both sides and the Tigers will be coming to win for sure but Ulster don't lie down for anyone at home

Which should give us a nice tonic for the back to work post Christmas blues. It's a win or you're out game for both teams so it should be ferocious and I'm looking forward to it.