Leicester Tigers Thread 2014/15 (+ Squad updates for 2015/16) Part 2

[Welly]

Current Tables Positions:
AP: 3rd Losing SF to Bath
CC: Out (Group Stage)
LV: Out (Semi Final)
A League: 4th Northern Conference.
AP Sevens:
Academy AP U18 League: 2nd Northern Conference beating Bath on finals day to finish 3rd overall.

Next Game: V Argetnina (Welford road) 5th/6th September Time: TBD.

Senior Squad 2014/15: (Leaving), (Signed new deal) (Retiring)
Coaches: Cockerill (DOR), Blaze (Ass. Forwards), Blake (Defence + Skills Coach), Murphy (Ass.Backs)
1/3) Ayerza, Balmain, Bristow, Brugnara, Cole, Mulipola, Pasquali, Rizzo
2) T.Youngs, Ghiraldini, Briggs, Thacker
4/5) Deacon, De Chaves, Kitchener, Parling, Peterson, Price, Slater, Thorn, Whetton
6/7/8) Barbieri, Crane, Croft, Gibson, Pearce, Salvi
9) Harrison, Mele, Youngs
10) Burns, Williams
12/13) Allen, Bai, Hepetema, Loamanu, Pohe, Roberts, Smith, Tuilagi
11/14) Benjamin, Camacho, Goneva, Hamilton, Scully, Thompstone
15) Bell, Morris, Tait

2014/15 Development Squad: Oliver Bryant, George Catchpole, Jake Farnworth, Tom Hudson, Ed Milne, Will Owen, Aniseko Sio, George Tresidder, Rhys Williams.

2015/16 Senior Squad ATM: (New Signings)
Coaches: Cockerill (DOR), Mauger (HC), Hansen (Defence + Skills Coach), Blaze (Ass. Forwards), Murphy (Ass. Backs)
1/3) Ayerza, Balmain, Brugnara, Cole, Mulipola, Pasquali, Rizzo
2) Youngs, Ghiraldini, Bateman, Thacker
4/5) De Chaves, Fitzgerald, Kitchener, Slater
6/7/8) Crane, Croft, Fonua, McCaffrey, O'Connor, Pearce, Williams
9) Harrison, Kitto, Youngs
10) Burns, Williams
12/13) Allen, Bai, Loamanu, Roberts, Smith, Tuilagi
11/14) Benjamin, Betham, Camacho, Goneva, Thompstone
15) Bell, Morris, Tait

2015/16 Development Squad: N/A

New Deals 2014/14
Dan Cole (Long term)
Marcos Ayerza (3 years)
Tom Youngs (Long Term)
Owen Williams
Graham Kitchener
Fraser Balmain
Tiziano Pasquali
Harry Thacker
Riccardo Brugnara
Sam Harrison
Tom Croft
Niall Morris
Seb De Cheves
Mathew Tait
Niall Morris

Out Of Contract
Roberts
Camacho
Bell
Smith


Transfers in 2014/15:
Brad Thorn (Highlanders)
Tommy Bell (Jersey)
Jack Roberts (Rotherham Titans)
Aaron Mauger (Canterbury Crusaders)
Jack Whetton (ACT Brumbies)
Greg Peterson (Manly)

2015/16
Greg Bateman (Exeter)
Mike Williams (Warriors)
Mike Fitzgerald (Chiefs)
Opeti Fonua (Welsh)
Brendon O'Connor (Blues)
Peter Betham (NSW Waratahs)
Lachlan McCaffrey (London Welsh)
Jono Kitto (Bay of Plenty + Cheifs Development Squad)

Transfers Out 2014/15:
Paul Burke (N/A)
Phil Blake (N/A)
Neil McCarthy (N?A)
Mathew Tait (Bayonne)
Tom Price (Scarlets)
Geoff Parling (Exeter)
Neil Briggs (Sale)
Julien Salvi (Exeter)
Pohe (USC)
Brad Thorn (Retirement)
Peterson (Glasgow)
Hamilton (Coventry)
Bristow (Wasps)
R.Williams (?)
Whetton
Hepetema


Rumours:
IN
Matt Todd -------> Leicester
Francois Hougaard ----> Leicester, Exeter Chiefs.
Maxime Mermoz ------> Leicester
Burrow ----------------> Leicester

Out
Allen (Retirement)
Manu (Toulouse, Saracens, Racing)
 

[Welly]

Part 1 Here: https://www.606v2.com/t54395p1000-leicester-tigers-2014-15-thread

[Welly]

Latest from this week:
Parlng ---> Exeter
Price ---> Scarlets
Briggs ----> Sale

Murphy wants to stay.

[formerly known as Sam]

A disappointing number of academy lads in the squad vs Saints this weekend.

Leicester Tigers (v Northampton Saints, Welford Road, Saturday 3pm)
15 Tommy Bell
14 Niall Morris 
13 George Catchpole
12 Jack Roberts
11 Adam Thompstone
10 Owen Williams
9 Sam Harrison (c)
1 Michele Rizzo
2 Harry Thacker
3 Fraser Balmain
4 Greg Peterson
5 Sebastian De Chaves
6 Jamie Gibson
7 Robert Barbieri
8 Laurence Pearce

Replacements
16 Neil Briggs
17 Riccardo Brugnara
18 Logovi'i Mulipola
19 Jack Whetton
20 Charlie Beckett
21 David Mele
22 Matt Smith
23 Terrence Hepetema

Northampton Saints: 15 Tom Collins, 14 Jamie Elliott, 13 Dom Waldouck, 12 Tom Stephenson, 11 Howard Packman, 10 Will Hooley, 9 Joel Hodgson; 1 Ethan Waller, 2 Matti Williams, 3 Gareth Denman, 4 Tom Ryder, 5 Alex Woolford, 6 Phil Dowson (c), 7 Teimana Harrison, 8 Cam Dolan. Replacements: 16 Reece Marshall, 17 Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi, 18 Adam Parkins, 19 Jordan Onojaife, 20 Ben Nutley, 21 Alex Day, 22 Sam Olver, 23 Rory Hutchinson

[Welly]

Suppose Farnworth and Owen will both be away next weekend.

Glad to see Ctachpole, Hepetema and Roberts involved.

Would rather have Pohe or Bryant on the bench than Smith.

[formerly known as Sam]

Pohe is starting for Nottingham. Bryant is probably Injured as he's not in the Doncaster team either.

Not sure I'd have risked Rizzo and Mulipola though.

[Welly]

Scrappy game ATM

De Cheves try 5 mins.

[formerly known as Sam]

We've got a stronger team out. We should be looking to put Saints away fairly swiftly.

Shame there's no coverage.

[Welly]

Jack Roberts sounding extremely good.

[formerly known as Sam]

Twitter says 40m break for the Pearce try. That's more like what we want to see from our 12.

[Welly]

Pearce, Roberts, De cheves, Williams and Harrison sounding very good.

[Welly]

Jack Whetton on for Peterson

Mele for Harrison

Logo for Balmain

Brugnara for Rizzo

Briggs for Thacker

[formerly known as Sam]

Good rotation of the match day squad. We need to make sure we put the Saints to the sword though. We need the points to help us through. Good money on offer for the LV and every little helps.

[Welly]

Hepetema on for Roberts.

Roberts must be pushing for a 23 spot if he can repeat it next week.

[nathan]

What's the scores guys

[Welly]

14 - 8

Pearce makes a good break.

17 - 8

[LondonTiger]

Pearce made a few good runs, but we really need to sort out his fitness as he went missing for long periods after each one.

Roberts ran well, but could not pass and was lucky on second try as he had a simple pass to Morris for the score but went himself. We recycled 3 times and finally scored.

Owen Williams passing was dreadful and we must have knocked on almost 30 times.


Saints butchered try scoring chance at the end of the first half - but we were so much more profligate. Harrison - who otherwise was very good - really butchered one by not picking ball up cleanly at tghe base when we would have had a 6 on 2 just 2m from the line.

Overall we had 15-20 visits to their 22, scoring just twice.


Saints also had some luck. Hodgson was charged down 3 times when trying to clear ball in his 22, each time the ball ricocheted back to him.

Should have won by more against a game but inexperienced Saints XV

[Welly]

Always look on the bright side LT

[LondonTiger]

There was some good stuff, but the basics of passing and catching were not among them. I reckon that had Burns played instead of Williams we may have conceded one or two tries extra but would have scored 4 or 5 more.

[Welly]

Swings and roundabouts I guess but a win is a win ATM.

How did Catchpole play?

[LondonTiger]

Catchpole struggled a little I felt. The quality of passing inside him was not good and ball in hand he tried to force things too much. In defence he was too upright and was often getting his head in the wrong place.

[LondonTiger]

After a high scoring match at the Ricoh we are all but in the semi finals. With Wasps 4 points behind but having won just one game so far just a point at Cardiff is enough. Meanwhile Wasps need a TBP win at Northampton to make even that necessary.

Should we make the semis, I wonder how cockers will approach both the selection and the coaching duties.

[LondonTiger]

Kitch misses out on the England squad. Croft in!!!

[king_carlos]

Kitch misses out on the England squad. Croft in!!!

Big kick in the teeth for Kitch there! Also a very poor selection from Lancaster overlooking Kitchener in such form when he's now got a very inexperienced lock partnership and no real bench cover.

[formerly known as Sam]

Stupid decision. Kitch has been in better form than Kruis of late and having Easter/Croft to cover the second row is far from ideal. When an All Black legend says you'd be a capped AB by now if you were a Kiwi and Lancaster still turns a blind eye. Frustrating. I have a nasty feeling rushing Croft and Cole back in will not be good for Tigers either.

[Bathite]

Can't believe it, what more does Kitchener need to do!

[LondonTiger]

So was not sure whether to put this up here - thought about it for a few days and here goes.

Matty Tait won the Player of the Month award which was announced at the ground. There was a smattering of applause but also some noticeable booing. A voice from behind me (that I could not quite locate) then shouted that "he could eff off to France and take the effing award with him".

Is the crowd getting worse? It has always been a bit stroppy and moaning - but recently it just seems as if the abuse of refs, coaches (mainly ours), players (often ours) seems to be getting worse.

[yappysnap]

As an outsider looking in; it could be 2 things: a. the fans getting dissatisfied with the lack of success on the pitch rather then with any one player in particular they're showing their anger at the club with its lack of trophies and success b. The fans aren't used to so many players leaving, especially reasonably young successful English players, it used to be the opposite that they all wanted to play at Tigers but not so much now.

[formerly known as Sam]

Sadly you always get a couple of idiots wherever you are. Disappointed to hear of booing our better players. We are in the modern game where player movement is more frequent. People need to accept that is how it goes these days.

[Ozzy3213]

I could be completely facetious here and pose the question of whether there may have been any children in the stand who heard such foul language and whose parents (I hope Mr Hampson doesn't sit in that part of the ground) could complain to the club that little Johnny was very upset and it's a poor example to set, resulting in the swearing supporter being banned from games for the rest of the season?!

Of course that would be childish, so I will ensure that the winking smily is added in order that you all know I was only poking at the Tiggers in fun as that is my sense of humour, and move on to say that I am both surprised and not surprised at the same time to hear that the crowd at Welford Road are becoming a bit stroppy.

My own experience there has been one where the Tigers fans have been polite and welcoming, however I would say it is easy to be those things when you are doing well and humping your opposition (which is what has happened whenever I have been). Having been a club (and fans) who are used to success it must be tough to take when it's not going well, and human nature is such that frustration can come to the fore and manifest itself as abuse.

[LondonTiger]

He actually said "effing" rather than the swear word, so we are safe there


I was amused by the cheers from the small Saints contingent whenever Jamie gibson was mentioned.

[Welly]

I don't get the more players leaving reason.

IMO there are more spoilt pricks now at Leicester now, heard a few fans having pops at our players during the game in terms of mocking there skill set etc.

Look at this thread on the offy.
http://forum.leicestertigers.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=38713

Leicester have a way with announcing players and a lot of it is to do with respecting the players wishes and their previous club, That's why we wait till May June to announce players coming, Cohen said in the program Leicester have signed players already but are respecting the previous club and sometimes the players wishes (Something clubs like Saints fail to do).

But they all think they know more about the club then the actual club.

I remember the reaction from some to just beating Chiefs which was it was Exeter we should have gotten a TBP or losing to AT THE TIME an in form Irish team.

Just so self entitled.

Trouble a lot of the younger fans (Guess I would fall into that) have only know success when supporting a club.

[formerly known as Sam]

There does seem to be a general belief in the offy that we are superior. Some actually believed we should have been able to get the TBP at Ravenhill. I'd have been happy with a LBP there.

[broadlandboy]

Helping to spread the word
http://www.nationalrugbyfootballleague.com/news/roster.html

[Welly]

Rhys Williams starting for Wales U20's against England

[formerly known as Sam]

Nice to see him get some recognition. Hopefully he can break through over the next couple of seasons.

Fonua apparently confirmed on the rugby hour.

[nathan]

https://youtu.be/OrDWUGVakB4

[Welly]

Yeh Ballard I think confirmed it unofficially.

Barbieri only signed a 1 year deal this season so might be a swap.

TBH a long pre season with Fonua and he could be our next Henry in terms of big bad ball carrier.

[nathan]

Think he may have a bit of fitness work to do

[Welly]

Hence the long pre season being at the right time potentially.

[nathan]

Hence the long pre season being at the right time potentially.

Yeah I was agreeing with you

[Ozzy3213]

If you can get him fit he could be a real weapon for you.

[SirBurger]

You guys can obviously do with your thread what you like, but is there a reason that every post is in bold?!

[Welly]

I have no idea why it does it?

[Welly]

Beckett and Owen starting @ 6 and 7, Farnworth on the bench.

4 tigers in total could be a good watch.

[nathan]

You guys can obviously do with your thread what you like, but is there a reason that every post is in bold?!

nobody is posting in bold. for some reason the whole thread is displayed like that.

[Welly]

You guys can obviously do with your thread what you like, but is there a reason that every post is in bold?!

nobody is posting in bold. for some reason the whole thread is displayed like that.

Not the OP funny enough. which is 50/50 for some reason.

[BamBam]

Yeah I've been wondering that too

[formerly known as Sam]

Team for the weekend;

Leicester Tigers (v Cardiff Blues, away, Saturday 2.30pm)
15 Tommy Bell
14 Niall Morris 
13 George Catchpole
12 Jack Roberts
11 Adam Thompstone
10 Owen Williams
9 David Mele
1 Michele Rizzo
2 Neil Briggs
3 Fraser Balmain
4 Jack Whetton
5 Sebastian De Chaves (c)
6 Jamie Gibson
7 Harry Thacker
8 Laurence Pearce

Replacements
16 George Nairn
17 Tom Bristow
18 Logovi'i Mulipola
19 Greg Peterson
20 Tom Price
21 Sam Harrison
22 Matt Smith
23 Terrence Hepetema

Bit short on the back row with two in the England under 20s, Croft in the seniors and two resting. Otherwise as expected.

[Welly]

What a game 43 - 9 6 tires.


Catchpole and Roberts must be looked at for next weekend.

Bell and Thacker impressed.

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