Leicester shove Wasps off the park

Leicester Tigers moved to the top of the 2009/10 Guinness Premiership table after yet another powerful scrummaging display from the defending champions helped them to a superb 34-8 bonus point win over London Wasps at a cold Welford Road on Saturday.

The Tigers scrum – in the only Premiership match that took place this weekend, after some more treacherous UK weather – was simply too strong for Wasps, ironically the last team to have beaten the reigning champs at their fortress in Leicester.

It did, however, take some time for the Tigers forwards to warm up, much like the weather (although that never quite warmed up at Welford Road!), so much so that the visitors rushed into an early 5-0 lead thanks to some magic from that man Danny Cipriani.

The enigmatic England flyhalf showed plenty of great touches early on; a floated long ball in his own 22 and a skip and dance past prop Dan Cole leading to a second-minute Mark van Gisbergen try.

Cipriani was unable to add the conversion, but Wasps had clearly laid down a marker – not that it mattered for the rest of the game, however, as the Tigers forwards – led by that young tighthead monster Cole – slowly, but surely, took control of proceedings.

Amazingly, there were no scrums in the first quarter of the match, whilst Wasps held their own in the first few battles up front on the night shortly after the 20-minute mark. The change, however, came shortly before the half-hour mark – and with Tigers 8-3 down – when a massive Leicester scrum gave Tigers No.10 Toby Flood a third shot at goal.

That Flood missed his attempt mattered little – Leicester had laid down a marker of their own and they were not about to let up either, despite being 3-8 down at that stage and despite also facing some more Wasps pressure.

The real turning point came shortly before half-time after Leicester had once again absorbed some concerted Wasps pressure, before turning the ball over on their own line. Flood hacked the ball ahead – proving that Wasps should have gone for the three points – and Tigers No.8 Jordan Crane, virtually from the next few phases, looked to have powered his way over for his team’s first try.

French referee Romain Poite opted to go upstairs for the decision and when it was ruled that the Tigers were held up, they had another scrum and they made it count. A series of scrums ensued and with Wasps back-pedalling at a rapid rate, their England and B&I Lions loosehead prop Tim Payne was sin-binned for collapsing the scrum – no doubt under pressure from his opposing number, Cole.

Wasps, even with one man down, managed to hold the next Tigers scrum and Crane – who looked to, perhaps, have knocked on – managed to hold onto a bobbling ball at the base of the scrum, before the home side went wide. Former Wallaby whiz Lote Tuqiri came off his wing to create the extra man and good hands from him and Scott Hamilton put No.14 Johne Murphy in at the right-hand corner.

Flood did well to convert from wide out, finally putting his side in the lead at 10-8 and a sure sign of things to come in the second half as the home team – no doubt through some choice words from coach Richard Cockerill at half-time – came out snorting in the second 40 minutes.

Yet another powerful scrum led to a penalty in the third minute of the second half which Flood booted to touch. Wasps did well to hold the ensuing lineout, but, again, it simply allowed the Tigers to go wide and after some good work from Flood – at second receiver – Tuqiri glided past Simon Shaw and crashed over for his first try in Leicester colours.

Flood’s conversion made it 17-8 – a 14-point swing either side of half-time – and a penalty soon afterwards, thanks to a lucky bounce and a subsequent Wasps error, put Leicester out of sight at 20-8.

Payne’s return to action was hardly noticed as Leicester continued to hold sway up front – after 50 minutes they were dominating possession by 62% to 38% – and they picked up a penalty try in the 52nd minute after yet another powerful scrum on the Londoners’ line.

To their immense credit, Wasps did not give up – despite being 8-27 down – but Payne’s bad day got even worse when he looked to have crashed over for a much-needed score on the right-hand side of the field, only for that man Cole to somehow dislodge the ball in the tackle on his team’s line.

As if that was bad enough for Wasps, the home side then rubbed salt into their wounds by claiming their fourth try in the 62nd minute; livewire scrumhalf Ben Youngs – who also had yet another tremendous outing – sniping through a gap after a double-around with his halfback partner and feeding a flying Tuqiri who sprinted over for his brace, despite a brave defensive effort from opposite number David Lemi.

“To get the five points today was awesome,” said Cole on Sky Sports afterwards. “We played as a team (today) and it’s always nice to beat Wasps.

“We’ve lost a few to them in recent times, but this win continues our recent run and hopefully we can build on it.”

Cole – who after yet another powerful all-round display is being spoken of as a serious England contender – was loath to comment on Payne’s sin-binning, but when asked about his team’s scrumming display, he added: “It’s a team effort and it certainly helps having guys like Geoff (Parling), Louis (Deacon) and Moodos (Lewis Moody) pushing behind you.”

The scorers:

For Leicester Tigers:
Tries: J Murphy, Tuqiri 2, Penalty
Cons: Flood 4
Pens: Flood 2

For London Wasps:
Try: Van Gisbergen
Pen: Cipriani

Yellow card(s): Tim Payne (London Wasps, 37 minutes)

The teams:

Leicester Tigers: 15 Scott Hamilton, 14 Johne Murphy, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Jeremy Staunton, 11 Lote Tuqiri, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Lewis Moody, 6 Craig Newby, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Louis Deacon (captain), 3 Dan Cole, 2 Mefin Davies, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 George Chuter, 17 Boris Stankovich, 18 Robbie Harris, 19 Tom Croft, 20 Brett Deacon, 21 James Grindal, 22 Sam Vesty, 23 Alesana Tuilagi.

London Wasps: 15 Mark van Gisbergen, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Ben Jacobs, 12 Dominic Waldouck, 11 David Lemi, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Mark Robinson, 8 Dan Ward-Smith, 7 Will Matthews, 6 John Hart (captain), 5 George Skivington, 4 Simon Shaw, 3 Ben Broster, 2 Rob Webber, 1 Tim Payne.
Replacements: 16 Joe Ward, 17 Sakaria Taulafo, 18 Gabriel Bocca, 19 Marty Veale, 20 Dan Leo, 21 James Honeyben, 22 Dave Walder, 23 Tom Varndell.

Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Touch judges: Stuart Terheege, Paul Dix
Television match official: Brian Abrahams, Graham Hughes