News: Tigers v Saints GP Preview

By St marlowe
September 30 2008

The East Midland Derby is upon us. In the middle of a hectic round of matches for all the Premiership Clubs, Saints take on the unspokely ones at Welford Road on Wednesday. The welcome return of this fixture, in abeyance for our year in ND1, pitches two sides, each searching for their game plan in this year's competition, together in what should be a ferocious and unpredictable contest.

GUINNESS PREMIERSHIP ROUND 5

LEICESTER TIGERS V NORTHAMPTON SAINTS

WELFORD ROAD WEDNESDAY 1st OCTOBER

KO 7:45

So here we go again, the East Midland Derby, refereed by His Worship Christopher White of Glawsterr. His last outing with Saints left mixed feelings among the supporters, confused as to his priorities. Let’s hope he lives up to his reputation tomorrow! The last time we visited Welford road was 24th February 2007.

In his match report Howlin said – “There was a team out there fighting for each other and playing to a united game plan. In the dying minutes they kept the ball tight. They didn't panic and wound the clock down. Even the Sky commentary team became wrapped in the emotion of the moment. The Saints out tiggered Tigers, their 33 premiership match unbeaten record came to an end and it was magnificent.” Man of the match that day was one S. Myler esq. who is named in the team at 15, and hopefully will punish any transgressions by the Tigers (Not that we expect any of course). The meeting before that at the Gardens saw Tigers go down 18 5 to a gutsy Saints performance. The man of the match was …erm Mr Myler.

Both sides come to this match off the back of defeats, Saints going down to Saracens after a gutsy fight, and Tigers to Wasps and their surprise move to uncontested scrums. Saints have made 5 changes to the team that played at Watford, bringing in Tom Smith to the starting 15 and handing Chris Mayor his first start in the GP. He should bring some interesting pace into the centre.

Following his sending off for lying nowhere near play last Saturday, Ben Foden gets his chance to start a GP match at 9.

For Tigers, the return of Harry Ellis and Dan Hipkiss adds some spice to the mid-field, but it does seem to be quite a quick return from injury, and I am sure they will be wecomed back warmly by the Saints opposition.

The teams are:
Leicester Tigers
15 Geordan Murphy
14 Johne Murphy
13 Dan Hipkiss
12 Aaron Mauger
11 Matt Smith
10 Toby Flood
9 Harry Ellis
1 Boris Stankovich
2 Benjamin Kayser
3 Julian White
4 Martin Corry (c)
5 Marco Wentzel
6 Tom Croft
7 Ben Herring
8 Jordan Crane

Replacements
16 George Chuter
17 Marcos Ayerza
18 Ben Kay
19 Ben Woods
20 Julien Dupuy
21 Tom Youngs
22 Tom Varndell

Northampton Saints
15 Stephen Myler
14 Chris Ashton
13 Joe Ansbro
12 Chris Mayor
11 Bruce Reihana (capt)
10 Carlos Spencer
9 Ben Foden
1 Tom Smith
2 Dylan Hartley
3 Euan Murray
4 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe
5 Christian Day
6 Mark Hopley
7 Scott Gray
8 Roger Wilson

Replacements
16 Paul Shields
17 Soane Tonga'uiha
18 Alex Rae
19 Ben Lewitt
20 Lee Dickson
21 Nils Mordt
22 Sean Lamont

From selections it is clear that both teams are taking this match seriously. This bodes well for both sets of supporters, and I am looking for a cracking match as in days of yore. Can Saints make it a hat trick? Can Myler make it a hat trick? My prediction is:

Close.

New: Tigers v Saints GP Preview

Posted by: ComeOnYouSaints.com (IP Logged)

Date: 30/09/2008 18:39

New: Tigers v Saints GP Preview