Tigers end Quins hoodoo

By Mike Hill
January 26 2003

It was a case of third time lucky as Leicester beat Harlequins 19 -12 to progress to a semi final clash with Gloucester at Franklin Gardens. Quins had knocked Tigers out of the competition two years running at the Stoop but a solid professional performance saw the team through in a tepid encounter.

The power of the Tigers pack was too much for the Quins but the match winner was the full back Geordan Murphy back to his best after a quiet couple of weeks by his standards. Geordan is almost infallible in his handling skills and his side step is utterly mesmeric but we've known that for years. What he's now developing is the ability to control a game from full back and pick the right moment to run or kick.

Harlequins made the better start to the game and immediately camped in the Leicester 22 earning a easy penalty which Burke slotted after Moody stifled an attack by playing the ball on the ground. Lewis left the field for ten minutes rest but Tigers pack made short work of 7 v 8 and shoved the Quins pack almost to the try line. When the ball came back Hamilton smartly exploited the blind side to put Stimpson over in the corner.

Murphy made his most telling contribution midway through the first half when Tigers got the rare opportunity to move the ball wide on the right. Geordan evaded the first tackler shimmied past the attentions of two more before he was finally brought down just shy of the line. Showing great awareness Murphy simply tossed the ball to his left knowing full well his housemate Moody was on hand to make the line.

Stimpson added a penalty but missed both conversions to take the Tigers into halftime with a four point advantage over the home side 13 - 9. Paul Burke's two further penalties kept Quins in touch but their lack of ideas and willingness to run the ball let them down. If Tigers had a weakness that Quins could have exploited better it was in the lineout where Leicester were uncharacteristically untidy.

Leicester's slow improvement continues but they once more failed to find top gear as handling errors and bizarre refereeing decisions impeded their flow. Chris White had a poor game he was inconsistent in his interpretation of the rules and refused to let the game flow. At times he was just wrong for instance when he penalised Tigers for crossing just because he couldn't believe Geordan could side step so many players without illegal obstruction to help.

Another case in point was when he disallowed Jamie Hamilton's try because Franck Tournaire had a fight 50m away. That incident had no impact on the scoring of the try so why not just bin him. Referrees need to apply a bit of common sense and let the crowd see some rugby being played if we are going to grow the profile of rugby union in this country.

One more incident before I step down off my soap box was when in the dying moments of the game a Harlequins player deliberately killed the ball by diving over in a ruck. A carbon copy of Moody's earlier indiscretion but this time no yellow card. Why? Maybe because there was very little time left on the clock White didn't think it worthwhile. If that player had then gone on to contribute to a try that levelled the scores it would have been a travesty.

The second half was peculiarly lacking passion or intensity for a cup tie of this nature and the net result was a brace of penalties for Stimpson and one for Burke. Neither side were able to make the most of the possession that came their way and Tigers were content to sit on their lead. Tigers will be fairly pleased with a tie against Gloucester who they seem to enjoy playing and at Franklin Gardens a venue where they have done well over the past four years.

Franck Tournaire had a good game looking quite sprightly as he tap tackled Greenwood as did Rowntree now thankfully recovered from his injury, since Perry's brief return to action seemed to end in another setback. Martin Johnson was once again excellent and led the troops well remaining disciplined despite intense provocation from the Quins and referree.

However the magic Geordan Murphy wins the man of the match accolade this week for quite simply creating the try that won us the game. See you at Bath where we desperately need an away win to keep us in contention for the end of season play off finals.