Pirates Colts feel the Tigers Roar
By woll
November 25 2007
Hopelessly outnumbered by the hosts' parents, coaches and fellow squad members; eight hardy exiled Pirates fans assembled on the far touchline at Leicester Tigers' Oval Park training ground, to watch the Colts try to emulate last seasons heroics against their more illustrious opponents. Their attendance noted and acknowledged by players and coaches alike.
No time then to restore body core temperature with a warm beverage, on what was still a raw, overcast late November morning with the ever increaing threat of rain. How the memories of those Sunday mornings with Junior rugby came flooding back even though they only ended for Jnr and I back in April! But at least the rain held off...in Leicester at least. Even so, the most noticable difference between the two teams as they lined up to start, was the visible advantage size-wise Leicester's back division had over their Cornish visitors. With less than two minutes played this became even more apparent when the ball ended up wide on Tigers' right, and in the hands of yet another Tuilangi prospect and at full chat. The first challenge though brave, ended in tears as his counterpart bounced off this mountain of a lad, like a cricket ball off Beefy Botham's bat in the 70's & 80's. It did though check his progress a little and a maul formed well into the Pirates' 22. Slick execution of this most basic and raw rugby tactic was only going to result in one outcome, and with the extras coolly taken, things seemed ominous for the away side. 0-7. Commendably though the Pirates recovered well from this early blow, and surprised the Tigers as they fought back with a mixture of steel and adventure over the next 20-25 minutes. This visibly rattled the team in green and when a spell of pressure deep into their own 22 threatened a levelling score, vocal ill discipline on their part, particularly by their No 8, almost opened the door for the Pirates to plunder. A long chat between he and the official, surprisingly saw Leicester remain at their full quota, and the resulting 5m attacking scrum lead to the line being breached but held up. This was as close as the Pirates were to come to scoring in the first period and it was to come back and haunt them when a telling break by the Leicester 12, eventually lead to their second score as half time neared. 0-14. Unfortunately, the half ended slightly short of it's scheduled 35 minutes, when Pirates player Brett Rule, suffered a broken ankle requiring a visit to Leicester Infirmary. On resumption of play and with the breeze now more or less behind them, the Pirates needed to pick up from their earlier successes soonest. The disruption to the game though had seemingly affected them most, as play began to take place more and more in their own half. Some sterling defence though briefly stemmed the flow, but once Hobson went off with a knock ten minutes in, the writing was on the wall. Two quick fire tries, one of which smelt of a forward pass, took the score to 0-26 which in a blink of the eye changed the complexion of the contest. The task rapidly became one of containment but there was still enough endeavour evident for at least a score or two of their own. Leicester's defence though tightened up a notch and any venture into their 22 was now being repelled with ruthless efficiency. This time Sir had no alternative and along with one home player, the two Pirates Bleach Boys spent the remainder of the match from the opposite side of the line. Consequently with a man advantage, and more space to exploit, the Tigers by now without Master T. ran in two further converted tries to complete the rout at 0-47 even if it did ever so slightly flatter them. Talk on the sidelines as the Exiles made their way to either home, or their second fixture of the day at Ripley in Derbyshire (The Fearsome Foursome), was of a brave effort that was in the end out-gunned. Lots to work on then, before the return fixture in the Duchy in March (?), but there is certainly hope, assuming that this avenue of prospective talent is given the attention needed.
Time for the author to discuss prospects were limited however, after excursions into Leicesters city centre, and then to it's Uni's sports facilities on the opposite side of the A6, delayed arrival until moments before the kick off.
Though in effect a Truro College Acadamy team, the side was bolstered with the inclusion of Hobson & Parsons with their National One experiences to add to the mix.
Changes to both lineups now became the norm, and despite a fifth Tigers try, the battle up front was once again evening up a little. So much so that when yet another Tigers scrum was shoved backwards at pace, tempers frayed and an almighty fracas followed. 