Tigers youngsters top the league

By Tigerstart
September 30 2002

The U21s showdown was second place vs first place: Tigers vs Bristol. A flourishing start to the season saw this game as a bench marker for the two teams at the top of the league.

Consecutive victories had been built upon: 29-28 vs Worcester, 10-20 vs Harlequins, 37-23 vs Sale and 11-17 vs Newcastle, and the U21s laid more foundations as they went to the top of their league.

Tigers built up a cushion within the first few minutes, as Taylor popped over a penalty and resulting from a pack manoeuvre, Buckland crashed over the line, but Taylor missed the conversion. Bristol countered and after the ball was run and recycled, Hodgson fed Gray who made ground and Luke ran in clear of the Tigers pack. Tigers were showing some clever heads, as they looked to exploit Bristols backs, by chipping over their defensive line. Jones broke from the scrum and kicked into touch, which put Bristol back defending their line.

Bristols pack had no answer to the strength of Tigers, as Bristols put in saw Tigers forwards drive them back over their line, turn the head and Clarke touched down. Bristol could only reply with a penalty by Hayward. Slick hands and recycling added to possession being used intelligently by Tigers, as well as vision. Hipkiss was feed the ball, spun out wide and then kicked into touch to run Bristol back. Buckland added another try, after a classical lineout, catch and drive on Bristols line.

Tigers pack drove and combined as a unit with the backs running in from depth. At the end of the first half Tigers turned the ball over and kicked over Bristols defensive line, but it went into touch. Later Bristol misjudged their kick, as it went into out on the fall, so Tigers caught the resulting lineout and the pack drove over Bristols line but were held up. Tigers looked to open up play, but Taylor dropped the ball and in another scoring opportunity, Coles was clean through but the referee disagreed.

Tigers went into the second half having built up a lead of 20-10. Tries were traded between the teams. Bristols fly-half Gray was on the receiving end of a pass to twist over. Glitherow hit back for Tigers and Bristols captain Styles scored, with Hayward adding the conversion. Bristol came the closest then to sneaking victory, at 25-22. Stout defence from the Tigers was maintained, and after the forwards had done the hard work, the ball was spun wide and Hipkiss crossed. Tigers had to continue defending to the whistle. In what was looking like a 50-pointer, turned out to be a far tighter game but equally exciting.

Unlike the first team, the U21s are sitting pretty at the top of their league. Perhaps its the fact that every game they win that I see has put on a curse on the first team winning. The clearest message is that the U21s rugby is dynamic and exciting with a strong pack aided by engaging backs.

Scoring sequence:
2 mins Tigers pen by Taylor 3-0
8 mins Tigers try by Buckland 8-0
9 mins Bristol try by Luke and con by Hayward 8-7
17 mins Tigers try by Clarke and con by Taylor 15-7
21 mins Bristol pen by Hayward 15-10
27 mins Tigers try by Buckland 20-10

43 mins Bristol try by Gray 20-15
50 mins Tigers try by Glitherow 25-15
55 mins Bristol try by Styles and con by Hayward 25-22
69 mins Tigers try by Hipkiss 30-22

Date: Saturday 28th September 2002
Time: 2.30pm k/o
Weather: Warm
Crowd: 573
Referee: Gary Copsey

Tigers Team:
15 Steve Glitherow
14 Tom Coles
13 Adam Billing
12 Danny Hipkiss
11 James Hersey
10 Tim Taylor
9 Nathan Jones
1 Peter Cook
2 James Buckland
3 Michael Holford
4 Rob Cooke
5 Lee Morley
6 Brett Deacon
7 Peter Clarke
8 Ben Gerry (capt)
Replacements: Roman Piotrowski, Luke Sayer, David Jackson, Chris Barlow, James Henry, Sam Raven and Ben Chamberlin (some were used).

Bristol Team:
15 Jon Clarke
14 Carl Saunders
13 Tom Luke
12 Duncan Hayward
11 Mike Griffiths
10 Danny Gray
9 Paul Hodgson
1 Chris Rowlands
2 Tom Lambert
3 Craig McGrath
4 Steve Pape
5 Dave Bufton
6 Matt Styles (capt)
7 Matt Bourne
8 Ricahrd Martin-Redman
Replacements: Owen Price, Owen Evans, Greg Nicholls, Bobby Blake, Joe Horn-Smith, John Bourne and Scott Whitcomb (some were used).