The East Midlands Derby - England Head to Heads

Leicester Tigers and Northampton Saints battled to a draw in one of the fiercest modern derbies in Premiership rugby. In the thick of it Lancaster would have been keeping watch on some of his charges.

Given England’s growing list of casualties, especially in the midfield, the collisions probably had him watching between his fingers. It is games like this, along with the big European games, that tell a coach a lot about a players international potential. It is not an exact science, you cannot replicate the clinical power of the All Blacks or the strength of the Springboks but if a player wilts under the pressure at Welford Road, you would be asking yourself how he would cope at Twickenham.  

There was an opportunity to broaden this article to look at all the runners for this year’s Autumn International. However I want to concentrate on the head to heads in Midlands derby the personal battles that happened within the wider context of the derby.

The big battle at scrum time between loosehead Alex Corbisiero and tighthead Dan Cole never materialised. The Lions props battled to a stalemate, Cole had an edge down to Mulipola’s dominance on the other side and with the power coming from behind.

Cole is a corner stone of the Leicester pack, in the loose he was strong in defence and tried his best to stem the flow of Saints strike runners. Corbisiero offered more going forwards in attack than Cole, though not as much as Tigers loosehead Mulipola, and took his try well. Those low short drives are a key weapon in a props arsenal. What will also go in Corbisiero’s favour is that despite the Saints pack struggling at scrum time much of the blame was directed at Mercey.

Cole and Corbisiero will be England’s props, injury permitting, the question is who will be sandwiched between them. It will be one of the two hookers on show in the East Midlands derby. After a few early drops, Hartley was as physical and direct as we have come to expect, he carried the ball well and competed tirelessly at the breakdown.

Though he didn’t turn over ball his persistent bulk served to slow ball up. The dummy line out throw in the last minute to give Leicester a sniff was potentially telling though, he has yet to dispel the idea that he can lose his head in the heat of battle. He also struggled in the scrum, popping up under pressure consistently. It’s up to Lancaster to decide how much of that was done to Hartley personally, or the Saints pack as a unit.

Youngs on the other hand showed, importantly for Lancaster, that he has improved in the set piece. We all know that Youngs offers a modern mobility around the park but there have been undeniable questions around his throwing in during the big games. He stated himself during preseason that he had concerns about the hooking aspect of, well, being hooker. All that said, under the pressure of the derby he hit his jumpers and, as part of a dominant pack, won the scrum battle.

Controlling the two packs were two players vying for the England nine shirt, Leicester Tigers scrum half Ben Youngs is the man currently in possession of the shirt, he’s a Lion too. His opposite number in the East Midlands Derby, Lee Dickson, it has to be said is potentially behind Danny Care and Richard Wigglesworth.

Performances in big games like this will see him rocket into contention though. I like to say that Dickson is the heart beat of the Saints when he’s on form. He did exactly what was needed against the Tigers and got the Saints big runners onto the ball. He mixed it up nicely, taking the ball to the gain line himself, delaying the pass till the gate guard was drawn in. Other times he moved the ball quickly away from the ruck, quick passes to get the big guys running down the ten channel. All with the aim of getting the Saints over the gain line and rumbling down field.

Kahn Fotuali’i might need to take a cushion to his next game, because he’ll be sat on the bench. Youngs on the other hand, had a game to forget. He started off brightly but seemed to get frustrated when little happened outside of him and Flood. Ball became frustratingly slow, the gap between him and Flood got bigger and bigger. For a scrum half heralded for his box kick, he failed to get Leicester, with a dominant set piece, playing in the right places. The difference David Mele made when he came on, said it all.

I mentioned earlier that Lancaster would have been watching some of the collisions between his fingers; he would have had his eyes closed when Luther Burrell smashed his rival for an England centre spot, Anthony Allen. Burrell, literally, made a huge impact on the game.

He reinforced what it is he offers; a massive ball carrier and physical presence. Defensively he was far more solid against the Tigers than he has been in recent weeks. Personally, I thought it was a good hit on Allen. He followed it up with a few more tackles and was up quickly each time to compete for the ball. It’s Burrell’s ability to get over the gain line that would be most attractive though and against Leicester Burrell put on a Jamie Roberts style performance. He carried tirelessly, brushed the first defender aside and pulled in the cover. On more than one occasion Burrell showed an ability to pass well and confidently off both hands.

In fairness to Allen, he too put in a very good shift. The time it took Youngs to get Flood the ball gave the defence too much time and Allen no space. In the last fifteen minutes as Leicester got out of second gear Allen ran great lines off Flood. He angled straight across the Saints defence at Pisi, bringing the Tigers back three into play.

This was a game though that will again bring old ghosts back; it wasn’t so much the pressure of the big derby that affected Allen, as it was the size of the players that play in it. Big players, play big games. Allen is not small, that’s a myth, but he’s not as big as Burrell and Pisi. He struggled to get over the gain line when the space wasn’t available and was brushed out of the way by Pisi a few times. Allen has so often been the ‘nearly man’, he deserves all the opportunities he gets, but you feel Burrell and perhaps Northampton, won this battle.