Tigers Charge Past Newcastle
Leicester Tigers looked very impressive at the weekend as they steamed past newly promoted Newcastle Falcons with a comfortable 31-6 win at Welford Road.
Jordan Crane, Graham Kitchner and Blaine Scully all crossed the Newcastle line within the first half to open a 17-6 Leicester advantage, with two kicks by Rory Clegg for Newcastle.
A further two trys in the second half from Dan Bowden and Thomas Waldrom sealed the home victory for the defending Premiership Champions.
Although Tigers lost in their previous game 27-20 to Bath, there was a lifted spirit within the mind-set of home side, as Manu Tuilagi, Toby Flood and Ben Youngs all returned from injury.
The mammoth challenge which faced newly promoted Newcastle was evident early on as the home side took an early 12-0 lead, and never really looked back.
Crane crossed the line first for the Champions after an immense amount of pressure from Leicester.
Followed by a burst from centre Tuilagi which ended with Kitchener touching the ball down, with Flood converting.
However, against the run of play, Newcastle did fight back with Clegg converting two penalties and a drop-goal.
Tuilagi was again provider for the Tigers as he placed American fullback Scully through for a try, to give the home side a 17-6 lead.
Leicester were denied a further try by the referee for a forward pass; however, Dan Bowden managed to cross the line to make the score 24-9. In addition, Thomas Waldron added a fifth from a maul off a lineout, easing Leicester through for a comfortable win.
Former Leicester Tiger and now Newcastle Director of Rugby Dean Richards added, when he spoke to the BBC, that "we came here with a lot of young boys who did not have the experience Leicester have. If you look at their starting line-up and their bench, it's not a bad squad, is it? We came here with no worries and there were positives to come out of it.
"Players like Dom Barrow, Scott Wilson, Joel Hodgson, Will Welch and Mark Wilson have played a reasonable amount of rugby but not always at this level. You could not go anywhere else other than here to gain that experience. It's fantastic.
"I'd still have liked the scoreline to have been reversed and in time it will be. We just need to work on how to do it. We made four clean breaks in the first half and didn't nail them. If you make four clean breaks at Leicester you have to nail them. Had we scored one or two it might have been different but going in at half-time 17-6 down was probably a bit too far away for us, especially with what they had coming off the bench."
Leicester backs coach Paul Burke was obviously thrilled as he added: "The break Manu Tuiliagi made for [Graham] Kitchener's try was outstanding. It shows how immense he can be, and how strong he is. It was his first game since the Lions, he got through 75 minutes and showed how important he is to our team. He got cramp at the end and we took him off as a precaution.
"You know what he brings to the table, he is a very aggressive player. He will admit he was a bit rusty at times but it was his first hit-out and he will be better for that performance.
"There are not many players in world rugby who can do what Manu does. He is very important to our team and it's important we get him up to speed. We have got a big six weeks coming up."
Leicester will look to continue their impressive form from this weekend against Exeter Chiefs away at Sandy Park. On the other hand Newcastle will need to improve to stay competitive in English Rugby’s highest tier, starting next Sunday as they welcome Gloucester to Kingston Park.
Line-Ups:
Leicester: Scully; Goneva, Tuilagi, Bowden, Thompstone; Flood (capt), B. Youngs; Stankovich, Briggs, Mulipola, Slater, Kitchener, Waldrom, Gibson, Crane.
Replacements: T. Youngs, Bristow, Cole, Parling, Salvi, Mele, Williams, Morris.
Newcastle: Tait; Cato, Powell, Fitzpatrick, Catterick; Clegg, Fury; Montanella, Vickers, Brookes, Del Fava, Barrow, Wilson, Welch (capt), York.
Replacements: Thompson, Strain, Wilson, Tomes, Saull, Pilgrim, Hodgson, Crockett.
