Leicester Tigers 44 Newcastle Falcons 19

Nov 29 2010 by Mark Smith, The Journal

ALAN Tait tore into his Falcons pack for the second-half performance which allowed Leicester Tigers to run away with the game on Saturday afternoon.

The head coach had watched his Newcastle side construct a well-deserved 12-6 lead in the first half-hour of a bruising forward battle at a freezing Welford Road.

But a try conceded just before the interval, and five more afterwards in a one-sided end to the game, saw the Aviva Premiership champions hammer home their title credentials in the most emphatic of fashions.

For Tait, there was no doubt as to where the game was lost.

“At half-time it was very positive, and I thought we were right in among it, but then we just dropped off” said the Scot, with four Jimmy Gopperth penalties seeing his side just 13-12 down at the break.

The Tigers had edged in front in the final moments before the interval courtesy of a penalty try from a powerful five-metre scrum, adding to two earlier penalties from fly-half Billy Twelvetrees.

“Leicester stepped it up in the forwards after half-time, and that’s where we let ourselves down because we didn’t match them in that department,” said Tait.

“We had ten minutes of just getting bullied really, and that’s not acceptable at this level. You can’t let people bully you in this game, and our forwards have to put their hands up because that’s what happened for the ten minutes after half-time.

“That cost us a couple of tries, and from there you’re always struggling.”

There was less than a minute of the second half gone when discarded England number-eight Jordan Crane proved his point to the national selectors, racing through a gap from 40 metres out to power home for a try in the left corner. “Straight from the second-half kick-off they went from their own 22 to score,” lamented Tait.

“The home crowd started to get behind them, and they had that buzz about them. We had no answer for it, and it’s massively disappointing.”

Teenage wing Manu Tuilagi belied his tender years with a powerful brace of tries as Leicester’s green machine found top gear, the centre pairing of Anthony Allen and Matt Smith also hitting hard midfield lines to cross for one score apiece.

Luke Fielden added some degree of consolation with a late try for his side, with Tait saying: “We scored probably the best try of the game at the end there, but it doesn’t matter when you’re 30 points down.”

Highlighting some streetwise play from the hosts, he added: “Some of our lads were getting taken out off the ball, but I’m not complaining because it’s part of rugby. It’s a man’s game, is this, and you have to be tough. If someone grabs hold of you when you’re at guard and takes you out of the game, you’ve got to start swinging and let them know it’s not acceptable.

“I saw players out there at Leicester being taken out off the ball, and they were just letting it happen. That’s surrendering, to me. You have to let the ref know about it, and it’s just not good enough at this level to be passive.”

Understandably rattled by Saturday’s result, Tait could have even more worries on his mind this week as injuries continue to ravage the Falcons camp.

Scrum-half Chris Pilgrim became the latest to add himself to the casualty list, as he lasted less than ten minutes before leaving with an ankle injury.

Fullback Jeremy Manning sustained a bang to the neck, and with Bath the visitors to Kingston Park on Friday, the Newcastle medical team will have a major job on their hands to get the home side fighting fit against the West Country outfit.

NEWCASTLE FALCONS: J Manning, L Fielden, T Tu’ipulotu, L Eves, G Bobo (M Tait, 56), J Gopperth, M Young (C Pilgrim, 56, T Catterick, 63); G Shiells (D Fearn, 69), K Brookes (S Crombie, 56), M Ward (J Hall, 65), J Hudson (captain), T Swinson (G Townson, 56), B Wilson, R Pennycook (W Welch, 47), A Hogg.

Scorers: Tries: L Fielden. Cons: J Gopperth. Pens: J Gopperth 4.

LEICESTER TIGERS: S Hamilton, L Robinson, M Smith, A Allen (A Forsyth, 59), M Tuilagi, B Twelvetrees (G Ford, 68), J Grindal; P Bucknall (J Harris, 68), G Chuter, J White (R Bower, 51), L Deacon (E Slater, 60), G Skivington, T Waldrom, C Newby (S Mafi, 59), J Crane (captain).

Scorers: Tries: J Crane, M Tuilagi 2, Penalty try, Allen, Smith. Conversions: B Twelvetrees 4. Penalties: B Twelvetrees 2.

Referee: Greg Garner. Att: 18,738