Leicester Tigers - Saracens (12/05/2012, 17:30)

[TRF_Olyy]

Welford Road (12/05/2012, 14:45)

Live on ESPN​

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Can't tell the ESPN guys are ex-Tigers.
"Nothing wrong with that tackle, it's just BIG" they say as Alesana Tuilagi shoulder charges Strettle in the face.

 

[McTallshort]

We won dont care!

 

[Pork Chops]

Fantastic game, both teams worked hard for the win and when the Tigers ran with the ball, they always looked like they could get a try.
Good kicking by the boy Ford but hats off to Saracens who never gave up.
When they were only 6 points off, Saracens looked like they could pull off an amazing escape just like Quins did against Saints.
A great home swan-song for Alesana Tuilagi with a text book try, he will be sorely missed!
All I'm left to say is bring on the Mighty Quins!

 

[Tony Manx]

Can someone give me a shout when Mafi is cited for striking an opponent after slapping a Saffacen player at least five times in the face to wind him up....how he did not react I will never know and I am for ANY team against the Saffacens!!

 

[Tadginator]

strettle looked dangerous in space

 

[gingergenius]

strettle looked dangerous in space

Strettle once again demonstrated an incredible ability not to finish tries in big games. He did mighty well to stay in touch after the tap-tackle, but after that grounding the ball was simple and he ****ed it. Likewise against Wales in the 6N and I remember on tour to NZ in 2008.

I've said this time and time again, watch rugby league/ Super rugby and see how well wingers finish off tight tries in the corner. They seem to exhibit phenomenal levels of physical strength and athleticism to get the ball down, and it seems a lot of the time that English players just end up in touch or dropping the ball.

Anyway, I think we've got England's best two teams in the final.

----------------

Dear Mark McCall,

Saracens are still an excellent side, but there's a definite pattern emerging that I hope our coaching staff take heed of. If we're going to base a gameplan on forward dominance, defence and pressure then we have to be the best at this. Last year we were.

But this year, our scrum is not good enough. Gill has improved massively, Nieto is getting on and Stevens is a liability. A new tighthead needs to come in over the summer.
Our back row has missed Burger, Saull and in particular the underrated Kelly Brown, massively. Without them, good teams have smashed us at the breakdown, and we don't have that same ferocity in defence.

We also need to develop a gameplan to counteract this - a plan B. If Leicester etc. can cope with missing players to England all the time then we can't use the absence of Brown and Burger as an excuse. The fact is, against Quins, Northampton, Leicester and Clermont this year, they've managed to match (if not dominate) the famous Saracens steely, aggressive style, and killed it off with flair. We've gone behind and not been able to score tries to make up the deficit. Having a Hodgson-Barritt-Farrell midfield is fine on an ordinary premiership weekend but not against high class opposition - we really need an out-and-out 13. Bringing Tomkins on is one option, signing someone like Joseph (who really needs to be playing HC rugby) would be my preferred option.

We saw in the Clermont - Leinster game what it takes to win the Heineken Cup these days, because I don't think you'll see a better quality anywhere. Leicester, Saints (last season) and probably Quins now are capable of producing that standard of 'total rugby' at times, and Saracens at the moment are not. If we want to win trophies, we have to get to this standard.

Yours,

An optimistic fan.