Coach’s bold calls are handsomely rewarded against the French giants
PREMIERSHIP LEADERS CLINCH VICTORY OVER BORDEAUX IN HEINEKEN CHAMPIONS CUP TIE
WHEN the Leicester Tigers team announcement dropped midday on Friday, eyebrows were raised and questions posed: are they only challenging on the one front this season?
Going away to France, tackling a team leading the way in the bigspending Top 14, without the likes of Ben Youngs, Julian Montoya, Nemani Nadolo and Freddie Steward.
Then other players considered to be in their Best XV such as Dan Cole, Marco van Staden and Harry Wells were rotated to the bench.
There was enough talent in the 1-15 to suggest this wasn’t a concession, but a protection of resources for challenges ahead.
Yet it still felt like somewhat of a gamble given the calibre of the opposition.
Come 5pm, Steve Borthwick’s bold calls were vindicated.
Their 16-13 victory was achieved through a collective buy-in from the 22 players who rolled up their sleeves and went to the coal face.
Maybe we shouldn’t have been surprised this kind of result and performance was achievable with a side packed with changes.
Remember the team announcement for Saracens at Mattioli Woods Welford Road?
Ellis Genge, Harry Potter, Freddie Steward, Nadolo and Wells were not among the XV which was already without the international contingent of Montoya, Matias Moroni, van Staden and Jasper Wiese.
But they got the job done. A stoppage time penalty try secured a memorable 13-12 victory and any questions regarding Borthwick’s selection were silenced.
Before 28,000 people at Stade
Chaban-Delmas, Tigers’ latest match saw late drama with the clock in the red.
This time the shoe was on the other foot as an energy-sapping counter-drive from a five-metre lineout forced Bordeaux into a panicked splinter towards the line.
The penalty was conceded as players were bundled off their feet – game over.
There is a trust and belief in this Tigers squad that comes from the top.
A squad that is capable of adapting and a coach who is brave to pick a side for a game plan.
Nemani Nadolo would undoubtedly have provided an attacking threat – but given the high volume of backfield tracking back, kicking and relentlessly chasing hard, just like against Saracens, he probably wasn’t the dog for this fight.
Similarly with Steward, a master in the air, but the vast majority of Bordeaux’s kicks were not to compete.
They were returned deep punts as the middle section of the pitch became a no-man’s land.
One player who has not been rotated throughout the remarkable first four months of the season is George Ford.
After his 17th minute penalty cancelled out Maxime Lucu’s early effort, he orchestrated a kicking sequence that put Bordeaux in tight spaces and scampering.
Francois Trinh-Duc snatched a clearance into touch and Tigers had a lineout 30 metres out.
Then the Sale Sharks-bound fly-half masterfully bamboozled the Bordeaux defence, committing a tackler and turning Lucu’s shoulder and through raced Bryce Hegarty to offload out of the tackle for Guy Porter to score his fourth try in nine appearances this term.
Ford came close to producing another try-creating moment seven minutes before the break when his crossfield kick saw Hosea Saumaki get on the wrong side of the leap with Nans Ducuing and wrench the French fullback to the ground, earning himself a yellow card.
Down to 14 men, Tigers spent four minutes inside their own 22 at the end of the half before a slick backs exchange saw Jean-Baptiste Dubie ghost through a gap to level the scores.
The second half was a war. One for the purists.
The glimmers of attacking moments with ball in hand were in short supply as Ford orchestrated a kicking game that kept Bordeaux deep and unable to build momentum.
It was akin to the Springboks’ approach that strangled the British and Irish Lions in those deciding Test matches.
A missed penalty from a tap-in position for someone of Ford’s qualities was compounded when Lucu put the hosts ahead but then missed an opportunity to go six points ahead entering the final quarter of the game.
There wasn’t any panic. Calm heads and reinforcements from the bench helped wrestle back the momentum as Ford held his nerve and kicked two penalties to establish a lead with three minutes remaining.
Bordeaux rallied, roared on by a raucous home crowd, turning down a possible three points and went for the kill.
They came up short as the Tigers players released joyous screams of delight not seen since the slaying of Saracens.