Friendly lifted by fine showings from two Freddies
THE second pre-season friendly, marking largely unrestricted return to Welford Road for the fans and the team (although, I for one, will be very pleased to be back in what used to be known as the Crumbie Stand) against Dragons was an interesting affair.
These pre-season games mean very little, and the Tigers have done badly in the past before going on to pull up trees in the season proper! So what do we know?
People were delighted to see the return of the popular Freddie Burns at fly-half, and he provided a typical Freddie Burns performance, prompting those around him and running the play, but also providing the opposition with interceptions. Playing on the edge is what Freddie does, so the time to get the risk/ reward calculation wrong is now and that’s what pre-season’s for.
Freddie Steward shows no sign of suffering from second season syndrome. Comfortably the best player on the pitch (although I’d take an argument for Jack Van Poortvliet) he added an attacking edge, with two tries, to his already rock-solid defence.
If Steward isn’t the answer to England’s full-back conundrum someone is asking the wrong questions.
Meanwhile, Jack Van Poortvliet continues to impress and, given the riches at scrum half, with Ben Youngs and Richard Wigglesworth nominally ahead of him in the pecking order (but for how long?) the Tigers’ issue will be keeping this exceptional player happy with his lot.
In the forwards the scrummage improved markedly after a slightly worrying time in Jersey. At least, it did unless Jersey are better than the Dragons, which would be a huge worry for Dragons coach Dean Ryan! Tommy Reffell was again excellent in the pack, the only worry being whether the squad is slightly light in the back row while the South African internationals are away. Witness hooker Nic Dolly playing open side flanker at the end of the game.
Kevin Sinfield still has work to do in the transitional defence as four tries conceded demonstrates, although two of those were largely self-inflicted wounds linked to a little over-confidence.
It all suggests that good work is being done on the training field.
So, final analysis – scoring five tries is good, and the fact that the standout performers were young Tigers academy graduates is excellent.
Conceding four tries against, with all due respect, the weakest Welsh region, is less so.