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Two trips to Thomond Park have yielded two wins for Leicester Tigers in Europe. Dare they dream of adding a third? - 07/12/2016 18:32
Two trips to Thomond Park have yielded two wins for Leicester Tigers in Europe. Dare they dream of adding a third?
Whatever their record in the past, that is exactly where it will stay as far as director of rugby Richard Cockerill is concerned. Round 3 of the Champions Cup is a new challenge and one his Tigers team is ready to meet.
They will be facing a Munster side that has risen to the top of the PRO12 and who put on a magnificent display in trying circumstances in their only game to date in the Champions Cup. That stunning 38-17 win over Glasgow Warriors at an emotionally charged Thomond Park set the pulse racing.
“There is still a lot of emotion around Munster rugby at the moment because of the tragic passing of Anthony Foley and that has galvanised them and re-ignited the old Munster. We expect a huge battle between two great clubs who will really be going at it,” said Cockerill.
“Their performance against Glasgow Warriors was right out of the top draw. Given the circumstances, I would have put any amount of money on them to win that game.
“Whichever team you were you would not have wanted to go there on that day. They have got a good side and they seem to have found some energy and form.
“There seems to be a big buzz around the place at the moment and they are getting full crowds, which they weren’t last season. There are a few unique clubs around the European circuit and Munster are certainly one of them.”
Cockerill is well versed in what it takes to succeed in Europe and led his team into the semi-finals last season. Although they got off to a bad start in Glasgow, they picked up the pieces at home against Racing 92 to thrust themselves right back into the equation.
“These two games are critical and we know that we will probably have to get an away win to get out of this group. It’s going to be tough,” added Cockerill.
“We lost heavily in Glasgow, we got a good win at home against Racing 92, but we know we are probably going to have to get points out of our trips to Limerick and Paris. Thomond Park is a special place, just as we feel Welford Road is, but we have a very good record there.
“We were the first side to win there and the only team who have won twice at Thomond Park. Both teams have huge heritage in Europe. The special thing about the Champions Cup is that even in the pool stages you get some big games and this is going to be a huge, stand-alone occasion.”
Munster finally broke their Leicester Tigers hoodoo at Thomond Park as they inflicted a record defeat on the two-time European Cup winners. - 10/12/2016 17:14
Munster finally broke their Leicester Tigers hoodoo at Thomond Park as they inflicted a record defeat on the two-time European Cup winners.
The home side’s 38 point victory outstripped the 34 point triumph recorded by Ulster in their 41-7 win against the Tigers in Belfast in 2012. With a second away defeat it now looks like an uphill task for last season’s semi-finalists to qualify for the knock-out stages.
The Tigers arrived having won on their two previous visits in the tournament and were looking to do the hat-trick. But the accurate boot of Tyler Bleyendaal, and the brilliant breakdown work of Peter O’Mahony’s pack, guided the Irish province to a second successive home win in Pool 1.
The Tigers were guilty of indiscipline from start to finish and quickly found themselves 12 points behind as Bleyendaal’s deadly accurate boot punished four penalties. Then French referee Romain Poite got fed up with the infringements and sent Ed Slater to the sin-bin.
While the second row was off the field the Irish scrum half Conor Murray conjured up an opening on the fringe of a ruck with a magical inside pass to Simon Zebo. The full break went though the gap and crossed at the pos for a try which Bleyendaal improved to make it 19-0 at the break.
Munster’s pace, power and precision kept the Tigers on the back foot in the second half and it didn’t take long before powerful South African centre Jaco Taute burst over after a great line-out drive in the visitors’ 22. Bleyendaal hit the target once again with the conversion, but couldn’t improve the third try of the game.
This time it was a great break into the Tigers 22 by Darren Sweetnam that paved the way for Taute to score his second try before heading home at the end of his short term contract. That took the score up to 31-0 before Manu Tuilagi followed Slater into the sin-bin for a reckless charge into a ruck.
Taute was only robbed of a hat-trick by an off the ball tackle by Leicester full back George Worth that earned him the third yellow card of the match and Munster a penalty try. Bleyendaal knocked over the simple conversion to take his match tally to 18 points before heading off with six minutes left to play.
A second bonus-point win keeps Munster on top of the table, a point clear of Glasgow Warriors, but with a game in hand.
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