Hello and welcome to Roar Of The Tigers, a new series of blog posts dedicated to steering Leicester Tigers to Gallagher Premiership and European glory via the medium of Go Rugby Manager (available now on iPhone and Android).
When setting out my managerial style, I want to promote an exciting brand of free-flowing, easy on the eye rugby so initially my style is very attacking. Think Kevin Keegan’s ‘Entertainers’ at Newcastle United, except we want to win something….
That comparison to the St. James’ Park club is quite pertinent as our first assignment is a trip to Newcastle Falcons, thankfully we come away from our Premiership curtain raiser with the points via a 27-10 win. Handre Pollard has a good day with the boot, contributing eighteen points himself to add to tries from Sam Carter and Dan Cole.
There’s an air of expectancy surrounding Welford Road for our home opener against Bath but any hopes of giving our home fans something to cheer about evaporate as we’re beaten 21-13. Finn Russell scored all of Bath’s points himself and although we dragged ourselves back into contention in the second half (coming back from 15-0 down in the 44th minute to only trail by four fourteen minutes later), we’re unable to take our chances and Russell’s 78th minute penalty proved to be the knockout blow.
We atone for the defeat to Bath with a fine away victory over Exeter, coming away from Devon with a 35-25 win. Handre Pollard got the part started in the first minute when he crossed for a try with further scores coming from Dan Cole and Anthony Watson. Two tries in three minutes for the home side sparked faint hopes of a comeback but the Tigers were able to celebrate on the way home thanks to Kyle Hatherall’s 62nd minute try and a late Pollard penalty.
In a thrilling encounter, we end the first month of the season with a win after an exciting 32-27 away win over Gloucester. After going behind to a couple of early Adam Hastings penalties, England full-back Freddie Steward kickstarted our afternoon with his first try of the season and we had tries from Jack van Portvliet, Sam Carter and Kyle Hatherall to thank for our win. A late blast from the boot of Hastings ensured a grandstand finish but we were able to hold on and make the trip back to Leicester as a winning team.
We end the month third in the table, behind the unbeaten pair of Bath and Saracens but five points clear of Harlequins.
It’s a marathon, not a sprint and there’s plenty of rugby to be played.
See you next time when our European adventure for the season gets underway as well!
Follow me on Twitter/X @DanBarkerGray for more from me!
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