Rugby videos of tackles, tries, funny incidents and more: Leicester Tigers silence the Scarlets in Round 5 of the Heineken Cup

Monday, January 17, 2011

Leicester Tigers silence the Scarlets in Round 5 of the Heineken Cup

Leicester Tigers came back from being 10-6 down to the Scarlets to take a well deserved 32-18 win at Parc y Scarlets on the weekend. They move level on points with Perpignan at the top of their pool, with a game against Treviso to come.

Tries were scored by Alesana Tuilagi, Ben Youngs, and Steve Mafi as the Tigers put themselves in a position to play for a quarter final place in the next round.

"We had to win tonight, otherwise we were out. That's massive when you have to front-up like that, and the boys fronted-up," said Leicester’s director of rugby, Richard Cockerill.

Ben Youngs’ try came from a nice breakaway after a turnover, but has been criticised for the way the England scrumhalf celebrated before the try had even been awarded.

"You've got to pray, look to the heavens and hope you didn't put a foot out of place. I was pretty confident I'd managed to squeeze in," said Youngs.

"I'm not one to jump up and scream and shout but, when you score a try in such a big game, emotion can get the better of you. I felt a bit of an idiot with that celebration but Heineken Cup rugby for Leicester Tigers is everything.”

Scarlets boss Nigel Davies wasn’t as concerned with the theatrics as he was with the way Youngs received the ball though, citing Thomas Waldrom as making an illegal pass from the ruck. "I felt Waldrom was off his feet when he moved that ball," he said.

"Some of those calls go for you, sometimes they don’t and that was pretty significant in terms of how the game was going at the time. It certainly put a spring in their step and added to their momentum. I thought Waldrom was off his feet. But there we are," Davies added.

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Time: 05:22

Amazing, Leicester has got to be one of my favorite northern hemisphere teams.

By Unknown, at January 17, 2011 9:43 pm
A 2nd Leinster vs Leicester final would be cool. Hopefully things would go the other way though this time.

By Anonymous, at January 17, 2011 9:52 pm
Leicester are one of the most experienced team in the Hcup with Toulouse and Munster.
Even in difficulty, this team can improve any ball.

Concernin Youngs try, great pace from youngs, i love this player, he could be the future of england if jonhson wants to give him the key of the scrum.
is there a rule which say that a pass off your feet is illegal? isn't it just the case in a maul?

i think leicester will may go through with a better goal average vs perpignan

By Colombes, at January 17, 2011 9:52 pm
can't see leinster beating leicester. they look good against clermont and sarries but put them against the leicester defence and they'd be taught a lesson

By Anonymous, at January 17, 2011 9:54 pm
that pass for youngs try looks dubious, to say the least...the way in which he celebrates too (very soccerish)

By dutchrugbyplayer, at January 17, 2011 9:55 pm
@ 2nd anon.

Eh, Leinster beat the Tigers in 09 and they've only improved.

By JAY, at January 17, 2011 9:56 pm
scarlets should keep doing what they are doing. Plenty of home-grown talent with passion and flair. If they could get their hands on a few top class locks/props they could be a heineken cup force once again.

By Anonymous, at January 17, 2011 9:57 pm
Nice bit of refereeing, allowing the offside/in the side and hands on the floor for Young's try. Very nice.

By Anonymous, at January 17, 2011 10:26 pm
Ha, I love that comment about how Leinster wouldn't be able to handle the Leicester defence. The scarlets tries essentially came from players running straight through the defence. I mean Jonathon Davies literally just ran straight for about 50 metres.

By Lein>Leic, at January 17, 2011 11:20 pm
"Nice bit of refereeing, allowing the offside/in the side and hands on the floor for Young's try. Very nice."

how could his hands be on the floor when he used both to pass the ball?

By Anonymous, at January 18, 2011 12:07 am
@dutchrugbyplayer - The reason Youngs put his fingers to his lips was because there were Scarlet fans in that corner.

By Anonymous, at January 18, 2011 1:28 am
i thought the try looked weird at first but upon further review it was good. player makes the tackle, gets to his feet, there is nobody rucking him, he´s not preventing the tackled player from getting up, he can play the ball.

the try celebration, however, has no place in rugby. Someone should teach him a lesson.

why is it always a scrumhalf? i hate scrumhalves.

By Anonymous, at January 18, 2011 2:02 am
me too anonymous, me too.....

By Alexander, at January 18, 2011 3:06 am
quick question, at the very very beginning, what is the name of the song thats playing as the Scarlett players trot onto the field?

Also, Ben Youngs is an extremely exciting young player to watch. This year, learning the scrum-half position, he has been a great example to look after.

By eastswk10, at January 18, 2011 3:54 am
i am impressed at the aggressiveness of manu tuilagi.. you can learn skills at an ealry age but to have a teenager fend off a grown man is something else.. i like how hit that ruck too

and only 19yrs?

By Anonymous, at January 18, 2011 5:40 am
Dutch, I don't know what you mean by dubious, to say the least....

I mean surely in a game like rugby it's either dubious, damn right illegal, or fine.....there isn't really a 'well it was semi illegal'

I personally didn't think it was too soccerish, I didn't like it, an generally the sort of 'crowd celebrations' that some folks do, I don't like, but soccerish I dunno....

By Anonymous, at January 18, 2011 6:33 am
Oh and p.s Dutch, great work for focussing on the negatives of the match and ignoring everything else from BOTH teams!!! Real good work!!

By Anonymous, at January 18, 2011 6:34 am
@Sean: the Scarlets theme song is 'Yma o Hyd' (we're still here).

By Anonymous, at January 18, 2011 8:34 am
Gooooooooooo Tigers!!!!!!!!!!

By Andy M, at January 18, 2011 10:35 am
I would have to add to Dutch, that playing away in any Welsh arena isn't the nicest of things for English teams because no matter what, the crowd are massively hostile! Even if someone from their supported team has been penalised for something blatant! Ben Youngs is young but outstanding and about time number one scrum half for the elite!

By Andy M, at January 18, 2011 10:39 am
@Sean: and here's a link for you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML_kuRBGxD0

By Anonymous, at January 18, 2011 2:33 pm
dear anonymous.
First of all i was reacting to the editorial bit RD put before the video. I did not know that was inappropriate of me, I am very sorry if that offended you.
Secondly imho Youngs is not celebrating, he is provoking the fans of the opponent. That's something completely different which we see more in soccer, therefore soccerish. I don't think it's appropriate in any sport, not even when the environment is hostile and ESPECIALLY not in rugby.

And lastly: thank you very much for focussing on the ''negative'' comments instead of the positive ones ;-)

PS: get a name. Anonymous sounds so....anonymous. How can i properly react to your piece if half of the people here are called anonymous

By dutchrugbyplayer, at January 18, 2011 5:34 pm
@dutchrugbyplayer

how can you say he isn't celebrating!

god I've heard some sh!t in my life but that's got to be right up there!!!!

By Nate, at January 18, 2011 6:08 pm
Yea childish by Youngs think of the amount of shit the scarlets were given when they went over to Welford Road and none of them did something as brattish as that.

By Anonymous, at January 18, 2011 6:33 pm
Youngs' after-try antics seemed silly but they could've been worse (a la Lelia Masaga), but it was borderline excessive. Best to leave the self-serving showmanship to the Kiwis, I think (to be fair, they're the only ones in the world who seem to always be able to back it up...).

By no rain in spain, at January 18, 2011 6:58 pm
Jonathan Davies... great player, and he's only 22! Good match!
Youngs, please... Stop doing that. Get out, play soccer, or stop doing that. You're in rugby here. Fair-play is the first rule, forget about making the show.

By Anonymous, at January 18, 2011 9:17 pm
Bloody hell it wasn't even that bad what Youngs did. He's young and he said he felt like an idiot for doing it afterwards, so long as he doesn't do it again who gives a rats arse

By Anonymous, at January 18, 2011 11:11 pm
I am pretty sure that ruck forms when two players are in contact over the ball.... so therefore Waldrom puts his hands in the ruck to make that pass. That he was the tackler, off/on his feet is irrelevant- a ruck had formed and he should have been penalised for putting his hands in.

By Ned2or3, at January 19, 2011 4:59 am
That last try for leicester was a joke. The guy was off side when he kicked it and waldrom was off his feet. Poor game from a normally good ref maybe he was on the beer the night before

By Anonymous, at January 19, 2011 6:19 am
That last try for leicester was a joke. The guy was off side when he kicked it and waldrom was off his feet. Poor game from a normally good ref maybe he was on the beer the night before

By Anonymous, at January 19, 2011 6:19 am
Lenister will hammer leciester in dublin. Most english teams are fairly weak compared to the irish and french. I'd compare them to the italians big pack, ok halfs and not much after that!

By Anonymous, at January 19, 2011 6:21 am
Deacon was fine when he came through and kicked the ball - I remember Scott Quinnell saying something about there not being a ruck so he wasn't offside...but even as a Leicester fan at the game I was a bit stumped by how Waldrom didn't get pinged - the linesman should have got it at least.

To be honest though, if we didn't score then, I'm sure we would have somewhere else. Scarlets dominated the 2nd quarter of the game, but I can't think of when they got in our half in the 2nd half, aside from at the very end - Leicester dominated them.

Re: Youngs - it was stupid, he's young and got carried away...let's leave it at that. If he does it again, fair enough. But I haven't seen him do anything like that before.

By coops, at January 19, 2011 2:20 pm
I'm neither a Scarletts or a Leicester Fan, but as a player I would say that there was nothing wrong with that pass, I don't think a ruck was formed, the ball was in the open. The scarletts players were trying to form a ruck, but hadn't gotten over the ball yet so fair play to Waldrom for being quick.
Have to laugh at the comment on Leicester defence, looked average to me here, 4 missed tackles for the try that Davies set up, I imagine Sexton,O'Driscoll,and Kearney will have a field day..imho..

By JK, at January 19, 2011 3:29 pm
chuter lovely flick on to avoid man and ball tackle some skill from a hooker for tuilagies try!!! tough team to beat leinster and toulouse other favorites :) come on leinster

By Anonymous, at January 19, 2011 6:53 pm