Home advantage. Is it
really that important? In the modern,
professional, game, where players haven't necessarily always lived within a 3
miles radius of the club they play for, does it really matter? After all, rugby is a game played on a pitch
with 2 sets of posts no matter where you play.
Except, rugby is so much more than that.
At its best, it is full-blooded emotional war – acute physical and
mental conflict between two teams of supreme athletes, roared on with a
thunderous tribal passion by those surrounding the pitch. The Heineken Cup serves up occasions such as
these on a regular basis, but few can match the intensity of the Saturday night
clash in the final round of the group stages, where the mentality of the
players and the atmosphere takes on an almost gladiatorial mood. And tomorrow – when Leicester meet Ulster for
home advantage in the Heineken Cup, Welford Road is the Colosseum.
Both sides have already qualified for the quarter finals of
the competition through their superior points tally, but home advantage in the
knockout stages is all riding on the
outcome of this match. And that means
that both sides will be going flat out for the win. Why?
It's not just because, as a player, you get an extra lie-in instead of
having to travel, avoid flying on Ryanair and get to stick with the local
cuisine that, so far, hasn't sent you scurrying in panic to the throne with 10
minutes to kick off. No, it's the
emotion and passion you generate from playing in front of your home fans – no matter
where you originate from, once you pull on that shirt, you become one of their
own. It becomes almost tribal in
nature. Think I'm talking nonsense? Take a look at Clermont Auvergne, unbeaten at
home in 72 games. That is their
fortress; where they are invincible. Yet
away from home, they look vulnerable.
For Leicester and Ulster, two sides with their own fortresses in Welford
Road and Ravenhill, the opportunity to play a home quarter final is one neither
team wants to let slip.
Much of the build-up for this game has been focussed on
Ulster's superior quality and form. And
it's hard to argue with the form issue – a gritty win against Leicester in the
opening round was followed by a mesmeric
bonus-point win in France, a relaxing 10 points against Treviso and a
comfortable – if not perfect – win against Montpellier. They are the only unbeaten side left in
Europe, and you can see why. With a
gargantuan pack, driven onwards by the inspiration Johann Muller and given bite
by the human wrecking-balls of John Afoa, Dan Tuohy and Nick Williams, Ulster have
the capacity to send wave after wave of physical runners into the opposition
until they crumble. They have one of the
best kick-chase games in the tournament too, with Ruan Pienaar and Paddy
Jackson placing back threes under all sorts of pressure to gain the territory
from which they can launch another physical assault. Ulster rugby is characterised as old-school
in the best possible sense – a pack of hard, physical men who want nothing more
than to dominate their opposite numbers and a pair of shrewd half backs to tell
them where to go (in case they get lost – it's difficult for forwards).
Leicester, on the other hand, haven't been quite as
impressive but – being Leicester – are still right in the mix and, importantly,
winning games. Following their opening
loss to Ulster, the Tigers played a thriller against Montpellier at home,
sneaked a win in France by one point, and stuttered their way to 2 bonus point
wins against Treviso. It hasn't always
been pretty, but the Tigers do not know when to quit and, on their day, can put
together displays of such pace and power that they can turn over anybody. Unfortunately, their 'best' has only come in
dribs and drabs this season, and often they have to be spurred into life by being
forced to chase a game. Richard
Cockerill will know that his men cannot afford to do this against Ulster
though, and he will be looking for his side to play at a high tempo in the
Ulster half, with Ben Youngs and Toby Flood threatening the gainline and
fringe-defence, with powerful runners like Tom Youngs, Graham Kitchener and
Niki Goneva picking smart angles off their shoulders. Once the Leicester machine gets motoring, it
is incredibly hard to stop – and once the home support at Welford Road gets
their voice up, they're very hard to keep quiet.
There are mouth-watering battles all over the pitch, from
Ayerza v Afoa and Tom Youngs v Best, to Ben Youngs v Pienaar and Goneva v
Gilroy. For me, in contrast to what some
of the press seem to be saying, these sides are very evenly matched, and a win
is most likely going to come down to how Leicester deal with bombs from Pienaar
and Jackson, and whether or not Ulster can withstand the intense pressure they
will come under at the set piece. It is
shaping up to be a stunning encounter in a cauldron of electricity, and this
should be helped by the fact that the referee, Nigel Owens, is the best in the
business in allowing games to flow, accepting no nonsense and – to the relief
of Ulster fans – ignoring pressures from the home crowd.
The stage is set. By
Saturday night, only one side will be able to rely on their fortress in the
knock-out stages. The final-battle for
the Heineken Cup may be a little way off, but the siege of Welford Road is
about to begin.
Leicester Tigers
Team News
Richard Cockerill has made 8 changes – 2 positional – to the
side that picked up a bonus point win in Treviso last week. Inside centre Allen and hooker Tom Youngs are
recalled to the Leicester starting line-up, with Tigers vice-captain Allen
joined by Matt Smith in the midfield, with captain Toby Flood moving from the
12 to the 10 shirt. Vereniki Goneva
moves out to the left wing in place of Miles Benjamin who has a knee injury
while club captain Toby Flood reverts to the fly-half role instead of Owen
Williams. In the pack, Tom Youngs
returns to the front-row, while Graham Kitchener and Ed Slater form a
second-row partnership after also missing the trip to Italy. Jordan Crane returns to the number eight shirt
ahead of Thomas Waldrom.
Starting Line-up: 15
Tait, 14 Morris, 13 Smith, 12 Allen, 11 Goneva, 10 Flood (c), 9 Youngs; 1
Marcos Ayerza, 2 Tom Youngs, 3 Dan Cole, 4 Ed Slater, 5 Graham Kitchener, 6
Jamie Gibson, 7 Julian Salvi, 8 Jordan Crane.
Subs: 16 Hawkins,
17 Stankovich, 18 Balmain, 19 Deacon, 20 Mafi, 21 Mélé, 22 Williams, 23
Hamilton.
Key Player
Tom Youngs. The
Leicester, England and Lions hooker has fast cemented himself as one of the
European game's best in his position, and he'll have a big battle on his hands
against the experienced and highly rated Rory Best. If the word "chode" could at all be
used in a complementary manner, it would be used for the Leicester man, who has
a physique of a square on legs – with a low centre of gravity and surprising
turn of pace which makes him one of the best carriers and most aggressive defenders
around. But it's his set piece which will
come under the most scrutiny on Saturday.
Despite having the joint best lineout record in the competition (at
91%), he will be under a huge amount of pressure at throw-in time from an
experienced and intelligent Ulster pack.
Add to this the fact that Mr Best, who lost out to Youngs in the battle
for a Lions Test spot, will be offering some choice words of 'encouragement' at
every available opportunity, and Saturdays match quickly becomes one of the
biggest tests yet for the older Youngs brother.
If he can maintain his composure in the set piece – an area in which
Leicester will hope to hold the upper hand – then he can set his hosts the
ideal platform from which to build their pressure game.
Ulster Team News
Ulster hooker Rory Best will make his 150th appearance for
the province and will line up alongside John Afoa and Callum Black, who makes
his first start in the Heineken Cup. The
inclusion of Black is one of two changes to the team that defeated Montpellier
at Ravenhill last week. The other sees Roger Wilson selected at blindside with
Robbie Diack moving to the bench. Williams starts at number eight, with Chris Henry
picked at openside. Craig Gilroy has
recovered from the injury that he sustained against Montpellier and starts on
the left wing with Andrew Trimble named on the right and Jared Payne continuing
at 15.
Starting
Line-up: 15 Jared Payne, 14 Andrew
Trimble, 13 Darren Cave, 12 Luke Marshall, 11 Craig Gilroy, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9
Ruan Pienaar, 8 Nick Williams, 7 Chris Henry, 6 Roger Wilson, 5 Dan Tuohy, 4
Johann Muller (capt), 3 John Afoa, 2 Rory Best, 1 Callum Black.
Subs: 16 Rob
Herring, 17 Tom Court, 18 Ricky Lutton, 19 Iain Henderson, 20 Robbie Diack, 21
Paul Marshall, 22 David McIlwaine, 23 Michael Allen.
Key Player
Paddy Jackson.
There's no doubting the young fly half's skillset – nor the attacking
ability and intent of those outside him – but to win at Welford Road the Irish
province will be looking to their 10 to put the ball in the correct areas of
the park and put up high kicks that are there to be chased. He did this with aplomb against Leicester in
the fixture at Ravenhill, putting ideal length on the kicks and using the
swirling wind to make life miserable for the often-butter-fingered Niki Goneva
and Miles Benjamin, who was making his first start for over a year following a
neck injury. This time, Mr
"safe-hands" Niall Morris is one wing, and Mathew Tait – who has
looked very assured following his return from injury – starts at 15, but Goneva
is still a potential target for one of Jackson's expert "bombs". The problem is that, this time, he will have
to do it with a resurgent Leicester defence hounding his every move and the Welford
Road faithful making every effort to get into his head – he kicks too far, and
Leicester deal with it easily, he kicks too short, and the pressure ends up on
Ulster. But if, like Baby Bear, he gets
it just right, then there is a potential opening for Jackson and Andrew Trimble
to exploit – and there are few better at doing so.
Key Battle
Ben Youngs v Ruan Pienaar.
Two top-class scrum halves, but whilst one has been setting the world
alight, the other has found himself in a bit of rut. Yes, Youngs junior looked jaded upon return
from the Lions tour and, although his performances of late have been decent
(and are still picking up), they are still someway short of what we all know he
is capable of. In a game where tempo and
tactical awareness will be key, Youngs will need to maintain his excellent
box-kicking game, whilst seeking to inject the urgency that stood him out when
he first arrived on the scene. His last
15 minutes against Montepellier in France were a masterclass of attacking scrum
half play – he will need to bring out this game for 80 minutes on
Saturday. His opponent, the South
African Pienaar, is an experienced veteran who has – on more than one occasion –
looked like he is single-handedly driving Ulster to victory. With one of the sharpest brains in the
business and a wonderful pass, he has long been ranked as one of the worlds-best,
despite not being as quick as some of his counterparts – Youngs included. With two powerful sets of forwards and
talented backlines on show tomorrow, the battle of the 9s for fluency, tempo
and territory will be absolutely critical.
Keep an eye out as well for the all-out-war between Julian Salvi and
Chris Henry for supremacy at the breakdown.
Prediction
Ulster fans generally believe that they have the better team
on paper, and whilst I don't agree entirely, it is certainly an impressive
line-up for the men in white with a wonderful balance of power and speed
throughout the side. For me, Leicester
just have the edge in the front row, and Ulster have the edge at 9 and 10, but
that aside I think it is pretty much evens.
What the teams on paper don't show, however, is the Welford Road
factor. An evening kick off means the
crowd will be in full voice by the time "Smoke on the Water" echoes
round the stadium and the fans begin to stamp their feet as the Tigers run out –
this is the occasion that Leicester players – and fans – live for. In the same way that Ravenhill does for
Ulster, Welford Road takes the Premiership Champions to another level –
especially in Europe. It all adds
together to what should be an unbelievable atmosphere and potentially an
explosive night of Heineken Cup rugby at its best. It will be a ferocious forwards battle and a
fascinating tactical clash, but I can see the Leicester scrum and home crowd
earning the hosts the narrowest of victories.
Tigers by 3.
What else is happening in the Heineken Cup this weekend?
Pool 1: Leinster should seal a quarter final spot
by beating the Ospreys tonight, whilst Northampton will book themselves an
Amlin Cup spot by beating Castres at home.
Pool 2: Cardiff can be confident of picking up a
home win against an out-of-sorts Exeter tonight, and Toulon should despatch of
Glasgow relatively comfortably, despite playing away from home.
Pool 3: There should be bonus point wins for
Toulouse and Saracens on Saturday against Zebre and Connacht respectively,
which would provide both sides with a spot in the last 8, although the Irish
side have ambitions of their own so will be going all out for the win.
Pool 4: Clermont should have no problem
overcoming the woeful Racing Metro at home, whilst Harlequins could sneak a win
and salvage some pride by winning in Llanelli against the Scarlets.
Pool 5: The other match in Pool 4 is a dead
rubber in which Montpellier will be expecting to turn Ulster over with relative
ease.
Pool 6: Both Munster and Perpignan will be
confident of victories at home against Edinburgh and Gloucester respectively on
Sunday.
Toulon (1st seeds) v Saracens (8th)
Toulouse (2nd) v Ulster (7th)
Clermont Auvergne (3rd) v Leinster (6th)
Leicester Tigers (4th) v Munster (5th)
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