Maori All Blacks: Lose tour opener
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A crowd of over 17,000 saw Leicester clinch a memorable 32-24 victory over the Maori All Blacks, with George Ford kicking 22 points.
The visitors took the lead thanks to a try from Frae Wilson after some impressive offloading, before Leicester responded through George Ford's boot and a try from Niall Morris after a pass from Mathew Tait.
The match was Tait's first game for Leicester in 13 months after a troublesome groin injury kept him on the sidelines.
The Tigers then extended their lead after the Maori lost possession and Matt Smith hacked on, with winger Adam Thompstone gathering possession and then speeding past the visitors defence to score.
Maori fly-half Willie Ripia responded with a penalty before centre Tim Bateman crossed for the Maori's second try, closing the gap to 26-17 at half-time.
Ford added another penalty at the start of the second half before the Maori scored their third try of match through Charlie Ngatai in the right hand corner, with Ripia converting.
Both sides were temporarily down to 14 men with Dan Bowden and Jarrod Hoeata sent to the sin-bin, another Ford penalty putting the score at 32-24.
Handling errors then restricted the Maori's opportunities as they tried to come back into the match. Ford missed a long-range penalty to kill the game off late on, but the Maori were unable to close the gap, leading to a memorable win for the Tigers.
The scorers:
For Leicester Tigers:
Tries: Morris, Thompstone
Con: Ford 2
Pen: Ford 6
Yellow cards: Bowden
For Maori All Blacks:
Tries: Wilson, Bateman, Ngatai
Con: Ripia 3
Pen: Ripia
Yellow cards: Hoeata
Leicester Tigers: 0 Mathew Tait, N Niall Morris, M Matt Smith, L Anthony Allen, K Adam Thompstone, J George Ford, I Patrick Phibbs, H Julian Salvi, G Jordan Crane, F Ed Slater, E Graham Kitchener, D Louis Deacon (c), C Fraser Balmain, B George Chuter, A Boris Stankovich.
Replacements: P Jonny Harris, Q Jimmy Stevens, R Kieran Brookes, S Michael Noone, T Richard Thorpe, U Sam Harrison, V Dan Bowden, W Andy Forsyth.
Maori All Blacks: 15 Andre Taylor, 14 Kurt Baker, 13 Charlie Ngatai, 12 Tim Bateman, 11 Kade Poki, 10 Willy Ripia, 9 Frae Wilson, 8 Elliot Dixon, 7 Tanerau Latimer (c), 6 Shane Christie, 5 Jason Eaton, 4 Jarrad Hoeata, 3 Ben Afeaki, 2 Hika Elliot, 1 Ben May.
Replacements: 16 Quentin MacDonald, 17 Jacob Ellison, 18 Bronson Murray, 19 Romana Graham, 20 Nick Crosswell, 21 Jamieson Gibson-Park, 22 Jackson Willison, 23 Declan O'Donnell.
Comments
jonesy2 says...
ArmchairGeneral -- well looking at the sides i basically expected andre taylor to score about 15 tries himself and im appalled that that didnt happen for some strange reason.
jehosophat -- yes which is why i was so shocked. it is a massive upset. if you look at the names in that forward pack, hoeata, eaton, elliot, afeaki, latimer, and throw in a top 3 or 4 full back in the world andre taylor, you would think this side would account for teams like england and ireland let alone leicester
Posted 12:03 20th November 2012
ferdie says...
so much rugby this weekend, this one seems does not warrant a match report
New Zealand Maori v Championship XV in Doncaster.
NZ Maori 52 (Declan O'Donnell, Kurt Baker, Hika Elliot, Trent Renata, Elliot Dixon, Frae Wilson, Romana Graham, Jackson Willison tries. Willie Ripia 5 con. Renata con)
Championship XV 21 (Dante Mama, Rhys Cranetries tries. Tristan Roberts con, 3 pen)
Posted 23:52 17th November 2012
sukkadoits says...
@jehosophat no the team you were getting lectured about is more like the one that beat the British and Irish Lions in 2005. The one that beat England in 2010 was of lesser quality than the 2005 one but still of a higher quality than the present one. This history makes the scalp of the Maori ABs a special and deserved one for Leicester. This Maori team lacked the muscle to compete with a very good Leicester side in the midst of its season. A game or 2 under their belt and the result may've been different, maybe not. The same thing happened to Australia, ambushed by a tough battle-hardened Leicester side, and not too dissimilar to the unlucky Munster team that undeservedly got pipped at the post by a retreating AB's side a few years back.
Posted 23:22 15th November 2012
rugby_rockstar says...
Good to see some seriously big names in that Leicester side. Leicester did the fixture proud.
Posted 16:05 15th November 2012
alexanderioanno says...
The game was great to watch, definitely not boring! The Maori AB's played solid running rugby but Leicester just shut down runners quickly and effectively by moving up as a line.
The kicking certainly wasn't "Trench warfare" definitely worth the ?25 I paid for my ticket.
Posted 14:16 15th November 2012
piriaka says...
yes, if all those with Pakeha blood left Aotearoa, there would be no Maori left there
Posted 10:05 15th November 2012
fozza says...
Wow. Perhaps a bit of perspective required? First off, the Tigers are an excellent team regardless of the missing England contingent and let's face it, when you have 17000 fans cheering you on and you have a team of players either trying to make their mark (Ford) or on the tail end of a career (Chuter) then it's no surprise they raise their game.
As for the Maori, I think we're a touch quick to discard them as an international class team. They are about as far away from home as they can get and were maybe not expecting the level of support they found at Leicester. Don't get me wrong it's a dissapointing result for them but i doubt anyones as dissapointed as they are right now... I fear for the championship team on Saturday!!!
So in summary, great result for Leicester hardly the death knell for the maori.
Posted 08:31 15th November 2012
paulynz says...
@runnrugby
Robbie Robinson's at home injured. Same with Zac Guilford.
Posted 04:54 15th November 2012
paulynz says...
@jehosophat
No, this team is quite different to the one that beat England 35-28 in 2010.
Posted 04:51 15th November 2012
runnrugby says...
@jehosophat Not really. The last Maori team had players like Aaron Smith, Gear, Messam, Colin Burke, McAlister, Maitland, Waldrom and Robbie Robinson. The team that played the tigers is still a good looking side but there are a few names i dont know.
Posted 19:37 14th November 2012
Jediboy says...
Well done Tigers. Didn't expect this.
All the noises coming out of NZ are that the AB Maori are an international class team. I guess that they may not be as good as they thought!
Posted 19:21 14th November 2012
Nahpoowee says...
@ jehosophat that was hardly a first choice Maori team... did'nt a Maori team beat and england team a few years ago? and both teams were missing first choice players? and where did the Maori AB's name come from?
Posted 19:17 14th November 2012
hybrid187 says...
agree with your trench warfare and stack of penalties there @passtheball
Posted 18:45 14th November 2012
Golden_statenba says...
How about a bit of humility NZ fans.
Now I can see why so many people want the ABs to loose.
On behalf of an AB supporter well done Tiger fans. No small feet that Maori team has some great players.
I hope this does not happen in the ABs England game tho ;)
Also I think it's great nz have a Maori team
Posted 16:59 14th November 2012
craigsman says...
Jonesy2 - Is it morally wrong for the Tigers to win this? How else can you be appalled by this?
Posted 11:56 14th November 2012
lawynd says...
@hayj05 - sadly it wasn't broadcast live here either, which I think is rather sad, especially as I couldn't get to the game.
@passtheball - I suggest you go and look up the meaning of the word 'triumph'. Not to mention the fact that tries were scored. Pillock.
Posted 11:20 14th November 2012
jehosophat says...
Is this the same Maori AB team we are forever being lectured can beat the full England team with it's eyes shut? Along with comments about how none of the England squad would get into a Super 12 first team, etc etc? Must be some sort of major aberration surely...
Posted 10:55 14th November 2012
TVaddict says...
Wow! What a result! Leicester B team beating the Maoris?! That must be a shock to the system. Did anyone see how Tait did?
Now I'm extra disappointed I didn't get to see it, I thought it was on today (Wednesday). :(
Posted 10:43 14th November 2012
hayj05 says...
@piriaka - That may be the case but NZ maori is a team selected to celebrate a culture, not a team selected to exclude a race due to a segregated society.
OH & just so you know... There are no full blooded Maoris left in the world, so every player in that team has a mixed-race heritage anyway.
Posted 10:32 14th November 2012
ArmchairGeneral says...
@jonsey. Why?
Posted 09:52 14th November 2012