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

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

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...

@jehosophat

No, this team is quite different to the one that beat England 35-28 in 2010.

Posted 04:51 15th 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

hybrid187 says...

agree with your trench warfare and stack of penalties there @passtheball

Posted 18:45 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

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

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

GCP_jones says...

@passtheball...

there are many ways to win a game of rugby,I have seen games where the final score has been 6-3 that were crackers,there was 5 tries in the game for god's sake.

Posted 09:41 14th November 2012