Tigers tough it out, Red Bulls run out of steam

Leicester have taken the victory tonight in a match where after trailing early on Newcastle Red Bulls fought their way back into the game and were making Leicester work. Ultimately, the result of 17-39 showed Leicester's physical dominance.

Stop start game

It was a stop start game with no real flow to it. That looked to be playing into Red Bulls hands around the hour mark but they couldn't capitalise. It was a frustrating game to watch at times with a lot of kicking, you could feel the frustration in the crowd around the kicking. But you feel if Red Bulls are going to win a league game then it'll be an arm wrestle type of game where kicking really comes into play.

Red Bulls frustration in attack

At times, especially in the first half the Red Bulls attack looked to run out of ideas after a few phases of play. Stephen Jones arrives in December and he'll be looking to add some fresh ideas. At times this might not have been helped by the service from Sam Stuart who didn't have his usual solid game. The speed of ball did improve when Simon Benitez Cruz came on.

Sweet Caroline

The game was 10-17 and Red Bulls has possession in the Leicester 22, there was a break in play and Sweet Caroline came on over the tannoy. Now I know we're in the entertainment injury but if you're losing at home playing Sweet Caroline just doesn't seem right. If Newcastle United were losing 2-1 at St James Park and Sweet Caroline came on, I can only imagine what the crowd would do! Ironically it was downhill from there and Leicester ran away with the game!

The lineout platform

The lineout was giving a good platform to attack from tonight, although the attack didn't always work off the back of it but you can tell there's been some work in that area of the game.

Leicester and Newcastle prepare to go to scrum battle.

Lockwood and Usher impress

Oscar Usher got more game time under his belt and worked hard. Likewise Freddie Lockwood carried well especially in the first half, they were a couple of lights. These players who have come up through the academy or the local rugby scene are the type of players that supporters are keen to see do well as there's a genuine connection.

Leicester capitalise on errors

This might seem a weird thing to say but Leicester didn't offer a great deal. What they did was brought the physicality and they capitalised on errors and ground Red Bulls down. There was missed tackles, yes they may've got lucky with a double movement on the first try but that wouldn't have changed the game. Their DNA is what Red Bulls need to be looking at. They're hard players who work hard and it's in the DNA of Leicester Tigers for years and years.

Yes they have the pace out wide but tonight it was just about a team working for each other and getting a job done on a Friday night at Kingston Park.

Lack of pace hurts Red Bulls

I know it's difficult when you're comparing to Ollie Hassell-Collins and Adam Radwan but the lack of pace in the Red Bulls back line was shown tonight. I know there's Christian Wade to come in and the other real speedster is Nathan Greenwood. Liam Williams worked hard but I'd like to see him at full back.

You can't fault the effort

As I've said Red Bulls did get themselves in a position to potentially win the game when it was 10-17 but they ran out of steam in the last quarter. You can't fault the effort of the players at all. Yes, you can point out individual mistakes but no doubt the coaches will go through those in review. Leicester deserved their victory and I can't really say that Red Bulls deserved anything from the game tonight, unlike Northampton at home where I felt they deserved something.

They didn't attack Orlando Bailey's twelve channel enough and the poor kick that led to the second last try of the night summed things up that if you kick poorly you get punished. At that point they were chasing the game and there wasn't a reason to kick anyway!

Off the field thoughts

I was back in the South Stand tonight, I had similar thoughts to the Northampton game that although the stewards are working hard, I'm not sure why they're allowing people to stand between the stand and the advertising hoardings. There was room for more people to get in and half the time is watching the stewards speak to the same people who have moved to the hoardings to move back and this goes on for a few visits, if it was me I'd just kick them out! The PA system in the South Stand is a hell of a lot better than the North Stand though!

The other thing they need to look at and I know traffic may've played a part tonight is getting people into the ground earlier just to avoid the last minute rush.

The Leicester fans I stood next to were very complimentary about Red Bulls and were pleased to see the Red Bull effect. Fair play to Red Bull as it was another sell out tonight, off the pitch they're getting things right and with time I've no doubt that they'll get it right on the pitch.

The only other thing was James O'Connor warming up in gloves, I don't think Friday nights in Newcastle are the right thing for him!

Next up

Focus now turns to The European Challenge Cup and it's an exciting looking trip to Lyon next Saturday night. Lyon are a big hitter in the competition and it's a free hit really for this Red Bulls outfit. One thing's for sure, it'll be a cracking weekend for those supporters making the trip! I would like to see Red Bulls have a real crack at Europe and get to the knock outs and see what happens from there.