This year’s home opener then, and a chance for the ~real~ Red Bull era to begin after last summer’s eleventh-hour takeover. I think it’s fair to describe last year as a ‘transitional’ season given the comings and goings and generally instability as a result of the Red Bull move in.
Who better though, than Leicester Tigers, for the first game at Kingston Park this year. One of English rugby’s great institutions are always a good draw and I have to say their fans also generally travel pretty well. On top of that this Tigers team hadn’t won in 6 outings and offered the sort of opportunity for a big home result we should be looking to cash in on this year. These together helped make sure the seasoner opener was a sellout as 10,209 joined yours truly to see what the taurine powered new dawn looked like.
And in short, it was very promising. This game last year would have just been another in a long string of 28-0 down at half time, out of sight after 60 minutes but under the Saturday Night Lights the Red Bulls had a real chance of getting a result.
I’m getting ahead of myself though, with it being a particularly interesting new year it’s worth a whip round the ground and the club to see what’s new, and I’m afraid I have to start with a bit of a complaint. Now, I promised not to moan too much when I started this, but you will have to indulge me for two minutes on this kick-off time though.
Quarter to eight on a Saturday night! Who on earth approved this?
It sits awkwardly at the end of the TV schedule it’s almost as if it was meant to be a Friday night game and they pencilled in the date wrong; it certainly has a Friday night kick off time. There was also just the one game on the Friday this weekend so something has cleared been shuffled behind the scenes. No help though if, like me, your postcode does not start with an NE. If you’re travelling good luck using public transport. With the last major train leaving Newcastle before 10 in the evening there is little choice but driving and running the Kingston Park parking gambit. Not to mention it’s not the most family friendly timing even if you do live locally and I suspect the Saturday night vibe might be a bit off-putting to those not willing to relive their student days in the stands.
Having got that out my system, and having successfully parked, I can say that the Red Bull cash has certainly started to flow into the stadium. Last year it definitely felt like a Falcons ground with a few Bull logos splashed over the top in a paint so thin it looked ready to wipe off. But with the new season everything has been cleaned up and is generally looking much more modern and shiny. We’ve got new electronic advertising hoardings that the kids aren’t allowed to kick anymore, a shiny new pitch that looks exactly the same spec as the old one and most importantly the number of food vendors seems to have doubled.
The pizza van in the fan zone has also had the sports drink glow up and managed to fire out my pre match nourishment before the bus bar had managed to pour my pint.
Also getting a cash influx was the new video and pyrotechnics package for the team entrance. For me it was a bit much and the addition of a quick wheelie from a Red Bull affiliated trials rider was a bit gimmicky (so gimmicky in fact that even the clubs own social media account has scrubbed his contribution from existence, which is a shame as his name escapes me…). KP has always had a decent atmosphere and a lot of this, especially the loooong fireworks session felt a bit like it was for social media specifically.
That leads us to the on pitch action and first, and most importantly, I don’t really like the new navy blue kit in the flesh, it’s just a bit uninteresting. Leicester’s away kit though I am a fan of, although from the stands the green peaking through is not really visible which gives it a bit of a league two football kit impression. Weirdly also I feel the need to add a note about the ref’s kit, which was white and pretty difficult to pick up against the advertising hoardings. I think this must just have been because of the blue/red matchup on the pitch forcing their hand but he did tend to disappear, especially down at the far end.
Sorry, the actual rugby.
Well, much as I didn’t like it, the big entrance seemed to work for the team and we came out the traps well with Obi Ene going over within five minutes and with possibly his first touch as a Red Bull. Some start to your debut. With all of the focus on Wade and the record it’s good to see the wingers on the other touchline thriving, although part of me was expecting Wade to try and cross the entire field to get on the end of that move in pursuit of Chris Ashton’s record.
After that Tigers found their footing and started grinding away, ending up with a lot of the ball and the territory for much of the first half. Generally Red Bulls looked up to the challenge though. The pack, assembled at some expense over the summer, were busy and effective although no one really shone as having an excellent game. The back row especially got through a lot of work without many standout moments. Defensively we looked improved (not hard after last week) although like a dodgy Jaffa Cake we looked tough up the middle but pretty flimsy around the edges with Tigers having a lot of success up the wings, including the same Radwan try that kept us alive for about five years as Billy Searle poked through a kick for him to race on to.
Apparently the celebration is something he does now after every try but it didn’t go down to well with some of the fans. For me that was a bit of a nothing and the booing he was getting felt a bit forced and pantomime-y.
Other than that Leicester were in control although we were unlucky not to be closer at the break as we were held up over the line and Wade and Connon conspired between them to drop a walk in try in the dying moments. Still, it’s nice not to be 28-0 down at the break with the opposition in cruise control after wrapping up a first half bonus point. Progress.
After the break it was all a bit scrappy although we started to tilt things back our way with the McGuigan try and seemed to have tightened up out wide defensively. The big concern was that we seemed to have received the instruction to play from absolutely everywhere which led to some hair-raising moments in our own 22. I get that we want to be entertaining, but the general wisdom is you have to do the hard yards first!
Their third try was a bit of a killer and just took it out of reach for us although in the last ten minutes we were very much in the ascendancy as we seemed to get stronger through our replacements as Tigers trailed off. At the death we had chances but in the end I think Leicester deserved to hang on.
Which is a shame because I think they were there to turn over. Just two things for me that derailed us. First penalties, Tigers were fortunate enough to give away most of theirs in midfield and generally kept it clean inside the 22’s, unlike Red Bulls who had really solid defensive sets undermined at the last moment by discipline issues. From three penalties Leicester scored 15 of their points when it looked like we had been shutting them out, which is frustrating to say the least.
Second thing is accuracy with the ball. This I’m not so worried about, this year was always going to be a race to grow the cohesion in the squad and at times it’s very obvious this is still a work in progress. Seeing the ball sail into the empty north east night was quite a common occurrence as the final pass or crucial offload never quite went to hand. We also had more than one instance of guys running the same attacking line, particularly in the centres. This should come with time though and it’s the brand of rugby the management and ownership want to see so I don’t expect them to change tact any time soon. Just please hold the ball in two hands!
POM: Cameron Jordan – Got everywhere with and without the ball and walked off with a try to cap it off.
Another point keeps us off the bottom for another week (sorry Quinns), up next, the long, long trip to Sandy Park.
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