Standpoint: A red letter day for Leicester Tigers and their fans

A decent midweek crowd indicated that the Welford Road marketing department had correctly judged the appetite of Leicester Tigers fans for a fixture against touring side Maori All Blacks.

With Tigers players in their traditional letters on a cold winter evening, it was almost a throwback to the old days of amateur rugby.

What was not amateur was the standard of play on display and the seriousness with which Tigers, shorn of their international stars, took the game.

Likewise, the Maori put out a high-quality side with, if not household, certainly well-known names in their ranks.

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All in all, it was a very good night for Tigers, who won 32-24.

A comeback for forgotten man Mathew Tait at full-back, where rumour had it he was originally signed to play as a long-term replacement for Geordan Murphy, was successfully negotiated.

His smart insertion into the line and pass set up Tigers' first try.

George Ford put his poor kicking display against Northampton behind him with some difficult kicks, nailing eight from 10 on the night as well as continuing to show his skills with ball in hand.

Julian Salvi again showed just how good he is at stealing the opposition ball.

Although many would have wrapped him up to save him for the league and European fixtures to come, he once again proved his worth as a real openside flanker in Tigers' ranks.

While there will be those who bemoan the inevitable further weakening of the team in preparation for opposition in the LV= Cup, a win of this kind probably brings more to the club than that competition does.

For example, Tigers will feature heavily in the New Zealand press.

Much will have been learned by the young players, and sometimes it is nice to have a game where the result is important but not absolutely vital.

Having said that, winning is definitely preferable to losing!

So, a morale-boosting victory from a severely-weakened side against decent touring opposition from the land of the long white cloud, and an excited crowd, will hopefully bring in more new fans in the future to fill the Welford Road stadium.

Certainly there were plenty of good things and reasons to enjoy the evening, and another famous victory against a touring side to add to the Tigers honours board.

And I still love to see the team in the letters!