Key try: Danny Care
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Reigning champions Harlequins went top of the Aviva Premiership table on Saturday after edging past Leicester 25-21 at the Twickenahm Stoop.
Danny Care's outstanding try was the catalyst as Harlequins came from behnind to claim a narrow victory.
In an exciting first half, the Tigers led 18-12 through Toby Flood and Adam Thompstone touchdowns, while the fly-half added a conversion and two penalties from the tee.
Quins' response before the break came through Ben Botica's boot before Care's superb individual score took the home side ahead. And two further Botica three-pointers to Flood's one in the second period moved Quins to the top of the standings.
Leicester knocked Quins off top-spot last weekend after they overcame London Welsh while the defending champs succumbed to Wasps. Against the High Wycombe side the hosts found themselves 14-0 down early on in the encounter and they never recovered. And Conor O'Shea's men were similarly slack in the opening exchanges versus the Tigers.
Despite dominating the first seven minutes, a loose pass was easily intercepted by Flood and the fly-half ran the length before adding the conversion.
The respective fly-halves then traded penalties, but successive kicks from Botica closed the gap to 10-9.
It was an excellent game of rugby with both sides looking to move the ball, but it was the kickers that were accruing most of the points. Botica and Flood were on target again to take the score to 13-12 in Leicester's favour before the visitors struck just before the interval.
Thompstone latched on to the Tigers' palymaker's superbly weighted grubber through and touched down in the corner.
Quins dominated the early exchanges of the second period and Care's stunning effort deservedly took them into the lead.
The hosts' pivot then increased that advantage with yet another successful kick from the tee, but the away side weren't finished and Flood got them to within one point.
However, they couldn't force the win and the home team sealed the triumph through Botica.
The scorers:
For Harlequins:
Try: Care
Con: Botica
Pen: Botica 6
For Leicester:
Tries: Flood, Thompstone
Con: Flood
Pen: Flood 3
Harlequins: 15 Ross Chisholm, 14 Tom Williams, 13 Matt Hopper, 12 Jordan Turner-Hall, 11 Ugo Monye, 10 Nick Evans, 9 Danny Care, 8 Tom Guest. 7 Luke Wallace, 6 Maurie Fa'asavalu, 5 George Robson, 4 Nick Easter (c), 3 James Johnston, 2 Joe Gray, 1 Mark Lambert.
Replacements: 16 Rob Buchanan, 17 Darryl Marfo, 18 Will Collier, 19 Charlie Matthews, 20 Joe Trayfoot, 21 Jordan Burns, 22 Ben Botica, 23 George Lowe.
Leicester: 15 Mathew Tait, 14 Scott Hamilton, 13 Manusamoa Tuilagi, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Adam Thompstone, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Sam Harrison, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Brett Deacon, 5 Graham Kitchener, 4 Louis Deacon (c), 3 Logovi'i Mulipola, 2 Rob Hawkins, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 George Chuter, 17 Kieran Brookes, 18 Fraser Balmain, 19 Ed Slater, 20 Jordan Crane, 21 Micky Young, 22 George Ford, 23 Matt Smith.
Referee: Wayne Barnes
Assistant referees: Peter Huckle Ashley Rowden
Television match official: David Grashoff
Timekeeper: Roy Marfleet
Comments
hellovanite says...
heart_of_oak.... It's just melkdave displaying his usual grammatical flaws, so you have to cut him some slack
Posted 19:46 19th February 2013
lawynd says...
@RugbyNut - you mean the 'arrogance' of Richard Cockerill. And whilst you might not like it, and it may smack of being a sore loser immediately after the game, he does have a point. Scrums and the breakdown in particular are a lottery and too readily influenced by the personality of a referee, and this game was no exception in that regard.
Posted 15:26 18th February 2013
RugbyNut says...
@lawynd
Maybe you are right, its all about the point of view. What is wrong is the arogance of Leicester with the quote "We'll now go through the appropriate channels where we feedback and we will decide whether it's right or wrong, but it's too late after the game". I always thought the refs were the ones to decide what is right or wrong!
Posted 14:21 18th February 2013
lawynd says...
@RugbyNut - can't agree with your assessment of Barnes, or Leicester for that matter. The Quins front row were binding on the arm for the entire game, Danny Care was putting the ball straight into the back row and there were a few iffy calls at the breakdown, for both sides. The best team won (if only for the Care try), but to suggest Tigers had the rub of the green where the officials were concerned is pure and simple madness.
Posted 10:15 18th February 2013
RugbyNut says...
Agree, this was a top class game as good as any in Super 15, both sides attacking. Not biased but Leicester used the full box of dirty tricks and Barnes appeared to be happy to let them do so. Nick Evans didn't play due to injured ankle but Botica was great at 10 and will / must feature in an England jersey soon!
Posted 11:22 17th February 2013
kybone says...
Glad to hear that this was such a good game. One thing, did Evans or Botica start the match because Evans is listed as starting, yet Botica kicked all the points. Its about time PR got their act together with that. There was a game the other day where one of the try scorers wasn't listed in the match squad at all.
Posted 10:06 17th February 2013
Headhunter99 says...
Great match, Care was excellent as was Botica... What a shame we'll probably never see him in England colours. Flood, Tualangi and Allen all looked sharp for Leicester but Quinns seem to have the in-depth squad and belief they can always win.
Posted 01:14 17th February 2013
heart_of_oak says...
There is no flippin N in Tuilagi.
If you want to put an N in Tuilagi, no doubt you'll be saying Pareeeee instead of Paris.
There is no N in Tuilagi.
Got that everyone ?
Good.
Posted 23:36 16th February 2013
Douglas1984 says...
wonderful game of rugby from both sides. super15 best league in the world?! pah! also how is danny care not england's no.9?
Posted 23:22 16th February 2013
ArmchairGeneral says...
Didn't see it but good to see scrumpoacher getting into his pie immediately. Was Nick Evans injured? Nothing bad I hope?
Posted 20:35 16th February 2013
Scrumpoacher says...
Currently eating humble pie...
Posted 20:25 16th February 2013
melkdave says...
That was a top class match,nice to see so many players in the England set up having good games aswell.Flood and care where excellant,Tualangi was good ,getting back to his best,and those in the Saxons or fringes also played really well.Just as good a match as youll se even in the S15 imo.
Posted 19:38 16th February 2013