Two tries for Tigers: Manu Tuilagi
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Three tries in the final ten minutes saw Leicester claim a 34-22 Heineken Cup win over the Ospreys in a thrilling game at Welford Road on Sunday.
Ospreys headed into the match searching for their second Heineken Cup win as many weeks, while Leicester were looking to bounce back from an opening round defeat to Toulouse.
It was the visitors who took an early lead courtesy of some expansive and ambitious play with the ball in hand. The opportunity was created when the ball was worked right, and when play returned to the middle of the field, the stage was set for Ryan Jones to finish off in fine style.
Dan Biggar's conversion made it 7-0, and Biggar's penalty goal ten minutes later added to the visitors' lead, but, as the game headed past the half-hour mark, Leicester were able to find a response.
Toby Flood's penalty goal on 28 minutes got the Tigers off the mark, before an eye-catching attacking move brought about a try for Manu Tuilagi, who strode over when the ball was moved right.
Flood's conversion ensured that the scores were level at half-time, and the flurry of penalties that followed the restart were shared, with Biggar and Flood hitting three each to ensure that the match remained finely poised.
With the game approaching the final 15 minutes the spoils were still there for the taking, and it was the hosts who were able to find the extra inspiration needed to take victory. A penalty from Flood on 66 minutes gave Leicester the edge, and the goalkicker then got in on the try-scoring act when he intercepted on half-way and sprinted over for a crucial try.
Biggar's penalty reduced the arrears, but a late Tiger try from Ben Youngs and a second from Tuilagi sealed a welcome win for Leicester.
The scorers:
For Leicester:
Tries: Tuilagi 2, Flood, Youngs
Cons: Flood 2
Pens: Flood 5
For Ospreys:
Try: R. Jones
Cons: Biggar
Pens: Biggar 5
Yellow card: Bevington (Ospreys - 34th min- scrum infringements)
Leicester Tigers: 15 Scott Hamilton, 14 Niall Morris, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Vereniki Goneva, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Thomas Waldrom, 6 Steve Mafi, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Graham Kitchener, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Logovi'i Mulipola.
Replacements: 16 George Chuter, 17 Marcos Ayerza, 18 Martin Castrogiovanni, 19 Louis Deacon, 20 Richard Thorpe, 21 Sam Harrison, 22 George Ford, 23 Matt Smith.
Ospreys: 15 Richard Fussell, 14 Hanno Dirksen, 13 Andrew Bishop, 12 Ashley Beck, 11 Eli Walker, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Kahn Fotuali'i, 8 Jonathan Thomas, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Ryan Jones, 5 Ian Evans, 4 Alun Wyn Jones (c), 3 Adam Jones, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Ryan Bevington.
Replacements: 16 Matthew Dwyer, 17 Duncan Jones, 18 Aaron Jarvis, 19 George Stowers, 20 Joe Bearman, 21 Rhys Webb, 22 Matthew Morgan, 23 Tom Isaacs.
Venue: Welford Road
Referee: Romain Poite
Comments
rugby_rockstar says...
3 things I wanna say:
1, Waay better from the Tigers. not the best opening 20mins but the last 60 was useful. Now if only they played like ths in the Aviva!!!!! If you can do it once then lets see it all the time!!! :)
2, It was facinating to see Biggar get wound up by the french ref's decisions. I do myself when I see Nigel Owens ref an england v Ireland game and things seem to be going all the Irish team's way. this whole euro-cup war has a Anglo- French ves Pro 12 battle line thing going on so I kinda a bit of therapy watching Dan feel like the ref was blatently on the English team's side. its was a "HA! SEE HOW YOU LIKE IT!" moment!
3, "Hey I'm Stuart Barnes! Look at me! Look At what I'm going to do now! You Think Toby Flood is going to get Man Of the Match don't you! Oh No! I want you all to talk about ME so I'm going to give it to Ben Youngs instead!!!! AREN'T I CLEVER!!!!"
No Stuart, you are just a total tool. Toby Flood was brilliant on Sunday.
Posted 12:34 22nd October 2012
kybone says...
makemehappy- Yea fair enough. i just thought it looked like Leicester's game right from the end of the first half. The only difference was that it was looking like a 3 point game until the tries came at the end.
Posted 07:35 22nd October 2012
makemehappy says...
@kybone - fair enough - though I didn't see anything of promise from the Tigers until they'd been handed a considerable lead - which in my view means that the game (based on what I saw) was thrown away.
Posted 07:04 22nd October 2012
TVaddict says...
Well, that was a great performance from Youngs and Flood, really made up for their below par performances last week. That game was a lot closer than the score suggests and Leicester were very lucky really.
Another Welsh team losing it in the last 10 mins, what is the cause of this problem? Tactics? Fitness? Mental strength?
Posted 22:46 21st October 2012
sirtidychris says...
What a game.... 5 tries, a real tussle up front, some great back moves and real battle at the break down and the odd 60 metre penalty kick. I felt the ospreys were really let down by some of their players today with a lot of their boys invisible on the pitch(not including hibberd, tipuric and AW jones) . The game was won by the platform given by the Leicester tight five, they looked great in the scrums and were a constant nuisance at the lineout, and gave a on fire flood and young's space to work the ball.
Posted 22:08 21st October 2012
kybone says...
makemehappy- I disagree slightly. I thought it was a really tight, entertaining game between 2 good teams, but after the Tigers squard it up at 10-10 before half time i always felt like they were the more likely. The tries at the end just added the gloss. The only thing thrown away was a losing bonus point imo.
Posted 21:56 21st October 2012
Carpelone says...
Great game, NH's rugby at its best.
Posted 19:53 21st October 2012
NHsaints says...
Great game from both sides, you always felt like Leicester were pulling away after their first try, ospreys clung on well though. Hibbard, Biggar and Tipuric were brilliant for Ospreys, as were Mafi, Flood, Youngs, Tuilagi and Cole for Leicester.
Posted 18:19 21st October 2012
makemehappy says...
Very much a game thrown away by the Ospreys and given on a plate to Leicester. Until the last 10 minutes I really was surprised by how poor the Leicster team had been in terms of creativity (sadly I only saw the last 30 minutes due to my Sky box freezing). Bit surprised that someone thinks the win had lots to do with experience and class. That was what I'd anticipated, but it couldn't have been further from the truth. An early Christmad present from the Ospreys to Leicester!
Posted 17:33 21st October 2012
melkdave says...
Well what a match,both sides went for it,but Leicesters experiance and class i felt gave them the win at the end.Youngs and Flood played superbly imo,and showed why they are Lions contenders,given decent ball they can work wonders.D.Bigger also i felt showed why jis the number one FH in Wales atm,along with R.Hibberd,and J.Tipric,and AW.Jnes all i feel certain starters this aurtum for Wales.As to England well alot of players have put their hands up,and im sure SL and co have a few headaches in regards to selection.Glad i havent got that job lol.
Posted 17:04 21st October 2012