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Zurich Premiership

Leicester Tigers 15 - London Irish 6

London Irish are still in deep relegation trouble following this defeat by leaders Leicester Tigers. 

The Exiles, who had little time to recover from their Powergen Cup elimination at Headingley on the previous Sunday, were hoping for a possible return to winning ways against a Tigers team depleted by players on international duty.

Unfortunately for London Irish, the hosts succeeded in extending their lead at the top of the Zurich Premiership to 12 points after their 15-6 victory. The Tigers were also bidding to get back on track after their recent surprise defeat by relegation haunted Northampton Saints two weeks ago.

Before an attendance of just under 17,000, tries by Alesana Tuilagi and Luke Abraham laid the platform for the leaders’ victory over London Irish as well as a Ross Broadfoot conversion and Sam Vesty penalty. Barry Everitt replied for London Irish with two penalties. London Irish should have taken full advantage of a home side depleted by injuries and international call ups but were hit by two opportunist tries — one in each half.

The Tigers opened the scoring after a quarter of an hour when Vesty, who was standing in for Ireland’s Geordan Murphy, successfully kicked his first penalty attempt. However, the visitors soon hit back with an equalising penalty from Barry Everitt.

While Tigers may have been under strength they were not lacking experience and their side included World Cup winning captain Martin Johnson and Austin Healy who was operating quite effectively at fly-half. 

Healy set up the opening try after finding space to make a superb break which gave left winger Tuilagi the scoring opportunity to touch down in the 38th minute to leave the half-time score 8-3 in favour of the hosts.

On the resumption a bad mistake by Exiles full-back Michael Horak allowed Tuilagi to charge down an attempted clearance and set up flanker Abraham for his side’s second try. Broadfoot, who replaced Hipkiss, added the conversion. 

Try as they might London Irish were left chasing the game from there onwards. The visitors were still full of running towards the end and should have got a try when they attacked from their own half and created an over-lap. However Justin Bishop knocked the ball on and the Exiles left a rain-soaked Welford Road without even a consolation bonus point. 

Leicester: Vesty, Hipkiss, Lloyd, Gibson, A. Tuilagi, Healey, Bemand, Holford, Buckland, Morris, M. Johnson, L. Deacon, H. Tuilagi, Back, W. Johnson.

Replacements: Broadfoot for Hipkiss (62), Chuter for Buckland (58), B. Deacon for H. Tuilagi (62), Abraham for Back (35). Not Used: Rawson, Hamilton, Dodge. Scorers: Tries: A. Tuilagi, Abraham. Cons: Broadfoot. Pens: Vesty.

London Irish: Horak, Shabbo, Penney, Catt, Bishop, Everitt, Hodgson, Hatley, Flavin, Hardwick, Strudwick, Kennedy, Gustard, Dawson, Reid. Replacements: Mordt for Penney (72), Paice for Flavin (80), Wheatley for Hardwick (48), Danaher for Gustard (61), Roche for Reid (80). Not Used: Laidlaw, Barrett. Scorers: Pens: Everitt 2. Referee: C White (RFU).

London Irish’s next Zurich Premiership fixture will be their annual St. Patrick’s Party fixture at the Madejski Stadium against Gloucester on Saturday, March 26, KO 5pm.

 

Results

Six Nations: Ireland 16 France 26; England 39 Italy 7; Scotland 22 Wales 46. Zurich Premiership: Harlequins 39 Newcastle 23; Saracens 32 Sale 19; Wasps 30 Leeds 15; Bath 18 Worcester 10; Gloucester 18 Northampton 26; Leicester15 London Irish 6. AIB All-Ireland League: Division 2: Highfield 20 Old Crescent 22. Fixtures: Celtic League: Friday, March 18, The Ospreys v The Dragons, 7.05pm; Munster v Ulster, 7.30pm. Sunday, March 20, Connacht v Leinster, 2.30pm; Llanelli Scarlets v Cardiff Blues, 3.30pm; The Borders v Edinburgh Rugby, 7pm.

 

Irish Team of the Week

15. G Murphy (Ireland)  14. G Dempsey (Ireland)  13. B O’Driscoll (Ireland)  12. K Maggs (Ireland)  11. J Bishop (London Irish)  10. R O’Gara (Ireland)  9. P Stringer (Ireland)  1. R Corrigan (Ireland)  2. S Byrne (Ireland)  3. J Hayes (Ireland)  4. D Brown (Northampton Saints) 5. P O’Connell (Ireland)  6. J O’Connor (Ireland)  7. K Dawson (London Irish) 8. C Rigney (Leeds Tykes)