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Champions knock Tigers off top spot

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Harlequins 25 Leicester Tigers 21

Leicester Tigers were knocked off top spot in the Aviva Premiership by reigning champions Harlequins after a thrilling contest at The Stoop.

A stunning second-half try by England scrum-half Danny Care turned the game on its head after the visitors had gone into the half-time break 18-12 ahead.

Care took a quick tap penalty on 49 minutes and jinked in and out of several Tigers defenders before diving over the line after a 60-metre sprint.

Ben Botica's coversion, and a penalty on the hour, gave Quins 10 unanswered points and put the home side 22-18 ahead - a lead they never relinquished.

Much as Tigers tried to get back into the game, led by the impressive Toby Flood at fly-half, they fell foul of referee Wayne Barnes' whistle and lost the penalty count by a huge margin.

Earlier, Flood had given Tigers an ideal start with an incercept try which put his team 7-0 ahead after just five minutes.

And it was Flood's delicate grubber kick that allowed Adam Thompstone to score his eighth try of the season near half-time to put Leicester 18-12 up at the break.

It was a lead they could not hold on to and that left director of rugby Richard Cockerill frustrated.

"These games are always close and this was disappointing in the end," he said. "A bit of brilliance from Danny Care got them ahead and we didn't take our chances to get back at them.

"That's life, we will take the points and re-group.

"There were a lot of offences from both sides but we seemed to get pinged for lots of them - and they didn't.

"I thought he (referee) was harsh on us at the penalty count. I thought we got penalised for things that they were doing and getting away with."

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