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Gutsy Leicester Tigers stay in Cup contention with win over London Irish

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A virtual Leicester Tigers second team beat a full-strength London Irish side to stay very much alive in this season's LV= Cup.

With 12 players away on international duty and numerous others being rested with one eye on Sunday's return to Aviva Premiership action at Wasps, director of rugby Richard Cockerill would have gone into the game with more hope than expectation.

But, led by Brett Deacon, Tigers put in a tremendously gutsy shift and withstood the loss of prop Boris Stankovich to a 65th-minute red card for their first win in the competition.

Leicester put together a run of 19 consecutive points after the Exiles had taken an early 8-0 lead which included South African lock Rob Andrew's first try for the club.

With fly-half George Ford kicking 17 points, Tigers seemed to be cruising until Stankovich's dismissal for a high tackle and Tom Homer's try created a unexpectedly nervous finish.

Earlier on, Tigers made their almost customary slow start to a game at Welford Road and the Exiles were 8-0 up in as many minutes.

Former Leicester fly-half Ian Humphreys converted a penalty before full-back Anthony Watson scored the first try of the game after good work by Topsy Ojo.

Tigers began to find their feet and a lovely off-load by the lively Dan Bowden, playing against his former club, almost set Rob Hawkins free.

Ford made a horrible contact with his first kick at the posts on the quarter hour mark but then made a superb jinking run past five or six players in midfield as the home side began to get on top.

It came as no surprise when they pulled it back to 8-7. Ed Slater snared overthrown Irish line-out ball, passed to Michael Noone and he fed second-rower Andrew to finish the job.

Ford added a penalty soon after to put Leicester into their first lead and his third kick of the half gave Tigers a 13-8 lead at the break.

With Ford full of confidence, Fraser Balmain matching England's loose-head prop Alex Corbisiero in the front row and Noone and Richard Thorpe helping Leicester dominate a fierce breakdown, they went into the interval on a high.

That dominance continued early in the second half with Slater setting up a threatening sortie into Irish territory with a line-out steal, followed by a trademark 20-metre rumble.

When Ford kicked Tigers 16-8 ahead on 48 minutes it gave the hosts a two-score advantage and then made it 19-8 near the hour mark, that seemed to be that.

But Micky Young was forced into a wonderful try-saving tackle on Matt Garvey two metres short of the Leicester line and then prop Stankovich was red-carded for a high tackle on Irish scrum-half Darren Allinson.

While the tackle looked more like a yellow card at most, the decision gave Irish some much-needed impetus and they soon got right back in the game when substitute Homer scored in the left-hand corner on an overlap.

Humphreys converted with a kick from the touchline and suddenly, there were just four points in it at 19-15 with 12 minutes to go.

Irish held the ascendency for the next five minutes as Tigers defended for long periods but they broke free from the shackles and, when Ford kicked his fifth penalty of the day with three minutes to go, Tigers had held on.

Gutsy Leicester Tigers stay in Cup contention with win over London Irish


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