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Leicester Tigers 45-15 Exeter Chiefs |
By Shaun Wren
Leicester
were back and they looked like the Tigers we all know!
Manu
Tuilagi returned to Welford Road and was back with a bang but Ben
Youngs was in control of the game from the start. Try scorers
included Logovi’I Mulipola, Vereniki Goneva, Adam Thompstone and
two from David Mélé plus 13 points from the boot of Owen Williams
brought the LV champions back down to reality.
It
was Exeter who scored the first points as Henry Slade scored a
penalty but after that, it was all Leicester with Tuilagi scoring his
first try at Welford Road for several months and even though it was
clearly seen that Owen Williams scored the conversion - it wasn’t
given - so the Tigers led
5-3.
It
didn’t get much better for the Chiefs as prop Mulipola received a
pop pass from Govena to bulldoze his way past two tackles and over
the try line, with Williams scoring the conversion to take the Tigers
to a 12 point lead.
After
Williams scored a penalty, Exeter found their way back into the game
as a rolling maul opened up a gap for hooker Jack Yeandle and with
Slade’s conversion, the Chiefs cut the Tigers lead to five.
However
seconds after Exeter’s try, Govena showed pure skill to side step
not one but two defenders to get himself on the score sheet and as
Williams showed his kicking boot was firmly on, the Midlands side got
their lead back into double digits.
On
the 32nd
minute the Devon side were down to 14 men after a high tackle from
lock
Dean
Mumm saw him sin-binned. Williams produced the final points of the
first half with a penalty and Leicester went into the break 25-10.
HT
25-10
It
took five minutes into the second half for Leicester and Williams to
extend their lead further and on the 51st
minute the Tigers winger, Thompstone, touched down in the corner.
Leicester looked to have secured the win and the bonus point!
Replacement
scrum half, Mélé, scored the home side’s fifth try of the day
after their scrum destroyed the Exeter pack. The West Country side
did get a try back through; it was Ian Whitten with 10 minutes to
spare but it was nothing more than a consolation prize. With a
minute left, Mélé then scored his second try of the game after some
great pressure from the Tigers. The French scrum-half had a simple
pick up to score.
A
great performance from Leicester as they showed they're back in the
fight for the play-offs.
This
Tigers team weren’t fazed and now the pressure is on Bath to keep
3rd
place.
Unfortunately
this wasn’t the same Exeter performance that won them the LV Cup
last weekend and this will probably hurt coach, Rob Baxter, more now
- with the chance for the Chiefs to be playing Heineken Cup rugby,
slim - or next to nothing.
FT
45-15