Leicester moved a step closer to Heineken Cup glory with an awesome display
against hapless Swansea at Welford Road.
Irish winger Geordan Murphy grabbed a try either side of the interval to ease
the 1997 finalists into the last four.
Austin Healey and Andy Goode also sneaked in, with Tim Stimpson adding a
further 18 points with his boot and Goode also landing a drop goal.
It was all too much for Swansea - best runners-up from the pool stages - who
were staggeringly inept against such determined opponents and had hooker Garin
Jenkins and lock James Griffiths sin-binned midway through the second period.
In what was always likely to be a blood and guts encounter between two sides
possessing 24 full internationals between them, Swansea almost had the perfect
start.
After turning over Leicester possession from the kick-off, Arwel Thomas
floated a superb kick into the corner, which the returning Healey had to hack
into touch inside his own in-goal area as Shaun Payne was about to pounce.
It raised the hopes among Swansea support prematurely as the Welsh club
proceeded to blunder their way through the rest of the half.
Jenkins was fortunate to escape with only a verbal warning after a couple of
altercations with the Leicester front-row, who despite pre-match predictions,
held a clear edge.
Stimpson missed two penalties before landing three on the trot to ease the
Tigers in front, exchanging another with Thomas to maintain a nine-point
advantage.
But star of the show for Leicester was undoubtedly Tuilagi.
The mighty Samoan had already driven Mark Taylor into the ground with a huge
tackle and just before the quarter mark intervened again to deny Swansea a
certain try.
Thomas got in the way of Goode's attempted chip through, hacked on from his
own 20-metre line and appeared to be clear.
But as the Welsh fly-half went to collect the bouncing ball on his way to the
line, Tuigali sprinted back, seized possession and hammered the ball to the
touchline.
Five minutes later, Tuigali ghosted into the line as the Tigers opened out
inside the Swansea half and with Pat Howard and Leon Lloyd moving the ball on,
Geordan Murphy nipped in at the corner.
Stimpson converted but missed a penalty in the dying stages of the opening
period, by which time another large Welford Road crowd had been treated to a
piece of impish brilliance from Murphy.
Breaking from a ruck, Murphy took possession 10 metres out with his back to
the uprights and hoisted an overhead kick which Lloyd only just failed to
reach.
It was a measure of Leicester's dominance that the Irish winger could even
contemplate such an audacious move but if Swansea thought they could rectify the
damage after the interval, they were sadly mistaken.
Within four minutes of the restart, they were out of the contest, undone by
their own mistakes.
Turning over the ball inside their own half, there still should have been no
immediate danger when Leicester hooker Dorian West appeared on the right wing
and bobbled a kick to the corner.
Kevin Morgan came across to hack away, completely missed the ball and Murphy,
scarcely able to believe his luck, scored again.
A typical Leicester forward drive created the opening for Healey to grab his
side's third try on the Tigers next attack and a place in the last four was
secure.
Goode rubbed Swansea's noses in it with a 30-metre drop goal and despite their
huge lead, Leicester were in no mood to surrender easy points, Murphy careering
across the field to boot away as Thomas was about to ground another loose ball
over the home line.
By now the visitors were arguing amongst themselves.
The home supporters lapped it up and cheered even louder when Jenkins was
shown a yellow card for a high tackle on Tuilagi, followed shortly afterwards by
Griffiths who caught West in the face with a swinging arm.
Swansea had not been good enough with a full compliment of players, with two
men down, Goode took advantage of the extra space to score under the posts.
Paul Moriarty at least grabbed a consolation try for the visitors but it
wasn't enough to hide the embarrassment as the teams trooped off at the end.
Teams:
Leicester: Stimpson, Tuilagi, Lloyd, Howard, Murphy, Goode,
Healey, Corry, Rowntree, West, Garforth, Deacon, Kay,
W. Johnson, Back.
Not Used: Nebbett, Cockerill, Freshwater, Moody, Balding,
Gelderbloom, Hamilton.
Tries: Murphy 2, Healey, Goode.
Cons: Stimpson 3.
Pens: Stimpson 4. Drop Goals: Goode.
Swansea: K. Morgan, Payne, Taylor,
Gibbs, M. Robinson,
A. Thomas, Martens, L. Jones, Morris, G. Jenkins, Evans,
Griffiths, Moore, Lewis, Charvis.
Not Used: Moriarty, D. Thomas, Anthony, Smith, Henson, C. Rees,
R. Jones.
Tries: Moriarty.
Cons: C. Rees.
Pens: A. Thomas.
Att: 14,000
Ref: Alan Lewis (Ireland).
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