Leaders Leicester moved an ominous seven points clear at the Premiership
summit after recording a priceless away victory over title rivals London Irish.
Tim Stimpson's goalkicking set up Leicester's eighth victory of the league
campaign, before injury-time tries by flanker Lewis Moody and centre Leon Lloyd
rubbed salt into a gaping Irish wound.
Tigers' scrum-half Jamie Hamilton claimed an 18th-minute touchdown, yet Irish
fly-half Barry Everitt booted five penalties and the home side led 15-13 midway
through the second period.
Typically, that was when Leicester, who are seeking a fourth successive
Premiership crown, stepped up a gear, and 17 unanswered points during the final
quarter underlined their dominance.
The Premiership season reaches its halfway stage next weekend, and the
silverware already looks as if it is going to remain at Welford Road.
Irish, roared on by comfortably their biggest crowd of the season - just over
11,000 - had high hopes of bursting Leicester's bubble.
But Tigers' returning England men Moody, Neil Back, Ben Kay, Graham Rowntree,
Dorian West, Austin Healey and skipper Martin Johnson ensured that there were to
be no surprises.
Bizarrely, Leicester took the field with their jerseys turned inside out,
giving them an unfamiliar grey appearance, to avoid a colour clash with their
hosts, but even though Tigers played the game without numbers or names on their
backs, there was nothing anonymous about another competent afternoon's work.
Gloucester now head the chasing pack, yet it would be a major surprise if
Leicester now let slip a lead of such sizeable proportions.
After conceding an early Everitt penalty, Leicester moved into their familiar
stride when Hamilton sprinted through a huge gap in the Irish defence and
crossed unopposed from almost 30 metres out.
Stimpson's conversion and a 25th-minute penalty put Leicester 10-3 up, yet
they were lucky to keep their line intact when fly-half Healey threw out a
ridiculous pass on his own 22-metre line that Irish wing Paul Sackey came within
a fingertip of intercepting.
Everitt and Stimpson then exchanged further penalties before the break, and
the home side enjoyed their best spell shortly after the restart.
Lloyd was sin-binned by referee Chris White for a technical infringement, and
two Everitt penalties during a four-minute spell when Lloyd was off created
thoughts of an Exiles win.
Although Stimpson kicked another penalty to edge Leicester 16-15 ahead, the
visitors could not relax and Moody was fortunate to avoid a yellow card after a
late challenge on Everitt.
Healey switched to the wing during the closing stages when Geordan Murphy went
off, and Irish finally shot their bolt in the 76th minute as flanker Kieron
Dawson, making his 100th first team appearance, was sin-binned for stamping.
With Irish critically one man down, Leicester went for the jugular despite
Stimpson missing an easy penalty two minutes from the end of normal time.
Irish struggled to clear the ball out of their own 22, and Moody crashed over
in the corner for a try that saw Stimpson convert brilliantly from the
touchline, and then four minutes into stoppage time, with Irish defenders
flagging through fatigue, Lloyd galloped over on a three-man overlap - Stimpson
converting to illustrate just why Leicester provide the benchmark for all their
Premiership rivals.
Teams:
London Irish: Horak, Sackey, Appleford, Venter, Bishop,
Everitt, Edwards, Hatley, Kirke, Hardwick, Strudwick, Williams,
Halvey, Dawson, Sheasby.
Replacements: Thrower for Bishop (39),
Martens for Edwards (66), Halford for Hatley (48),
Drotske for Kirke (51), Worsley for Hardwick (48),
Delaney for Williams (66), Danaher for Halvey (79).
Sin Bin: Dawson (76).
Pens: Everitt 5.
Leicester: Stimpson, Murphy, Lloyd, Kafer, Booth, Healey,
J. Hamilton, Rowntree, West, Nebbett, M. Johnson, Kay, Moody,
Back, Balding.
Replacements: Goode for Murphy (74),
Ellis for J. Hamilton (58), W. Johnson for Balding (76).
Not Used: Cockerill, Smith, Freshwater, Short.
Sin Bin: Lloyd (56).
Tries: J. Hamilton, Lloyd, Moody.
Cons: Stimpson 3.
Pens: Stimpson 3.
Att: 11,124
Ref: Chris White (RFU).
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