Zurich Premiership champions Leicester bounced back from their shock opening
day defeat to Leeds with a convincing win over Harlequins.
The Tigers showed they are in no mood to relinquish their title with a
dominant display that saw Tim Stimpson move within a point of becoming the first
to reach 1,000 in the competition.
Stimpson touched down in the final minute of a fine Tigers performance that
reinforced the belief that it will still take something special to beat them at
Welford Road.
Harlequins, who struggled against the threat of relegation for much of last
season, produced a spirited performance.
But they were forced to submit to the forward power generated by inspirational
Tigers captain Martin Johnson and his England international colleagues in Neil
Back, Ben Kay, Graham Rowntree, Dorian West and Martin Corry as well as new
signing Franck Tourniere.
Full-back Stimpson contributed 15 of the Tigers points, opening with a
third-minute penalty which was cancelled out three minutes later by Harlequins
fly-half David Slemen.
Stimpson's second penalty in 13th minute put Leicester 6-3 ahead and he was on
target with a conversion 10 minutes later when the Harlequins pack were
outmuscled by Leicester's rolling maul and Back capitalised to touch down.
Slemen reduced the deficit to seven points with a 27th-minute penalty and
Harlequins came out for the second half with a renewed determination.
But despite the efforts of England centre Will Greenwood to find gaps in the
Leicester defence, the champions held firm.
And when they stepped up the pace midway through the second half Harlequins
were unable to keep them out.
A delightful dummy by fly-half Austin Healey almost took the England star in
for a try and after he was hauled down just short of the line, replacement
scrum-half Jamie Hamilton almost got over as he tried to emulate his half-back
partner.
The pressure was too much for Quins' desperate defence, which was stretched
beyond breaking point as Leicester moved the ball out wide for replacement
number eight Josh Kronfeld to send Steve Booth over in the corner.
Booth had another chance when Healey found him with a cross-field kick but he
was unable to grasp the opportunity.
The Quins pack succumbed again when Leicester's push took them back over their
own line and Hamilton dropped on the ball to touch down.
Stimpson converted and then had the final say four minutes into injury time
when another fine passing move stretched Harlequins for Booth to send the
full-back over on the overlap near the corner flag.
Teams:
Leicester: Stimpson, Booth, Smith, Naufahu, Tuilagi,
Healey,
Ellis, Rowntree, West, Tournaire, M. Johnson, Kay, Corry, Back,
W. Johnson.
Not Used: Freshwater, Chuter, Kronfeld, Short, J. Hamilton,
Vesty, Hipkiss.
Tries: Back, Booth, J. Hamilton, Stimpson.
Cons: Stimpson 2.
Pens: Stimpson 2.
Harlequins: N. Williams, Moore, Greenwood, Bell, Gollings,
D. Slemen, J. Powell, Leonard, Tiatia, Gomez, Rudzki, Davison,
Sheriff, Sanderson, Diprose.
Not Used: Caputo, Starr, Evans, Miall, Bemand, Jewell, Satala.
Pens: D. Slemen 2.
Att: 15,387
Ref: Nigel Williams (Bryncoch).
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