Leicester overcame the absence of a dozen international players to end their
slump at the expense of London Irish with four unanswered tries that emphasised
their strength in depth.
Austin Healey, Ben Kay and George Chuter - all England players of the recent
past - and Michael Holford touched down for the Tigers with Andy Goode, another
Red Rose discard, adding three conversions and three penalties.
The result was harsh on Irish, who created plenty of chances but couldn't find
the telling final pass and only troubled the scorers once with an early Barry
Everitt penalty.
And the Exiles were clearly furious with referee Roy Maybank, who disallowed
two tries at key moments that shifted the momentum away from the visitors.
They had arrived confident of adding to their only win at Welford Road in 19
attempts against a side short of 10 international players on duty with England,
Ireland and Samoa while Julian White was suspended and Graham Rowntree injured.
This season former Australia, Ireland and Leicester fly-half Brian Smith has
transformed a perennially struggling side with some judicious signings and
consecutive wins over Bath, Newcastle and Gloucester pushed them into the top
three.
Leicester, by contrast, had lost two of their last three games but showed an
abundance of grit on an icy night to hold on against sustained pressure before
punishing defensive errors.
Irish dominated the early stages with confident handling, Everitt got them on
the board with a second-minute penalty and Orpington referee Maybank turned down
what looked like a perfectly good try when flanker Kieran Roche got over in the
right-hand corner.
But Leicester simply rolled with the punches and delivered two telling blows
when the visitors' defence was down to lead 18-3 at the interval.
First hooker Danie Coetzee got in Everitt's way in the eighth minute allowing
Healey to charge down the fly-half's kick and scamper 40 metres for the opening
try.
Goode converted and added penalties in the 22nd and 33rd minutes, either side
of a Kay try that saw the Lions lock blast round the side of a ruck unchecked
and canter 30 metres to the line.
Leicester's looked out of sight with half-an-hour to go when they added a
third try, Chuter emerging with the ball after an old-fashioned drive from a
close-range lineout and Goode's conversion opened up a 22-point lead.
But Irish were denied what might have been a second try when they got over the
line again only for Maybank to rule they had infringed moments earlier at a
lineout.
Goode kicked the Tigers further ahead and any outside chance of a comeback was
killed off when Irish hooker Robbie Russell was sin-binned five minutes after
appearing as a late replacement.
Leicester duly celebrated by introducing Seru Rabeni after a year's absence
recovering from a knee injury and again when replacement prop Holford was forced
over the line at the death.
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