Irish v Tigers 17 Feb 08

The first error of the game came from Geodan who missed his touch from the kick-off. A further error from Keyser allowed the home side to pin Leicester in their 22 for the first 5 minutes.

Paice's throw ended up back in his hands for the drive before Geraghty opened up the mid-field. Ojo sliced easily through the Tigers defence and lunged for the try line. The TMO was called on for the decision : No Try - penalty for offside against Herring, converted by Hickey for 3 - 0.

London Irish were back on the attack from the restart with Paice, again, taking the ball through the forwards and to within 5 m of the Leicester line.. Geragthy followed up, stopped only a few metres out but it was Hewat who crashed over for the try under the posts.

The reply from Leicester was immediate when Goode cut the Irish line and with Erinle on his shoulder, the try was scored under the Irish posts. Goode added the extras to close the gap to 10 - 7.

A botched lineout from Irish on their own 5m was almost converted into points as Corry gathered but was stopped a few metres out.. The following attacking scrum had the home side under some pressure as the Irish were forced to retreat. The wide pass eventually went to Murphy G on the right wing after a feint to the left from the back of the scrum., but the try was held up giving the Tigers yet another scrum 10 m in from the left.

London Irish were penalised and Corry made the decision to scrum down again. Goode attempted to crash through the defensive line, stopped again  a metres or so out.

Tagicakibau collected kick that failed to find touch and ran, and ran making his way into the Tiger 22 after a series of Leicester-missed-tackles and hand-offs, only to see the move breakdown with a knock-on from his team-mates.

A poor passage of play from Leicester, with Murphy J pinged for a comment to the referee, allowed the Irish to kick for touch. From just inside their own half.

As the half-hour passed, Tigers had an attacking line out, Hamilton tried to get the bal to the pace-men, but London Irish were adjudged to knock-on. Leicester was then penalised for collapsing their own scrum in the Irish 22, giving the home side the chance to clear their lines.

Goode took his first punt at the posts after 37 minutes with a penalty attempt from his own half, but the kick came up short allowing Catt to find touch with his first kick of the day.

Irish were penalised following the Tiger line out and Goode stepped up to give the penalty another go, His kick went horribly wide of the left upright.

Murpghy G carried the ball back into Irish territory and after Kay was knocked back, London Irish won the scrum, but time did not allow the set piece. Half-time 10 - 7 and we were all set for a good old scrap in the second 40.

A Catt clearance from the 22 was charged down by Goode and a Tiger'' line out followed. Leicester moved the ball through the hands, but again lost the ball in the breakdown for a London Irish scrum. Hodgson's scramble through the middle lead to a punt up field and an uncharacteristic knock on by Geordan.

A terrific crash through by Corry ended up in Goode's hands who tried the chip through. Ojo ran the ball back, again slipping the tackles. Meanwhile the ball travelled the length of the pitch a couple of times as Kay and Kennedy had a little tete-a-tete. The decision from the touch line was that Kennedy raised his knees against Kay and a penalty was given to Tigers about 35 out on the right hand side. Goode stepped up for the kick and levelled the scores on 47 minutes.

The Irish restart went out on the full handing the advantage back to Leicester.

As the clock ticked over the 50 minute mark, a promising Irish move from one side of the field to the other ended as Tagicakibau knocked on 3m out from the line.

A scrappy period of play was bought to a halt when Leicester were penalised for not releasing. Hickey stepped up to take the penalty kick from about 30m giving the Irish a three-point lead.

A couple of Leicester line outs went awry as Irish pinched the ball then Tigers knocked on from the tap down.

Leicester were pinged again for an early tackle and Hickey slotted the points from about 30m out, extending the lead to 6 points.

London Irish upped the ante and Leicester were penalised yet again for not rolling away. The kick, virtually from the same position as the previous two kicks, was lined up by Hickey and the Tigers were suddenly 9 points adrift.

Croft earned Leicester a penalty straight from the restart in fro of the posts. Goode got the points and the deficit was reduced to 6.

Hamilton just knocked on from the restart resulting in a scrum to Irish and veteran Catt hoofed a long drop goal from the half way.

Castrogiovani was pinged yet again for not releasing and the home side cleared to the Tigers half for the throw.

Goode failed to find touch when Irish were penalised for a push. Hands in the ruck by Irish gave Leicester the chance to get back into the game with a difficult kick for Goode from about 45m. The attempt was just wide of the left hand upright and the score remained the same.

A kick ahead from London Irish put Goode under pressure and Ojo was there quickly to force the Leicester stand off to carry over the try line.

London Irish looking to secure the win pushed the Tigers scrummage back, but the ball was regained by Leicester in front of their own posts and won the advantage  from some lose Irish handling.

Murphy and Murphy took the Tigers out of their own half, but Murphy J was taken out into touch just over the halfway line.

Controlled play from London Irish allowed Catt to hit the ball out and the 80 was up.

Final score: London Irish 22 - Leicester Tigers 13.

My MOTM: Paice.

London Irish team:

1 Lea'aetoa, 2 Paice, 3 Rautenbach, 4 Kennedy, 5 Casey (capt), 6 Roche, 7 Armitage S, 8 Thorpe, 9 Hodgson, 10 Hickey, 11 Tagicakibau, 12 Geraghty, 13 Armitage D, 14 Ojo, 15 Hewat.

Bench

16 Murphy D, 17 Coetzee, 18 Skuze, 19 Hudson, 20 Murphy P, 21 Fury, 22 Catt

Leicester Tigers team:

1 Stankovitch, 2 Kayser, 3 Castrogiovani, 4 Hamilton, 5 Kay, 6 Croft, 7 Herring, 8 Corry (capt), 9 Laussucq, 10 Goode, 11 Varndell, 12 Smith, 13 Erinle, 14 Murphy J, 15 Murphy G

Bench

16 Chuter, 17 Moreno, 18 Deacon B, 19 Crane, 20 Murphy F, 21 Humphreys, 22 Hipkiss

Referee: Andrew Small

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