There was a disastrous start to the match as Mike Brown, principally, and others failed to gather the kick off. It was allowed to bounce and fell into Leicester hands.   Immense pressure on the Quins line on the right was held but the ball was moved rapidly left to reach Johne Murphy unmarked on the wing for a try inside the first minute.  Hougaard’s excellent kick from the touchline rubbed salt into the wound as Tigers opened a seven point lead.  Only five minutes later Guest was penalised for holding on when iosolated at a breakdown on the Quins twenty-two and Hougaard increased the lead.

Quins attempted to rally and with possession came territory and after a few minutes more Nick Evans made no mistake with a penalty.  But barely a minute later Hougaard took a similar opportunity. After eleven minutes the score was 13 – 3.

There was no shortage of effort as Quins tried to catch up.  But the Tigers are streetwise and defend with skill and determination.  Their kicking game caused Quins problems.  Masson and Turner-Hall worked hard in attack and frequently appeared to be making progress only to run into the wall of the Tigers’ defence.  Another penalty allowed Evans to narrow the gap again.

Again Quins failed to deal with a restart and immediately Leicester was on the attack again as Hipkiss and Mauger penetrated deep into Quins’ territory and found Hougaard able to cross for an easy score and a successful conversion.   Quins increased their efforts in attack and a fine break by Tom Williams was halted short of the line and all that Quins could achieve was another penalty from Nick Evans that took the score at half-time to 20 – 9.

The second half started almost as poorly as the first half had.  The Leicester right wing, Matt Smith, attacked down the right and chipped hard over the defence and his chase was ruled as a try, despite being clearly touched down over the dead ball line,

with the referee and his assistant a long way behind.  Dean Richards later averred that the video of the match confirmed the error.  With Hougaard adding the conversion the Tigers’ lead was now 27 – 9.

A further error from the referee in respect of a very long kick from Mike Brown brought play back to the Quins’ twenty-two although it had been kicked from inside the area and had not been taken back inside by Brown.  The benefit of position and possession was all that Tigers needed to keep Quins back in their own half.

While Quins were now playing with more skill and determination than earlier in the game, they were forced to chase and take chances that did not succeed. More than once they took play down to the Tigers five metre line but then either a knock-on or a turnover allowed Leicester to clear.    Penalty opportunities were kicked to the corner in an attempt to force a try but at least twice the chance was lost when the throw was penalised for not being straight.

Despite having lost Gary Botha with an injury just before half-time, the scrum was holding up well, disrupting the Leicester set-piece and holding firm on their own ball with Chris Brooker showing his skills.  With three minutes remaining it was Brooker that broke through from a breakdown on the Tiger’s ten-metre line to run almost unopposed for a try that even he was surprised by.  The conversion was missed and the match ended with the score at 27 – 14,

At the press conference after the game, Dean Richards was clearly unhappy at Quins’ performance and admitted that the loss was self-inflicted. "We gave Leicester the first 13 points," he said. "The first kick-off, we have lost it and they have scored. We get a kick-off again and we have dropped it again and they have scored another. They are 10-3 up with only 10 minutes gone. You can't allow yourself to come to a place like this and have to try to claw yourself back into a game early on.”

He went on "Matt Smith's try was well over the dead-ball line yet it was still given. It was a game-changing decision, the wrong decision.”  Asked how he was certain that were so, he confirmed that the video of the match showed it clearly.  He was also scathing about the decision over Brown’s kick, but went on, "If you don't get help here you are never going to win. I am not going to blame the ref because all in all the blame lies with ourselves because of our poor start."

LEICESTER TIGERS: S Hamilton; J Murphy (T Varndell 65min), D Hipkiss, A Mauger, M Smith, D Hougaard (S Vesty 77min), J Dupuy (B Youngs 75min); B Stankovich (S Bonorino 64-67min), G Chuter (M Davies 61min), D Cole (S Bonorino 69min), M Corry (capt), B Kay, C Newby, B Deacon, L Moody

HARLEQUINS :M Brown; T Williams, T Masson (DW Barry 78min), J Turner-Hall, C Amesbury, N Evans, J Polu (G Williams 76min), M Ross (M Lambert 67min), G Botha (capt) (C Brooker 39min), C Jones, J Evans, O Kohn (G Robson 61min), C Robshaw, T Guest, N McMillan

Referee: S Davey (RFU)

Attendance: 17,432

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