Leicester's late surge thump Scarlets
CHAMPIONS CUP REPORT: Leicester Tigers ended a run of five consecutive Champions Cup defeats with a 45-27 bonus-point victory over Scarlets at Welford Road on Friday.
Dan Cole got the Welford Road faithful on their feet early with a textbook turnover inside the Scarlets half, with the Welsh region eventually penalised as a result. George Ford pointed to the posts and made no mistake from fully 40 metres out.
A free kick for Leicester would then bounce deep in the Scarlets 22 and play eventually found Harry Wells after advantage was being played by Romain Poite. He was able to dive over the try line at the posts and dot down the opening score, which George Ford converted.
The Welsh region were on the back foot in the opening 15 minutes but hit back through the in-form Gareth Davies who was able to slide all the way over the line after two delightful inside passes following a Scarlets ruck.
Halfpenny then drew the sides level with the kicking tee after 30 minutes but Scarlets fell behind again through Guy Thompson.
Harry Wells won the initial turnover and the home side make ground with a delightful inside pass to George Ford, creating the overlap for Thompson held off his man and dived over in the corner.
Halfpenny then scored his 500th point in European Cup action just before half-time with a late penalty kick, but Leicester Tigers proved to be the dominant side in the second half.
Sione Kalamafoni powered over the try line first after an excellent break from Manu Tuilagi, who was awarded Man of the Match.
Tries from Steff Evans and Blade Thomson put the Welsh region in front for a short period, but the latter try sparked Leicester into life as they ran in tries through Tuilagi and Jonny May in the final 20 minutes to kill off any hope of a Scarlets fightback.
The home side travel to face Racing 92 in Round 3, while Scarlets will host Ulster Rugby.
The scorers:
For Leicester Tigers:
Tries: Wells, Thompson, Kalamafoni, Tuilagi, May
Cons: Ford 4
Pens: Ford 4
For Scarlets:
Tries: G Davies, Evans, Thomson
Cons: Halfpenny 3
Pens: Halfpenny 2
Leicester Tigers: 15 Jonah Holmes, 14 Jonny May, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Kyle Eastmond, 11 Jordan Olowofela, 10 George Ford (captain), 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Sione Kalamafoni, 7 Guy Thompson, 6 Mike Williams, 5 Will Spencer, 4 Harry Wells, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Greg Bateman
Replacements: 16 Jake Kerr, 17 Facundo Gigena, 18 Joe Heyes, 19 Graham Kitchener, 20 Tommy Reffell, 21 Sam Harrison, 22 Matt Toomua, 23 Adam Thompstone
Scarlets: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Ioan Nicholas, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Hadleigh Parkes, 11 Steff Evans, 10 Dan Jones, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Will Boyde, 7 Josh MacLeod, 6 Blade Thomson, 5 David Bulbring, 4 Tom Price, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Ken Owens (captain), 1 Wyn Jones
Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Phil Price, 18 Werner Kruger, 19 Josh Helps, 20 Uzair Cassiem, 21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 22 Steff Hughes, Paul Asquith
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Assistant referees: Vincent Blasco Baqué (France), Stéphane Boyer (France)
Television match official: Denis Grenouillet (France)
@ChampionsCup
