Italian job well done for Leicester
Leicester kept their hopes of a quarterfinal spot alive on Saturday with a comprehensive 47-8 win over Viadana at Welford Road.
Richard Cockerill’s men were at their clinical best in front of their home fans, wrapping up the vital bonus-point inside the first half before cruising to a good win.
The home side got off to a great start thanks to a try from England centre Dan Hipkiss. The powerful outside centre was obviously keen to once again remind Martin Johnson of what he is capable of ahead of the upcoming Six Nations campaign and got his name on to the scoresheet twice during the 80 minutes.
Viadana got themselves on the board with a penalty a couple of minutes later but the remainder of the half belonged to the home side.
Ben Woods started the ball rolling with his score after 20 minutes before, on 32 minutes, Flood grabbed his try. Another man pushing for a starting spot with England, Flood showed good consistency with the boot all afternoon.
New Zealander Scott Hamilton then turned chief destroyer in the final 10 minutes of the half, scoring a brace of tries, in the 34th and 39th minutes, to give the home side an unassailable 35-3 lead at the break.
The travelling fans enjoyed the start to the second half and saw their teams’ efforts rewarded with a try from Pablo Canavosio after 55 minutes.
With the match effectively done both coaches made a series of changes. Having settled with their reshuffled lineup the Tigers rounded the game off with two tries in the last 10 minutes of the match, a second for Hipkiss and one for replacement centre Aaron Mauger.
For Leicester
Tries: Hipkiss 2, Woods, Flood, Hamilton 2, Mauger
Cons: Flood 5, Vestty
For Viadana
Try: Canavosio
Pen: Law
The teams:
Leicester: 15 Scott Hamilton, 14 Alesana Tuilagi, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Sam Vesty, 11 Lote Tuqiri, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Ben Woods, 6 Tom Croft, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Louis Deacon, 3 Dan Cole, 2 George Chuter, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 Mefin Davies, 17 Boris Stankovich, 18 Julian White, 19 Craig Newby, 20 Lewis Moody, 21 James Grindal, 22 Aaron Mauger, 23 Johne Murphy.
Viadana: 15 Garry Law, 14 Matteo Pratichetti, 13 Sam Cox, 12 Lloyd Johansson, 11 Michele Sepe, 10 Pierre Hola, 9 Pablo Canavosio, 8 Jaco Erasmus, 7 Andrea Benatti, 6 Aaron Persico, 5 Sean Hohneck, 4 Carlo del Fava, 3 Julio Garcia, 2 Luigi Ferraro, 1 Plinio Sciamanna.
Replacements: 16 Roberto Santamaria, 17 Luigi Milani, 18 Mattia Cagna, 19 Josh Furno, 20 Gareth Krause, 21 Mickey Wilson, 22 Aldo Birchall, 23 Samuele Pace.
