Tigers stay in the hunt

Editor

Leicester took five points against Treviso on Sunday as they won 33-25 at Welford Road to remain just three points adrift of Toulouse.

Leicester picked up maximum points against Treviso on Sunday as they won 33-25 at Welford Road to remain just three points off leaders Toulouse.

Richard Cockerill's men headed into the match on the back of some indifferent form, though they'd drawn great confidence from their win over Bath.

Treviso had been buoyed by their victory against Dragons, and the visitors played their part in what was an entertaining contest in the East Midlands.

The first points of the game weren't scored until the sixteenth minute, when Tigers were awarded a penalty try after driving the scrum over the line.

George Ford's conversion made it 7-0 and less than ten minutes later the Tigers were over for their second, after Geoff Parling's opportunistic ball steal created the opportunity for Manu Tuilagi.

This time the conversion was missed, but Ford was on target to convert Leicester's third try on the half-hour, scored by Julian Salvi from the ruck.

Dean Budd pulled a try back for Treviso less than five minutes later, which Alberto Di Bernardo converted, but Salvi's second in ten minutes, again converted by Ford, just shy of half-time gave the Tigers a healthy cushion.

Treviso struck first following the restart through Lorenzo Cittadini's try, converted by Di Bernardo, but that was as close as the Italians got to scoring an upset.

Matt Smith's try on 55 minutes, converted by Ford, and scored after Treviso's Simone Favaro had been dispatched to the sin-bin, put nineteen points between the two teams, and, though Treviso narrowed the arrears with an unconverted try from Christian Loamanu and a further penalty from Di Bernardo, the Tigers emerged as worthy winners.

The scorers:

For Leicester:
Tries: Penalty, Tuilagi, Salvi 2
Con: Ford 4

For Treviso:
Tries: Budd, Cittadini, Loamanu
Con: Di Bernardo 2
Pen: Di Bernardo 2

Leicester: 15 Mathew Tait, 14 Scott Hamilton, 13 Manusamoa Tuilagi, 12 Dan Bowden, 11 Vereniki Goneva, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Ed Slater, 5 Geoff Parling (c), 4 Graham Kitchener, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 Rob Hawkins, 17 Logovi'i Mulipola, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Jordan Crane, 20 Richard Thorpe, 21 Micky Young, 22 Geordan Murphy, 23 Matt Smith.

Treviso: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Christian Loamanu, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Luca Morisi, 11 Ludovico Nitoglia, 10 James Ambrosini, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Manoa Vosawai, 7 Dean Budd, 6 Simone Favaro, 5 Valerio Bernabò, 4 Antonio Pavanello (c), 3 Ignacio Fernandez Rouyet 2 Franco Sbaraglini, 1 Alberto De Marchi.
Replacements: 16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Michele Rizzo, 18 Lorenzo Cittadini, 19 Cornelius Van Zyl, 20 Francesco Minto, 21 Paul Derbyshire, 22 Fabio Semenzato, 23 Alberto Di Bernardo.

Referee: Pascal Gauzere (France)
Assistant referees: Laurent Cardona (France), Stephan Pomarède (France)
Television match official: Gilles Cogne (France)
Timekeeper: David Hudson (England)