Thomas Waldrom: Scored two tries
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Leicester made an impressive start to their Premiership campaign by beating London Welsh 38-13 at the Kassam Stadium on Sunday.
The Exiles were competitive in the first half with the Tigers just 17-10 ahead at the interval.
Leicester had been 17-0 up through two converted Thomas Waldrom tries and a Toby Flood penalty before Welsh responded with scores from Tom Arscott and Hudson Tonga'uiha.
As expected, the Midlands' side moved away after the break with Geoff Parling, Julian Salvi and Vereniki Goneva all crossing the whitewash.
If ever there was a consolation in facing one of England's most decorated clubs in their opening encounter, it is that Leicester are traditionally slow starters.
But any initial hopes were dashed by a powerful Tigers' outfit. After easing themselves into the match, last years' losing finalists displayed their forward dominance.
Flood opened the scoring with a penalty before the prolific Waldrom scored his first try of the season, the fly-half adding the extras from out wide.
The same players combined for Leicester's next seven points as the number eight went over from a driving maul which was once again converted.
However, to their credit, Welsh continued to compete physically with the visitors and they were rewarded with their first ever five-pointer in the Premiership through Arscott.
It got even better for the hosts as Tonga'uiha took advantage of some slack Tigers' defence to scamper across the whitewash and reduce the deficit at half-time.
Leicester started the second period as they did the first and were rewarded with a third try from Parling, who raced away after a neatly timed off-load from Anthony Allen.
Gordon Ross briefly halted the visitors' momentum with a penalty, but Salvi went over from close range to secure the bonus-point.
And a further touchdown from Goneva sealed a ninth successive regular season victory for the Welford Road-based outfit.
The scorers:
For London Welsh:
Tries: Arscott, Tonga'uiha
Pen: Ross
For Leicester:
Tries: Waldrom 2, Parling, Salvi, Goneva
Cons: Flood 5
Pen: Flood
London Welsh: 15 Tom Arscott, 14 Phil MacKenzie, 13 Sonny Parker, 12. Hudson Tonga'uiha, 11 Joe Ajuwa, 10 Gordon Ross, 9 Jonah Holmes, 8 Daniel Browne, 7 Lee Beach, 6 Ed Williamson, 5 Kirill Kulemin, 4 Jonathan Mills (capt), 3 Paulica Ion, 2 Neil Briggs, 1 Franck Montanella.
Replacements: 16 Greg Bateman, 17 Tom Bristow, 18 Arthur Joly, 19 Martin Purdy, 20 Alfie To'oala, 21 Nick Runciman, 22 Seb Jewell, 23 Nick Scott.
Leicester: 15 Geordan Murphy (c), 14 Scott Hamilton, 13 Manusamoa Tuilagi, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Vereniki Goneva, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Micky Young, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Steve Mafi, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Rob Andrew, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Logovi'i Mulipola.
Replacements: 16 George Chuter, 17 Boris Stankovich, 18 Martin Castrogiovanni, 19 Brett Deacon, 20 Jordan Crane, 21 Sam Harrison, 22 George Ford, 23 Matt Smith.
Referee: JP Doyle
Comments
TVaddict says...
@makemehappy
The ref was bad in general, he missed London Welsh's numerous blocks,offsides and forward passes, some of which lead to their tries. I'd say the bad calls balanced each other out though.
Posted 23:38 03rd September 2012
TVaddict says...
An easy game for Leicester as they barely seemed to move into second gear. London Welsh will need to target teams like London Irish, Wasps, Bath and Sale for at least bonus point loses, and their games against Worcester will probably decide the relegation place.
Posted 22:57 02nd September 2012
stumpy says...
Based on that peformance, any other season I'd say Welsh have a fair chance of staying up. Against perhaps the best team in the league, they showed their attack is nothing to be underestimated as they scored 2 tries, one of them a try which the All Blacks would be happy with. Trouble is, every team in this league is looking strong, and I don't know who they'd overtake at bottom of the table.
Posted 21:36 02nd September 2012
makemehappy says...
Well done to LW - they may yet surprise a few.
Two things spring to mind after watching this game. Why was the referee hellbent on cheating in Leicester's favour. The first example was Cole taking the ball from a player early in the first half. Stuart Barnes was full of praise. Of course, Cole can't dive off his feet and then try scooping the ball, fail to do so, and then come in from a yard offside to play the ball. Impossible to miss and impossible for a neutral referee not to penalise. Leicester were always going to win, but don't cheat ref!
The other clear issue is the lack of a fair playing field. If the RFU want teams that are promoted to struggle, then tell them to they cant even play in the top flight. There you have it - a monopoly! If you do want promotion then make it fair, especially after the debacle where they tried to prevent LW from entering the league. It makes anyone and everyone sick!
Posted 21:29 02nd September 2012
ArmchairGeneral says...
The start of a long long long season for the London Welsh.
Posted 18:00 02nd September 2012
melkdave says...
Well a fairly easie win for Leicester in the end ,but LW did show some fight ,and that they wont roll over.Having both Leicester and Quins 1st up is one hell of a way to start their premiership life,They will hopefully improve ,and will most probably have easier games ,but now all the teams in the AP look pretty strong imo.
Posted 17:21 02nd September 2012