A late penalty try helped Leicester seal a critical 14-13 Heineken Cup win over Treviso at Stadio di Monigo that took them top of Pool 2 on Saturday.
The visitors began brightly at the Stadio Comunale di Monigo and, despite the inclement conditions in northern Italy, they attacked with ambition early on and were rewarded with a stunning breakaway try.
Ben Youngs started it all with a typically incisive run from right on his own try-line before Mathew Tait and Anthony Allen combined brilliantly in midfield to give Adam Thompstone the chance to surge over in the left-hand corner.
George Ford added the conversion but, despite a yellow card for Italian prop Michele Rizzo soon afterwards, they were the final points that the Tigers could muster in the first half.
Treviso, on the other hand, roared back into contention as the half wore on and they went into the interval with a 10-7 lead after referee Alain Rolland awarded them a penalty try and Alberto Di Bernardo knocked over the conversion and a late penalty.
Julian Salvi was guilty of dragging down a rolling maul to concede the try but, with almost 10 metres still to go to reach the try-line, Leicester may feel that the decision was harsh.
Di Bernardo edged the home side further in front early in the second half but the Tigers toiled away and, after Christian Loamanu was given the Italians' second yellow card of the match, they finally managed to make the crucial breakthrough.
The Irish referee had little choice but to even the penalty try count up with just a few minutes remaining after Leicester's scrum proved too powerful for the opposition and the men from the East Midlands held on to record a slender but priceless away win.
The scorers:
For Treviso:
Try: Penalty
Con: Di Bernardo
Pen: Di Bernardo 2
For Leicester:
Tries: Thompstone, Penalty
Con: Ford 2
Treviso: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Ludovico Nitoglia, 13 Christian Loamanu, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Tommaso Iannone, 10 Alberto Di Bernardo, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Manoa Vosawai, 7 Dean Budd, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Cornelius van Zyl, 4 Francesco Minto, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Michele Rizzo.
Replacements: 16 Franco Sbaraglini, 17 Matteo Muccignat, 18 Ignacio Fernandez Rouyet, 19 Valerio Bernabo, 20 Paul Derbyshire, 21 Simone Favaro, 22 Fabio Semenzato, 23 Kristopher Burton.
Leicester: 15 Mathew Tait, 14 Niall Morris, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Adam Thompstone, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Brett Deacon, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Louis Deacon, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 George Chuter, 17 Logovi'i Mulipola, 18 Martin Castrogiovanni, 19 Graham Kitchener, 20 Jordan Crane, 21 Sam Harrison, 22 Geordan Murphy, 23 Dan Bowden.
Venue: Stadio di Monigo
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Shaun Gallagher (Ireland), Olly Hodges (Ireland)
Television match official: Marshall Kilgore (Ireland)
Comments
carpelone says...
Not unhappy with the two penalty triesm I would dare to say that this should be the standard. I would also give a yellow card for every offence committed within the five meter line. It would be interesting to see how many more tries would be scored against New Zealand.
Posted 15:40 16th December 2012
NHsaints says...
there seriously need to be some ex prop or hooker refs in the top flight or a scrum consultant ref or something...too much is missed or dealt with wrongly at the scrum...
Posted 20:33 15th December 2012
giomamo says...
Sorry, is Loamanu, not Williams.
Posted 18:49 15th December 2012
giomamo says...
@jontheref: As the columnist tells, I have to say even penalty try for Treviso is a bad decision. There was a good maul by italians and a side entry by a Tiger: i think a yellow card and a penalty kick was absolutely enough, but he wanted to do more! That fault happened on about the 22-line, i've never seen a penalty try in that situation!! The yellow card to Williams is another non-sense: he was coming on Murphy, but he kicked just a moment before his tackling, Williams can't suddenly erase himself! I think a penalty kick can be fair.
Anyway, the match was a fight, in the second half, a classical battle in the mud. Both teams made a great effort, Tigers on attack, Treviso on the defensive end. Tigers deserved the result, after all Treviso came in the 22 just two times (Di Bernardo PK and a wide drop) in the 2nd half.
Posted 17:48 15th December 2012
jontheref says...
giomamo, have not seen the game yet, was at Ospreys, but can well believe your frustration of Rolland.
last week, just before the half, Bearman took a quick tap at a PK, and scrored a try.
If converted, ospreys would have gone into the half time at 14-12.
But, no take it again, which Bearman did, from exactly the same spot!
Pedantic?
Not saying Ospreys would have won, but may well have got a losing bonus point, which in this pool could count to Amlin representation.
O's won today, but Clancy does not seem to have a clue at the scrum.
Posted 16:47 15th December 2012
melkdave says...
I think we can safly say Treviso have arrived ,as far as the HC is concerned,they have had some big victories this year in the Pro 12 and close games in the HC,and look to have improved again from last year..One wonders just how long till a italian side are considered contenders ,on their present rate of improvement ,not to long imo.It also begs the question ,just what is going on with the scottish sides ,years of total rubbish ,they really do need a sharp kick in the ass .Losing their auto qualification for the HC in 2014,i hope will do that,and they wil finally start to challange in the HC and Pro 12 .As Treviso seem to be doing atm.
Posted 15:35 15th December 2012
giomamo says...
What a poor refereeing! Two technical tries, one invented yellow card (on Williams at 67 min.), maybe he thought teams were playing to saw him refereeing. If an italian ref was so bad, Brit fans complain for days and days.
Posted 15:30 15th December 2012