Leicester Tigers hold off London Irish in LV Cup

Leicester Tigers held off a late surge from London Irish in their Anglo Welsh LV= Cup opener at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday.

Irish left it too little too late against Leicester Tigers, with Guy Armitage’s
converted try ensuring they at least took a losing bonus point away from the
contest.

Leicester’s defence was excellent throughout as Irish dominated possession,
with a wobbly Tigers’ scrum not enough to derail their efforts on the road.

Miles Benjamin opened the scoring with his 25th minute try and despite Myles
Dorrian kicking three penalties for the Exiles, at 17-9 the Tigers looked to
have the win secured after Robert Barbieri’s score.

Armitage though struck back to set up a tense finish, with Leicester clinging
on as they had done earlier in the match when twice down to 14 men.

Final Score London Irish 16 (3) Leicester Tigers 17 (10)

Scorers

London Irish
Tries – Armitage
Pen -Dorrian (3)
Con – Dorrian
Drop –

Leicester Tigers
Tries – Benjamin, Barbieri
Pen – Bell
Con – Bell (2)
Drop –

Match Officials
Referee: Steve Lee
Assistant Referees: Kelvin Stewart, Paul Burton

Teams

London Irish: 15 Topsy Ojo (c), 14 Guy Armitage, 13 Eamonn Sheridan, 12 Eoin Griffin, 11 Cameron Cowell, 10 Myles Dorrian, 9 Darren Allinson, 8 Jebb Sinclair, 7 Conor Gilsenan, 6 Luke Narraway, 5 Kieran Low, 4 Dave Lyons, 3 Leo Halavatau, 2 Jimmy Stevens, 1 Jamie Hagan

Replacements: 16 Mike Mayhew, 17 Tom Smallbone, 18 Geoff Cross, 19 Dan Leo, 20 Ollie Curry, 21 Connor Murphy, 22 Ross Neal, 23 Harry Lightfoot-Brown

Leicester: 15 Tommy Bell, 14 Miles Benjamin, 13 Matt Smith, 12 Javiah Pohe, 11 Adam Thompstone, 10 Oli Bryant, 9 Sam Harrison (c), 8 Paul Grant, 7 Robert Barbieri, 6 Charlie Beckett, 5 Sebastian De Chaves, 4 Harry Wells, 3 Tiziano Pasquali, 2 Jake Farnworth, 1 Tom Bristow

Replacements: 16 Harry Thacker, 17 Riccardo Brugnara, 18 Fraser Balmain,. 19 Joe Maksymiw, 20 Ed Milne, 21 David Mele, 22 Jack Roberts, 23 Charlie Thacker