Leicester Tigers come from behind to beat Worcester

Leicester Tigers came from behind to earn a 20-29 bonus point Aviva Premiership victory over Worcester Warriors at Sixways stadium on Saturday.

Worcester went out to a 17-0 lead early in the match thanks to two tries but Leicester fought their way back and were 10 points behind by half time and then took the lead in the second half.

While the  Warriors held a ten-point advantage at the interval they spent large periods of the second half with just 13 men on the field.

Tom Heathcote booted the hosts in front with a penalty goal after seven minutes, and they added to their advantage after 15 minutes when Heathcote fed Wynand Olivier from the scrum for the game’s first try.

Heathcote added the goal to make it 10-0 and it got even better for Worcester on 23 minutes, when Matt Cox nipped over from short range for Heathcote to convert.

Worcester’s Donncha O’Callaghan was shown a yellow card moments later, for collapsing a maul, and the visitors were able to narrow the arrears before half-time.

Graham Kitchener powered over for Leicester’s first try and Owen Williams converted to make the score 17-7 at the interval.

Worcester made a far from ideal start to the second half as O’Callaghan was shown a red card following his second yellow and the Tigers began to dominate proceedings.

Telusa Veainu eventually got over to narrow the deficit, though Williams was unable to convert, leaving five points between the sides, after Gareth Milasinovich was sin-binned for the hosts.

Worcester consolidated their lead through Heathcote’s penalty just after the hour, but Williams responded in kind following a frantic passage of play.

Leicester were then awarded a crucial penalty try following the sin-binning of Worcester’s Matt Cox, and Williams converted to make it 20-22 to the visitors.

The Tigers secured the win and the bonus point when Lachlan McCaffrey got over the line following a solid drive for Williams to convert.

Final Score Worcester Warriors 20 (17) Leicester Tigers 29 (7)

Scorers

Worcester Warriors
Tries – Olivier, Cox
Pen – Heathcote (2)
Con – Heathcote (2)
Drop –

Leicester Tigers
Tries – Kitchener, Veainu, Penalty, McCaffrey
Pen – Williams
Con – Williams (3)
Drop –

Match Officials
Referee :Wayne Barnes (158th Premiership game).
Assistant Referees: Paul Burton & Andrew Pearce.
TMO: Sean Davey.

Teams

Warriors

15 Chris Pennell , 14 Bryce Heem , 13 Wynand Olivier , 12 Ryan Mills , 11 Cooper Vuna , 10 Tom Heathcote , 9 Jonny Arr , 1 Na’ama Leleimalefaga , 2 Niall Annett , 3 Joe Rees , 4 Donncha O’Callaghan , 5 Darren Barry , 6 Matt Cox , 7 Sam Betty , 8 Phil Dowson (C)

Replacements : 16 Jaba Bregvadze , 17 Val Rapava Ruskin , 18 Gareth Milasinovich , 19 Tevita Cavubati , 20 Marco Mama , 21 Charlie Mulchrone , 22 Ryan Lamb , 23 Ben Howard

Leicester Tigers

15 Telusa Veainu , 14 Adam Thompstone , 13 Peter Betham , 12 Seremaia Bai , 11 Vereniki Goneva , 10 Owen Williams , 9 Sam Harrison , 1 Matias Aguero , 2 Greg Bateman , 3 Dan Cole , 4 Ed Slater (c) , 5 Graham Kitchener , 6 Mike Williams , 7 Tom Croft , 8 Jordan Crane

Replacements : 16 Tom Youngs , 17 Marcos Ayerza , 18 Fraser Balmain , 19 Dom Barrow , 20 Lachlan McCaffrey , 21 Jono Kitto , 22 Tommy Bell , 23 Matt Smith