| Tub: (8) 19 |
| Tries: Hill, Butt Pens: Bailey 3 |
| Leicester Tigers: (15) 18 |
| Tries: Nadolo, Cronin Con: Burns Pens: Burns 2 |
Will Butt scored a last-minute strive as Tub got here from behind to beat Leicester 19-18 on the Recreation Floor.
Nemani Nadolo and James Cronin powered over for the Tigers to present them a seven level half-time lead, with Ted Hill crossing for Tub.
Orlando Bailey and Freddie Burns traded penalties after the break earlier than Butt dived over because the clock went crimson.
The victory means Tub have gained three consecutive league matches for the primary time since February 2021.
After a sluggish begin to the season, Tub now transfer as much as seventh within the Premiership, degree on factors with – although having performed yet another recreation than – defending champions Leicester, one place above them.
Leicester’s final two league matches have been cancelled and their lack of recreation time within the final month confirmed as they conceded a penalty from the off when Ollie Lawrence broke their line, which Bailey subsequently kicked to the posts.
Tub’s lead was short-lived because the Tigers hit again from their first spell in possession, constructing by the phases from which Nadolo discovered area outdoors.
Nonetheless, the house facet got here into the match on the again of confidence-inducing wins towards Northampton and Newcastle and a bolstered line-up that had a definite Worcester flavour, with 5 ex-Warriors within the beginning XV. Lawrence and Hill made try-saving tackles to disclaim Harry Potter and Harry Wells as Leicester dialled up the strain, and Burns kicked one other three factors.
Tub decreased the deficit on the counter, with Hill evading a deal with to speed up over for his second strive in two matches.
However whereas Leicester continued to dominate, their assault did not fairly stream as Potter noticed two possibilities go begging, together with a knock-on over the road, earlier than Cronin lastly touched down from a driving maul on half-time.
The Tigers’ kind has been inconsistent this season and Tub capitalised, forcing dealing with errors and successful the battle on the scrum, earlier than Bailey’s second penalty moved them to inside 4 factors with 10 minutes to go.
Former Tub winger Anthony Watson appeared to all however safe the win for Leicester, making a outstanding flip and interception to stop a cross reaching Butt that might have seen him over.
But when Tub gained one other scrum penalty and kicked to the touch for a last-ditch line-out, Butt did not miss with the ultimate play and touched down within the nook to proceed Tub’s resurgence below Johann van Graan.
Tub defence coach JP Ferreira advised BBC Radio Bristol:
“We all know Leicester’s a formidable group, champions final yr; we all know we have been up towards it tonight. We put plenty of onerous work in since pre-season, joyful to get the win, however nonetheless plenty of work.
“I stated earlier we allow them to in, smooth collisions from our facet, they usually have been simply getting momentum on the ball. Fortunately, we caught it out for a few phases – I am speaking about 20-plus phases – on our goalline and managed to get the turnover.
“However going into the second half, we knew we needed to cease their momentum as a result of they actually introduced it to us within the first half.
“After a little bit of onerous discuss at half-time, the second half was a lot better. We performed the territory recreation a lot better and it was all right down to the final 10 seconds I suppose.”
Leicester Tigers head coach Steve Borthwick advised BBC Radio Leicester:
“We had two groups who actually fought onerous tonight. I feel the supporters of each groups shall be very proud.
“It was a hard-fought contest. I believed we had loads of alternatives on the try-line. Sadly, we put the ball down, dropped the ball just a few instances, clearly did not result in tries. When you do not take the alternatives then you definately depart the opposition within the recreation and that is what we did tonight.
“We have not performed for quite a lot of weeks. We have quite a lot of gamers away on worldwide camps, we have 5 gamers in England’s 23 tomorrow, we have Wales, Argentina, South Africa, Fiji, Samoa… after which the actual fact we have had a few gamers which have taken bangs in worldwide camps you may’t decide.
“I am delighted we produce worldwide gamers [but] one of many challenges you’ve got whenever you play a season that has clashes with worldwide video games is that typically you find yourself dropping battles the place you get groups that produce internationals and groups that do not. That was the case at this time.”
Tub: Shillcock, Butt, Joseph, Lawrence, Gallagher, Bailey, Spencer; Morozov, Annett, Rae, Lee-Warner, Roux, Hill, Reid, De Carpentier.
Replacements: Dunn, Cordwell, Jonker, Ellis, Bayliss, Inexperienced, Redpath, White.
Leicester Tigers: Watson, Ashton, Potter, Scott, Nadolo, Burns, Wigglesworth; Cronin, Clare, Cole, Wells, Inexperienced, Martin, Liebenberg, Cracknell.
Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, Van Wyk, Hurd, Snyman, Jansen, Edwards, Atkinson, Cokanasiga.
Referee: Tom Foley.
