Tuilagi return fails to inspire Tigers
One Of the few positives Leicester could take from their latest european defeat was that Manu Tuilagi played 80 minutes on his return from injury. The centre came through unscathed but his side are still bottom of Pool four after an ill-disciplined showing. Head coach Matt O’Connor has given up on progression to the quarter-finals but he hopes Tuilagi can breathe life into the club’s Premiership campaign. ‘To come off the back of a significant lay-off and put in an 80-minute performance is exceptional,’ said O’Connor. ‘He was blowing quite hard but he’s a fantastic pro. He’ll get better and better every time he plays.’ Leicester were poor in the first half and had just 25 per cent of the territory, 37 per cent possession and conceded a penalty every three-and a half minutes. Ian Keatley took advantage, converting four kicks to give Munster a two-point lead at the break. Scoring chances were scarce as George ford and Keatley exchanged early penalties. Leicester’s Mat Tait went over for his first try in 27 games from a slick lineout move, but his side’s discipline quickly unravelled. Dan Cole was penalised for not rolling away — one of five first-half penalties for the prop — and Keatley moved his side ahead with three unanswered kicks. Cole was eventually sin-binned by Mathieu Raynal and Munster capitalised early in the second half. Peter O’Mahony stole a lineout, allowing Conor Murray to cut through the defence with ease, with CJ Stander bundling over from close range. Tuilagi was unable to inspire a comeback, despite becoming more prominent in the final third. He carried with trademark power as ford edged Tigers back into the game with two penalties, but the hosts did not capitalise on their advantage when prop John Ryan was shown a yellow card. Instead, it was Munster who seized the initiative, with Keatley putting the boot into Leicester’s european ambitions. ‘We thought we could get out of this group but you need to produce in every game,’ said O’Connor. ‘It’s near impossible to go through now.’