Courageous defence secures rare away victory
TIGERS SECURE ELUSIVE WIN IN FRANCE – AND FIRST ON THE ROAD FOR ALMOST 12 MONTHS
IT was not pretty, but Leicester Tigers triumphed in a country where they have so frequently failed to deliver the goods.
Their 28-20 win against a desperately poor Bayonne side was achieved despite conceding 15 penalties and receiving three yellow cards.
It made Tigers’ mission to earn only a second win across the English Channel in 18 attempts far harder than it ever should have been.
This was not a fully-loaded team selected by Steve Borthwick.
Instead, the head coach gave chances to squad players with a sprinkling of experienced wise heads and the right balance was more or less struck to get the job done as Tigers took a big step towards the knock-out stages of the European Challenge Cup.
A gameplan of putting boot to ball and chasing hard proved fruitful as the clumsy hosts fumbled freely and lacked the conviction to punish Tigers for the opportunities they gift-wrapped at stages.
Even when they had two extra men as Joe Heyes and Nephi Leatigaga were yellow carded before half-time, their net gain was a paltry one point from the period.
What Tigers lacked in avoiding the referee’s whistle, they made up for with courage and conviction.
At times they defended their own line like their lives depended on it.
That effort their head coach speaks of at every media opportunity was evidenced where it matters on the pitch.
Eye-catching attacking moments were few and far between, but through their first attacking foray, Tigers scored the game’s first try.
Ben White whipped the ball from the base of a scrum on the 22, allowing the onrushing Zack Henry to burst through some flimsy defence before putting Tommy Reffell in for the score.
Gaëtan Germain and Henry kicked penalties for their sides before teenage Tigers centre Dan Kelly rewarded his head coach’s faith by cutting a fine line from close range to muscle his way over.
The tide turned in the closing chapter of the first-half as Tigers’ discipline crumbled.
Both props saw yellow in the space of a few minutes. Hugo Zabalza made the numerical advantage pay with a try on the stroke of half-time.
Two Henry penalties when his side was down to 13 saw Tigers, remarkably, extend their lead to 10 points after the break.
Once restored to the full complement, better was to follow as Henry’s crossfield kick was not dealt with and Kini Murimurivalu pounced to claim and dot down.
Replacement back row Cyle Brink became Tigers’ third player to be handed a yellow and Andrei Gorin made a period of pressure pay by rolling over close to the posts.
The conversion cut Tigers’ lead to eight with 11 minutes to play. But Tigers held firm to win their first away game in any competition for nearly 12 months.