Freddie delivers trophy to Leicester

FREDDIE Burns made sure he will leave Leicester at the end of the season having delivered the Tigers’ first trophy in four years as he kicked them to Anglo-Welsh Cup victory against Exeter last Sunday.

Despite the blustery wind at the Stoop, the flyhalf, who will move south to Bath this summer, slotted three penalties as well as converting Tom Brady’s first half try.

The Chiefs scored two tries of their own through James Short and Sam Simmonds but the flanker’s brother Joe Simmonds, who started at fly-half, crucially missed three kicks during the game.

“I’m off at the end of the year, but I have a lot of friends here so it was nice to put some silverware in the cabinet and get an early trophy,” said Burns.

“It was a tough day for place-kicking into the wind and a couple of mine just scraped over, but we didn’t really push on in the second half, which made it difficult for us at the end.”

Burns kicked Leicester into the lead 21 minutes in but Exeter hit back with the first try of the game as Short powered past a weak tackle from Tigers’ skipper Mathew Tait before racing 30 metres to score.

Leicester regained the lead when Brady intercepted a telegraphed pass to run 50 metres for a try, which Burns converted to give his side a 10-5 advantage.

Burns kicked his second penalty to extend the lead then his third after Shaun Malton was yellow carded for a high tackle on Harry Tacker to have the Tigers lead 16-5 at the break.

Sam Simmonds made it a nervy finish with a late try under the posts for Chiefs but Leicester held on.