Henry helps Tigers beat three yellows
THE Tigers left England stars Ben Youngs, George Ford and Ellis Genge at home and still managed to overcome three yellow cards and a big penalty deficit to secure victory in their first-ever meeting with Bayonne at the Stade Jean Dauger last night.
Boss Steve Borthwick also rested Fijian wing powerhouse Nemani Nadolo, Argentina centre Matias Maroni and skipper Tom Youngs as he made nine changes from the side which crushed Brive 39-17 at Welford Road last weekend but the Tigers produced a huge defensive effort to deny Bayonne.
Bayonne, beaten in seven of their previous ten home matches, also rang the changes after being held to a 25-25 draw by Italian club Zebre in their opening Challenge Cup clash.
Leicester had lost both their matches in France last season – at Pau and Toulon, who beat them 34-19 in their semi-final – but they made it third time lucky against an enterprising French side who were frustrated by their own handling errors and the stout Tigers defence.
Zak Henry missed a speculative drop goal attempt before full-back Gaeten Germain, drafted into the side at short notice, kicked Bayonne ahead after Jordan Taufua was offside.
But Leicester produced an excellent try when Ben White found Henry from the base of the scrum and the fly-half sold the dummy before flanker Tommy Reffell marked his return to the side by crossing.
Germain kicked a second penalty with Taufua again the culprit for going off his feet at the breakdown.
Leicester suffered a double blow in the space of three minutes, losing hooker Charlie Clare for a head injury assessment which he failed and prop Joe Heyes to a head gash which kept him off the pitch for 14 minutes.
After Henry landed a penalty, Leicester grabbed their second try. Henry put a penalty into touch and although the drive was illegally stopped the Tigers continued to apply pressure and, from the third phase, 19-year-old centre Dan Kelly slid over with Henry converting to stretch the lead to 17-6.
But the Tigers paid a big price for their indiscretions as they fought desperately to keep Bayonne out.
They repelled Bayonne assaults three times after penalties into the right corner before Heyes, who had only returned four minutes earlier, was sinbinned for coming in at the side.
With two seconds left on the first-half clock, fellow prop Nephi Leatigaga also saw yellow for stopping the next maul and the 13-man Leicester defence finally cracked as young scrumhalf Hugo Zabalza shot through a gap in the depleted rearguard, with Germain converting to cut the gap to six points.
Try-scorer Zabalza was replaced at half-time and, remarkably, Leicester pulled six points ahead as Henry’s penalties twice punished the home side.
Tiger-ish defence continued to keep Bayonne out before a brilliant cross kick by Henry found full-back Kini Murimurivalu who crossed for Leicester’s third try.
But there were more desperate times for Leicester as Cyle Brink was shown their third yellow card before Andrei Gorin drove in for Bayonne’s second try, converted by Germain.
But Leicester, who had come off second best in both the territory and possession stats, held out.