LEICESTER 30 NEWCASTLE 3

NEW Leicester head coach Matt O’Connor made a winning start to his second spell Welford Road as the Tigers boosted their chances of an Aviva Premiership play-off spot with a bonus point win at home to Newcastle.

Leicester spent most of the first period camped in the Newcastle half but created little until the last seconds when they scored a controversial try.

It came after they won against the head at a scrum in the Falcons’ 22 and, after intense forward pressure, prop Ellis Genge was awarded a try by the TMO even through replays proved inconclusive.

Fly-half Burns missed the touchline conversion so Leicester left the field at the break with 11-3 lead. Burns kicked penalties in the fifth and 36th minutes, while opposite number Hodgson slotted one in the 25th minute.

Newcastle were bidding for their first win at Welford Road since 1997 when Dean Richards, their director of rugby, was in the Leicester side.

The ninth-placed Falcons did not look like breaking that barren run as they were forced to defend for long periods. They did, however, create one of the best chances of the half in the 30th minute when Hodgson sparked a break-out, but former Leicester winger Vereniki Goneva did not have the pace to beat the cover and he was tackled by scrum-half Ben Youngs.

The hill facing Newcastle had turned into a mountain five minutes after the restart when they were reduced to 14 men when prop David Wilson was sin-binned.

He paid the price for Newcastle having conceded five penalties in four minutes, and from a scrum moments later Leicester scored their second try through full-back Veainu, with Burns adding the extras.

Genge crashed over for his second in the 56th minute, which Burns converted to make it 25-3. It was followed by a huge fracas but after watching replays referee Ian Tempest took no action.

Ben Youngs earned Leicester a bonus point with a brilliant 40-metre solo break from a quickly-taken penalty in the 72nd minute. Owen Williams missed the conversion.