FAL BACK IN FRAME
Taulupe boosts Wales but can’t tame Tigers
20
By
TAULUPE FALETAU put himself in line for a Wales Six Nations call-up – but Bath old boy Freddie Burns had the last laugh for the leaders.
Bath No.8 Faletau went the full 80 minutes to add to 63 against Wasps last week after seven months out with an ankle injury he suffered on the British & Irish Lions tour.
Fly-half Burns, a Bath fan as a kid and player from 2017 to 2020, scored the try that tipped the game back in Leicester’s balance after trailing 20-14 at the break.
Faletau (above) could not do enough to stop Tigers ending an 11-year league hoodoo at the Rec but his boss reckons he did enough to get a callup before the end of the Six Nations.
And Welsh supremo Wayne Pivac could whistle up Faletau on Monday and put him straight in the running for Saturday’s clash with England. Bath head coach Neal Hatley said: “He is a world-class player, you would never say he has been out for seven months.
“He was good last week and he backed it up again today.
“He is just going to get better and better and I expect to lose him to Wales in the next two or three weeks – he is such a good player.
“He is like a chameleon, you put him in a level up and he just blends in – he has that innate ability that whatever the quality of the players he is playing with he is the best player on the pitch and he has done that for ages.
“I am going to turn my phone off and if I see that Welsh number from Wayne Pivac we won’t answer.
“We want to keep him but I imagine at some stage he will get a call.”
Leicester ramped up the pressure after the break with replacement back rower Hanro Liebenberg taking the fight to Faletau and Bath.
Burns scored on 53 minutes when he skipped through the Leicester defence, who were more worried about marking 20-stone wing Nemani Nadolo and waved the fly-half through.
Burns took a bang to the head and went off for 10 minutes while Bryce Hegarty kicked a penalty, and came back on to see out the match.
Tigers boss Steve Borthwick said: “We are very grateful to have Freddie, he has been amazing since he rejoined us, whether is playing 10 or 15, and he showed that again today.
“At half-time we went in six points down and we were very clear what we had to do to get a result.
“There were no harsh words – but there were a couple of tweaks to our plan.
“The wind had made kicking difficult and the boys showed great resilience to come back.”
Leicester had rushed to a 14-5 lead in 12 minutes of helter-skelter rugby, but Max Ojomoh and Josh Bayliss scores gave Bath the half-time lead before Tigers bit back.
BATH: Tries: Muir, Ojomoh, Bayliss Pen: Bailey Con: Bailey
LEICESTER: Tries: Wiese, Wigglesworth, Burns Pen: Hegarty Con: Burns (3)