Leicester resist late resurgence from London Irish to seal 27-28 win

London Irish 27-28 Leicester Tigers, Madejski Stadium
Scorecard

Leicester Tigers managed to hold on a late resurgence from London Irish as they edged out their Aviva Premiership rivals with a 27-28 win at Madejski Stadium on Saturday.

Nick Malouf started the proceedings for the visitors with a second minute try while George Ford, who was captaining the Tigers for the first time slotted three continuous penalties to take them to a 14-0 lead at the end of 30 minutes.

The Tigers' momentum was dented by a sin-bin to Gareth Owen in the 32nd minute and Tommy Bell capitalised on the opportunity to get the Exiles off the mark with a penalty but they ended the first half with a trail of 11 points.

Will Evans extended Leicester Tigers' advantage in the second half when he went past the line in the 41st minute as London Irish had a daunting trail of 18 points starring at them.

However, they did make a brief comeback with Bell's second penalty coming in the 46th minute while Blair Cowan strolled past the post nine minutes later to bring down the gap to eight points.

Jonny May provided Leicester with a breathing space as he danced past the post in the 61st minute but London Irish were unwilling to give up as David Paice (68') and Alex Lewington (80') both crossed over and Bell's double conversion brought down the gap to one point but they could not quite cross over the line.

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