Match Report: Leicester Tigers 39-17 Brive

Leicester Tigers 39-17 Brive, Welford Road
Scorecard

Leicester Tigers kick-started their European Challenge Cup campaign with a convincing 39-17 win over Brive at Welford Road on Friday.

The opening 10 minutes saw Joaquin Diaz Bonilla and Enzo Herve exchange penalties and the trend continued in the next few minutes as well as the teams had a 6-6 scoreline in the opening quarter.

The opening try of the game came in the 33rd minutes with Tom Youngs dotting down but Diaz Bonilla missed out on the conversion. Nevertheless, the Leicester fly-half made amends with his third penalty goal at the stroke of half-time at the end of which they had a 14-6 lead.

As Herve with another penalty goal narrowed down the gap for Brive, George Ford restored the eight-point lead for the hosts with his first points that came in the 50th minute.

Herve slotted another penalty goal in the 54th minute but Ford's kick went wide three minutes later before he kicked another on the goal in the 60th minute taking the scoreline to 20-12 at the end of the third quarter.

Ben Youngs made an impact in the second half as he dotted down a 65th minute touchdown to stretch Leicester's lead to 13 points but Ford missed the conversion. However, winger Wesley Douglas kept Brive in the game with a 70th minute crossover only for late tries from Cyle Brink and Nemani Nadolo to complete a 22-point victory for the Tigers.

Teams line-up:

Leicester starting XV: Steward; Murimurivalu, Moroni, Scott, Nadolo; Diaz Bonilla, White; Leatigaga, T Youngs, Heyes, Wells, Lavanini, Liebenberg, Taufua, Wiese.

Reserves: Clare, Genge, De Bruin, Green, Brink, B Youngs, Ford, Porter.

Brive starting XV: Jurand; Douglas, Galletier, Galala, Buliruarua; Herve, Delarue; Thompson-Stringer, Alkhazashvili, Brennan, Malafosse, South, Abadie, Voisin (capt), Fa'aso'o.

Reserves: Jouannet, Tapueluelu, Japaridze, Cerqueira, Tskhadadze, Delord, Olding, Grandidier Nkanang.