Leicester keep play-off hopes alive with 33-18 win over Harlequins

Leicester Tigers 33-18 Harlequins, Welford Road
Scorecard

Leicester Tigers came up with a better second-half performance to beat Harlequins 33-18 at Welford Road on Saturday and keep up their playoff hopes alive in the Aviva Premiership.

Harlequins capitalised on an early knock-on from Leicester and as a result, Aaron Morris timed a perfect pass to send Alofa Alofa over the line.

Toomua kicked back to back penalties in the 13th and 16th minutes but Marcus Smith put the visitors into a two point lead following his 31st-minute penalty.

The Quins suffered a major setback when Smith was sin-binned for being offside on his own line allowing Toomua to kick his third penalty as Leicester ended the first half with a 9-8 lead.

Luke Wallace found space out wide to force his way over the line to give Harlequins a 9-13 lead at the start of the second half but it did not last long as Toomua (58') and Graham Kitchener (60') scored tries taking the home side to a 23-13 lead at the end of the third quarter.

Even though Harlequins tried to bounce back with a 69th minute try from Charlie Matthews that reduced the arrears to five points, Toomua’s penalty with four minutes remaining sealed the win for the Tigers and they added gloss to the score in injury time as Adam Thompstone intercepted to go over unchallenged.

The 15 point victory has taken Leicester to the seventh position in the table while Harlequins are at ninth.