Match Centre: Leicester Tigers 26-12 Newcastle Falcons

Leicester Tigers 26-12 Newcastle Falcons, Mattioli Woods Welford Road
Scorecard

George Ford contributed with 16 points as Leicester Tigers went on to defeat Newcastle Falcons 26-12 in the 15th round of the Gallagher Premiership at Mattioli Woods Welford Road on Sunday.

This is Leicester's eighth win from 15 games as they move to seventh place in the table while Newcastle Falcons, who are yet to register an away win since December are at 10th place.

The Falcons started the game with an injury setback as Jon Welsh left the field in the 12th minute with a dislocated shoulder and was replaced by Mark Tampin. A minute later Leicester scored the opening points in the game with Hanro Liebenberg diving on the left and Ford kicking the conversion.

The Falcons responded strong as a crossfield kick from Joel Hodgson almost sent Ben Stevenson over but Leicester held their defence firm. The resulting lineout saw Stevenson nearly scoring again but TMO ruled it against the visitors as he had a foot in touch while going over the line.

Back to back penalties from Ford in the 27th and 35th minute increased Leicester's lead to 13-0 which became 16-0 before the break as referee Dickson sent Darren Barry to sin-bin for an infringement at breakdown allowing the England international to kick his third three-pointer.

Leicester lost a bit of momentum in the second half as Jasper Wiese was yellow carded in the 56th minute for a foul play at a defensive ruck and four minutes later it was the turn of George Martin to be sent-off temporarily. With the numerical advantage on their side, the Falcons made a swift move with Will Welch diving from close range and Brett Connon kicked the conversion making it 16-7.

However, a Ford penalty kick from a 45m distance increased the gap to 12 points. Any hope for the Falcons was put off as Leicester got their second try through Charlie Clare, who dotted down at the back of the maul in the 77th minute and Ford's conversion made it 26-7 before Sam Stuart scored a consolation try for the visitors reducing their losing margin to 14 points.

Team line up:

Leicester: Steward; Potter, Moroni, Kelly, Murimurivalu; Ford, Wigglesworth; Genge, T Youngs, Cole, Wells, Green, Liebenberg, Reffell, Wiese.

Reserves: Clare, de Bruin, Heyes, Henderson, Martin, Van Poortvliet, McPhillips, Porter.

Newcastle: Tait; Wacokecoke, Lucock, Burrell, Stevenson; Hodgson, Schreuder; Brocklebank, Blamire, Welsh, Barry, Robinson, Welch, Wilson360.0, Chick.

Reserves: McGuigan, Cooper, Tampin, Collett, van der Walt, Stuart, Connon, Passman.