Match Centre: Leicester Tigers 26-27 Ospreys

Leicester Tigers 26-27 Ospreys, Mattioli Woods Welford Road

Ospreys have reached the knock out stage of the Heineken Champions Cup as they edged out Leicester Tigers 27-26 in the fifth round of the Heineken Champions Cup at Mattioli Woods Welford Road on Friday.

The Welsh side now have three wins from four matches as they moved to the second position in Pool B while Leicester Tigers hold the top place in the table.

Leicester Tigers opened the account early as they kicked a second minute penalty goal to the start the proceedings before Ospreys bounced back in the 10th minute Dewi Lake dotted down at the back of a well-worked line out drive. Cai Evans kicked the conversion as Ospreys increased their lead to 3-7.

The Tigers seized the lead back with Jack Van Poortvliet touched down at the back of a maul and darted over in a clever finish and Handre Pollard kicked a conversion and a penalty goal to make it 13-7.

Williams missed a penalty chance in the 23rd minute but made amends three minutes later with a three-pointer after Leicester's second try was turned down by the TMO. As the break was approaching, Williams kicked his second penalty goal as the teams went unseparated at the end of the opening half.

Leicester were the quickest to get off the block in the second half as Harry Simmons picked his way and breached the Ospreys defence to dot down and Pollard improved it to make it 20-13.

As the third quarter was about to end, Keelan Giles picked the ball halfway to force his way over and Williams kicked the conversion to once again bring the scores level at 20-20.

Pollard with back to back penalties in the 68th and 70th minutes pushed Leicester's lead to six points as they looked set for another European victory before they eventually succumbed in the 89th minute when Jac Morgan burrowed over from close range and referee Tual Trainini awarded the try after consulting with the TMO. With the stage set, Williams kicked the much-needed conversion to ensure Ospreys completed a thrilling win.

Team line up:

Leicester Tigers: Steward, Potter, Scott, Kelly, Simmons, Pollard, Van Poortvliet; Whitcombe, Clare, Cole, Chessum, Henderson, Liebenberg (c), Reffell, Cracknell.

Reserves: Montoya, Richardson, Hurd, Wells, Jansen, Youngs, Gopperth, Atkinson.

Ospreys: Evans, Cuthbert, Collins, Hawkins, Giles, O Williams, Morgan-Williams; Smith, Lake, Botha, Beard, Jones, Davies, Tipuric (c), Morgan.

Reserves: Baldwin, Thomas, Henry, Sutton, Morris, Aubrey, K Williams, North.