Match Centre: Leicester Tigers 27-8 Wasps

Leicester Tigers 27-8 Wasps, Mattioli Woods Welford Road
Scorecard

Leicester Tigers survived a double red card as they outplayed Wasps 27-8 in the 10th round of the Gallagher Premiership at Mattioli Woods Welford Road on Saturday.

The game had three players sent-off with two from Leicester and one from Wasps and in the end it was the Tigers, who registered their fifth win in the table that has seen them rise to the seventh place while Wasps are at eighth.

It took the home just four minutes to score the opening try after Julian Montoya and Tomas Lavanini set up Jasper Wiese over the line. Zack Henry missed the conversion but made amends with a penalty kick in the 15th minute to take them to a 8-0 lead.

An offside at a line out allowed Wasps to open their account and Jimmy Gopperth slotted a three-pointer in the 18th minute to cut short their deficit to five points but Henry with his second penalty kick in the 23rd minute restored the eight point lead for the Tigers.

Wiese was the player to be sent-off in the game in the 27th minute as he made contact with the head of Leicester flanker Ben Morris, who was forced off the field. Despite down by a player, it was the Tigers, who finished the first half with another Henry's penalty kick as they took the scoreline to 14-3 at the end of the opening half.

Wasps surrendered their numerical advantage at the start of the second half when Kieran Brookes was red-carded for shoulder to the head of Lavanini and it allowed Leicester to extend their lead further to 19-3 when Montoya scored at the back of a maul.

It took the visitors 62 minutes for their first try of the game when Umaga's kick found the right-hand corner following which replacement Tom Cruse dotted down. Henry though with his fourth penalty kick ensured Leicester had a 22-8 lead heading into the final 10 minutes of the game.

Leicester secured their third try through Tommy Reffell with three minutes left in the game before Hanro Liebenberg became the third player to be red-carded for his tackle on Josh Bassett.

Team line-up:

Leicester: Steward; Van Wyk, Moroni, Scott, Murimurivalu; Henry, Wigglesworth; de Bruin, Montoya, Cole, Green, Lavanini, Liebenberg, Brink, Wiese.

Reserves: T Youngs, Leatigaga, Heyes, Wells, Reffell, Van Poortvliet, McPhillips, Kelly.

Wasps: Minozzi; Kibirige, Fekitoa, Gopperth, Bassett; Atkinson, Vellacott; West, Taylor, Brookes, Rowlands, Gaskell, Shields, Morris, T Willis.

Reserves: Cruse, Harris, Toomaga-Allen, Douglas, Vailanu, Schwarz, Umaga Le Bourgeois.