Owen Williams kicks Leicester Tigers to close victory

Leicester Tigers 18-16 Munster, Welford Road
Scorecard

Fly-half Owen Williams kicked six penalties including one in the final minute to help Leicester Tigers edge out Munster by 18-16 win in their European Rugby Champions Cup at Welford Road on Saturday.

Munster fly-half Tyler Bleyendaal and his counterpart Williams scored two penalties each in the first half as the scores were levelled 6-6.

The home team also survived a scare when England centre Manu Tuilagi was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle on Rory Scannell in the 29th minute.

Bleyendaal helped Munster reclaim lead with a 44th minute penalty but Williams struck back with two more penalties as Leicester Tigers managed a slender three-point lead with the final quarter left in the game.

Ireland international Simon Zebo was sin-binned in the 65th minute for tackle on Adam Thompstone allowing Williams to stretch Leicester Tigers' lead to six points with another penalty.

Just when it looked like Richard Cockerill's will maintain their lead, Tom Youngs was sin-binned in the 74th minute with hooker Niall Scannell rumbling past the post to score the first try in the game. Conversion from Bleyendaal ensured Munster gained one-point lead but Williams held his nerve and kicked a 79th minute penalty to seal an important two-point win for Leicester Tigers.

Leicester boss Cockerill said his team wanted to prove a point after last week's embarrassing defeat of 0-38 to the same opposition.

"I don't think a kick at goal should dictate whether anybody loses their job or not. But that is the nature of the sport.

"Last week wasn't acceptable. We went into a meeting on Monday and I asked the players to write down one word to describe the performance and most of it was 'embarrassing'.

"They are good blokes, they are good players. They didn't mean to play that poorly. Sometimes it happens."