Perpignan earn draw at Tigers’ lair

The visiting fly-half struck with just 45 seconds remaining to ensure the points were shared in front of close to 20,000 fans at one of the most feared venues in world rugby.

The result leaves Pool 5 wide open, with Leicester and Perpignan trailing table toppers the Scarlets by two and three points respectively with two games left to play.

Billy Twelvetrees matched Laharrague in kicking 17 points, but the Leicester pivot – a pre-match replacement for Toby Flood – missed twice late on to prevent the Tigers from gaining revenge for last week’s 24-19 defeat in France.

Laharrague opened the scoring for the visitors on seven minutes by converting his second drop goal attempt but Twelvetrees kicked Leicester level four minutes later with a 45-metre penalty attempt.

The two kickers traded misses before both slotting successful penalties to see the sides tied at 6-apiece by the half-hour mark.

Leicester then struck for the game’s opening try seven minutes before the break thanks to a great piece of quick thinking from a man known predominantly for his brawn rather than brains.

While the rest of Welford Road looked towards Twelvetrees to slot a simple penalty attempt five metres from the Perpignan line, Samoan wing Alesana Tuilagi decided five points would be better than three.

Tuilagi caught everyone off guard, taking advantage of a lapse in concentration from the retreating French defence to power home just to the right of the posts.

Twelvetrees duly added the straightforward extras to give the Tigers a 13-6 lead that they held until the final play of the half when Laharrague’s third penalty narrowed the gap to just four points.

That four-point deficit became a three-point lead for Perpignan just two minutes into the second period as scrum-half David Mele shocked the East Midlands faithful by crossing in the far right-hand corner.

Laharrague’s superb conversion from the most difficult angle a right-footed kicker could face saw his side move 16-13 in front, only for Twelvetrees to level the scores with the simplest of penalties three minutes later.

The Leicester fly-half was a foot away from edging the Tigers back in front on 49 minutes but another long-range attempt did find the target with 55 minutes on the clock.

Poor discipline from the Tigers handed Laharrague an unexpected chance to bring Perpignan back on terms, although the former Dax playmaker still had plenty to do make Leicester pay.

Referee Peter Fitzgibbon penalised Leicester for holding on before marching them back 10 metres to halfway due to unnecessary backchat. Laharrague kept his composure to slot the 50-metre kick but Leicester again moved ahead 10 minutes later thanks to another Twelvetrees penalty, this time after Perpignan infringed at a scrum inside their own 22.

The Tigers should have extended their advantage to six points with 10 minutes remaining after Perpignan were pinged for hands in the ruck but Twelvetrees uncharacteristically hit the far post from just 18 metres out.

The youngster then missed a far more difficult attempt when Perpignan lock Rimas Alvarez Kairelis saw yellow with seven minutes left and it proved costly as Laharrague struck the crucial blow at the death.