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Leicester Tigers and Benetton Treviso meet at Welford Road on Saturday knowing that defeat for either team would make qualification for the knockout stages a distant dream. - 17/10/2013 09:14
Leicester Tigers and Benetton Treviso meet at Welford Road on Saturday knowing that defeat for either team would make qualification for the knockout stages a distant dream.
Visitors Treviso are in the more perilous position having lost at home to Montpellier in Round One as their inconsistent start to the season continued.
Franco Smith’s side beat Munster in Round Three of the RaboDirect PRO12 and were easy winners against fellow Heineken Cup outfit Connacht a week before their European opener but they failed to fire against the inform Frenchmen at the Stadio di Monigo.
Leicester weren’t at their best last week, either, as they slipped to a 22-16 defeat to Ulster in Belfast. Richard Cockerill and co took an early lead at Ravenhill but almost headed home with nothing to show for their efforts after a Tommy Bowe try and the boot of Paddy Jackson, together with Jordan Crane’s yellow card, saw them trail by nine points late on.
A coolly-taken penalty from Welsh youngster Owen Williams could prove crucial at the conclusion of the group, though, with his 77th minute strike rescuing a losing bonus point and prompting Julian Salvi to suggest the Tigers will be well placed if they can pick up four tries and a victory against the Italians.
“To come away from Ulster with a point, in what is a long tournament, means that we feel we are in a good place,” said Salvi.
“Treviso will try to throw the ball around and disrupt us up front, so we will have to be on our game to make sure that we get four points, if not five. We will be going for five points – that's our goal. If we can be on six points after two games, we will be sitting nicely.”
That task won’t be straightforward, though, with last season’s games between the two teams suggesting another tight tussle this time around.
Leicester picked up a bonus-point win on home soil in last season’s Heineken Cup but their winning margin was only eight points, while the away fixture almost saw them on the wrong end of one of the biggest upsets in the tournament’s history.
Only a late penalty try and George Ford’s conversion two minutes from time saved Leicester’s blushes in Treviso as they scrapped home 14-13 in December of last year.
An Adam Thompstone try with the final play of the game saw Leicester Tigers pick up maximum points with a 34-3 win against Benetton Treviso on Friday. - 18/10/2013 22:01
An Adam Thompstone try with the final play of the game saw Leicester Tigers pick up maximum points with a 34-3 win against Benetton Treviso on Friday.
The former London Irish wing darted over with the clock already in the red just as it seemed as though the Tigers would have to settle for a four-point victory.
Thompstone's heroics sent the Welford Road crowd wild after Heineken Man of the Match Thomas Waldrom, Lions Test star Tom Youngs and American wing Blaine Scully had touched down to put the game beyond Benetton.
The result sees the 2001 and 2002 European Champions lead Pool 5 with six points, although the winners of Montpellier versus Ulster will overtake them at the top tomorrow afternoon.
A slow start saw the game remain scoreless for the first 16 minutes, although Treviso would have got things moving had Mat Berquist succeeded with a fourth minute penalty attempt from five metres inside his own half.
Leicester enjoyed plenty of possession and came close to the first try with 13 minutes gone when Scully gathered a kick downfield but he was dragged into touch by Christian Loamanu just as he attempted to touch down.
The Tigers did go ahead courtesy of Toby Flood's first penalty on 17 minutes and the England fly-half added a second eight minutes later to make it 6-0.
Treviso scrum-half Tobias Botes had become the first visiting player to see yellow moments earlier after Waldrom and Graham Kitchener had taken Leicester to within five metres but Flood's three pointer proved to be their only points in the Italian international's absence.
The driving rain continued to make life difficult for both teams in the East Midlands but Leicester finally crossed for their first try with two minutes of the first half remaining.
Flood opted to kick a close-range penalty to touch and the Tigers skipper was immediately rewarded by his pack as they drove the lineout onwards and Waldrom dived over to make it 11-0.
The conversion from Flood handed Leicester a 13-0 lead at the break but Botes finally got Treviso off the mark with a penalty seven minutes after the interval.
It was almost all Tigers from there on in, though, with Treviso's indiscipline costing them dear.
A brace of further yellow cards in the space of two minutes to captain Antonio Pavanello and wing Loamanu for offside and a high tackle respectively gave Leicester a two-man advantage and they capitalised almost straight away.
Hooker Youngs drove over from another close-range lineout after 56 minutes and Flood converted to leave Treviso with a mountain to climb at 20-3 down.
Uncharacteristic handling errors prevented Leicester from initially adding to their tally but Scully made the most of the extra space out wide to dive over following Jordan Crane's pass with 15 minutes left to play.
Again, Flood converted, this time from the touchline, and Leicester were 27-3 clear and in sight of a try-scoring bonus point.
That bonus point seemed destined to go begging until Thompstone took Ed Slater's well-timed pass out wide on the left, before handing off Luke McLean on his way to what could be a crucial score come the closing stages of the pool next January.
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