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![- 10/10/2005 04:01 - 10/10/2005 04:01](https://djl5pr6hub29v.cloudfront.net/epcr/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/08141301/tigers_asm_rd1.jpg)
- 10/10/2005 04:01
Leicester Tigers showed no mercy as they tore apart ASM Clermont Auvergne 57-23 at Welford Road.
Andy Goode scored 32 points as the two-times Heineken champions announced their intentions in this season’s competition.
Goode put in a near flawless performance, kicking five penalties from six attempts and converting all six Leicester tries.
Irish full-back Geordan Murphy Murphy grabbed an interception and his deceptive turn of pace took him past three opponents on a 50-metre run before he sent England scrum-half Harry Ellis over near the posts for the first try of the match.
Seven minutes later Murphy looked odds-on to score with a kick and chase but he was blatantly obstructed by Clermont full-back Jean-Baptiste Dambielle.
There was a strong case for a penalty try but referee Alan Lewis settled for issuing a yellow card to the French full-back and a penalty for Tigers.
Leicester’s second try was a classic. Hooker George Chuter found England captain Martin Corry with a reverse flick before teenage left-wing Tom Varndell sent right-wing Leon Lloyd racing in.
The French side could only muster two penalties from Dambielle and, while he was in the sin-bin, one from their former Leicester fly-half Craig McMullen in reply in the first half.
Varndell almost scored a third Tigers try just before half-time when he kicked ahead and narrowly failed to touch down but it took him only three minutes of the second half to get on the scoresheet when he snatched an interception and raced in from 40 metres.
Clermont hit back when South African winger Breyton Paulse split the Tigers defence with a sizzling burst of speed to send Tony Marsh, their French international centre, in for their first try in the 48th minute, with Dambielle adding the conversion.
But it took Leicester only a minute to rally with their fourth try when Goode picked up a loose ball and set off unchallenged to run 30 metres to the line.
The visitors refused to lie down and a huge push and drive by their forward took prop Martin Scelzo over the line, with Dambielle again converting to peg the Tigers lead back to 20 points.
Leicester rang the changes in the final quarter but it did not disrupt their scoring spree.
A superbly worked fifth try off a 63rd-minute lineout saw Leo Cullen leap high to take Chuter’s throw and, in one movement, return the ball to the hooker who took advantage of some poor defensive marking to dive over in the right-hand corner.
Leicester’s sixth and final try came when Varndell burst down the left wing before throwing a flamboyant high pass inside for Murphy to round off a superb display with a try of his own.
The near-perfect Goode again converted to finish just five points short of the Heineken Cup individual match scoring record held by Ulster’s David Humpreys.
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