Tigers too tough for Irish
England prop Julian White scored a late try as Leicester edged London Irish 25-17 to climb back into the play-off places.
Last Updated: 29/12/07 5:50pm
England prop Julian White scored a late try as Leicester edged London Irish 25-17 to climb back into the play-off places.
Earlier, the Tigers scored tries through Sam Vesty, Seru Rabeni, Martin Castrogiovanni but this was far from a one-sided contest.
Ian Humphreys missed three conversions and Irish threatened to steal the win as Sailosi Tagicakibau's try and four Delon Armitage penalties brought the Exiles to within three points in the final quarter.
But White crashed over from close range with seven minutes remaining to put the champions back in the top four - for 24 hours at least.
Changes
Tigers coach Marcelo Loffreda made a total of 12 changes and the shake-up seemed to have the desired effect, with skipper Louis Deacon making inroads with an early break.
And the Tigers grabbed the lead on seven minutes after some neat work by former New Zealand centre Aaron Mauger set up the chance for full-back Vesty to finish coolly in the corner.
Humphreys converted but the visitors hit back on 24 minutes as Tagicakibau finished off a flowing move involving nearly the whole of the back line.
Armitage missed the conversion but made some amends with a penalty only for Humphreys - standing in at fly-half in place of Andy Goode - to notch one of his own.
Johne Murphy missed a golden opportunity to put Rabeni in but the Fijian flyer did cross a minute before the break.
This time Vesty was the provider with a perfectly-weighted grubber kick.
But another Armitage penalty pegged the Tigers back and made the half-time score 15-11.
Irish had the wind at their backs in the second half but it was the power of Leicester's pack which told as they went through the phases inside the Exiles' 22.
Denied
Tom Varndell, on as a blood replacement for Rabeni, seemed set to grab his eighth try of the season only for referee Tony Spreadbury to pull play back for a penalty.
The Tigers though were not to be denied and after winning a lineout right on the Exiles line, Italian prop Castrogiovanni forced his way over.
Humphreys though missed the conversion and there were plenty of frayed nerves around Welford Road as two Armitage penalties brought Irish to within three points.
The visitors may have been sensing only their second win on this ground in 84 years, only for White to come up with that late try.
Despite another missed conversion, that gave the Tigers a two-score lead and they held on in the closing stages without too many alarms.
