1 day ago
7
Gallagher Premiership
Leicester Tigers (14) 42
Tries: Liebenberg, Bassett, Kata, Heyes, Rogerson, Hassell-Collins Cons: Pollard 4, Volavola 2
Newcastle Falcons (6) 20
Tries: Leatherbarrow, Arnold Cons: Connon 2 Pens: Connon 2
Leicester Tigers secured a second-placed Premiership finish and a home play-off semi-final against Sale by beating Newcastle Falcons.
It took until the 17th minute for Tigers to grab their first try through Hanro Liebenberg thanks to fellow South African Pollard's fast hands, just a minute after Brett Connon put bottom side Falcons ahead with a penalty.
Substitute Louis Brown's sin-binning halfway through the first period did not help Newcastle but the visitors repelled Tigers' attacks up until the 31st minute when Josh Bassett raced down to score in the corner.
Falcons failed to stay as competitive in the second half as tries from Solomone Kata, Joe Heyes, Matt Rogerson and Ollie Hassell-Collins meant Leicester ran away with a bonus-point victory and a home semi-final against Sale next Saturday.
Leicester needed just one point to finish in the top four and knew a win would secure second place as they faced the Premiership's bottom side, who have won just twice this season.
Newcastle still made life difficult for Tigers in the first-half. Leicester had more than double the amount of carries and line breaks than Falcons but were unable to get any fluid attacking momentum.
Following a strong Tigers scrum, Ollie Chessum went over but was held up by Ollie Leatherbarrow's strength to be denied the opening points.
Connon kicked over a penalty to give Falcons the match's first points of the afternoon but South African back row Liebenberg was then given space to run in from close range to put Leicester in front.
Brown's yellow card gave the Tigers a numerical advantage and Bassett collected a delightful pass from Liebenberg to run in his 10th try of the season unchallenged on the right wing.
Connan kicked another three points just before half-time to keep Falcons within eight points on the scoreboard and they were buoyed further after the break when full-back Freddie Steward saw a Tigers try disallowed, and Hassell-Collins was also sin binned for making an illegal fend-off.
As Tigers' pressure heaped on the Falcons defence however, Kata burst through to extend their lead.
Replacement prop Heyes barged over to stretch the lead to 28-6 and while Leatherbarrow pulled one back for the Falcons, it proved a blow-out towards the end as Rogerson scored Leicester's fifth.
Sammy Arnold finished a swift attacking move four minutes from time for the visitors that was a mere consolation though as Tigers got the last score through Hassell-Collins.
Leicester Tigers head coach Michael Cheika told BBC Radio Leicester:
"We've done what we wanted to do, somehow, we've got there. I'm not sure how, but throughout the season we've got there.
"I knew it was going to be a tricky one from the start. There was a lot going on. The boys retiring and trying to make that all fit in.
"Newcastle had nothing to lose and they're a gritty team, they're hard to beat. There was an expectation of winning that game because of our position and theirs but I know from experience that position on the table means nothing when it comes to the game.
"We got frustrated by a few things that didn't go our way. We had to play a lot of rugby and play a lot of phases in the first half and when it doesn't go our way, sometimes you can drop your head but at half-time we talked about how the fundamentals of our game have been good.
"We were trying to simplify a couple of things and then make it count in the second-half and we got the scores."
Newcastle Falcons consultant director of rugby Steve Diamond told BBC Radio Newcastle:
"We're really pleased with the effort and application that they put forward. We were playing against a better team, a bigger team but we stuck to it.
"[We] probably should have had another couple of tries that could have made it a bit tighter but that's the difference in the teams at the minute.
"We're a nearly team and we've got to get those errors out of our system and you do that by getting better coaching and better players.
"Defensively, our performance - despite the scoreline - was full of grit, determination and a lot of accuracy. We really frustrated both the Leicester crowd and the Leicester team."
Leicester Tigers: Steward; Bassett, Kata, Woodward, Hassell-Collins; Pollard, Youngs; Smith, Montoya, Cole, Henderson, Chessum, Liebenberg, Reffell, Cracknell.
Replacements: Clare, Cronin, Heyes, Rogerson, Ilione, van Poortvliet, Volavola, Brown.
Sin bin: Hassell-Collins (50)
Newcastle Falcons: Obatoyinbo; Redshaw, Hearle, Arnold, Pepper; Connan, Stuart; McCallum, Blamire, de Bruin, Hawkins, de Chaves, Neild, Gordon, Lockwood.
Replacements: Byrne, Rewcastle, Hancock, Usher, Leatherbarrow, Davis, Spencer, Brown.
Sin bin: Brown (23)
