Tigers show their teeth at last

Leicester kept their Heineken Cup hopes alive with a 21-17 victory over Cardiff Blues.

Leicester kept their Heineken Cup hopes alive with a 21-17 victory over Cardiff Blues at the Millennium Stadium in front of the competition's biggest crowd of the season.

After losing their opener at home to champions Munster, the Tigers came to Cardiff knowing they were already in a must-win situation.

And win they did - with some sparkling running rugby in a thrilling first half, before grinding out the second half against a Blues side reduced to 14 men for the last 28 minutes by Gary Powell's red card for a head-butt.

Cardiff are still very much in contention in Pool 4 after their opening-day win in Bourgoin, but Munster are looking ominous at the top of the group with two wins.

It was Leicester who had the early pressure but Cardiff who grabbed the early points, Nicky Robinson spotting that no one was at home and chipping over the Leicester defence and touching down under the posts.

But the 7-0 lead lasted just three minutes before Cardiff lost their own scrum ball on halfway, England scrum-half Harry Ellis hacked on, Shane Jennings slid with the ball to the foot of the posts and when the ball was quickly recycled, Ollie Smith sidestepped Mike Phillips to score.

Cardiff struggled at the set-pieces throughout - just as Munster had at Welford Road last week - but it was another Blues error in their own half which gifted Leicester their second score.

Tom Shanklin lost the ball in his own half and when the ball came back to Andy Goode, the fly-half spotted Tom Varndell unmarked on the left and the winger collected the crossfield kick to trot in unopposed.

But Goode missed the conversion and came up with another more costly miss a minute later, failing to find his touch. With the Tigers expecting a line-out, Cardiff produced a brilliant counter-attack, a superb long pass from Robinson giving Shanklin the chance to send Chris Czekaj in at the corner. Blair converted from the touchline and the Blues went in at the break trailing by just 15-14.

But the scum was again to prove their undoing early in the second half.

After three successive Leicester scrums, the inevitable penalty was awarded and Goode knocked it over before the game's pivotal incident in the 52nd minute.

Leicester won a scrum against the head and forced a penalty. There may have been some taunting and prop Powell responded by butting George Chuter, prompting an immediate and inevitable red card.

Cardiff survived the subsequent spell of pressure close to their line, but the loss of a winger - prop Taufaao Filise came on for Mosese Luveitasau - was to prove costly. The Blues continued to attempt their expansive game but with a man short they were always destined to struggle.

They were gifted a 10-minute reprieve on 58 minutes when Varndell was yellow-carded for foolishly impeding Phillips from a tap penalty and on 65 minutes Blair slotted a penalty for holding on, to cut the deficit to a point.

Goode missed a drop-goal from in front of the Cardiff posts four minutes later, before a vital - and illegal - intervention from Louis Deacon a yard from his own line denied Cardiff the chance to snatch a late winner.

Phillips was reaching to retrieve possession from the back of a ruck and Deacon's boot emerged from a heap of players to kick the ball from his hand - knock-on ruled a presumably unsighted referee.

The incident recalled Neil Back's infamous hand at the scrum against Munster on Leicester's last appearance on this ground.

Leicester survived then and they survived now, Sam Vesty's injury-time drop-goal sealing the points.