Tigers roar into Heineken final

Leicester remain on course for an unprecedented treble after beating Llanelli.

Leicester remain on course for an unprecedented treble after overpowering Llanelli 33-17 in the Heineken Cup semi-finals with a dominant forward display at the Walkers Stadium.

In an intriguing contrast of styles, Scarlets were the more dangerous and creative side in the loose, but the Tigers dominated the contact areas and crucially won the turnover battle.

They also had the boot of Andy Goode on their side, the former England fly-half knocking over seven kicks from eight - his one miss from five metres inside his own half.

Leicester's victory also means a first all-English final is guaranteed - they will play the winners of Sunday's second semi-final between Wasps and Northampton at Twickenham on May 20.

Llanelli came into this semi-final thirsting for revenge for their one-point defeat to the Tigers on this ground in 2002, and as the only unbeaten side in this year's competition.

But despite plenty of flashes of brilliance from the Welsh side, it was Leicester who played the more controlled game for long periods and they ultimately deserved a place in the final for the first time since completing back-to-back victories five years ago.

The opening exchanges were as cagey as you would expect, with a couple of early penalties from Goode and one in reply from Stephen Jones.

Llanelli should have taken advantage of the sin-binning of Tigers full-back Geordan Murphy for cynically killing the ball, but it was Leicester who increased their lead in those 10 minutes, again through Goode.

The Scarlets were coming up with too many handling errors and losing too much ball in the contact areas and Leicester took advantage just past the half hour after a spell of sustained pressure.

Dan Hipkiss and Alesano Tuilagi burst through the middle and when the ball was quickly recycled, Goode dummied and squirmed between Matthew Rees and Gavin Thomas to score the opening try.

At 16-3 ahead Leicester looked set to turn the screw in their typically relentless fashion, but Llanelli hit back before the break to keep the contest on a knife-edge.

A handling move finally brought dividends as the defence was sucked in and Mark Jones went over unopposed in the corner, Stephen Jones adding the extras from the touchline.

Three minutes into the second half Alejandro Moreno and Deacon Manu were sin-binnd for fighting and Llanelli took advantage of the extra space to score their second try.

It came from another flowing move across the width of the field, before hooker Rees dived over at the corner. When  Jones slotted another difficult conversion, the Scarlets were ahead for the first time.

But their dream of a first appearance in the final quickly began to disintegrate.

Within two minutes possession was yet again turned over and Goode's chip over the top bounced up perfectly for Shane Jennigs to collect and charge over beneath the sticks.

Goode's penalty just past the hour stretched the lead to two scores, before Llanelli embarked on a spell of furious sustained pressure.

But by this time Leicester's defence had stiffened and they repulsed wave after wave of red shirts.

The end came when Murphy was hit late by Nathan Thomas and Goode was able to push the Tigers deep into Scarlets territory.

A series of sapping drives gave Louis Deacon a chance to leap over the ruck Gridiron-style and score the try that put Leicester out of sight and into their third Heineken Cup final.