Tigers sign off in syle

Leicester finished their Heineken Cup campaign on a high with a 25-9 victory over Leinster in a feisty encounter at Welford Road.

The Tigers were already eliminated from the competition and defeat also ended Leinster's quarter-finals hopes, with only group winners Toulouse progressing to the last eight from Pool Six.

Any ideas that this fixture would suffer from its dead rubber status were firmly dispelled during a high-tempo first half in which Leicester scored two tries and also had Julian White and Andy Goode sent to the sin-bin.

Brett Deacon and Seru Rabeni touched down within two minutes of each other to give Leicester a 15-6 lead after 22 minutes.

The hosts held that advantage to half-time despite having White and Goode sin-binned as tempers boiled over.

And the result was sealed when Ben Herring crossed for Leicester's third try seven minutes from time to cap a superb display from the home forwards.

Forward dominance

Felipe Contepomi landed two early penalties to Goode's one as Leinster claimed a 6-3 lead after six minutes.

But Leicester's pack then took control of proceedings and eventually the pressure told with two tries in as many minutes.

Blindside flanker Deacon dived over in the left corner in the 20th minute after the ball was finally spun wide following several forward-dominated phases.

Goode was just off-target with the touchline conversion attempt but did not have to wait long for another chance as Rabeni added a second try two minutes later.

The Fijian cut inside off the left flank to finish a flowing move that was started on the half-way line by Goode, who slotted the straightforward conversion for a 15-6 lead.

Tempers flare

The tension had been simmering throughout the opening half and finally boiled over in the 29th minute when White was shown the yellow card for punching Malcolm O'Kelly.

The Leicester prop landed a clean right hook on O'Kelly and was fortunate that referee Christophe Berdos - acting on the advice of his touch judge - produced only yellow.

White was soon joined in the sin-bin by team-mate Goode after the fly-half was penalised for a high tackle on visting captain Brian O'Driscoll that sparked an unseemly all-in brawl.

Leicester's 13 men stood firm with some wholehearted defending to keep their nine-point lead intact at half-time.

The hosts were restored to their full complement shortly after the break. Contepomi and Goode exchanged penalties to make the score 18-9 after 54 minutes.

Leicester's forwards, magnificent throughout, once again took control of the game, dominating possession to ensure Leinster's silky backline was starved of the ball.

And the victory was secured in the 73rd minute when the video referee confirmed that Kiwi openside Herring had got the ball down under a heap of bodies for Leicester's third try.

Goode added the conversion to take his personal haul to 10 points and extend his side's margin of victory to 25-9.

The result means that Leicester finish second in Pool Six with 14 points, not enough for one of the two best runner up spots in the quarter-finals.