Hewat miss spares Tigers

London Irish missed a glorious chance to spoil Heyneke Meyer's home debut in charge of Leicester as the Tigers edged a thrilling Premiership clash 24-22.

The Exiles could well have left Welford Road with a hard-earned draw but Peter Hewat was unable to knock over a last-gasp conversion after Delon Armitage's try.

The Australian hooked his kick wide of the posts; a miss that made sure Meyer would make it two wins from two at the start of his career in England.

His side needed a second-half comeback to beat an Irish team that for the first 40 minutes carried straight on from their surprise success over defending champions Wasps on opening weekend.

Absorbing contest

Despite losing influential lock Nick Kennedy in the morning through illness, the Exiles held their own throughout an absorbing contest.

On two occasions they found themselves in front, the first when Steffon Armitage crossed just before the half hour, Hewat's touchline conversion making it 10-7.

Eoghan Hickey had already slotted over a penalty from inside his own half to get Toby Booth's troops on the board and they looked set to hold the lead at the break until Toby Flood's late penalty.

The fly-half had already converted Geordan Murphy's 10th-minute score after helping set up the Irishman with a perfectly-timed pass on an overlap.

However, Flood's inability to slot over two easy shots at the posts denied Leicester the lead at the break and, when Murphy turned from hero to villain inside the opening minutes of the second half, the hosts were in a hole.

Charged down

Seilala Mapusua charged down the full-back's attempted clearance to score a second try for the Exiles that was successfully converted, making the score 17-10 in their favour.

But to their credit the Tigers came roaring back, scoring twice to take control.

Flanker Toby Croft got the first with Flood's conversion levelling the scores and then prop Marcos Ayerza's intitial break was finished off by Ben Herring under the posts, leaving a simple kick to add on two more points.

In a see-saw battle there looked to be a late twist in the tale as the Exiles stunned the home crowd with a sensational try from Armitage.

But with the chance to draw his side level at 24 apiece, Hewat fluffed his lines to let Leicester off the hook and mean Meyer's record remains perfect, though only just.