London Irish 27-28 Leicester: Tigers secure narrow bonus-point victory
By PA Sport
Last Updated: 07/10/17 5:12pm
Leicester recorded their fourth straight Premiership victory with a 28-27 success over London Irish at the Madejski Stadium.
It is the first time since March 2015 the Tigers have won four on the bounce as Nick Malouf and Will Evans scored tries either side of half-time.
Jonny May also continued his impressive try-scoring run but tries from Blair Cowan, David Paice and Alex Lewington gave Irish a deserved losing bonus point.
Scrum-half Sam Harrison darted through the Irish defence and was tackled just short of the line but with numbers out wide, Matt Toomua's long pass found Malouf for the opening score.
George Ford missed the conversion but added a penalty from in front of the posts shortly after as Tigers led 8-0.
The England fly-half added three more after 16 minutes as Tigers continued to dominate possession and territory during the early exchanges.
A penalty at a London Irish scrum after 25 minutes allowed Ford to extend the lead to 14-0.
With London Irish's first foray into the Tigers 22 came their first chance and skipper Paice stretched over the tryline only for prop Greg Bateman to hold the ball up.
From the resulting scrum, Tigers debutant Gareth Owen was sent to the sin bin for a dangerous tackle and Tommy Bell got Irish on the board with 33 minutes played.
Leicester had the perfect start to the second half though as Evans burst onto Ben White's pass to give them an early try and with Ford's conversion Tigers led 21-3.
A second Bell penalty reduced the deficit as Irish, who have not won since the opening day of the season, looked for a way back into the match.
And they found it when Cowan found space in the left corner to bury his way over. Bell's conversion moved Irish back within eight points as the hour-mark approached.
The in-form May has not stopped scoring since his move to Welford Road and after a Leicester driving maul was brought down metres from the line, the ball was sent wide to the winger.
May had time and space to collect Toomua's long pass and sprint under the posts for his sixth try in six games.
London Irish refused to give in as Paice scored their second try after James Marshall's initial break and Lewington cut a perfect line at the death to earn the losing bonus point.
