London Irish notched up their seventh straight home win and kept themselves in the play-off hunt with a 22-13 victory over Leicester.
Bad day for Goode with the boot
London Irish notched up their seventh straight home win and kept themselves in the play-off hunt with a 22-13 victory over Leicester.
Richard Thorpe scored an early try for the Exiles and Eoghan Hickey was flawless with the boot, kicking all his goals for 14 points.
The man signed from Munster in the summer now boasts the Premiership's top kicking percentage.
Leicester came up with too many errors in a disjointed second-half display and Andy Goode missed four penalty chances, including one five minutes from time which would at least have earned the Tigers a bonus point.
The match was in danger due to frost before kick-off and Leicester will wish it had not gone ahead after suffering a blow to their own play-off ambitions.
But so will London Irish centre Shane Geraghty, who was forced off with a knee injury in the first half and may now be doubtful for England's game in Paris on Saturday.
Outstanding
Geraghty had been outstanding in the 35 minutes he was on the field.
His pass almost set up Topsy Ojo for a sixth minute try only for the TMO to rule the ball short, but somewhat bizarrely advantage was still being played and Hickey knocked over a simple penalty.
Geraghty also played a big part in Thorpe's try two minutes later, putting Delon Armitage through on the burst before a couple of pick and drives from the forwards gave Thorpe the space to power over.
The opening exchanges were dominated by Irish but almost with their first attack, Leicester scored.
Goode dummied in midfield, made the break and Ayoola Erinle was on his shoulder to take the pass and sprint 40 metres to the posts.
That was the signal for Leicester to take control and Irish were forced into some desperate defence, Geordan Murphy held up over the line before Sailosi Tagicakibau's burst up the left relieved the pressure.
After a bright opening the game was becoming more scrappy and Goode missed two penalty attempts in the closing moments - the second a straightforward one - as Irish went in 10-7 ahead.
Melee
The second half began with an ugly and protracted melee, Nick Kennedy eventually being penalised and Goode taking the chance to level the scores.
That set the tone for a poor second stanza, the best chance arriving when Peter Hewat arrived on the arc and almost put Tagicakibau in at the corner.
But it was Leicester who let the game slip away from them with a curiously down-beat display.
They came up with errors, lacked cutting edge and crucially lost their discipline in dangerous areas. Hickey made them pay in full.
His first penalty was for not realeasing and within moments Marco Castrogiovanni had been pinged for an early tackle.
The Leicester pack then failed to roll away on 68 minutes and Hickey landed his third successful kick from out wide on the right.
The Exiles did concede a penalty in front of their sticks from the re-start which Goode kicked, but a long drop-goal from veteran Mike Catt stretched the lead again and it was Irish who ended the contest in attacking mode.
