Sting in the tail for Tigers

Wasps survived a late fightback from Leicester to claim a 24-22 victory in their Guinness Premiership clash at Adams Park on Sunday.

Jordan Crane's last-gasp try however, was enough to secure a bonus point and keep the Tigers just ahead of their rivals in the table.

Danny Cipriani returned to the bench for Wasps for the first time since suffering a broken leg on October 4 but remained unused.

Instead it was Paul Sackey who set the home fans buzzing when he powered up the touchline from a tapped penalty and shrugged off three poor tackles to score after six minutes.

Walder missed the conversion but opposite number Toby Flood made no mistake when Wasps were caught offside, adding three points to take the score to 5-3.

Full advantage

Flood took full advantage of the opportunity to put his side into the lead in the 16th minute when Serge Betsen offended at a ruck following a period of pressure from the Tigers.

Three minutes later he missed an opportunity to extended Leicester's lead, sending another penalty wide after slipping as he took the kick.

But he made no mistake on the 22-minute mark when a creaking Wasps scrum collapsed, slotting home from 35 yards to make it 9-5.

Walder reduced the deficit to one point with a 24th-minute penalty in front of the posts.

But, when referee Chris White spotted a maul being pulled down on his blindside, Flood stuck again from wide out on the left to make it 12-8.

However, when his attempted clearance went horribly wrong five minutes from the break the hosts were quick to pounce.

Mark Robinson found Walder, who neatly offloaded to send Steve Kefu sprinting in between the posts.

Walder added the extras and three more on the stoke of half-time to leave the visitors, who had dominated for most of the half, trailing 18-12.

Mistakes

Wasps upped their tempo at the start of the second half and eight minutes in they were rewarded after Leicester made consecutive mistakes under pressure.

Walder extended the home side's lead to 21-12 and then nailed his fourth penalty on the hour.

Flood replied with three points of his own within a minute to close the gap to nine points, but missed the chance to draw closer as the game headed towards a tense finish.

Wasp hung on however, and Crane's last-minute try plus Aaron Mauger's conversion only served to earn the visitors a losing bonus-point.