Tigers grab thrilling draw
A weakened Leicester produced a brilliant comeback to snatch a remarkable draw from their Heineken Cup clash with Ospreys.
By Alex Williams
Last Updated: 12/10/09 1:21pm
Leicester produced a stunning comeback to snatch a 32-32 draw against Ospreys in a thrilling Heineken Cup Pool Three contest at Welford Road.
The Tigers raced into an early lead when Johne Murphy crossed the try-line but the visitors, inspired by fly-half Dan Biggar, soon turned the score around with 26 consecutive points.
Billy Twelvetrees sparked hopes of a home comeback when he scored in the corner just before half-time and Lucas Amorosino ran-in another try after the break.
The scores were levelled with 75 minutes gone when Jeremy Staunton scored after a prolonged spell of pressure and Twelvetrees added a vital conversion.
The hosts were on the back foot before the match had even kicked-off, being forced into four changes on the day of the game.
First choice backs Matt Smith, Dan Hipkiss and Aaron Mauger as well as scrum-half Harry Ellis were all ruled out through injury or illness as Leicester were struck down by a cruel case of bad luck.
But the Tigers did not show any ill-effects of the last-minute reshuffle when Anthony Allen broke through the Ospreys' line before handing off to Scott Hamilton, who played in Murphy for the opening try.
Dream start
Even though Staunton failed to add the conversion from out wide, Leicester surged into a 5-0 lead with only two minutes on the clock.
Leicester continued to pile on the early pressure, with Staunton falling short with a difficult long-range penalty.
But the stand-off finally managed to slot the ball through the uprights when the visitors were penalised in a scrum, giving Leicester an eight-point lead.
The Ospreys steadied the ship with 13 minutes gone when Biggar converted a penalty from inside his own half to reduce the gap to five.
As the first half wore on, the Welsh side began to see more possession, with another penalty from Biggar making it 8-6 after Leicester had handled in the ruck.
The Ospreys then took the lead just moments later when Biggar burst through the Tigers' defence before playing in Shane Williams, who had a clear run to the try-line.
Biggar continued his fine game by adding the extras before slotting over a drop-goal shortly afterwards to give his side an eight-point advantage of their own.
Errors
With just over 30 minutes gone, Tommy Bowe was gifted a try when Staunton's wild pass missed his target and the Ireland international picked up the loose ball and ran under the posts unopposed.
Soon after Biggar had knocked over the conversion, he made it 26-8 to the visitors with a relatively simple penalty.
Leicester were completely overwhelmed but the pattern of the game was changed again when Lee Byrne fluffed a catch from a high ball, allowing Twelvetrees to score in the corner.
Twelvetrees added the conversion himself and almost scored 10 points in a matter of seconds when the Tigers were awarded a penalty on the restart, but his kick cannoned off the post to safety.
After the half-time interval, Biggar added his fourth penalty of the match to increase the advantage to a comfortable 14 points.
However, Leicester's hopes were by no means dead and stand-in wing Amorosino reduced the gap further when he was sent over in the corner by Hamilton and Twevletrees nailed a difficult conversion.
The home side were now in the ascendency and began to dominate possession as the Welford Road crowd found its voice.
But Ospreys crucially extended their lead to 10 points after an infringement in the ruck allowed Biggar to score another long-range effort.
Biggar cancelled out his own penalty when his high tackle on Amorosino led to Twelvetrees slotting over another three points for the hosts.
The Tigers then dramatically drew level with five minutes left after Twelvetrees created a break before the ball was spread to the right, allowing Staunton to run-in the try and Twelvetrees to add the conversion.
