Moody blues for Worcester
Lewis Moody touched down as Leicester ground out a hard-fought 19-14 home success over Worcester.
Last Updated: 03/10/09 5:47pm
Lewis Moody touched down as Leicester extended their proud unbeaten home record, but they were pushed all the way by Worcester before closing out a 19-14 success.
It is now a year since the Tigers were last beaten at Welford Road, although Worcester - who have failed to win on any of their previous nine visits to Leicester since 1895 - twice forced them to come from behind on Saturday.
The hosts were ultimately indebted to the boot of Jeremy Staunton with their fly-half kicking three penalties, a drop-goal and also the conversion of the first-half try from Moody.
Worcester also managed to cross the whitewash with Willie Walker touching down in the second half to add to his three penalties in the first.
Without ten first-teamers through injury and hampered by the strong winds whipping around Welford Road, Leicester struggled for fluency early on having fallen behind in the first minute after being penalised for killing the ball in the first ruck of the match.
Walker duly obliged with the penalty and while Staunton began to exert some control for Leicester with his kicking from hand, the fly-half was off-target with a penalty on 11 minutes and a drop-goal shortly afterwards.
However, Worcester had again been penalised just prior to Staunton's drop-goal attempt and the number ten was successful with the subsequent penalty to draw his side level.
A second penalty from Staunton after Worcester infringed under mounting pressure put Leicester ahead on the 20-minute mark, but Walker levelled with a well-struck penalty of his own when winger Miles Benjamin had burst into Tigers' territory with a forceful run.
Moody try
But parity proved short-lived for the visitors as Moody registered the first try of the afternoon just past the half-hour mark.
Worcester scrum-half Ryan Powell was forced to put the ball into touch near his own line and from the resulting line-out it was Moody who emerged from a heap of bodies having burrowed his way over - Staunton added a fine conversion from out wide.
That looked to be the last of the scoring before the interval, but Walker had other ideas and, with the wind at his back, launched a spectacular penalty from five metres inside his own half that bounced off the crossbar and over to reduce the arrears to 13-9 at the break.
Five minutes after the restart it was Staunton's turn to strike the woodwork with a penalty, but his effort hit a post and rebounded to safety.
Worcester took fulladvantage of that escape to stun the home crowd by regaining the lead on 62 minutes when a period of sustained pressure eventually created space which flanker Tom Wood exploited to crash over.
Crucially Walker was unable to add the conversion and Worcester's fragile one-point lead did not last long.
Indeed, it was just three minutes before Staunton did find his range with a drop-goal, although he missed a penalty shortly afterwards when Netani Talei was penalised for holding on in a ruck.
It did not affect proceedings, though, as he landed his third of the afternoon on 69 minutes with Leicester then keeping their opponents at bay to claim the spoils.
