Leicester 45-15 Exeter
Leicester have been involved in the last nine successive Premiership finals and their chances of extending that record sequence into double figures suddenly feel less remote. If a home semi-final is still improbable the defending champions are finishing strongly and this six-try chopping of the Chiefs was their biggest league win for a year. Their looming east Midlands derby with second-placed Northampton this weekend will be extremely lively.
Power-wise Leicester are certainly returning to their thunderous old ways. It is no coincidence their upturn has coincided with the return of Manu Tuilagi, playing his first home league game for six months, and his fellow try-scorers Vereniki Goneva and Logovi'i Mulipola were similarly forceful here. Shoehorn all that Pacific Island muscle into the same team – this was the only the third time the Tigers have been able to do so during an injury-plagued campaign – and it will inevitably take some stopping.
Small wonder Richard Cockerill, the home side's director of rugby, is working hard to try to prevent the outstanding Goneva from leaving this summer to join the French champions Castres. Leicester insist the winger has not yet signed a binding contract with anyone next season and Cockerill says he is "confident we're going to be successful" in retaining the Fijian's services. It is not hard to see why the champions of England and France are scrapping over the 29-year-old; the double sidestep which took him through Exeter's defence for his first-half score was as irresistible as anything the league has seen this season.
It set the tone for a game which, from the Chiefs' perspective, could hardly have been more different from the joyous celebrations of their LV= Cup final triumph a week earlier. Predictably, perhaps, they found it hard to summon up the same emotional intensity and energy and head coach Rob Baxter typically made no attempt to gloss over the self-evident truth afterwards. "We were just off and everyone knows that if you're like that at this time of year against Leicester you're going to pay the price," he said, confirming this harsh lesson would be tucked away for future use. "For a team that wants to be successful it shouldn't happen. I'm kind of hoping it's the quick, hard shock we need."
There was absolutely no disputing Leicester's superiority on or around the gain-line where the visitors, particularly in the first half, missed a ruinous number of first-up tackles. Among the offenders was England's Jack Nowell, who received an abrupt reminder that scoring a maiden Test try in Rome is no guarantee of a subsequent armchair ride at club level. The Cornishman lasted just 40 minutes, spending the rest of the afternoon nursing both a sore shoulder and battered pride after being smashed by Mulipola as the prop charged unstoppably to the line for a brutal 13th-minute try. Baxter wryly observed that Nowell could have incurred his injury in any one of a dozen painful collisions.
It leaves Exeter, following significant weekend results for both Wasps and Sale, needing to win most, if not all, of their five remaining games to sneak into the top six and qualify for Europe. More attainable could be a play-off spot, the precise details of which are set to be confirmed this week when some official white smoke is due to emerge from European rugby's political chimney. A head-to-head in May between the seventh-placed teams in the Premiership and the Top 14, with the winner securing the final place in next season's new-look European competition, will form part of the agreed package.
The Chiefs, as ever, will never give up but the two tries they scored here through Jack Yeandle and Ian Whitten were temporary blips in an otherwise dominant Leicester display. Ed Slater and Julian Salvi were both excellent while Anthony Allen's return made a difference in midfield but, ultimately, it was the Tigers' collective freshness after a fortnight's inactivity which was most striking.
Goneva was at the heart of a lot of it, setting up the first-quarter tries by Tuilagi and Mulipola prior to his own spectacular mazy effort. The Tigers led 25-10 at half-time and would have topped 50 but for a couple of forward passes and a hugely brave tackle by Henry Slade on Goneva in the closing stages. "That's as well as we've played with ball in hand for a long time," confirmed Cockerill, aware that success at Franklin's Gardens on Saturday will require similarly high standards. "The likelihood is that Northampton will still finish in the top two but we'll see. Other sides will not want to play us … we're a good side." Even with Tom Croft unlikely to feature this season despite the likelihood he will be technically fit to play again by the end of April, the hard-nosed Tigers are right back in the title hunt.
*Leicester* Hamilton (Smith, 70); Goneva, Tuilagi, Allen, Thompstone; Williams (Flood, 59), B Youngs (Mele, 66); Ayerza (Stankovich, 68), T Youngs (Hawkins, 64), Mulipola (Balmain, 59), Deacon, Slater (capt; Kitchener, 53), Gibson, Salvi, Crane (Waldrom, 64).
*Tries* Tuilagi, Mulipola, Goneva, Thompstone, Mele 2. *Cons* Williams 2, Flood. *Pens* Williams 3.
*Exeter Chiefs* Arscott; Nowell (Jess, h/t), Whitten , Dollman, Vainikolo (Steenson, 47); Slade, Lewis (Thomas, 76); Moon (Rimmer, 54), Yeandle (Cowan-Dickie, 54), Tui (Brown, 54), Mumm (capt), Welch (Armand, 52), Ewers, White (Johnson, 52), Hortsmann. *Tries* Yeandle, Whitten. *Con* Slade. *Pen* Slade.
*Sin-bin* Mumm 32.
*Referee* D Richards (RFU). *Att* 23,466. Reported by guardian.co.uk 1 hour ago.
Leicester have been involved in the last nine successive Premiership finals and their chances of extending that record sequence into double figures suddenly feel less remote. If a home semi-final is still improbable the defending champions are finishing strongly and this six-try chopping of the Chiefs was their biggest league win for a year. Their looming east Midlands derby with second-placed Northampton this weekend will be extremely lively.
Power-wise Leicester are certainly returning to their thunderous old ways. It is no coincidence their upturn has coincided with the return of Manu Tuilagi, playing his first home league game for six months, and his fellow try-scorers Vereniki Goneva and Logovi'i Mulipola were similarly forceful here. Shoehorn all that Pacific Island muscle into the same team – this was the only the third time the Tigers have been able to do so during an injury-plagued campaign – and it will inevitably take some stopping.
Small wonder Richard Cockerill, the home side's director of rugby, is working hard to try to prevent the outstanding Goneva from leaving this summer to join the French champions Castres. Leicester insist the winger has not yet signed a binding contract with anyone next season and Cockerill says he is "confident we're going to be successful" in retaining the Fijian's services. It is not hard to see why the champions of England and France are scrapping over the 29-year-old; the double sidestep which took him through Exeter's defence for his first-half score was as irresistible as anything the league has seen this season.
It set the tone for a game which, from the Chiefs' perspective, could hardly have been more different from the joyous celebrations of their LV= Cup final triumph a week earlier. Predictably, perhaps, they found it hard to summon up the same emotional intensity and energy and head coach Rob Baxter typically made no attempt to gloss over the self-evident truth afterwards. "We were just off and everyone knows that if you're like that at this time of year against Leicester you're going to pay the price," he said, confirming this harsh lesson would be tucked away for future use. "For a team that wants to be successful it shouldn't happen. I'm kind of hoping it's the quick, hard shock we need."
There was absolutely no disputing Leicester's superiority on or around the gain-line where the visitors, particularly in the first half, missed a ruinous number of first-up tackles. Among the offenders was England's Jack Nowell, who received an abrupt reminder that scoring a maiden Test try in Rome is no guarantee of a subsequent armchair ride at club level. The Cornishman lasted just 40 minutes, spending the rest of the afternoon nursing both a sore shoulder and battered pride after being smashed by Mulipola as the prop charged unstoppably to the line for a brutal 13th-minute try. Baxter wryly observed that Nowell could have incurred his injury in any one of a dozen painful collisions.
It leaves Exeter, following significant weekend results for both Wasps and Sale, needing to win most, if not all, of their five remaining games to sneak into the top six and qualify for Europe. More attainable could be a play-off spot, the precise details of which are set to be confirmed this week when some official white smoke is due to emerge from European rugby's political chimney. A head-to-head in May between the seventh-placed teams in the Premiership and the Top 14, with the winner securing the final place in next season's new-look European competition, will form part of the agreed package.
The Chiefs, as ever, will never give up but the two tries they scored here through Jack Yeandle and Ian Whitten were temporary blips in an otherwise dominant Leicester display. Ed Slater and Julian Salvi were both excellent while Anthony Allen's return made a difference in midfield but, ultimately, it was the Tigers' collective freshness after a fortnight's inactivity which was most striking.
Goneva was at the heart of a lot of it, setting up the first-quarter tries by Tuilagi and Mulipola prior to his own spectacular mazy effort. The Tigers led 25-10 at half-time and would have topped 50 but for a couple of forward passes and a hugely brave tackle by Henry Slade on Goneva in the closing stages. "That's as well as we've played with ball in hand for a long time," confirmed Cockerill, aware that success at Franklin's Gardens on Saturday will require similarly high standards. "The likelihood is that Northampton will still finish in the top two but we'll see. Other sides will not want to play us … we're a good side." Even with Tom Croft unlikely to feature this season despite the likelihood he will be technically fit to play again by the end of April, the hard-nosed Tigers are right back in the title hunt.
*Leicester* Hamilton (Smith, 70); Goneva, Tuilagi, Allen, Thompstone; Williams (Flood, 59), B Youngs (Mele, 66); Ayerza (Stankovich, 68), T Youngs (Hawkins, 64), Mulipola (Balmain, 59), Deacon, Slater (capt; Kitchener, 53), Gibson, Salvi, Crane (Waldrom, 64).
*Tries* Tuilagi, Mulipola, Goneva, Thompstone, Mele 2. *Cons* Williams 2, Flood. *Pens* Williams 3.
*Exeter Chiefs* Arscott; Nowell (Jess, h/t), Whitten , Dollman, Vainikolo (Steenson, 47); Slade, Lewis (Thomas, 76); Moon (Rimmer, 54), Yeandle (Cowan-Dickie, 54), Tui (Brown, 54), Mumm (capt), Welch (Armand, 52), Ewers, White (Johnson, 52), Hortsmann. *Tries* Yeandle, Whitten. *Con* Slade. *Pen* Slade.
*Sin-bin* Mumm 32.
*Referee* D Richards (RFU). *Att* 23,466. Reported by guardian.co.uk 1 hour ago.