An 80th minute penalty from fly-half Owen Williams, slotted from his own half, rescued victory for Leicester Tigers and kept Richard Cockerill’s men’s hopes in the Champions Cup alive after a dramatic game at Welford Road.
Leicester had sought to reverse a humiliating 38-0 defeat at Munster’s hands last week in Limerick, their worst ever in European competitions.
A tense opening quarter was punctuated by an inspired break from Munster fly-half Tyler Bleyendaal, the Christchurch born New Zealander continuing to demonstrate his superb form this season after seemingly countless years of injury frustration with both the Irish province and the Crusaders in Super Rugby.
“Leicester were unfazed by Munster’s man advantage, two Owen Williams’s penalties levelling the score as the half drew to an end
Bleyendaal’s two penalties handed his side an early lead and any Tigers foray in to Munster territory during the opening half-hour was met with the fierce defensive resistance that has typified the Irish team’s play during their six game competitive winning run in all competitions.
Manu Tuilagi, the England centre who has yet to feature under Eddie Jones, fell foul of the TMO for the second consecutive European game. He blind-sided Munster counterpart Rory Scannell with a no-armed shoulder barge after the Irishman had released his pass to earn ten minutes on the sidelines.
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Leicester were unfazed by Munster’s man advantage, two Owen Williams’s penalties levelling the score as the half drew to an end.
Bleyendaal restored Munster’s three point lead at the start of the second half before Williams replied twice more in kind, to hand Leicester the lead for the first time in the game.
Concerted Munster pressure was foiled on the Leicester line before a misplaced place led to a Leicester breakaway, Ireland’s Simon Zebo curtailing Adam Thompstone’s chip-and-chase with a late tackle, the full-back becoming the second player to receive a yellow card.
Munster roared back after Williams had made the score 15-9, and were finally rewarded for producing much of the best attacking moments in the game when consecutive kicks to the corner resulted in hooker Niall Scannell bursting over from the maul.
Bleyendaal slipped while taking the conversion but the ball scraped over the bar none the less, handing the Irish province a one-point lead with five minutes on the clock.
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The afternoon’s drama didn’t end there however, as Leicester won a final penalty in their own half, Williams sending an exceptional strike through the uprights to give Leicester their second win of the competition and forcing Munster to settle for a losing bonus point.