Wasps 17 Leicester 20: Goode's boot makes all the difference to Leicester
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Your support makes all the difference.Leicester like it tight; this match, especially in the second half, was tighter than a reef knot. In the end Andy Goode loosened it.
Richard Cockerill, the Tigers' acting head coach said: "We're a confident team. Wasps are dangerous here and it was fantastic for us to win. You cannot fault our scrum; they won us the game. Goal-kickers also helped and Andy Goode was excellent."
Thanks to the World Cup, at Adams Park yesterday there were 21 players missing: 10 from Wasps and 11 from Leicester. Not much happened in the opening passages of play, until Goode hoisted a whopping cross-field kick to Ollie Smith, who beat Mark van Gisbergen for the first try. Goode, who had kicked an earlier penalty to answer Dave Walder's drop goal, missed with the conversion.
Then came Tom Voyce with a sparkling turn of foot to grab a try at the other end. Walder's conversion sailed wide. Goode's second penalty took him to fourth in the list of all-time Leicester scorers, behind Dusty Hair, John Liley and Tim Stimpson, but he then earned a yellow card and Van Gisbergen kicked the resultant penalty. Johne Murphy banged over one for Leicester to lead 14-11 to Leicester at the break.
Walder tied the scores within a minute of the restart and it was becoming increasingly difficult to see how either side would win. Goode and Danny Cipriani struck penalties to make it 17-17 and with 10 minutes remaining there was still all to play for.
The two sets of forwards could not be separated, but a mistake within kicking range let Goode back into the frame and he struck a perfect penalty. Wasps then mounted a dour struggle at a maul, but Leicester held on to remain unbeaten.
Wasps: Try Voyce; Penalties Van Gisbergen, Walder, Cipriani; Drop goal Walder. Leicester: Try Smith; Penalties Goode 4, J Murphy.
Wasps: M van Gisbergen (R Hoadley, 58); C Bishay, F Waters, R Flutey, T Voyce; D Walder (D Cipriani, 52), M McMillan (S Amor, 40); T Payne (T French, 52), J Ward (J Buckland, 69), M Holford, G Skivington (D Leo, 52), T Palmer, J Hart (capt), J Haskell, R Birkett (H Ellis, 75).
Leicester: J Murphy; M Smith, O Smith, S Vesty (M Cornwell, 53-69), T Varndell; A Goode, C Laussucq (B Youngs, 54); B Stankovich, B Kayser (M Davies, 58), D Young (A Moreno, 69), L Deacon (capt), M Wentzel (R Blaze, 62), J Crane, L Abraham (B Herring, 73), B Deacon.
Referee: S Davey (Sussex).
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