Red card strikes again as Leicester Tigers see off London Irish in helter-shelter finish
London Irish centre Terrence Hepetema was sent off as Leicester continued their recent improvement with a hard-fought victory.
The Tigers had rested a number of their leading players at Bristol last weekend in readiness for this fixture and they were rewarded with a morale-boosting win, though a chaotic card-strewn finish led to a deceptively close 33-32 scoreline.
Kobus Van Wyk, Oli Chessum and Kuri Murimurivalu scored Leicester’s tries. Zack Henry converted the first two and kicked three penalties, while Johnny McPhillips added a penalty and a conversion.
Ollie Hassell-Collins, Matt Cornish and Paddy Jackson crossed for Irish with Jackson adding two penalties and two conversions. There was also a penalty try award.
It took Irish only 37 seconds to open the scoring. Leicester collected the kick-off but visiting flanker Blair Cowan wrestled the ball clear for number eight Albert Tuisue to put the defence on the back foot with a strong burst before Curtis Rona sent Jackson over.
Irish then suffered a blow when captain Matt Rogerson was sin-binned for a high shoulder charge. Henry kicked the resulting penalty but Leicester took no further advantage, and Jackson was off target with one penalty attempt before landing a straightforward kick to restore his side’s seven-point lead.
At that stage Irish lost their full-back Tom Parton with a leg injury before Tigers drew level with a well-constructed try. Their forwards built up a head of steam to put pressure on their opponents’ line before the backs combined effectively to provide Van Wyk with an easy run-in.
Henry converted before he and Jackson exchanged penalties to leave the scores level at 13-13 at the interval.
Red card for Terrence Hepetema ?
Very bad tackle to say the least ? London Irish are down to 14 men. pic.twitter.com/tW1iaBfd2H
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) March 5, 2021
Three minutes after the restart, Leicester went ahead for the first time. Irish bungled the kick-off to concede early pressure before Matt Scott made a telling burst, with replacement Chessum on hand to drive over.
Irish looked to have responded when good work from Cowan and Rona ended with Nick Phipps crossing but after TMO replays, the score was ruled out for obstruction by Hepetema.
Henry extended the hosts’ lead to 23-13 with another penalty as the Tigers’ forwards increased their influence on the match but spirited Irish remained in contention by breaking out of defence before a well-judged pass from Phipps created a try for Hassell-Collins.
Irish’s hopes were dented when Hepetema was sent off in the 60th minute for a head-high challenge on Van Wyk but they breathed a sigh of relief when Henry missed the resulting penalty from straight in front of the posts.
Henry was then replaced so it was McPhillips who was successful with the next kick before Leicester sealed victory with their third try from replacement Murimurivalu.
Irish, trailing by three scores, battled to the end and were rewarded with first a penalty try, after Jack Van Poortvliet was yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-on, and then a bonus-point try from Cornish after Tigers’ prop Joe Heyes was also sin-binned for a high challenge.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
29 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
29 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
29 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
29 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
29 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments