Get Newsletter

Tigers punish poor Treviso

Telusa Veainu scored twice, Peter Betham and Greg Bateman followed while Tigers also claimed a first-half penalty try.

ADVERTISEMENT

The victory rubber-stamped Leicester's place at the top of Pool Four with maximum points from their opening two games, while Stade-Francais' game against Munster was postponed.

For Treviso, this marked a 16th consecutive loss in the Champions Cup and disappointment at only managing a solitary kick from James Ambrosini in front of their home fans.

The Italians came close to beating Leicester at Stadio Monigo three years ago and made a bright start again despite the loss of key players.

However, they failed to register early points when James Ambrosini missed a drop goal effort and Tommaso Iannone went close in the corner after strong work by Francesco Minto.

Bell kicked a seventh minute penalty when Minto was penalised at the breakdown.

But it was Leicester's strength in the scrum that created the game's first try. Prop Matteo Zanusso was binned in the 18th minute for collapsing the set-piece and French referee Mathieu Raynal awarded a penalty try following from the next scrum.

ADVERTISEMENT

Bell converted but Leicester failed to add further punishment on the scoreboard against 14 men. But two tries in the five minutes before half-time helped the Tigers take control of the tie.

Tom Croft, who had recovered from a back spasm, set up Brendon O'Connor. Dom Barrow followed before Bell slid through a kick for Veainu to score on 36 minutes.

O'Connor was penalised from the re-start to allow Ambrosini to kick Treviso's first points.

However, Treviso failed to gather the kick-off, Matthew Tait capitalised and Dom Barrow made yards before Veainu floated his pass for wing Betham to beat two men and score on the stroke of half-time. Bell landed his second conversion for a 22-3 lead at the break.

ADVERTISEMENT

Treviso were reduced to 14 men for a second time in the game when lock Jean-Francis Montauriol was shown a yellow card in the 50th minute for barging Sam Harrison off the ball after Bell chipped ahead.

Leicester kicked the penalty to the corner and thought they had the bonus point but Veainu was ruled to have lost control of the ball over the line.

Treviso steadied the ship and Italy scrumhalf Eduardo Gori caused Leicester problems to frustrate the visitors.

Veainu finally clinched the all-important fourth try on 67 minutes when he stepped through three defenders to cross between the posts.

Replacement hooker Bateman then followed in the last minute, shrugging off tackles to score Leicester's fifth try.

The scorers:

For Treviso:

Pen: Ambrosini

For Leicester:

Tries: Penalty try, Veainu 2, Betham, Bateman

Cons: Bell 3, Bai

Pen: Bell

Teams:

Treviso: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Ludovico Nitoglia, 13 Enrico Bacchin, 12 Sam Christie, 11 Tommaso Iannone, 10 James Ambrosini, 9 Edoardo Gori (captain), 8 Abraham Steyn, 7 Francesco Minto, 6 Marco Barbini, 5 Jeff Montauriol, 4 Teofilo Paulo, 3 Rupert Harden, 2 Ornel Gega, 1 Matteo Zanusso.

Replacements: 16 Davide Giazzon, 17 Matteo Muccignat, 18 Filippo Filippetto, 19 Dean Budd, 20 Marco Lazzaroni, 21 Andrea de Marchi, 22 Chris Smylie, 23 Andrea Pratichetti.

Leicester Tigers: 15 Telusa Veainu, 14 Peter Betham, 13 Mathew Tait (captain), 12 Matt Smith, 11 Adam Thompstone, 10 Tommy Bell, 9 Sam Harrison, 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Brendon O'Connor, 6 Tom Croft, 5 Mike Fitzgerald, 4 Dom Barrow, 3 Fraser Balmain, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Marcos Ayerza.

Replacements: 16 Greg Bateman, 17 Matias Aguero, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Ed Slater, 20 Lachlan McCaffrey, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Seremaia Bai, 23 George Catchpole.

Referee: Mathieu Raynal (France)

Assistant referees: Sébastien Minery (France), Vivien Praderie (France)

TMO: Hervé Dubes (France)

@ChampionsCup 

Join free

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | Episode 6

Sam Warburton | The Big Jim Show | Full Episode

Japan Rugby League One | Sungoliath v Eagles | Full Match Replay

Japan Rugby League One | Spears v Wild Knights | Full Match Replay

Boks Office | Episode 10 | Six Nations Final Round Review

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | How can New Zealand rugby beat this Ireland team

Beyond 80 | Episode 5

Rugby Europe Men's Championship Final | Georgia v Portugal | Full Match Replay

Write A Comment