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Ford boots Tigers to victory over Wasps

Sione Kalamafoni had scored a third-minute try but two Elliot Daly tries, and a Danny Cipriani penalty, had Wasps ahead 15-7 at the break.

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But Wasps were unable to add to their tally in the second half with three penalties from England international Ford enough to get Tigers over the line.

Tigers enjoyed a fine start as Kalamafoni scored his first try away from Kingsholm at the back of a driving maul after Graham Kitchener had claimed the line-out.

The conversion was good from Ford but he would miss a penalty on nine minutes with Dan Robson then preventing a second try with a fine covering tackle on Sam Harrison.

With Manu Tuilagi and Jonny May heading off with injuries, Wasps got themselves back into the match with Christian Wade making a fine break before Matt Toomua held up Thomas Young.

But from the resulting scrum, Wasps drove towards the line with Robson feeding a wide-open Daly on the blind side for an easy score in the corner.

Replacement Nick Malouf was then shown a yellow card for a high tackle on Wade and Daly had his second try after a Juan De Jongh break with Robson again spotting the space on the short side.

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Desperate cover tackling from Leicester denied Willie Le Roux before Matt Tait crunched into Robson to deny a further score and Wasps led 15-7 at the break.

Tigers were able to reduce the deficit at the start of the second half through a Ford penalty but saw Telusa Veainu sent to the sin bin for a deliberate knock on.

Flyhalf Ford slotting a third kick to make it 15-13 having thrown two intercept passes as the Tigers piled on the pressure in the second-half.

And on 75 minutes, after Wasps were penalised at a line-out, Ford stepped up to put Tigers ahead and move them within three points of the top four.

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The scorers:

For Leicester:

Try: Kalamafoni

Con: Ford

Pens: Ford 3

For Wasps:

Tries: Daly 2

Con: Cipriani

Pen: Gopperth

Yellow Cards: Nick Malouf (Leicester Tigers, 20); Telusa Veainu (Leicester Tigers, 51)

Reams: 

Leicester Tigers: 15 Telusa Veainu, 14 Adam Thompstone, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Sam Harrison, 8 Sione Kalamafoni, 7 Luke Hamilton, 6 Valentino Mapapalangi, 5 Graham Kitchener, 4 Mike Fitzgerald, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs (captain), 1 Greg Bateman.

Replacements: 16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Logovi’i Mulipola, 19 Harry Wells, 20 Will Evans, 21 Harry Simmons, 22 Mathew Tait, 23 Nick Malouf

Wasps: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Jimmy Gopperth, 11 Elliot Daly, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Dan Robson, 8 Guy Thompson, 7 Thomas Young, 6 James Haskell, 5 James Gaskell, 4 Joe Launchbury (captain), 3 Jake Cooper-Woolley, 2 Tom Cruse, 1 Simon McIntyre.

Replacements: 16 TJ Harris, 17 Matt Mullan, 18 Marty Moore, 19 Will Rowlands, 20 Kearnan Myall, 21 Jack Willis, 22 Joe Simpson, 23 Josh Bassett.

Referee: Luke Pearce

Assistant referees: Craig Maxwell-Keys, Jack Makepeace

TMO: David Grashoff

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