Tigers comeback sinks Quins

Reigning Aviva Premiership champions Leicester put a dent in Harlequins' play-off hopes by claiming a hard-fought 17-13 win at Twickenham Stoop.

Quins went into the half-time break with a 10-point lead but were worn down by the Tigers in an ill-tempered second-half.

Alesana Tuilagi touched down for the visitors, who were also awarded a penalty try, while England fly-half Toby Flood converted a crucial penalty late on.

Both saw their numbers reduced as referee Wayne Barnes showed two yellow cards as well as sending off both Leicester's Marcos Ayerza and Quins' Joe Marler after a brawl.

The hosts surged forward in the opening stages, but passed up the chance of an early try after an Ollie Kohn forward pass, while Nick Evans drifted a penalty wide.

Hard-hitting

The pressure eventually relented, with neither side seeming able to gain the upper hand as a hard-hitting first-half reached the midway point.

Quins No.8 Nick Easter seemed to spark the contest into life in the 21st minutes as he charged in at the corner, but consultation with the video referee revealed his knee was in touch as he grounded the ball.

It took until after the half-hour mark until the deadlock was broken as Ugo Monye burst down the wing before being brought down just short, with the ball shifted back inside for scrum-half Danny Care to finish.

Evans added the extras before making it 10-0 shortly afterwards when he slotted over a penalty after Leicester had failed to roll away after the tackle.

It remained that way at the interval, but the Tigers came out fired up after the break, with Tuilagi diving over in the corner after a powerful build-up and Flood nailing a difficult conversion after earlier missing a straightforward penalty.

Leicester decided to go for a scrum rather than the posts after a powerful break from lock Steve Mafi and the decision would prove to be a masterstroke for the visitors.

Cards

The hosts were reduced the 14 men when replacement scrum-half Will Skinner was shown the yellow card for illegally stealing the ball, and were depleted further when prop Mark Lambert was sin-binned for collapsing the scrum.

Quins were powerless at the next reset and Barnes had no hesitation in awarding a penalty try when the scrum was turned as it headed towards the try-line.

The disciplinary problems continued as Barnes brandished the red card to both Ayerza and Marler for headbutting and punching respectively.

Evans then slotted over a penalty to reduce the hosts' deficit to one point, before a flying Tom Williams narrowly failed to ground a kick from the fly-half.

Evans could have given Quins the lead in the 70th minute, but his long-range penalty was not strong enough, and another infringement at the scrum allowed Flood to make it 17-13 with his first penalty. Leicester came under pressure as the clock ticked down but held on to the win.