Rowntree back to his day job

It was not quite, as one cynical home fan put it, Leicester seconds against London Irish firsts, but the rawer recruits of the home team certainly did themselves proud in the absence of a fistful of international players.

But it was still the older hands in the Tigers' ranks who caught the eye, be it Austin Healey with his first touch, Graham Rowntree for his thunderous tackles and solid set piece, or captain Josh Kronfeld, who led from the front, or rather from the bottom of pretty well every ruck.

But the stand-ins did themselves proud. And the Exiles, who won both league encounters last season, were unable to take advantage of the possession and position they had, particularly in an unedifying first half.

Referee Tony Spreadbury, decked out in a fetching yellow and black outfit, never seemed to stop blowing his whistle. The result was too many penalties and not enough action.

There was no lack of motivation for either side. Shorn of their World Cup players for the next three months, the remnants of all the Premiership squads have to ensure that their betters return to something substantive.

Irish are the exception, in that they lose no-one to the jamboree Down Under, so they should, theoretically, be at an advantage. Looked at another way, they will have little excuse for failure.

One of the more motivated players was Leicester prop Rowntree. Overlooked by Clive Woodward after signal service in the bulk of England's long run-up to the World Cup, he has been, according to his director of rugby Dean Richards, "the perfect professional" since learning the news.

His commitment to the cause was certainly not in doubt, to judge by his tackling, which won him a bottle of champagne. Irish posed a threat out wide but it was either snuffed out by the alert Leicester cover or by careless final passes. There was some alarming turnover ball from the Exiles as well.

In contrast the Tigers built steadily for a full assault out wide. And Tim Stimpson had landed his fourth penalty by the time they finally breached the Irish defences just after the hour. Healey came off the bench, took over at a line-out and with his first touch sent Sam Vesty through a gap. The fly-half timed his pass to Leon Lloyd to perfection and the centre's long ball gave Ollie Smith acres of space. The England man, playing on the right wing, made no mistake. Neither did Stimpson with the conversion.

When Henry Tuilagi (brother of the injured Freddie) left a trail of winded Irish defenders in his wake for a try under the posts it looked over, and it would have been but for eight minutes of added time, at the end of which Michael Horak was sent in on the left and Mark Mapletoft, who had landed four penalties, finished off proceedings with the conversion.

Leicester: T Stimpson; O Smith, L Lloyd, D Gibson, J Holtby; S Vesty, H Ellis (A Healey, 62); G Rowntree, G Chuter, R Nebbett (D Morris, 75), L Deacon, B Deacon (H Tuilagi, 69; W Skinner, 80), W Johnson (J Hamilton, 58), D Lyle, J Kronfeld (capt).

London Irish: M Horak; P Sackey, G Appleford, N Mordt (B Everitt, 69), J Bishop; M Mapletoft, D Edwards; N Hatley, N Drotske, R Hardwick, R Strudwick (capt), R Casey (K Roche, 64), P Gustard (P Durant, 57; P Murphy, 68), C Sheasby, K Dawson.

Referee: T Spreadbury (Keynsham).