Tigers see off debutants
London Welsh showed touches of quality on their Premiership debut but were overpowered by Leicester Tigers 38-13 at Kassam Stadium.
Last Updated: 02/09/12 4:17pm
London Welsh showed touches of quality and truck loads spirit on their Aviva Premiership debut but were ultimately overpowered by Leicester Tigers 38-13 at Kassam Stadium.
A famous upset appeared an outside possibility as the Exiles roared back into contention with tries from Tom Arscott and Hudson Tonga'uiha after England No 8 Thomas Waldrom had touched down twice in the opening 23 minutes.
But the Premiership giants crushed the rebellion with three second-half tries for a bonus-point start to their campaign.
The Tigers opened up a 17-0 lead after Waldrom finished a flowing move with a charge for the corner and then "the tank" touched down after a powerful driving maul from Tigers pack.
Hit back
Welsh hit back with Arscott bursting into the line from full-back and scrambling his way to the score before centre Tonga'uiha broke through a couple of tackles and won the race to the corner.
Welsh's hopes of a famous second-half comeback were dented when England lock Geoff Parling touched down in the opening minute of the second half with Toby Flood landing his third conversion of the day.
Flood then created the bonus-point fourth try for Tigers, first throwing a wide pass for Scott Hamilton to gain ground on the wing and then jinking to within 10 metres for the line from where Julian Salvi crashed over.
With 20 minutes remaining Leicester extended their lead with Hamilton skilfully feeding Vereniki Goneva on the touchline and the Fijian flew in at the corner.