Source: Eurosport
Tigers toil to victory
Leicester set an unwanted record as they laboured to an unconvincing 15-6 win over Newcastle in front of Welford Road's biggest-ever crowd.[LNB] The defending champions' barren spell without a try extended to four hours and 19 minutes after they failed to cross their opponents' line for the third successive game in a stuttering start to their title defence.[LNB] It was poor entertainment for a 24,000 crowd, 10,000 of whom were seated in the impressive new £14 million Caterpillar Stand, and Leicester again had to rely on the boot of former Ireland fly-half Jeremy Staunton, who kicked five penalties, for all their points.[LNB] Staunton had contributed all of Leicester's 27 points in their first two games and he continued to monopolise the scoring for a side lacking cohesion and direction.[LNB] He found the target with his first penalty after just three minutes when Newcastle drifted offside in defence, though the score was cancelled out within two minutes when Rob Miller, promoted from the bench after Jimmy Gopperth failed a morning fitness test on a foot injury, equalised for Newcastle.[LNB] Staunton added two more penalties in a three-minute period midway through the first half and another from long range with the last kick of the half but missed a golden opportunity to extend Leicester's lead six minutes into the second half.[LNB] Miller punished the lapse when he slotted a 53rd-minute penalty after Leicester went offside in front of their own posts but Hall Charlton fumbled the restart kick which gave the Tigers a promising attacking position.[LNB] Leicester made a raft of second-half substitutions but it was left to Staunton to restore their nine-point cushion with his fifth penalty when James Hudson was penalised for a high tackle on Anthony Allen.
